Veronica Falls #6 - An Interview With

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Today saw the digital release of Veronica Falls debut self-titled LP, the Glasgow / London four-piece have an incredible knack of writing infectious, bittersweet guitar pop songs which on the surface are beautiful, harmony-laden songs but are often deceptively upbeat, laced with lyrics of a macabre, sinister nature.

Unsettling undercurrents run throughout with tracks about one of the UK's 'favourite' suicide spots "Beachy Head", to romancing a ghost on "Found Love in a Graveyard" (the album version is given a gloss of paint and sounds better than ever) and the albums lead-single, "Bad Feeling" with its anti feel-good refrain of "I've got a bad feeling / and it's not going away". Yet Veronica Falls is as irresistibly catchy and strangely uplifting an album as you'll hear this year, closing track "Come on Over" is the most hopeful, a sing-a-long chorus built around a driving drum beat and furiously played chiming guitars. Without doubt it's one of the years finest debuts.

Guitarist / Vocalist Roxanne Clifford has been kind enough to answer a few of my questions below:

What inspired you to start making music?

My dad taught me how to play 'Like a Rolling Stone' by Bob Dylan when I was 9 or 10. I think that opened my eyes to the simplicity and ease of a great pop song. Then as a teenager labels like K Records and Kill Rock Stars made me feel like maybe it was something I could do myself.  

Of your own songs, which are you proudest of and what track is the most fun to play live?

Beachy Head and Come on Over because they are immediate and were very easy to write.

Which artists do you feel have influenced your work and continue to do so?

Beat Happening, The Velvet Underground, Young Marble Giants, Galaxie 500, Roky Erickson, Alex Chilton

Which song do you wish you had written?

Thirteen by Big Star 

What's the best gig you've attended in recent memory? Or a band that you’ve played with who impressed you?

I saw a girl band in Glasgow recently called Palms, I liked their primal drumming, melodies and lack of pretention.  

If you were to curate an ATP event, who would you want to invite along?

Guided by Voices, Moe Tucker, Stereolab, Roky Erickson, Bert Jansch, Kleenex, The Clean, Let's Wrestle, Male Bonding, Teenage Fanclub, Brilliant Colors...are REM too big to play ATP?  

Recommend an artist that isn’t getting the attention they deserve.

I think Let's Wrestle are writing some of the best indie rock songs since Pavement and deserve to be very famous. (Facebook page)

*****

Many thanks again to Roxanne and Veronica Falls. You can purchase the digital version of their full-length now (iTunes link), the physical version follows on October 17th. I recommend getting it from Rough Trade as it comes with an exclusive six track CD of covers including Eurythmics and The Rolling Stones. If that sounds tasty you can get it on a limited LP pressing (300 copies) via the same shop here.

Do go and see them live too, I've seen them five times and can safely testify they sound even better; The band play a host of US Dates in Sept / Oct and European dates in Oct / Nov. The London headline show is on 20th October at The Lexington (tickets) - for full dates including some support slots go here.

Finally, as always, here is a short playlist of some of the artists / tracks mentioned by Roxanne, followed by the video for their latest single "Bad Feeling".

Veronica Falls - Bad Feeling from Philippa Bloomfield on Vimeo.