Each record by Austin via London musician Sally Crewe (with her band, The Sudden Moves) has been better than the previous one. The latest one, YOUR NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU (released this year on 8-Track Mind Records) is the strongest one yet with some of the hookiest and punchiest pop songs I've heard yet this year. Sally took time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions via email. When you have time check out www.thesuddenmoves.com
Where/when did you grow up?
Sherwood Forest in the 1980's/early 90's.
When did you first start writing songs? Is the Sudden Moves your first band?
Hmm... consciously at around age 8, although I’d had access to a piano prior to that so I’d made up tunes since I was super young, and I was always making up rhymes, little poems, but I didn’t consider them songs as such. I formed my first real band age 17. I had some virtual bands before that, though. We had songs and a logo.
I taught myself guitar on a road trip around Scotland when I was 11, listening to a Best Of The Beatles cassette, and got my first electric at 13 or 14.
Your first concert as a kid? First one as an adult?
First as a kid, Paul McCartney, when I was 11. As an adult, Pavement when I was 17. It was their first UK show, at the Derby Wherehouse. The Oasis brothers were in attendance, and I also ran into Keith and Paul from The Wedding Present. I became good friends with them and when Keith quit the band he taught me the bass parts and I auditioned to be their bass player. I didn't make it, but I moved to Leeds anyway and since I now had a bass, I formed a bass-led power trio. We played our first show the week Kurt Cobain died, so that, according to Google, would’ve been April 1994. People said we sounded like Elastica. We played quite a lot, culminating in an opening slot for Stereolab, before I moved to NYC in '96. I continued the band there until '99, when I moved to London.
What band or musician was your first obsession (assuming you had any)?
I was obsessed with Paul McCartney from the age of about 7 or 8. Not in a girly way, I actually wanted to BE him.
What was the first live show you ever played? What was it like? Scared shitless?
The aforementioned gig at The Packhorse pub in Leeds. I was excited! At the end of the night when we were packing up, I had my first (I would add ‘and last’, but how do you know?) alcohol-induced black-out. I remember my friend standing over me and telling me to wake up. I had taken a quick nap on the floor in front of the stage. Elephant beer is 7.2% and it had been a long night.
What music scene had the biggest impact on you: UK punk? U.S. hardcore? Sarah Records/anorak pop? Brit pop? Something else?
No scene did, really, at least not a contemporary one. I got heavily into The Beatles and Wings when I was a kid, as well as Motown. I didn’t have any siblings to steer me towards what was hip so I relied on my Mum’s small but potent record collection, which was 99% Greatest Hits albums. So I probably grew up thinking that records were supposed be one catchy song after another. A little later I got into The Cars, through her boyfriend playing ‘Heartbreak City’ in his Nissan Z anytime we went anywhere.
The only chart band I remember really, really liking was Squeeze. Most of my musical obsessions have happened after the time they were current, though. I didn't care for Elvis Costello until I was about 24, then I immersed myself in a couple of years of catching up. ‘This Year’s Model’ is still a top 3 album for me. I took an unintentional break from playing and writing after I moved from NYC to London, but getting into Elvis Costello and ‘Pet Sounds’ and The Kinks’ ‘Arthur’ / ‘Village Green Preservation Society’ really kick-started my interest again, and I switched back to guitar, got a Vox AC30, and started writing the songs that became the first album. Spoon’s ‘Girls Can Tell’ was an influence in as much as it showed me that a modern band could have the same old-school influences as me but still sound tough and cool. So when it came time to find a drummer for this little batch of songs, I figured “I’ll ask THAT guy, he’ll get it…” I really didn’t think he’d say yes.
How/when did you end up in Austin?
I recorded the first album here during multiple one to two week trips between December 2001 and late 2002, at Jim Eno’s studio, with him on drums and Britt Daniel on bass, backing vocals and keyboards. Josh Zarbo did some handclaps, too. So Spoon were the original Sudden Moves. We debuted live at SXSW in 2002. Eric Friend played keyboards for that show, and a few years later when he left Spoon he became my keyboard player. He writes amazing parts and I will continue to coax him out of retirement every time I feel a song needs keyboards. So anyway… There were lots of trips here during that recording period, plus then every year since for SXSW shows. I added it up and I’d spent 6 months living in Austin in total, so I knew the place pretty well by then. During our SXSW performance in 2004 I had this epiphany moment mid-set where I thought, "I have to move here…" We were playing Red Eyed Fly, the place was packed and a couple of people in the crowd were singing along to "Drive It..." It was hard not to draw a contrast to our shows in London, which were more of the arms folded variety. The album had sold as many copies in the US on import as it sold in Europe. Plus I really liked the town anyway, I always missed it and my friends here when I went back home, so it was gonna happen at some point.
How did you meet your current band mates, George Duron and Matt Baab?
Matt was recommended to me by Britt soon after I moved here (in Sept '04) and was asking around for a bass player. He'd been runner-up in a Spoon audition previously and Britt said he was “good on bass, a cool guy and good-looking". So 3 for 3. I think he writes the perfect bass parts for my songs. He's fairly busy with his own band these days and can't tour, which is why we've been getting Tommy Keene to help us out live.
George was recommended by a friend of Jim’s. We were at Emo's Lounge checking out Rob Pope's band when Spoon were doing their last bass player hunt and Jim was telling me how he'd run into a friend of his the day before, some girl he'd not seen in years and years. Just as he was telling me the story, we looked up and she'd walked into the bar, right on cue. So he introduced me to her and mentioned that I was looking for a drummer, because he was filling in on drums for me again in the studio at the time but obviously couldn’t tour and stuff. She suggested her friend George Duron. I checked him out and it was like hearing John Bonham. And he got what I was trying to do. Like Jim, he knows when not to play, and writes very tasteful, cool, smart parts.
I've just noticed there seems to be a bass player audition thread through most of my stories... weird.
Anything unique/unusual about Texans that you didn't know before?
They are strangely proud of the fact that their state is geographically bigger than France.
Do you feel part of any kind of musical community in Austin?
Not really. I’ve got friends who are also in bands, but I never really feel like we're part of the same scene. I don't think people know what to do with us.
How does the new record, YOUR NEAREST EXIT MAY BE BEHIND YOU, differ from the first two? Did you learn anything new while recording this one?
I’m definitely a much better songwriter, singer and guitar player at this point. My skills are a lot closer now to catching up with my ideas, so this record sounds very much like I wanted it to. That's just experience and confidence and pushing yourself to be better.
5 band dream bill (with bands living or dead)?
The Beatles, circa 1969
Ted Leo & The Pharmacists
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
One of the early Motown tours, where they had each band do 2 songs
Sally Crewe & The Sudden Moves, circa 2009... I'd really like to see my own band.
What's next for the band? Northwest tour (hopefully)?
We're embarking on a tour up to Chicago and back this week, opening for Tommy Keene. After that, back here to work on new songs. I've written a bunch but not taken them to the band yet, so I'm looking forward to that. I can't wait to get back in the studio. There will be a shorter gap between records this time. Once I've located enough money to start recording album 4, we'll get on it.
Anything you'd like to add that I didn't ask?
Yes.
Bonus question: What do you miss most about England?
All the extra u's.
