Little Man Tate Interview (2020)

I call myself a music fan but it was only when seeing that Little Man Tate we’re reforming did I remember how great they were and how much I used to follow their releases and occasionally see them live

I first heard them on Clint Boon’s show on XFM Manchester. He used to great music and often broke new bands giving them their first airplay. That would have been around 2006

The first track I remember hearing was ‘What You Got?’ and was immediately impressed by both the song and the video which was filmed in Blackpool 

It was around the time I saw them in Manchester, they already had a ready made audience built via My Space and word of mouth

Like their local neighbours, Arctic Monkeys, Little Man Tate were one of the first bands to build they’d fan base via the Internet and really engaged with their fans via their website

The second ‘single’ still stands up today and against, the video was brilliant. Once seen, never forgotten...

When the releasing their new singles there would be a CD and normally 2 7”s... this at a time when vinyl releases were generally frowned upon

The debut album was released in early 2007 featuring most of the bands set. 6 singles were on the album (if you include the hidden ‘What You Got’)

I imagine the reason for releasing so many tracks off the debut was the record companies decision, however it’s a shame as the band were prolific songwriters and gave a number of tracks away or non limited releases. I believe a couple of later of the releases off the album could have been prevented by better use of the b-sides. ‘Saved By A Chat Show’ could easily have been a single, as could the acoustic ‘You And Me Will Be Alright You Know’ which only appeared on the iTunes download of the album! 

18 months passed before the second album come out, the band moving from the ‘V2’ to Skint label. 

Whilst the early momentum with the press seemed to have disappeared ‘Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy’ is a great album with a number of potential singles on there. I remember seeing the band about this time and still thinking there was more to offer...

Sadly the band split the following year...

I caught up with guitarist, Maz to chat about what had gone before and the imminent 'reunion'

The line from ‘What You Got?’ ... ‘He’s in an indie rock band, he’s into LSD’… 

Was that about anyone in particular?

We wrote the song about the life of a reckless girl who parties too hard and lives for the weekend. Out of that we made up little characters that would feature, such as the boyfriend hooked on hallucinogens. 

LSD seemed to roll off the tongue nicely, no pun intended!  

You were one of the first bands to use the Internet. Looking back one of the first things I ever streamed was the ‘Live Gig At Boothys’. 

Were you conscious that you we’re doing some groundbreaking things?

To be honest, we thought we were a bit behind on that front. 

Lots of bands were already using MySpace and fan forums to promote themselves so we had to catch up. 

The Boothy’s ‘Live Gig’ was brilliant and made the whole event unique. Not only did Boothy exist, but his family were kind enough to let us film at their house in Sheffield. 

The record label managed all of that and had the idea to do it, we also got some Magner’s cider bottles turned into Boothy’s cider to celebrate, it was a great day. 

Don’t know many other bands who have done that!  

The actual video for ‘House Party At Boothys’ still looks great today and there are some fantastic comedy moments in it. 

Did those come from ideas the band had?

Ben Rollason was the director of that video and had some great ideas. I think pitched in with bits throughout the day but to be honest we don’t really remember much, no thanks to the off-licence down the road. A lot of stuff was based on the lyrics but the idea of dressing up as policemen came from Ben I think.

 I sometimes go past the road in Peckham where it was filmed and think about what a crazy day it was. I think there was a dancing chicken in the video.

You were very prolific and releases a number of tracks over a number of formats. Do you feel you may have ‘wasted’ any potential ‘A  Sides’ 

Yes definitely. We enjoyed some aspects of being on a major label but looking back, they made some terrible decisions about which songs to release. 

Hindsight is obviously a wonderful thing but we hated the whole pantomime of radio pluggers telling us one thing and A&R another, and then which Radio 1 presenters apparently ‘liked’ a particular track and we should release the stuff they were into. 

