dubstar

words sam richards . lensman darren ferriera . oarsman ian miller

They make perfect pop for the 90s. They're one of the few bands to convincingly merge traditional song structures with dance rhythms. Thev got a record deal after only six months together. They've stirred up controversy and they've got in the charts. Just how do Dubstar do it?

With a pretty much unheralded arrival in the charts of 1995, Dubstar have continued to plough a pure pop furrow in which their only real progenitors are St Etienne and the Pet Shop Boys. Let it be known, however, that Dubstar are no transient, soulless opportunists, nor are they studio recluses. They are a band good and proper, complete with all the grimy rehearsal-room banter which that implies.

What tends to separate Dubstar from other bands is the originality of their songwriting approach. The classic guitar-based format of groups like The Smiths is allied to drum sounds borrowed from the dancefloor without a hint of incongruity. Their songs have a sparkling, glacial feel, at once both hazily distant and bitingly immediate. Thoughtful arrangements emphasise the poignant, often painfully frank lyrics. in essence, Dubstar are powerfully delicate, an impressive feat in anyone's terms.

Chris Wilkie, Dubstar's guitarist and the man who cites Johnny Marr and Robin Guthrie among his inspirations, claims that the idea of traditional songs with a dance base came naturally:
"We haven't ever contrived a genre for ourselves. The songs come first, and then suggest a style to us as we write them."

The topic is expanded upon by programmer, keyboardist and "the bald guy who skins up Silk Cut ultra lights", Steve Hillier.
"If the lyrics were introspective and melancholy, then you'd have to write a sensitive arrangement to compliment the song. Ghost, from the new album, ended up as virtually an acoustic track for that very reason."

"I found it very hard to sing without crying," adds Sarah Blackwood, she of the backroom-to-ballroom vocal melodrama.

Chris: "In contrast, there's I Will Be Your Girlfriend where Sarah plays a very confident character, and the sound of the song is much harder."

RHYTHM NATION
Too many bands these days view songs and rhythms as separate entities. Dance acts become tedious when hooks are merely added as an afterthought; rock bands all too often compose complete songs on an acoustic, finally adding rudimentary drums to play along in time. Steve is in charge of Dubstar's beats and arrangements, but he recognises that this is far more than a case of underscoring a melody with a drum pattern.

"It is a temptation when you're programming to fill up all the space you have and lose a sense of dynamics. I'm very aware that I have to leave room in my arrangements for the guitar and vocal parts."

"I think it's a balance we're only just beginning to get right," says Chris, candidly.

"We've never really been a dance band," explains Steve. "We leave all that to the remixers. The programming is meant to be complimentary to the song, not intrusive. I tend not to spend hours searching for a particular snare sound - if the song isn't there in the first place, a snare drum is not going to save it."

It's immediately obvious that Dubstar are very intelligent: astute enough to be able to analyse their own songwriting process, but sensitive enough to let it flow naturally in practice.

Steve: "What actually comes first is the idea. It could be a piano line, a guitar line, a lyrical snippet or even just a lyrical subject. I think what makes Dubstar unique is that there is no set pattern for songwriting. Find your inspiration where you can, because there's not much of it around."

"You can take a cue from other music," continues Chris. "For instance, there's a song on Goodbye in which we've basically pinched someone else's melody and placed it in a new context. But I'm not telling you which one it is heheheheh!"

Steve and Chris both agree that as soon as composing becomes a routine, then you're in trouble.

"Sometimes your best tunes appear in yourr head when you're away from any instruments," says Chris. "If you always start by sitting at a piano or a guitar and try to force the tunes out, then you become bound by technique and all your songs will sound similar to each other."

Since writing the debut LP, Disgraceful, which was largely conceived together in Steve's bedroom, the band have all moved to different areas of the country. They meet to write, rehearse and record under a variety of different circumstances and thus can draw on a range of environments for inspiration. Steve concedes that this is a luxury that most new bands cannot afford, but from the way he speaks of past band experiences (cramped, depressing living rooms with drawn curtains promoting damaging self-consciousness), Dubstar's current position is liberating.

"When we do reconvene, there's a sense of elation like a family reunion, and that feeling inspires us."

Sarah: "I think living in the same house as the rest of your band would drive you nuts. Unless you're the Monkees."

Steve: "If you lock yourselves away from the outside world, then you have nothing to bring to your lyrics or your interviews. We'll leave that to Oasis."

SHOOTING STARS
Of course, Dubstar did begin, like everyone, "sat around in a room with a little four-track." Their rise to fame, however, was more rapid than most. When the debut single Stars began to receive heavy Evening Session rotation and a subsequent Top 40 placing, everyone was wondering where Dubstar appeared from.

"It's true, we were fortunate," Steve admits. "We were only together as Dubstar for about six months before we got signed."

Not only did Dubstar blossom after a very short germination period, they also managed to avoid heavy press coverage until after successful single releases, as Sarah elaborates.

"Publicity early in your career can be counterproductive. Admittedly it's very seductive to see your name in print or to hear it said to a million people over the radio - I used to buy several copies of any paper which mentioned my name - but ultimately it can be destructive."

"Take a band like Orlando," says Chris. They had their personalities developed in the Melody Maker for a year before anyone even had a chance to hear their music. When they did finally release a proper record, it was a huge anti-climax."

It seems to be a prevailing philosophy that bands need to gig furiously in order to get noticed by record companies. Dubstar did play gigs prior to being signed, but Sarah claims she had only sung live eight times before embarking on a national tour to promote Disgraceful. Rather than using gigs as a showcase, Dubstar found that the prospect of live performance was an incentive to write more new songs.

