THE BUTTERFLY

Words: Sam Saunders
Photographer: Danny North

I met The Butterfly, late in November, in the neo-Fascist splendour of the University of Leeds’ Parkinson Court. We sat together at a leather topped oak table and finessed the abstractions of progressive pop till we could talk no more. A transcript was taken, and the themes of small town origins, implausible eclecticism and musical interrogations shone through. Present were: Jack Carter: vocals and guitar; Matthew Jennings (Jell): guitar and synthesiser; Theo Campbell: bass, vocals and didgeridoo; and James Cameron: drums. I asked what is was all about and fell silent. An hour passed...

Jell: It’s about the music. We’re trying to make heavy guitar music which is melodic and underpinned by rhythm and which has emotional intelligence. We all listen to different bands and what we have in common is the Faith No More thing. We’re finding all the worst clichés we’ve got and pushing them together and turning them into something new.
Theo: We sometimes have to think “What level of stupidity are we thinking about here?”

You seem to know each other well.

Jack: Jell and I are friends from the age of about nine.
Jell: We’ve had music in common all our lives. It was inevitable that we would set up a band. When we came to Leeds it was with that in mind. We’re from a town called Bridgnorth in Shropshire. It’s very remote and there’s not much in the way of alternative music, or indeed music at all. You can be a band in Bridgnorth but you’ll just play the same pub once a month and probably get beaten up. I lived in the same Halls of Residence as Theo in the first year and we were collaborating on various silly music. We got all the people from our corridor to have a verse in this parody of G-Funk and that was quite fun so we went on to doing some ambient and electronic. Jack met James in Devonshire Hall where he was living, and that’s how he came in.
Theo: Barely a gig goes by where he doesn’t break something. It’s quite fun seeing him thrashing like a bastard.

So, the band came to Leeds as lonely country boys...

James: They picked me out because I had an afro.
Jell: So. Jack and I gave James and Theo a CD of songs to learn. But over the first summer we decided to forget about them. That was the beginning of Butterfly, when we started writing songs like ‘Yako Pyerst’ and ‘Here Is…’

Theo: The songs that actually appeared on the album.

Jell: And then we practised for a long time.
Jack: And we’ve been recording all this week. It’s been raw, a purely live thing and then we messed around with it a little afterwards. This is the most basic we’ve got it. Probably the best as well.

So where does it go now?

Theo: Sometimes we have these debates within the band about “is this commercial?”, “is this pandering to anybody?”, or “is it just being too musically hilarious?”
Jell: It’s striking a balance between having songs that hold together as songs but will be interesting to play. We are all demanding of the music we listen to and none of us really like a lot of rock music that is happening at the moment.

I’m getting a sense that you’re looking for the audience that will go for your stuff?

Jell: Yes definitely
Jell: A problem we have encountered is that we ‘re too heavy for indie kids and we’re way too weird and strange for the metal crowd. There are lots of people who dig what we’re doing but they all seem to be on their own in bedrooms.
Theo: We have heard other bands say exactly the same sort of thing.
Jell: We turn up and think “no one’s going to like what we do so let’s just get in there and destroy them’. That happens quite a lot. It’s part of the fun of it.
James: I think the thing we probably all agree on is that you have to entertain. So we walk in and know the audience isn’t going to like us. But we don’t care.
Theo: Well, we walk in knowing that the audience aren’t necessarily going to know how to react to us...
Jell: …it’s our duty to really try and connect with the audience with the music we’ve got. That’s why we have little side bits and Jack does press ups and James falls over and so on. This year we have done a few gigs in Manchester where nobody knows what we are about and that is great. You’ve got to prove yourself entirely from scratch.

Are you looking for a record deal?

James: The experiences we have actually had with record labels have been quite odd. All the major labels have expressed some kind of interest and I’ve sent them off crap and they’ve replied with the usual stuff. But I don’t think that is what we’re really aiming at. We’re just enjoying the music an awful lot. We’re not prepared to compromise.
Jell: If we were so interested in getting a deal we wouldn’t be making the music we are making. We’re excited about a new song called “Eros and Tanatos” which is a distillation of what we are all about. It’s very arch and it’s very accessible …
Theo: It’s got the funkiness, the heaviness and the vocal whatever...
Jell: …and also lyrically it’s kind of a distillation. I’m really happy with the way it’s been recorded. It’s going to be great to hear someone else engineering.
James: It was very nice to work with people who were willing to say “No, perhaps think about it doing this”.
Jack: I’d say that in terms of diversity the original album was like that (stretches arms) and this EP was like that (holds fingers close together)
Jell: Yes, it’s a lot more focussed. It’s consolidating what we are all about and really arriving at a better idea of what The Butterfly is here to do. We’re just getting better at it, and having the parts relate to each other properly and just improving as songwriters and musicians.
Jell: We’re more about learning new things and incorporating them into our music. It’s all about bringing something out of them and grabbing attention.
Jack: I was given a wireless mike the other week and it was the best thing ever. I can just go out and intimidate people. One of the things I have learned about teaching is that the best way to keep someone’s attention is by always asking them questions. If you notice one kid not putting his hand up, you ask him so they are constantly on the alert. It’s the same with a live show.
Jell: I think that’s a really good metaphor for what we’re doing. “The Butterfly: Always Asking Question”
Theo: Maybe that’s the EP?

What’s next?
Jell: We’ve had trouble answering “What’s next” We don’t know ourselves.
A brave and fierce band. Out on some kind of edge. Listen out.