Fixers' first interview
- By Jack Preston -
- May 15, 2012
Ahead of the release of their debut album, We’ll Be The Moon, Fixers’ frontman Jack Goldstein talks to Red Room about his first times. Including falling through glass doors and not seeing eye to eye with the band’s label…
The first memory I have is walking through a glass door, well I must have tripped through it – I have a massive scar on my head. Although it’s interesting, I don’t know if that counts, as do I actually remember it? Or do I think I do because of this scar and being told about it? I'm unsure.
The first job I had was at a bowling alley near my parent’s house. I was a really overweight kid at the time and I couldn’t bowl for toffee.
The first album I bought. That’s tricky, as the only question which is now in my head is “what did I say the last time I was asked this?” To which the answer is, I have no idea. Which is quite cool as it means I can say whatever. I remember my Dad bought me Oasis and Blur cassette tapes, although I was mad on The Beatles. I know everyone says they were mad on The Beatles but I was next level mad, so it was probably a Beatles record.
The first Fixers song came from this song cycle thing that I’d made as a kid, it was done by myself on cassette and all sounded very haphazard, all very out of tune. I tried to play all the instruments myself and replicate the sounds on this bad Yamaha keyboard. A few of those songs became the first Fixers songs.
The first Fixers gig went really well. It was at Christmas and the venue was packed, we must have rounded up every single one of our friends, it was a lot of fun. We booked the show before we really even had a band together, I had persuaded the promoter and told him we had this whole Beach Boys thing. Then when it was sorted I realised what I’d got myself into and didn’t know what to do, it was something I’ll never forget. We spent four months practising for this one show and not looking anywhere else, it was an exhilarating experience.
The first Fixers review was a nice feeling. It was good to hear what people had to say, although journalists can be very over analytical. You can come in with a very simple idea and a journalist will explore it, completely rip it apart and come up with some meaning that you’d never thought about. That, to me, is really interesting. Reading your own reviews isn’t about being an arrogant motherfucker, it’s about learning. The first thing I learnt was to not beat myself up over bad reviews, that’s a fundamental.
The first film I saw at the cinema was Woody Allen’s ‘Everyone Says I Love You’, my Dad took me. I’m still a massive Woody Allen fan, I saw ‘Midnight in Paris’ recently and thought it was a great return to form. It’s an incredible film.
My first experiences writing music? I look back at everything I did pre-Fixers, and at times in Fixers, and think “what the hell was I doing?” I’m not ashamed of what I used to do, I was in a punk band. However I do look back and think I wasn’t very good at what I was doing. That music isn’t where I am right now.
Releasing the first album, We’ll Be The Moon, has brought a mixture of feelings. It feels like I’m in limbo. You just really want to get it out there as it doesn’t feel like we’re achieving anything at the moment and it doesn’t feel like there’s any momentum building. We’re really excited about the album coming out, we’ve done all our hard work and now it’s down to others to do their work.
Things can often get out of your hands. I’m in a band to make music and I know that I’ll be judged when I’m on the stage or when I put out music, which I profess to think is good enough that people should hear it. So in that sense it can be a positive, but having to compromise with people around you or the label is hard. There’s a sense that they’re breathing down your neck and that aspect feels like a negative. Unless you’re musically and aesthetically aligned with a label, which I don’t think we are, then you’re going to have a hard time with that.
Fixers debut album, We'll Be The Moon, is released on May 21st
Did you enjoy those first times? How about some more from; The Ting Tings, We Are Augustines, Katie Melua, The Jezabels, Sleigh Bells, Kyla La Grange, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Blood Red Shoes, Charlie Simpson, The Futureheads, Vanquish, Lostprophets, Tom Williams & The Boat, Andrew W.K., Ane Brun or Niki & The Dove?
By Jack Preston. Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
