The Answering Machine Ate Our Biscuits

A more derivatively rock ‘n’ roll sort might have thrown that monitor straight out of – or indeed through – the nearest window. But not our Pat. “I nearly knocked a computer off a desk,” winces The Answering Machine’s cagouled guitarist, a frown appearing as much in apology to the people at Heavenly Records – whose office party his drunken antics almost disgraced – as it is to the spirit of Moon, Bonham and the rest of the balls-out hellraisers whose shadows darken the corridors of rock apocryphia. “I should have just done it, for the story… ”

Pat needn’t worry. Anyone who has been to see or has heard The Answering Machine will have learnt enough to know we’re not dealing with Guns ‘n’ Roses here. Who wants smackheads in kilts when we can have jangling love songs, drum machines and, er, chocolate biscuits? This Manchester three-piece certainly don’t. Brought together in late 2005 by a mutual love of Brendan Benson and a shared distaste for a particular lecturer while studying for their degrees, Martin (vocals and guitar), Pat (guitar) and Gemma (bass) went to play pool, came up with a band name and started writing songs together that Martin says “sounded like The Strokes”.

After months of practicing with no drummer (“We wanted a tight drummer like Fab Moretti, but no-one came forward,” Martin explains. “Maybe… if he’s reading?”), The Answering Machine simply had to get out and gig their songs. So, in came Mustafa Beat, a scruffy little machine from the backstreets of Ancoats (that’s how Gigwise likes to imagine him anyway) with an Echo fixation (ask your Dad), swiftly followed by High Voltage Sounds – home to such rising stars as The KBC, The Former Bullies and, at one point, The Longcut.

“Richard (Cheetham, the brains behind the HV label, night and fanzine) was in touch with us really early on, wanting to help us out. He’s a really nice guy,” says Martin. Having heard the self-produced 'Cities and Sorrows' EP, the label with the tightest jeans in Manchester wanted to give the band with the cuddliest songs a crack. 'Oklahoma”/“The Hold Up', a double-sided assault of sugar-coated, melodic indie driven along by a metronomic crunch, came out in August 2006, selling out in its 7” format. Dates with Good Shoes, The Young Knives, Captain, The Rumble Strips, The Little Ones and, memorably, Polytechnic (“We admire them so much, they’re such an influence on us,” gushes Martin) followed – but now, the hard work is about to begin all over again.

“We’re mixing four tracks at the moment – we’re not sure if it’ll all come out,” says Gemma, drawing a sip from a bucket-sized mug of herbal tea (“we’re not very rock ‘n’ roll!” she confides with a grin). “We’re working with Robin at Ampersand Studios – he’s a great producer who’s worked with Liam Frost and Polytechnic, and he’s making us sound better than we’ve ever sounded,” enthuses Martin. Potential lead tracks are 'Answer Me' – which featured on the first demo – and a track called 'Silent Hotels', though the band rather fancy the idea of sticking it all out on one EP. Once the mix is finished, there’s the task of finding the right label to put it out and then the possibility of a tour.