Almost Twenty Questions With...Cut Off Your Hands

As Cut Off Your Hands prepare to release their debut album, 'You and I', in early 2009, Gigwise thought it was about time to throw 'Almost Twenty Questions With...' at New Zealand's latest export. Here's what frontman Nick Johnston has to say about the album, the band's history and Phil Spector.

1. When did you first form the band/ start making music?

“In January 2006 we played our first show, it was in Auckland NZ.”

2. What would you describe as your first big break?

“I don’t think we've had a big break yet, we've had some fun times though. Highlights of the last couple years include playing festivals etc from Japan to Iceland, through Australia, USA, and winter tours in the south island of NZ when you drive over snowy mountains to get from town to town, and running round over frozen lakes”

3. Do you feel you get better recognition in the UK than at home in New Zealand?

“We've just released our first record in NZ so now they’re taking notice of what we're up to. But it wasn't til we had been signed over here that we were paid any attention from the NZ mainstream media, but the alternative press and kids who actually go to shows there have always been well supportive.”

4. Where did the idea for the name Shaky Hands and then Cut Off Your Hands come from?

“Shaky hands is a syndrome that I have after years of illness as a kid/teenager, it was a name of a solo project of mine before this band started... it was noisy no wave thing. This band started and we needed a name so decided to go with shaky hands as I already had a website etc. Cut off your hands comes from a headline in NZ Herald a few years back when a man high on a speed fuelled rampage cut off his friends limbs with a samurai sword. It was initially the name of our first EP as shaky hands, so when the Portland based band of the same name threatened to sue us if we didn’t change our name, the smartest thing we could do was switch titles, now the EP is titled Shaky Hands.”

5. What can listeners expect from your new album?

“It's bold energetic and really melodic, taking a lot of production influence from Phil Spector and other 50's-60's doo wop pop groups. Mostly it's a poppy punk rock album, however there's a couple really mellow songs which will catch people a bit off guard if they’re expecting 12 songs of balls to the wall 2 minute pop songs.”

6. How does it compare to your live sound, was it difficult to capture that energy on record?

“Our live sound is always more raw and less refined than our records, perhaps that is cos there's only 4 of us (essentially a 3 piece as I just sing live) and we don’t own any keyboards to play the synth lines etc. But this doesn't mean songs are compromised, I actually think it's an interesting challenge for us to recreate live the energy or the mood of each song with just the basic elements.”

7. How was working with Bernard Butler? Were you aware of any of his work in Suede or as a producer before you met him?

“Yeah, I was well aware of a lot of his work, however we just chose to work with him upon meeting him and what he had to say about our songs. He brings a lot to the arrangements of songs, we were both on a similar wave length most of the time so it was a real organic process.”

8. You've recently been on a massive University tour, where did you most enjoy playing?

“Preston was really fun for us, we always enjoy being up in Scotland as well, reminds off NZ perhaps?”

9. What country/ venue/ festival would you most like to play?

“It'd be a dream to play Coachella festival in California, but other than that we're all really keen to spend more time in Europe, we'll be next touring through France, Holland and Germany with Foals next month.”

10. You've toured with a wide range of bands, from So So Modern, Foals to Les Savy Fav and The Wombats. Are there any other bands that would like to collaborate or work with in the future?

“I love So So Modern, Foals and Les Savy Fav, and some of my best friends are in those bands, so yeah would happily work with any of them. There is a great band from Berlin called HTRK (hate rock trio) who are touring with Shellac through the UK soon, they're one of my favourites.”