Q&A: Magistrates singer Paul Usher
Magistrates singer Paul Usher, 25, talks about borrowed drums, hype and a delayed debut album
7 September 2009
There’s been a heap of hype around your band for a while – has the excitement worn off?
No, this is just the beginning. Wait till we get started.
Did you always want to make Hall and Oates-style electro funk?
I don’t think anyone’s ever described it like that before. There’s a mass electro thing at the moment, but why try to be electro, that’s just dumb – we want to add variety.
You toured with La Roux: any romance/drunken fumbles?
How do you define romance? From day one we connected.
Falsetto is this year’s new black. Why is everyone loving the lady-boy sound?
Maybe it’s because everyone is around the same age and listened to similar music growing up. I just find it more interesting than singing like Liam Gallagher.
How’s the debut album coming along? I’ve heard four songs and they’re good…
Well, there were some delays – we rewrote half of it.
Did you have to bin stuff?
We won’t bin any songs – maybe someone else might like them.
Did you consciously nick the drums from Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill for your single Heartbreak?
Not nicked! But the whole song started with those drums.
How did you come to work with Damon Albarn?
Someone played him our demos and he asked if we wanted to use his studio. It was really simple.
What kind of impact did he have on your music?
We did a 15-hour session of non-stop jamming. He was telling us about African music and how to create space – how you don’t have to play at the same time.
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