Over at Indie MP3 we're big, big fans of MJ Hibbett and The Validators. Rather marvellously, their fantastic, shuffly new single Do the Indie Kid is currently a front-page feature on YouTube and has had, ooh, thousand upon thousands of hits. They've got a new album coming out soon and, if that wasn't enough, they're due to play a rather stormin' show at this year's Indietracks Festival. Entitled "My Exciting Life in ROCK", the show will consist of Mr Hibbett telling the story of his lifelong musical escapades via the medium of song - and perhaps a bit of drunken dancing too. The show is a bit of a coup for Indietracks, as its being previewed ahead of its proper Edinburgh Festival outing - wowsers! We literally can't wait until July to see Mr MJ, so we thought we'd catch up with him to see what he's been up to....Hello Mr Hibbett, tell us a bit about yourself. When did you start writing songs, and how did you get started? Did you always have a band or were you solo?
The first song I ever wrote was called "Martian Pop Rocks" when I was about 10. It was about a Martian plan to control people's minds through free sweets, and the best bit was in the chorus - "Martian Pop Rocks coming down in dozens/People try to get a few, to stop them they wear muzzles", it rhymes if you're from Peterborough! Like most people, I started in a band at school - not The School Band Who Do U2 Covers but the other one, The School Band Of Idiots Who Can't Play Anything, Singing About Teachers. I then moved on, in the standard way, to The Student Band Who Can Scarcely Play Anything and Shouting About Things That Seemed Funny In The Pub, but then I deviated from the norm by STAYING in that band for about 5 years longer than normal i.e. 5 years and 3 months.That band split up mostly because we disagreed about gigs - they wanted to do good ones that were convenient to get to and sensible to play, I wanted to play anything that was going. That philosophy has stuck with me ever since!
You write about a whole range of subjects, from milk bottles and football to ZX Spectrums and Take That - what is your biggest inspiration for your songs?
Originally, as above, all my songs came from conversations in the pub but, as I've matured and moisturised over the years, they have also come from conversations at work, on e-mail, in the kitchen and in other people's cars. The biggest inspiration though, I'm afraid to say, is still beer. My discography is really just a series of scribbled notes of things that seemed interesting in the pub the night before, which I somehow made to rhyme. The topics are thus things I am interested in, that matter directly to me, which is why we have SO many songs about public transport, being in bands, and the gravitational pull of AGE!
Do you consciously have any musical inspirations? For example Pete Green, who you recently toured with, says he's a big Billy Bragg fan.
I'm a gentleman of a certain age who owns a guitar and can't sing in the classical manner, so yes, Billy Bragg's a massive inspiration to me too - though much less so since he went horribly Womad a few years ago with the dreary Woody Guthrie stuff. In ROCK my biggest influence has always been the mighty John Otway. All of his gigs are a MASTERCLASS in how to do it properly - he's funny, he's lovely, he's got incredible charisma and, just when you think it's all a good laugh, he'll smack you between the eyes with a song that makes you want to cry. Brilliant. He also gave me the best piece of advice in ROCK EVER! When I first met him I asked why he was sitting around in the main pub area of the venue, rather than backstage. "If I sit backstage I'm all on my own," he said, "but if I come out here people tell me I'm brilliant and buy me drinks".
Sooo, what are your plans for rest of this this year?
It's busy - we have a GANT chart pending!! We've just put out a new single, then we're spending the next month or so on overdubs and mixing bits for the next album. After that, we start practicing the full band version of "My Exciting Life In ROCK" for Indietracks, as well as organising everything for taking the solo version up to Edinburgh in August. After that, we've got a sudden BLATT of Validator Weddings and Validator Birthdays, before we do the final bagpipe/synthesiser/orchestral/guitar solo overdubs and move on to getting ready to release an album. My diary says that in October I have a weekend free!
What are you most looking forward to at Indietracks, and what did you most enjoy about last year's event?
