anthony.love

Last Monday saw us heading north to Camden Town to go and check out the up and coming talent Anthony.Love. I met up with him at a pub to sit down for a chat, have a beer or two, and enjoy some sausage and mash or Scampi if your name’s Anthony. I met up with Roo at Dublin Castle where we sat down for some interview fun. I have to say it was my favourite interview so far; he seemed like a level headed guy who could have a bright future if he plays his cards right. Read the interview after the break.

Before the gig I had already been tipped off that The Straylings, who were supporting Anthony.Love, were worth seeing and this was reinforced by a man I met outside after a case of serious beard envy. His name was Paul Murff and he spends his time touring around filming what he terms ‘Secret Superstars’ who are great musicians that most people, sadly, have never heard of. He pointed me in a couple of good directions for new music to listen to and hopefully I’ll be hunting them down and reviewing their gigs over the next couple of weeks.

The first two bands that were on that evening were incredibly poor. I’m not one to name and shame at that level but I did spend most of my time smoking outside the venue rather than listening to them. I came back in for The Straylings who impressed me but were not helped by the rubbish sound engineer who seemed to think that deafening was the volume to be at and who really wants to hear a semi-acoustic when we can put the electric on 17. But aside from that they had buckets of potential and I want to go see them again sometime soon.

Finally, after an evening of waiting, Anthony.Love hit the stage. He has an innocent charm about him that captured the audience from the get go as he took them on an adventure with his bass. His songs are so much better live than his myspace could ever attest too it was great. He had one cover which he was doing during his set which he got the audience to vote on. I was in the lets hear kate nash with a dick camp but sadly we were over ruled and were treated to a version of Flux by Bloc Party. Once he had got through his set and allotted time the crowd still hadn’t had enough Anthony.Love so he got the go ahead to carry on and play another couple of songs which everyone enjoyed. I had a chat with The Straylings while he was playing and they were impressed, especially their bassist who really enjoyed his way of playing and his skill.

All in all it was a great evening and I would recommend that you get out and see Anthony.Love next time he’s playing. The interview we did with him is after the break.


Tom - We’re here with Anthony.Love. How are you doing? Ready for your gig?

Anthony.Love - I’m ready. I’m pumped. I’ve got some Redbull hidden away, I’m going to down it and go party.

T - We’re going to start with something basic. Bass, you instrument of choice, is there any reason behind that? Is there a person you like who plays the bass? Or is it just a favourite instrument of yours?

A - Well I’ve always been the bassist, I’ve never been a guitarist. I started playing bass because I saw Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers back when I was 11 or 12, when By The Way came out. He made me think I like that so I started playing bass. I’d done guitar for like a week before that and drums for a couple of weeks. I played bass in bands for about 4 years.

T - So how many bands were you in before you became Anthony.Love?

A - I various forms probably about four or five. They were all terrible.

T - How old were you when you joined for first?

A - 13 or 14 something like that. I was really into funk because of the bass and we did all that. One night before one of our gigs, we had 3 gigs in one week which is unusual for me now let alone back then. Suddenly the guitarist and the drummer, it was a four piece band, dropped out the day before. They just turned around and said ‘we quit the band.’ So me and the singer just did it anyway with just a bass. So thats where the whole thing I do now came from.

T - You’ve had your three self-release EP’s, have you got any plans for some new bits and pieces?

A - Yeah I’m thinking about it. I’m trying to work out what to do next at the moment because I’m still promoting the last EP. But I’m either looking at writing an album for next spring or at least putting out a single release just to keep things ticking over. But I’m hoping to put out an album next year.

T - I saw on your myspace that your quite up for trying to get gigs be it lounges, clubs or anywhere. Whats the wierdest gig? Or the wierdest experience you’ve had at a gig?

A - Well the wierdest experience was playing at a festival in Summer 2007 where I broke to strings in the middle of my second song and obviously theres only four strings. I rarely use two of them and I managed to break the others. So I ended up playing a cover of Kate Nash’s song Foundations to about 20 people because as soon as I broke the strings about half the crowd left. So there were 20 people who just wouldn’t stop laughing while I was trying to play it on one string

Also, I played someones living room last summer as well and they hadn’t told there mum I was I was playing and I had to pretend that I was a friend of theirs from a time they went to Newquay. They told their mum I was supposed to be playing Bristol that night but it had been cancelled, so now I was in Bath staying at theirs in their living room. I played to this girl and four friends of hers and her brother walked in half way through and I had to just stop. Her mum came in later and I just had to drop it again mid-song. That was pretty bad.

T - On the Kate Nash reference I read on you myspace that you were described as ‘Kate Nash with a dick’ by someone. Do you agree with that?

A - Not really because I don’t play piano and I try not to be quite so Londony. I try not to be too mockney but I’ve covered Kate Nash before. But who knows what Kate Nash with a dick would sound like.

T - Could you play Foundations tonight?

A - I’m not playing it tonight. I can’t remember all the lyrics anyways.

T - If you could live the life of any musician, living or dead, who would it be?

A - Good question. I’d go for someone like George Clinton from Funkadelic/Parliament/P.Funk All Stars. He’s still going and reading the accounts of the gigs he used to play; they’d waste their whole budget on a spaceship to have on stage. He’d emerge from the smoke in African tribal gear, run through the crowd carrying an axe and then carry on singing.

T - When you were small what did you want to be?

A - I wanted to be a policeman, then when I got Diabetes when I was 9 and at that point 10 years ago you couldn’t be in the police if Diabetic. So I had to give that up and decieded to become a popstar.

T - Good move.