"You know when you go through that phase when you meet up on the day of a gig and try to write a new song to play that evening?" asks Sarah. "It was like that.

Steve nods in agreement: "We spent two months smoking, drinking and writing furiously just to fulfil our gig commitments. It gave us a real focus."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Still, Dubstar were offered a deal by Parlophone subsidiary Food without the label having seen them play, or indeed without having even met the band. Their manager took a tape to London, played the label a quarter of it, and returned home with a contract. Dubstar find this whole episode rather amusing.

Chris: "He wasn't even our manager at this stage. He was just a bloke!"

Sarah: "We didn't even know he had our tape. We thought we'd wait five years until we had loads and loads of songs."

Steve: "Having said that, the first songs on the tape were Stars, Anywhere and Elevator Song. They didn't need to listen to any more, they had three singles already! I'rn so glad that we didn't waste our time just hopefully sending off demos to record companies. No bands ever get signed that way."

It is becoming apparent that Steve is the most considered member of the trio. Possibly older than the others, it's undoubtedly his industry nous which has put the group in ich a strong position. Witness this nugget of advice for aspiring stars:
"New bands should be very wary of the maxim that all exposure is good exposure, because it's not really true. You will only be allowed a few chances to impress, and it's important to rehearse your songs so that when you do have a chance to play live, or to approach record companies, you have material which does you justice. The fact that your friends like you when you play in the pub means bollocks."

Strong words. But are they masking the fact that Dubstar got lucky landing a record contract without the effort that gigging involved?

"We wanted to tour anyway, even though it may not have been necessary once signed," contests Chris. "It gives a stronger impression of the group, and allows you to become a better player. You also get a chance to see who your audience are and how they react."

Steve echoes the sentiment. "I think that if you want to be taken seriously by the press and more importantly by the "indie" punters, then you I ve got to play live - even if you're not very good, at least it shows you're willing and sincere about your music."

NORTHERN SOUL
We've talked about arrangements, but the most striking and immediate feature of Dubstar's music is the voice of Sarah Blackwood. By steadfastly refusing to conceal her northern accent, the stark honesty, the remorse, the frustration and the wary optimism of the lyrics are convincing rather than distracting. Managing to create such an emotive vocal sound must surely be difficult in the typically dry studio environment?

"It's easy with the right material, particularly if I've got a song that really moves me like No More Talk does. The studio is the perfect place to hear the songs properly, and the perfect place to perform at your best. After years of singing along to records in my bedroom with my Mum shouting at me to turn that bloody racket down, being able to sing in a proper studio is wonderful.
"Actually, in the studio where we recorded When You Say Goodbye, they've got these stone rings on the cooker which don't light up when they're hot. So I'm there going, 'which one have I switched on? I don't know I've put my hand on the lit ring and it went red and sore, so I sang the song with one hand stuck in a bowl of ice."
Chris: "And that is one bitter song..."
Sarah: "Yeah, so being in pain helps. I usually close my eyes in order to block everything else out, so that nothing matters except the song. Stephen Hague, our producer, puts aromatherapy oils in the room to clear my sinuses, and he keeps the room humid so that it's good for my throat and chest."

LASHING OUT
Undoubtedly, the release of Goodbye will propel Dubstar to the next level of stardom. Following No More Talk's success, particularly as a massive radio hit, the record company are keen to install Dubstar as a national institution and presumably it will be Sarah who is going to feel the full glare of the media spotlight.

"Well I'm quite lucky because no-one recognises me once I've taken off my false eyelashes! People just ignore me in the supermarket. They're like a special Sarah Dubstar mask."

Chris warms to the idea: "Maybe we should all have facemasks, they could be made out of latex..."
Steve laughs when I suggest we are heading towards the realm of the kinky. "Actually, we were thinking about having a rubber mask on the cover of the single, No More Talk see? But that S&M angle might have been the wrong message to give, particularly in the light of the Disgraceful sleeve."

If you remember, the artwork courted controversy by featuring a fluffy pencil case manipulated to resemble the female genitalia.

"There are people fully expecting to see a cock on the cover of the second album," deadpans Chris.

All bands have to have grand ambitions, but it is hardly Dubstar's style to want to fill stadia. Since perfect pop is their chosen oeuvre, surely they must view a number one single as the projected career pinnacle?

"Not if it means being the most mediocre thing in the charts," counters Sarah.

Chris: "But presumably we'd want the number one while still remaining as the Dubstar we know and love."

Sarah: "Yeah, that would be very nice."

Steve is typically unflappable: "You have to have a number one at the right time in your career. If you're not ready for it, it can fuck you up. It must be such a buzz, though, knowing that your single is the most popular in any particular week."
Dubstar are consistently calm, reflective and even gently self-mocking. They seem genuinely excited to be around each other and are at ease with each other's roles in the band: Sarah is the "face" of the group, but this makes sense because she is the most photogenic; Steve talks the most about songwriting but this makes sense because he writes the majority of the music. In short, they are perfectly organised. But anyone who thinks that this betrays a lack of soul and passion is deeply misguided. Under the surface, Dubstar are as determined as a band who have just written their first song and still endorse the unsullied power of great pop.

"I was getting cynical about the whole music business two weeks ago," says Sarah, "and then I watched The Commitments.
"Now the romance of a having number one single has returned. I really think it would be great."

dubstar's main songwriter, Steve Hillier, takes us through the new album Goodbye track by track