The nicest thing about last year was that pretty much ALL the lovely people I've met over the years at gigs around the country were all in the same place, and really that's what I'm after this time. The many Real Ales and train rides were appreciated, and I LOVED the chance to go disco dancing at the end of the evening (which I don't really do much these days), and even the camping was quite good fun - I recommend Tomatoes On Toast in the campsite cafe, it's quick, it's veggie, and it's one of your five-a-day! I think there's some bands playing too, aren't there?
Can you give us a clue about what we can expect from your Indietracks show?
I'm getting worried that people are starting to think it's going to be some sort of extravaganza! Basically, it'll be me telling my favourite stories from My Exciting Life In ROCK, interspersed with some of my favourite songs - so it'll be like being trapped in a car with me and a guitar! I'm currently working out which stories fit where, but it will feature (amongst other things) drunken stupidity, nakedness, the stars of grebo, international fame and a defiance of the living forces of nature. But mostly drunken stupidity.
Do you feel part of a "scene" these days at all - you always seem to be cropping up at indiepop gigs!
We were just discussing this over a Band Curry the other day - it feels like we ARE part of a scene these days, which feels a) lovely but b) WEIRD. I've always felt - maybe "excluded" is too strong a word - but certainly APART from the main thrust of indiepop scenes, but over the past couple of years it feels like something new has grown up. Suddenly there's all these bands who combine GRATE music with being really nice people, who actually DO turn up to each others' gigs to support them, and who aren't just restricted to one city. It's absolutely fantastic!
How easy has it been to get good acoustic gigs? Again, Pete Green was telling Indie Mp3 recently that it was tough to play gigs that weren't bad acoustica nights...
Myself and Mr Green have debated this at some length! The trouble with playing solo is that promoters do tend to think "Aha! Dreary folk music, let's either stick them all together OR make them go on at the start, when no-one's listening". It's annoying but understandable, as often the reason people play solo is because they haven't the wherewithal or personality to get a band together. It's these sort of people who end up going to folk singer nights where everyone in the audience is performing, so everyone has to be polite and clap EVERYTHING, which in turn leads to some right dreary sods thinking they can get away with BEING right dreary sods. Er... what was I talking about? Oh yeah - so the best way to get around this problem is NOT to play those sort of gigs, to get yourself on the bill with bands and to make yourself listened to. The way to do THAT is to play something that DEMANDS to be heard - you can do it by being an incredible player, having an amazing voice, singing thought provoking songs of emotional intensity or, in my case, by shouting and swearing a lot.
What's on your Ipod/ record player at the moment?
And tell us an unusual fact about yourself!
I went to Poly with the new voice of Mr Tickle from TV's The Mr Men!
Are you ambitious for the band? You've been played on Radio 1 and BBC6 Music and all sorts...
Weeelll... not really in the classic Corporate Music Industry way. I have no intention of being "edgy" or having a "professional attitude" in order to "develop" our "career", nor do I have any wish for us to"get signed". Fortunately we have never exactly been inundated with A&R men desperate to change our minds!Even if it was ever an option, I've no interest in any of that sort of nonsense, but I AM really keen on wobbling further along the slightly wonky furrow we've been ploughing for ourselves, and exploring all the groovy NEW ways of doing things that are available now. I am probably getting a bit over-zealous about it, but it's a VERY exciting time to be in a band and to be open to new ideas. It's like the 60s in some ways, the whole world of music is changing and all the parasites are being swept away. You don't need the approval of cynical record companies or terrified, clueless journalists. Suddenly, people making music can be in DIRECT contact with people who want to listen to it, and that's BRILLIANT. For nearly every record we've sold for the past four years, I know exactly who bought it, and can let them know when there's new stuff or when we're playing near them, and so I've suddenly got pals all over the world I can meet at gigs! More of THAT, that's what I'd like please!
Phew, thanks Mr MJ! Any final message for Indie Mp3 readers?
Crikey, sorry for going on so long, well done you if you got to the end!
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