What's The Word? - We Are Scientists

“It’s not going well at all. I think we sold a total of like 100 tickets for the entire tour, so the egg is on our faces,â€� says We Are Scientists’ frontman Keith Murray of their latest sold out UK Tour. Of course nothing is further from the truth and in fact some of the gigs like their Birmingham one had to be upgraded to larger venues, and more dates were added due to popular demand. “Leeds last night was one of the smallest shows but it was probably the rowdiest we’ve had.  At the end of the show I got pulled into the crowd and somebody stole my shoe, and it was the only shoe that I had.  These were actually given to me last night by Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs because he was there and he pitted me,â€� he recalls pointing to his shoes. “That’s the mark of how good the show wasâ€�.

Last time the mighty Scientists were in the country they were on the road with the Mystery Jets, Arctic Monkey and Maximo Park. Is there any scandal he’d like to share? “There was scandal galore,â€� reports the singer and guitar, and you almost believe he’s going to tell you some juicy tales of backstage debauchery. “I believe it was actually in Birmingham Academy.  I walked in, flipped on the lights only to find Chris (Cain) our bass player making out furiously with Kai, bass player of the Mystery Jets.  I turned on the lights and I was like, guys what are you doing!  They both looked at each other and shouted in horror. They thought they were kissing their own girlfriend.  Given that Chris has a moustache, it doesn’t speak very highly of Kai’s girlfriend, who I’ve met and is lovely and is really rather hairlessâ€�. 

WAS fans know by now to take the more outlandish claims they make in interviews with a pinch of salt, so it can be assumed that there was no inter band snogging going on, but one thing that did happen was that Murray accepted the Arctic Monkey’s Brit Award for Best Breakthrough Artist as though he was a member of their band.  Most impressive of all is that the cheeky monkeys got away with it. 

“Given how big they are they’re still relatively anonymous in some ways,â€� he states.  “I don’t mean to slate the Brit Awards but I can imagine that they’re not up on what the kids are listening to.â€� So it wasn’t because the Sheffield foursome’s egos had blown all out of control and they couldn’t be bothered to make a speech themselves? “No, not at all I think they just thought it was funnyâ€�.

We Are Scientists all met at University in Claremont in California and started of as something of a novelty band. On graduation Keith, Chris and drummer Michael Tapper relocated to Brooklyn New York.  They did a showcase at 2005’s South By Southwest, managed to grab the attention of Radio 1 DJ Steve Lamacq which led them to over here, the UK.  Their collection of exuberant pop punk tunes on their debut album With Love & Squalor such as the instantly catchy ‘The Great Escape’ and not to mention their off the wall humorous content of their official website have won them a loyal following on this side of the pond.