The Long Blondes
Interview by Gemma Exley

How did the Long Blondes come about?
Kate: Well, the name is a homage to sassy silent screen stars and saucy ’70s crumpets. Between us we cover a lot of ground-
Reenie: -but we met and formed through boredom, feral desire and a lost-and-found library card.
Screech: Yes, the best ideas come from boredom and desperation. We were all bored of our old friends and desperate for new ones. We met in a public library arguing over who would take out the sole remaining copy of Guitar Playing for Beginners. It was Dorian who got it in the end, hence his choice of instrument. As for whose idea it was, no one seems keen to accept the blame.

2005 was a really quite busy year for you. Any highlights?
Screech: My highlights were a disused tile factory in Peckham, a houseboat in Sweden, a cake shop in New York and a palace in London. We kept day jobs throughout. I’m there now typing my answers, and the resentment gives me a headache.
Reenie: Oh yes, it’s been day jobs a-go-go. I would have had a nervous breakdown had my job been the least bit important to me.
Kate: Daytime employment for me involves walking around Sheffield city centre with bags full of eBay parcels quite frequently, thus increasing the risk of being recognized. I was allegedly spotted buying blank tapes in Music Zone the other day. Apparently I looked ‘rough.’

Surely not! You made #39 in the NME’s Hot List. They even said you had the best hair in rock. How do you handle such pressure?
Kate: I wear wigs.

You were quoted as saying, “We do not listen to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors or Bob Dylan.” Who do you listen to then? Lots of people have made Blondie references…
Screech: The Blondie thing is cool, though Kate needs to get better at rapping. We went to see them recently. Chris Stein was statuesque. In terms of recent acts, we are fickle creatures and difficult to please. Things that have got me tapping my foot recently include Good Shoes, Love Is All and Cause Co-Motion. The new Gossip single is great, as is the Jackson album; they’re both disco in very different ways. And I love Kanye West.
Kate: Yeah, I think people just compare us to Blondie because we have a female vocalist and it’s an easy reference point. Boring. I agree with Screech on Good Shoes, they are very special. We recently played with ShitDisco too who made me want to take Reenie by the hand in the crowd and praise the bass guitar.

There’s lots of talk about Sheffield as having a music scene. What do you think? Do you have any local heroes?
Screech: None of us grew up in Sheffield. We all gravitated there in the hope of meeting Pulp, whom we all fell in love with the moment their collective eyes met ours, peering out from the cover of His ‘n’ Hers. My bedroom wall is still covered with pictures of Jarvis. In terms of Sheffield now, we are non-scene, though the boredom and desperation that made us form is now less boring and desperate.
Emma: I don’t live in Sheffield, so I couldn’t comment on the scene there! I live in Leeds. I prefer gigging away from Shef – my fave gigs this year have been in Glasgow and Scarborough. In terms of a local hero, it was, and always will be, Jarvis.

Okay, in that case, being based in (or nearish to) Sheffield, how did you find all the touring last year? Did you spend the majority of your year in transit?
Reenie: We have done a lot of gigs recently, but sadly, we can’t call it a tour. We’ve had to fit in gigs around our day jobs, which means weekend gigs, or gigs in towns which aren’t too far away.
Kate: I am the only driver in the group, thank God. Would you trust that lot behind the wheel of a VW Caravelle? The Caravelle is my vehicle de choix. It’s a nine-seater, automatic, available for hire in a range of exotic colours, including a delightful banana yellow. There’s nothing quite like escaping the sticky carpets of Camden in a Caravelle and bombing it up the M1 at 3am. No traffic, just empty open road from Watford Gap to Leicester Forest. Ah, beautiful.

As well as your own dates, you’ve had some great support slots. How were they?
Reenie: We love supporting. Expectations are low, and you are on stage nice and early.
Emma: Our support slots have been some of my fave gigs of the year.
Kate: We just supported Franz at Alexandra Palace, which was unbelievable. Edinburgh with Sons and Daughters was also a highlight, as was Scarborough with Maximo Park. All lovely, lovely people.

So what will the Long Blondes be doing for the rest of the year?
Emma: We can’t wait to have some more time recording and rehearsing. There is a lot of new material to perfect before we do some more touring.
Screech: Yes, though hopefully not much more ‘day jobbing’. My New Year’s resolutions are to learn to play an instrument and to give up smoking.
Kate: Planes, trains and Caravelles… Iced coffee at JFK and Red Bull at South Mimms. It’s all possible.