Hi Becky and Simon, thanks for doing this interview, how are you doing?
Great thanks, things are getting better after a turbulent year for both of us personally.
What was the reason for both of you to achieve a career as musician?
(Simon) I started listening to music at a very young age. I was into things like Bowie from the age of 5, and grew up in the UK between the 70’s & 90’s being exposed to some of the great music movements such as Punk, New Wave, Early Electronica, Acid House & Techno. Music has always been a massive influence on me, was something I had always wanted to do and I still feel a passion for it today. It’s quite a compulsion.
(Becky) For me music has always been in my life, my Dad was in a band for 25 years and my earliest
memories are going to gigs with my mum and opening the curtains on the stage for his band. I was brought up around music and was always encouraged to perform. I did the obligatory school shows and had drama classes with friends. It was all I ever wanted to do, something that comes as naturally as breathing, if I couldn’t sing I would have nothing, that is how deeply it runs for me.
Simon, you did gain some attention with the band “Beats per minute” what happened with that band? How do you look back on that period of time?
BPM had really started to run its course after we’d recorded 8 songs. All of the songs we’d done had a similar theme of “I love you, You Love Me, We’ve broken up” etc. I’d wanted to take the songs in a darker direction and the themes of the lyrics that were being given to me by Rachel were repeating themselves. The main thing BPM did was help me hone my songwriting and composition skills and gave me the confidence I needed to move forward.
When “Beats per minute” stopped what did you do, did you already had plans for another project?
I’d recorded a couple of demos for BPM that we couldn’t do anything with and I’d also met Becky during this time and suggested we do some collaboration. One of the songs that I’d intended for BPM suited some lyrics Becky already had and became our first song, “Dark Pleasures”. We then started writing again and came up with “Hunter”.
Becky, you are a trained vocalist, I know vocal lessons can be pretty hard sometimes. How do you look back on your training and what is the valuable thing you have learned that is still useful these days?
(Becky) I can honestly say it was the best money I have ever spent. What I learnt more than anything is the importance of looking after my voice, it wasn’t just standing there doing scales, lessons were more than that. I had intensive training with one of the top vocal coaches in the UK and it has proved invaluable to me, I still practice vocal training exercise’s today to keep my voice strong and healthy.
(Simon) I’m also undergoing vocal training with the same coach that taught Becky, and I agree that it does take time and dedication, even though sometimes time can be very hard to find. As someone who had a complete fear of singing I appreciate what it takes. Once you get the feel and love for it, it’s something that you want to do more and more. It’s certainly made me feel better about myself and I’m now not contented to be the silent one behind the synths anymore as there are things I want to express with my own voice.
What are sources of inspiration / role models for both of you?
We both gain inspiration from our lives and experiences of the past and present. We also take influences from film and TV, hence the song, “Did you find sanctuary?” The 70’s cult film, Logan’s Run, inspired this. “Queen of the Dancefloor” was inspired by reality TV shows such as The X Factor. We want our songs to come from a real place lyrically so that when we perform them live we can bring an element of ourselves to the show.
For me (Becky) I didn’t have any one particular role model, it was watching “Top of the Pops” that made me want to become a singer, I would sit at home and wish it was me up there. Unfortunately the show has been scrapped so my childhood dreams of being on it have been squashed.
(Simon) For me also, it was watching “Top of the Pops”. Appearing on that iconic programme was an ambition for most young bands and musicians in the UK as it was something that everyone had grown up with. I would watch duos like Pet Shop Boys and bands like New Order and Depeche Mode during the 80s & 90’s and I would want to do the same thing. I’d say the two main influences for me were at different ends of the spectrum. On one side, I’d have John Lydon (Johnny Rotten) for his “I don’t give a fuck” attitude and on the other, I’d have Jean Michel Jarre for his mastery and experimentation with synths.
You met each other through a radio show that Simon was hosting, how did it lead to forming a band together after this?
(Becky) I was looking for a new direction with my music, a new challenge, as I was becoming bored with the style of music that I was doing. Running into Simon one night at a local bar, we got chatting and we decided to collaborate on a song together. He was still with BPM at this point and we had no plans to make a band together. After we wrote and recorded “Hunter”, we decided we had something special and formed the band.
What things shape Future Perfect identity and sound?