Roo - What are the oddest bits of conversations you’ve heard on the street, train, bus or something?

A - I can’t think of anything, but when I get drunk I decide to jump into other people conversations. I’ve been to see Arcade Fire at Brixton Academy, on the train home back upto Essex there was posh couple and I thought ‘Arcade Fire they’ve been in the Guardian a lot. They were probably at the gig.’ Because I heard the guy talking about how insane the way some had being playing guitar. So I just butted in and said ‘were you at Arcade Fire?’ And they said ‘No. We were at the Jazz Cafe’ and I got quite embarrassed.

T - What was the first CD you bought?

A - Do you mean single or album?

T - Either.

A - The first singles I bought were two I bought with my sister. They were Will Smith’s Willenium, which I liked but my sister really wanted, and Blue by Effiel 65, which I bought. The first album was Control by Puddle of Mudd which was pretty poor. *laughs*

T - Thanks very much. Good luck with you gig.

www.hundredsndthousands.wordpress.com

- Hundreds and Thousands Blog

ANTHONY.LOVE – 'Action/Passion' (self-released) NICK

I don't listen to enough chilled-out music, and considering the amount of pure rage I inflict on my ears on a regular basis, I really should immerse myself in acoustic tunefulness more often. But it's always a delight when I get the chance to review an excellent singer-songwriter like anthony.love. In a similar vein to his first EP, which I enjoyed greatly when it was sent to me a few months back, the London-based Mr Love turns in a sterling handful of gentle, affecting acoustic strumming. While his accented vocal delivery may prove an acquired taste for some, it works straight-away for me, when juxtaposed against what's an often-achingly minimal musical backdrop that's provided by one guitar and – pretty much always – nothing else. At times reminiscent of Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly at Mr Duckworth's most stripped-down and least-sloganeering, 'Action/Passion' is a lovingly-crafted piece of work from a highly promising talent (available from www. myspace. com/anthonylovemusic).

Nick Mann – A Short Fanzine About Rocking
- Nick Mann - A Short Fanzine About Rocking

Essex isn’t really renowned for producing that many great bands or artists, with its most famous sons probably being Blur. Of late, The Horrors, These New Puritans and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly have all crept out of the county’s woodwork, and maybe one day, in the near future, Anthony Love’s name will be mentioned in the same breath as those. The obvious comparison here is clearly with Sam “Get Cape” Duckworth, what with the two both being singer/songwriters from Essex and all, but where Duckworth writes mainly about politics and world issues, Love sings more about “broken hearts and broken glass” – romantic affairs of the heart that you’d expect a 18 year old to write about.

‘Action/Passion’ is Love’s third self-released EP, containing 5 sublime acoustic efforts. ‘Daily News’ is a strong start to any record, bursting with a youthful desire to be different to the elders surrounding us. ‘This Town’ is full of longing and is guaranteed to make you think of lovers loved and lost, with tender lyrics like “You the know the thing about honesty/It’s a policy I’m not following/If I tell you how I feel/It’s only ever going to end this thing” surely resonating and striking a chord with many teenagers the world over. ‘Maxim’ is a gentle 3 minutes something of beautiful melancholy whilst ‘LAYA’ is a more upbeat, although still very sincere, affair. Closing track ‘Heartbeats’ shows a poetic depth to Love as a songwriter, something which only grow stronger over time.

‘Action/Passion’ is an insightful collection of songs that with proper, professional production could be transformed into sweeping sonnets that will surely bring Anthony Love the attention he so deserves.

Standout track: This Town

Rhian Daly – NEON BUZZ
www.neonbuzzmagazine.blogspot.com
- NEON BUZZ - www.neonbuzzmagazine.blogspot.com

ANTHONY.LOVE – ‘Head On Heart Stop’ (self-released) NICK
This self-released four-track CD is certainly a DIY effort – three of the songs being recorded in Anthony’s garage and the other in his friend’s living room. All four keep things very simple indeed – just the 17-year-old singer-songwriter and his acoustic bass. Yep, bass, not guitar – something that definitely helps this CD stand out from your normal acoustic, singer-songwriter fare, helped by the fact that all four songs are excellent. Love apparently cut his musical teeth in various teenage bands, and that might explain the energy that carries ‘Be Your Joy’ and ‘Head On, Heart Stop’, giving the songs a feel that suggests they could just as easily be performed with a full band as they could by just Love and his bass. In this stripped down state however, you have to concentrate on the quality of the songs, and nothing else, and here it’s hard to fault – gentle without being drowsy, understated but not bleak, this is beautifully-created stuff. At turns its minimal yet touching and incredibly calming to listen to. An excellent start, I’d be very surprised if we don’t hear more from anthony.love in the near future (go to www.myspace.com/anthonylovemusic for details of how to buy the EP)

Nick Mann – A Short Fanzine About Rocking
- A Short Fanzine About Rocking

Panic! Magazine – May ‘08
‘Gentle and understated acoustic bass, vocals and earnest, honest, quality songwriting. Described as Elliot Smith via The Kooks but with a unique and distinctive edge that demands to be heard.’

Braintree and Witham Times
‘anthony.love can be found pretty much anywhere around the country, but he played his first gig in Hogs and still returns occasionally. A tall, Shaggy look-a-like, who plays an acoustic bass guitar, he sings some catchy melodies and sweet summer tunes.’

Kirsty Johnson - Kissing Just For Practice Fanzine
‘Love's effortless but perfect alternative singer songwriter style blends many influences to create something new, which isn't all that common in the present day.’

Bugbear Promotions
‘Elliot Smith by way of The Kooks for a bit of a jolly-up’

- Assorted