Interview with BBCi, February 2004
2nd of March 2004, 10:50 am
The Vichy Government have acquired a infamous reputation for their provocative live show and their Casio Nihilist sound, which marries the lean pop hooks of 60s girl-groups to the polemic of Swift and C?line. Manics biographer Simon Price has hailed them as 'the most offensive band in Britain' and Hot Press described their Carrion Camping as 'album of the year'.
What's behind the name of the band?
We thought it was a great name for a pop group; it's that simple. However boring rock music's traditional notions of 'excess' are to us, the fact is that there's too much politeness in pop music, too many Coldplays. If anyone wants to think that we're fascists, let them think that- we're encouraging people to say the unsayable. In pop, blandness is the worst sort of war crime.
Any other gigs in the pipeline?
On the 6th of March we headline at The Fan Club, a synthpop mecca based in the fried chicken wastelands of Camden Town, and on the 7th we will perform before the mullet-headed simpletons of Shoreditch at a new club called Electrocution.
How stoked are you to support the Scissor Sisters?
I think they should be 'stoked'that their Belfast support is the most important group to ever emerge from the wretched place. It'll be an evening of five-star entertainment, but it won't change our lives- it'll be back to our low-status jobs on Tuesday morning.
What's planned next for the band?
The Vichy Government could hardly be less careerist. If someone asks us to play at their night, we do a gig. When we have another gig we feel obliged to write one or two new songs, and sometimes people ask us to come and record with them. However, our d?but single will be out some time around May on Fosse 8, a new label named after a WWI graveyard.
Explain your desire to be in a band and perform live.
Everyone needs a hobby, and it's one of the more amusing ways in which you can kill time. We've seen so many people who shouldn't be in a band, but still feel the need to jump onstage and spread their aural muck over themselves and everyone watching. We're passionate about pop music and we want to redress the balance a bit. The punters pay to see you and your job is to entertain them- we're not the kind of group who could ever stand there and masturbate for 40 minutes.
We thought it was a great name for a pop group; it's that simple. However boring rock music's traditional notions of 'excess' are to us, the fact is that there's too much politeness in pop music, too many Coldplays. If anyone wants to think that we're fascists, let them think that- we're encouraging people to say the unsayable. In pop, blandness is the worst sort of war crime.
Any other gigs in the pipeline?
On the 6th of March we headline at The Fan Club, a synthpop mecca based in the fried chicken wastelands of Camden Town, and on the 7th we will perform before the mullet-headed simpletons of Shoreditch at a new club called Electrocution.
How stoked are you to support the Scissor Sisters?
I think they should be 'stoked'that their Belfast support is the most important group to ever emerge from the wretched place. It'll be an evening of five-star entertainment, but it won't change our lives- it'll be back to our low-status jobs on Tuesday morning.
What's planned next for the band?
The Vichy Government could hardly be less careerist. If someone asks us to play at their night, we do a gig. When we have another gig we feel obliged to write one or two new songs, and sometimes people ask us to come and record with them. However, our d?but single will be out some time around May on Fosse 8, a new label named after a WWI graveyard.
Explain your desire to be in a band and perform live.
Everyone needs a hobby, and it's one of the more amusing ways in which you can kill time. We've seen so many people who shouldn't be in a band, but still feel the need to jump onstage and spread their aural muck over themselves and everyone watching. We're passionate about pop music and we want to redress the balance a bit. The punters pay to see you and your job is to entertain them- we're not the kind of group who could ever stand there and masturbate for 40 minutes.