The Alps - they make things better...

Two years is a long time to struggle in today’s Fireworks band environment where band’s are discovered, produced and chucked out in all of eight months. Yet The Alps are very much not jumping on the bandwagon of the current ‘eighties indie revival. "We get this thing about the ‘eighties revival movement as well but we’ve never gone near the synth stuff….its a raw four piece sound which makes it more timeless."

So far so good, sounds like we’re in for a Clash-Jam-Smiths type sound, something the addictive sound of their brilliant single, "World at War" definitely leer towards with its great melodies. Lead singer Daniel (a typical tall, thin, Nordic blonde, Indie rake of a man), clearly knows where the band stand and doesn’t care who knows it. However Gigwise can’t help feeling they’ve heard this sales patter before - so why are The Alps bigger and better?

"It’s questions like that that it’s not for me or the band to answer. You just try and do your own thing and hope it is better. When you’re new you’re always compared to something else and pigeonholed, and it takes a while for you to stamp through an identity."

Indeed comparisons are rife ranging from Bloc Party to Franz Ferdinand. "The Franz Ferdinand thing is partly a visual thing… we’re not consciously trying to copy them, but we maybe do draw some of the same influences" Hardly surprising really given that they’re all the same age, but what has made The Alps go in the direction they have? Daniel cites his enjoyment of Buddy Holly and Billy Fury, "maybe that’s where we get the 3 ½ minute pop song", and also praises an early love of Morrissey (their dream support gig) and Pulp, ("lyrically Jarvis Cocker’s amazing"). He admits however to not seeing the point of Led Zeppelin; "it’s a bit finger gymnastics".

"I mean we just try and write a decent tune really… they’re all sort of songs you can sit down with an acoustic guitar or piano and actually play it as a song. It’s not just like a riff."

Daniel is quick to head off accusations of comparisons with a band that could perhaps be accused of just having a riff, their namesake 9 Black Alps.