Sonic Boom

IN THE words of Lennon and McCartney: Listen, do you want to know a secret?

We’re only two weeks into the new year but speculation is rife over who is going to be this year’s next big thing.

Well, if our predictions are right, one name you’re going to be hearing a lot of this year is that of electro-pop acolytes Chew Lips.

This beat-heavy East End threesome features sassy frontwoman Tigs, along with bass and synth man James Watkins and guitar and fellow synth player Will Sanderson (they do like their synths).

Between them, they cook up futuristic, melodic dance-pop, which bounces between grinding electro-rock to beat-heavy r’n’b.

“We are a three-piece band who make sonically experimental pop songs, using some electronic equipment and live guitars,” says Tigs. “Our music ranges from heavy ethereal songs of yearning to minimal synthbeat dance rock with quite a bit in between. And we use a laptop instead of a drummer – as they dribble less!”

Of course, Tigs and co haven’t just appeared out of the ether. Forming in winter 2008, they’ve been hard at it for a year — ever since their hastily convened debut show which, Tigs admits, she set up before they’d written anything.

“I knew James, and James knew Will, and we talked about being in a band for a while. It was all quite theoretical,” she explains. “And then James wrote a few bits and sent them to me to add to – and we booked a show.

“Well, I say booked a show… we arranged for a guy to have a house party so we could play. It was two weeks away.

“We ended up like this because we didn’t have a drummer. We didn’t know what we were doing, so we just pressed ‘go’ on all these machines and wrote 10 songs in our first rehearsal.”

And, in their second session, they wrote 10 more.

Last year was spent perfecting those songs on the road, including tours with Howling Bells and The Virgins, and in the studio, with rousing single Solo and follow-up Salt Air, both released on the Parisian ultra-cool Kitsune label.

Now, they are brandishing a thrilling debut album, Unicorn, engineered by Bat For Lashes producer David Kosten and due for release on January 25.

“We wanted to avoid an album of all the same stuff,” she goes on. “ Music recently just hasn’t been very clever. It has no soul in it all. It’s superficial.”

And, in a display of early confidence, they played the same card as Oxford’s Foals, by leaving their two singles off the album.

“We couldn’t put out a record that has a single on it that’s been out for a year,” says Tigs indignantly. “We’ve moved on. It’s a record that’s about becoming an adult, about growing up; the notion of being one small person alone in the world.”

With Unicorn in tow, the band are heading out on the road for a headline tour, starting with a show here in Oxford, at the legendary Jericho Tavern.

“Obviously we want the album we are so proud of to be received well and get the response it deserves,” says Tig.

“The most exciting thing, which only occurs occasionally, is the mark you will leave – large or small; the fact that for all of the future, until the end of time, as long as there are people on this earth, our record will exist for people to listen to or remember. I find that mind-blowing and uniquely comforting.”

But the simple truth is, she explains, you’ve got to see Chew Lips live to believe them.

“Until you’ve seen us live, you haven’t got the measure of our band,” she insists.

“The live shows are exciting and wild. There is a heady mix of flailing limbs, sequins and ‘eight bit drone disco’. Come shake your bits to it. I would recommend it!

“I’ve loved Oxford since my brother went to uni there and I used to go and stay with him. Also, the charity shops there are wicked. We can’t wait to play there again; it’s been too long!”

Chew Lips play the Jericho Tavern on Saturday.