Its takes an exceptional amount of fortitude to commit yourself to your art. Musicians that spend their lives trying to make it are all too common and those who do quite the opposite. Having once reached the apparent promise land once before with the massively influential Idlewild, Rod Jones has re-embraced the indie spirit with The Birthday Suit, who's new album drops next week and were cool enough to talk to us.
How did The Birthday Suit come about?
It was really born out of my second solo album. When I started to write it I realised that it was sounding more like a band record and so I needed to get more people involved. some of the musicians had toured my first solo album and some were friends from Edinburgh who i knew would fit in.
What I really like about you guys is from you how put yourself across you've very much relished in the opportunity to build The Birthday Suit from the ground up as apposed to riding the coat tails of Idlewild. Is it an active decision to keep things more DIY?
I think I was always keen to have our own identity. Obviously it made sense to make idlewild fans aware of the new band but I feel it a totally different entity which needed to grow its own fanbase aswell. The DIY approach was really just about keeping control of what we do and doing things at a pace that feels comfortable. Its alot more work but it all on our own terms which is definitely refreshing.
In terms of your audience, was it the case where you had to build it from scratch or has there been a good transition of fans from your previous work?
There have been a few fans who have come along for the ride so as to speak from idlewild but mainly its been a steady building of our own new fans. I don't expect crowds to be the same as they were with idlewild to start with as it is a new band and we are just getting going. It can be hard work sometimes but all the more rewarding when it pays off.
With having a solid body of work behind you, how was recording the new album?
It was quite freeing actually. Knowing that I was getting more comfortable a a frontman and singing in this genre I felt able to try new things. I'm really proud of the results.
At the risk of being blunt, something pretty shitty happened to yourselves this week regarding your last tour?
Yeah. Its a difficult situation regarding money going missing from our past dates and us being left out of pocket. We are going to try and turn it round by doing a fundraiser gig in Edinburgh on 19th Dec at Electric Circus. http://tbsfundraiser.brownpapertickets.com/ Its best not to go into too much detail as it pretty boring but suffice to say it is pretty crappy when bands (not just us) are getting shafted by those they trust when its hard enough to make a living in music these days. (I'd like to say also though that Colin Keenan our agent was not the man at fault here. He was hoodwinked along with the rest of us, is a great guy and agent and we will continue to work with him at his new agency JL booking agency).
What's next for The Birthday Suit?
We are supporting the Xcerts in Scotland in Dec and plan to tour the UK again in march with a single release.
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