Don’t get me wrong, we had some very dodgy songs that we rushed off to make b-sides but songs like 'Hello Miss Lovely', 'Self Appreciation Club', 'Young Offenders' and 'Just Can’t Take It' could easily have been singles.

Were the label pushing you and trying to chase chart success? 

I think with the first album most definitely. They probably wanted to cash in on the Sheffield scene at the time and we were more than willing to indulge them! You do have some great experiences when you sign a big deal, especially as it’s all fresh and new, but you don’t appreciate how manipulative it can be at times. 

They knew we wanted to have music in the charts which is fair enough, but they rushed us into making the album, didn’t get a proper producer in and missed out on developing out talent. We were writing really good songs at that point and they ended up not going on the first album. 

If they’d been a bit more patient we could have easily had a top ten with Boy In The Anorak.

You were released by V2 after they’d been bought by Universal in 2007? 

Were there any signs that ‘clear out’ was on the cards?

Not really. We were always on tour so stuff to do with label takeovers were usually dealt with by our manager. V2 had told us that everything was going to be fine and we had other potential singles lined up to put out before a second album and a huge Blackpool gig at the end of 2007 but this was overshadowed a bit by the Universal thing. 

There were some good people at the label who I’m sure wanted to carry on working with us but it all came down to the people at the top who decided that the roster was too full. 

Thankfully we got a deal with Skint after and managed to get another album out and some tours so we didn’t dwell on it for too long, life’s too short!

How did signing to ‘Skint’ come about? They were more of a ‘dance’ label weren’t they? 

Yes they had the Fat Boy Slim connection which was strange as we weren’t suddenly going to go down a dance route but that was just our preconceptions. 

They were a good label and showed plenty of faith in us. They allowed us to make another album and keep touring which was a relief. At times we didn’t know what day it was and were exhausted beyond belief. 

The Skint deal allowed us to take some much needed time off and we enjoyed writing and recording the new material which featured on ‘Nothing Worth Having Comes Easy’

The second album featured some great sounds, including ‘Joined By An iPod’ and ‘Back Of The Pub Quiz’ to name but a couple but it may not have got the chance to find their audience it deserved. Will these tracks get a chance to be heard when you reform?

I’ve got a good pal called Steve who says he’s not coming to the gigs if we don’t play Joined By An iPod so although it’s not our most popular, there’s still plenty of songs that mean so much to different people. 

'Back Of The Pub Quiz' will definitely get an outing, love that song! People still ask us what was written on the back of the pub quiz, we’re keeping it a secret still!

Am sure you’ll have covered this in a number of interviews already and I heard the conversation you had on the ‘Boys In The Band’ podcast… but what has driven the welcome reunion now?

All of us were in agreement for the first time! Sometimes when offers have come in that’s not always been the case. 

We’ve also said a few times that if we did re-form, let’s leave it a decent enough time so that people can bring their kids who couldn’t come the first time, especially our own! 

We’ve stayed in touch over the years and been to each other’s various weddings and christenings so playing music with each other is no hardship. We just have to be fit enough to perform and put on a great show which will require some hard work!

Are there any plans to play outside Sheffield? Manchester maybe? Are you surprised by the reaction you’ve had from fans?

We said all along that we don’t want to get carried away with it all when things start happening so it’s important just to enjoy what we’ve got which is 2 hometown gigs in Sheffield. 

However, Manchester is a special place for us as we have great memories from playing there back in the day. I’ve got family over there too so they are hoping we do something so we’ll see.

Are there any chances of new material?

Not at the moment, we’re just enjoying rehearsing all the old songs and I’m sure that’s what people really want at a reunion show. We’re already having sleepless nights about the set-list!

Finally… 5 Quick Fire Questions….

Best gig you’ve performed

The Boardwalk Christmas Show, December 2006

Best gig as a punter

Joe Strummer at the Leadmill, Sheffield in 2002, a few months before he sadly passed away

All time favourite album

Blur - Parklife

Favourite song/single

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart

All time favourite band / artist

The Stone Roses