English Script Request

Fink (F)： Hi this is Fink from 'Ninja Tune' and you are watching 'Toazted'

Interviewer （I): Could you first of all introduce yourself to us?

F: Yeah I'm Fink from 'Ninja Tune Records' in the UK.

And [uuh] I'm in [uuh] I'm in Holland promoting the new album [uuh] 'Distance and Time' to sell on October the first.

I: Why's it--

F: In 2007, because you might be seeing this in 2008 and in which case it's already out!

Go and get it!

I: Yeah. But [umm] it's called 'Distance in Time' [uuh] why's it called 'Distance and Time'?

F: Well you know like naming a band is really hard, right?

Really difficult and like naming an album is also really really tough.

And we came up with so many names for the album, like are we going to call it something that describes our feelings or something abstract?

And we just went round and round and round and round for ages.

I: Hmm

F: And at the end of the day we just wanted to pick a lyric off the album that summed up our experience as a band.

And we spent most of last year on the road touring, which is awesome.

But you know it means that you are away from the people that you love a lot and... when you're not touring you're rehearsing or writing or doing promo.

So you don't have much time for the people that you want to be with and you're always miles away from... you're always thousands of miles away from your home and... and we just all three of us kind of thought that 'Distance and Time' kind of summed up our experience while we were writing the album. You know?

And it's, you know, it's... there's a track on the album called 'So Many Roads' which is like a touring track.

It's about touring.

And you know, all musicians do I guess.

It's like having a ballad or a... or a...or a... you know, a happy song, it's a tour song.

And [umm] and it was just like, yeah 'Distance in Time' is, we're testing all of our relationships with everybody.

You know even...even with like [uhh] your parents or something.

And they call you up and go "when are we going to see you? you're never around!"

And it's like, I'm miles away and I don't have any time.

You know? And it just...

I: Yeah

F: For me and the drummer, Tim, and the bass player, Guy... you know, touring is hard on your relationships. You know? Back home.

So it just kind of summed it up.

I: Okay. You tour with a band but you write all the songs yourself. Isn't that kind of strange or something?

F: Well... no not really. Because yeah I might write the songs on an acoustic guitar in a really basic way.

I: Yeah

But, you know, I don't write the drums, I don't write the bass and...and [uhh] the process is that yeah okay maybe I write the songs... [umm] the lyrics and some of the melodies and the choruses and whatever.

But that's all it is. You know?

It's like the difference between if you see me doing an acoustic set.

That's what the song started as.

When you hear the album or see us as a band, it's like a different thing.

So, you know, when it comes to the legal cutting of the tracks, everybody owns... owns them.

Because I think that, you know, when I give the raw song to Tim, the drummer, or Guy, the bass player, then they bring something that I don't bring to the song.

I: Yeah

So yeah I might have written the words, but without Tim's wicked drum beats or Guy's really deep bass lines, it changes the track.

So then it's not just my song any more.

You know, it might be my song when I play it on my own, but with the band, it's like yeah it's totally different, you know.

Yeah we are a band, but yeah but yeah I write the songs.

But also my band they don't want to do... they don't want to do this kind of stuff.

They don't really want to do interviews and press shots and...

I: Okay

F: Lucky them.

You know? They... right now they are just chilling.

Yeah [uhh] having a nice time. You know?

So they're kind of cool with me taking all the heat and doing all the... the doing all the work.

And also I guess the strange situation is... I was already signed to 'Ninja Tune' as a solo guy, as a DJ producer.

And [umm] and so in a way, it kind of started with me on my own.

But... but it isn't me on my own any more.

I: Okay

F: It is kind of strange I guess.

But the more music we do together, the more we're a band.

My first album was me on my own.

My second album, 'Biscuits for Breakfast', was me but I was producing them.

And this new album is the three of us.

I: Oh yeah

Really equal, equal thing.

And the next album will probably be even more so [uhh] you know, yeah.

I: Yep. Well I've heard the first single [umm] this [umm] this thing.

It's just beautiful [umm] do all your songs have that [umm] relaxed vibe? That [uhh] yeah.

F: Yeah they probably do for now, yeah.

But we're trying to...trying to make... we're trying to make it sound bigger.

[umm] But then, you know, you could do... we could do every track starts all slow and ends up all massive if we wanted to.

And when we were writing this album, pretty much every track did that.

We had to be really quite careful that every track didn't start with me going "yeah" and then the kind of [...] at the end.

So, you know, they are quite mellow because we were in quite a mellow place when we wrote this.

Not mellow in the kind of "hey man, we're just chilling", but like mellow in as much as I think my voice is quite mellow, in a way when I sing.

And...and so we tried to do a sort of [...] stuff with me singing and it just sounded weird.

I think my voice dictates the style of the music, you know.

And one of the great things about the boys, in the band, is that they know how to play... they know what works with my voice.

More than I do.

I'll always suggest things and they'll be like "that's not going to work with your voice" and so I think that the voice guides you in and tells you what the sweet spot's going to be like.

The difficult thing is to not make the same song over and over again.