Interview The Fallout Trust

You may have already heard The Fallout Trust, in which case you’ll be more than aware of their own brand of off kilter harmonics and twisted hybrid of intelligent pop. Yes, The Fallout Trust are a band that can read and write. They bring the jagged jilting stylings that follows most of the best music around these days, but juxtapose it all with some smooth, drifting melody. They’re currently recording their first LP, following up two storming EPs (which we recommend you check out if you get chance). We caught up with vocalist Joe to find out what they’re all about.

Who are you, and what do you do?
I am Joe Winter. I sing, try to move and help to make visual poetry in a six piece group called The Fallout Trust. Other group members are Guy Connelly (guitar and voice), Gavin Ellis (The Bass and voice), Matt Winter (Lead Guitar), Jess Lloyd-Jones (violin and Keyboards) and Matthew Watson (The Drums). We make a sound like cinema using samples and three part harmonies.

Who would you cite as your main influences?
Berlin period Bowie, The Beach Boys and The Associates

Who would be your dream touring partner?
Radiohead. Ideally they would be supporting, obviously.

What CDs, Books and Films are you most likely to take on tour with you?
CD: ‘Fourth Drawer Down’ by The Associates, ‘Remain In Light’ By Talking Heads, ‘Plastic Ono Band’ By John Lennon and ‘Blood Money’ by Tom Waits
Books: ‘Gargantua and Pantagruel’ by Rabelais, ‘Texts for Nothing’ by Samuel Beckett, ‘Tragically I was an Only Twin-The complete Peter Cook’ and ‘Straw Dogs’ by John Gray
Films: ‘Capturing the Friedmans’ directed by Andrew Jarecki, ‘Paris, Texas’ by Wim Wenders, ‘Network’ by Sidney Lumet and ‘Goodbye Lenin’ by Wolfgang Becker.

Why should we take our time (and spend our money) to see you live?
Because we are attempting to make a sound that is different to other stuff you are hearing. There are also six of us onstage so there is always at least one thing to gawp at.

What do you hope to achieve from 2004?
Well, we havent got that much longer but here goes: we hope to finish recording our 1st LP, called ‘In Case of The Flood’. Also we would like to get back on the road, personally I’d like to play in Belfast as we’ve never been there, it always feels best when we’re playing our music to people who’ve not heard it before, especially when they like it. The final goal I suppose is to start writing songs for our next album, I’ve already got some words, I just need to begin sifting.

We also want to start rearranging our website. Our first album will be released through At Large Recordings early 2005.