APACHE BEAT
Interview by Josh Jones
Images by Kava Gorna

It’s a Sunday. It was my birthday on Friday; I haven’t slept for three days. I’m wearing the same clothes I left the house in all that time ago and a pair of very necessary aviators. I feel like I’ve been chewed and spat out into some broken glass, and I’ve traipsed all across London to Mile End in the East End to meet Apache Beat. Stumbling into their stunning lead singer Ilirjana Alushaj, my arrival signals an excuse for her to get away from an impressively drunk, yet surprisingly ambitious suitor. Waiting for the rest of the band, we watch in awe as the dude’s bladder empties about eight litres of piss on to the floor.

When they all arrive, I find that Apache Beat is made up of five disparate characters from different areas of NYC: Christina Aceto (synthesizer) and her brother Philip (guitar), Mike Dos Santos (bass), Neil Westgate (drums/percussion) and Ili. Lauded by fashionistas and making waves for their live shows, they’ve come over to Europe to make some noise.

And what lovely noise. Apache Beat are a hodge-podge of styles and personalities with enough good chat, jokes and laughs to wipe away the hardiest of hangovers.

Hello Apache Beat. Could you sum yourselves up for readers who may not have hard of you?
Ili: What do we sound like? Erm, we haven’t really sorted out a snappy little sound bite for these interviews yet.

Mike: Our sound is hard to describe. We’re all into tons of different things. We’re from different places. We refuse to play how anyone else wants us to play.

So you’re more of an argument than a band?
Mike: Basically you’re right. We’re more of an argument. An argument of instruments and percussion.

Ili: ‘Indie with some tribal beats.’ Some magazine wrote something like that. I can’t remember it all. I read it and thought, ‘That sounds nice’.

Philip: It’s really just five people with very different backgrounds and when we get together our sound works.
I can’t explain it. We just jam together.

Mike: Maybe ‘Cluster with the aggression of early punk rock and some Wire and a bunch of ‘50s stuff and bossa nova music and French pop and jazz’.

Why Apache Beat?
Mike: We were in another band and had a song called The Apache Beat, which I took from Klaus Dinger’s
description of krautrock. I thought that was a cool name. We couldn’t think of what to call this band and everyone else was like, ‘What about that song?’

Ili: We were desperate for a name. We had to make a flyer with our name on it. Apache Beat was the best one, so we went with that.

What makes your live show special?
Christina: We are loud.

Philip: It’s a rock show, definitely a rock show. Our personalities come out, you know. A lot of bands go up on stage and it’s like a stereotypical live band. We go up there and just let it all out. Every show is different.

Mike: I just want to make sure that every single song sounds different and every single show is different.
How many times do you listen to a record and all the songs just sound the same?

Fashion mags have picked up on you on both sides of the Atlantic. Do you think you’re fashionable?
[everyone laughs]

Ili: NOOOOOO!

Philip: I dunno. I’m not into the fashion scene.

Mike: Maybe it’s because of all our different styles. That seems to get picked up by people, because we’re such a mix of people.

Ili: It’s flattering. It’s nice.

How are you finding London?
Ili: We’ve had a really good response. Like insanely good. This our first time in London as a group and we’ve only played like, a couple of shows, but we’ve had people coming up to us afterwards and saying they’re going to come to every gig we play while we’re over here.

Christina: I think they’ve been a lot more receptive here. More so than anywhere else we’ve played so far.

Really? London crowds are renowned for being cynical and not dancing.
Mike: It’s a lot like New York. Even if they like you, all they do is nod their heads, but over here it’s been great. Everyone really gets into it. It’s a great town. I really like this city.

Philip: The hotdogs here are really different. When we were waiting for our ride after playing last night there was this dude selling them from a stand down the road and they smelled so good. They don’t keep them in that boiled water stuff like the guys in New York.

Hotdogs should never be boiled.
Philip: You’re right. I was at my friend’s house once and he was making food and he made me a vegetarian hot dog thing, which he like boiled in a kettle. I’ve never tasted ass before, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it would taste like.