(Simon) Mainly, it’s the differences in our tastes of music that eventually shapes how the songs sound. My love of experimentation with different genres of electronica. Messing with different sounds, layering dance beats and basslines, sampling, sci-fi movies and using real world found sounds, i.e. shortwave radio interference and Numbers Stations. Combining this with Becky’s pop sensibilities allows us to find a middle ground, which has potential to reach many different audiences. The instrumentation I use also use also has a big part on how the music sounds, using a combination of software synths with old school samplers and analogue synths. It’s this mixture of new and old technology that makes our sound quite distinctive.
How would you describe the sound of Future Perfect?
Like mentioned above, it’s the mixture of the electronics and experimental sounds combined with soulful and passionate vocals, unlike most of our contemporaries who use a more deadpan vocal. We use quite a lot of vocal layering and harmonies/ad-libs that give a more pop feel. The fact that on some songs we both use our voices is distinctive, as this is something that synth duos generally don’t do. What we are not is a retro band. Our music could be described as dark, but uplifting, or as someone once described our sound, “dance music for the True Blood generation”
How does the composing of music go, do you always follow the same path?
It’s generally what takes our influence at the time. Sometimes it may come from playing a riff on the keyboard or building up drum patterns. The opening track of DLS, “Poisoned Love” contains a synth riff that came to Becky in a dream. We built the whole track around that riff. Sometimes inspiration comes from a single phrase in a set of lyrics. There’s no single formula we use.
Becky, what are your lyrics about, how do you work on them, do they come naturally or do you have to put a lot of effort in it?
Our lyrics are about things that affect or inspire us in life. When it comes to lyrics, it’s really a true collaborative effort. A whole set of lyrics can sometimes come to one of us which is then looked at with different eyes and gets changed slightly. Trying to put the lyrics to music can sometimes result in significant changes to its structure or composition, sometimes however, they fit perfectly. Lyrics must come naturally otherwise it feels forced and un-natural which is something we fight against. If something feels like it’s not working, we either abandon it or look at it another time with a fresh set of eyes.
You just released your debut album “Dirty little secrets” can you explain the album title?
It was a comment from someone we know through Facebook who mentioned that they wouldn’t want to be famous because it would mean that all of their “Dirty Little Secrets” would be made public. We thought this was a great title for the album and it stuck. We also used the phrase in our song “Second Skin”
What can you tell about the making of the album, was it an easy process?
Yes. It was an easy process. It took just over a year from start to finish, working on it whenever we could. Most of the songs were written and demoed in Simon’s garden shed/studio with some others worked on in a spare room in the house. Once we had solid demos ready we took them into a local studio to work with a brilliant producer called Russ Hayes. He helped us finalize the tracks and give them that extra something.
The album has a very good flow, how did you manage to get this flow?
Once all the tracks were finished we tried different combinations until we were happy with the flow. We approached it as if we were going to buy the album and what we would like to hear.
You are already working on a new album, what things will you do differently, what are the lessons you have learned from recording “dirty little secrets”? What kind of progress can be heard?
It’s really too early to say yet, because each song takes it own feel and life when we write it
Simon will be doing a lot more vocals on the album and Becky will be more involved in the music and composition process. We will also be using a lot more real world found samples and sampling our voices to use as instruments. Some songs will be lighter in tone but there will be also an underlying dark element to the lyrics due to some things that we have gone through over the year personally.
You did release this album by yourself, why is this? And how do you feel now about releasing an album yourself, must be a lot of work to make it but also to do the promo and so on?
At this stage in our career we wanted the artistic freedom to find out who we are as a band. It’s really hard to get a good record deal these days so instead of spending all our energy on label chasing we wrote an album of our own backs. We are now at a stage where we will start looking to get some kind of deal as it’s so hard to get anywhere without the backing of a record company.
To be honest we’ve not really promoted the album as much as we should yet, we’ve become known through the medium of the web via Facebook, Myspace and YouTube. We’ve had people asking to review the album and to remix the tracks, if we can gain a following like this without promotion imagine how many new fans we can gain once we really start pushing!
What will be next for Future Perfect?
Pushing the promotion of “Dirty little secrets”, a new photo shoot, website revamp and looking for gigs wherever we can. We would love to do some festivals next summer. We are working on the next album entitled “Escape” and whatever comes our way :)
Any last words for the readers?
We’d love it if you could buy the album, we don’t think you’ll be disappointed!
Check out our video’s on our website www.futureperfect.org.uk and many thanks to those who already support us.