Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Vehicle
If you keep up to date with emerging artists who make the kind of music that isn’t simply a tired rehashing of every big band that has emerged in the past decade, then you might have noticed that a lot of the most interesting new bands are coming straight out of Leeds.
It helps that stalwart venues like Brudenell Social Club and DIY institutions such as Mabgate Bleach and Wharf Chambers call Leeds home, with a vibrant scene frequently mingling across venues, sharing everything from future electro-pop club classics to grotty scuzz-fuelled noise rock masterpieces.
Meanwhile, four-piece Vehicle sits in a slightly less-occupied space, somewhere between jangly 1960s pop, garage rock, and retro-tinged country and folk, and they’ve already cemented themselves as a reputable live act.
Lead vocalist Michael Cable has the perfect voice for a band who sound like they’ve been plucked from another era, his words laced with wit and abstraction. With song titles like ‘Uncle Roy Orbison’, ‘I Think I Ended Up In Someone Else’s Dream (Last Night)’, and ‘I Don’t Like The Old Man (Upstairs)’, you’re met with a strong sense of intrigue before you even hit play on their debut album, Widespread Vehicle.
Yet, once you do, you’re inducted into a landscape where each song feels like a little world of its own, nostalgia and surrealism colliding.
Making up the rest of Vehicle are Jack Devlin, Connall Doo, and Danny Sockett, with their latest offering, the cynically-worded ‘You Are Not A Cowboy’, coming on January 23rd. An infectious twang informs the track, which possesses a swaggering, playful bounce buoyed by Americana guitars and repetitive refrains; if you want a short and snappy slice of vintage pop, look no further.
Quick-fire Questions with Vehicle:
Describe Vehicle in three words:
In unison: “Hot dog jumping frog…oh fuck!”
Who are your dream dinner party guests?
Vehicle: “Krissy from Wax Bar, Shane McGowan, the guy who invented green Rizla, Björk, and David Lynch”.
What’s the best venue in the world?
Vehicle: “Mabgate Bleach in Leeds”.
What film changed your life?
Jack: “Kangaroo Jack (David McNally, 2003)”
Michael: “Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, 1987)”
Connall: “All That Jazz (Bob Fosse, 1979)”
Danny: “Marathon Man (John Schlesinger, 1976)”
What’s in your dream rider?
Danny: “Kronenbourg 1664.”
Jack: “Carr’s pasties and obscure pop.”
Michael: “Incredibly expensive and rare drinks.”
Connall: “Imodium.”
What’s your most controversial music opinion?
Danny: “Tom Petty was murdered.”
Michael: “Music schools have ruined music.”
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve woken up?
Michael: “On a bus going down the motorway after a night in the pub.”
Jack: “In Sound Quality Gifts, Monaghan, Ireland.”
Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen?
Michael: “Leonard.”
Danny: “Bob.”
Connall: “Leonard.”
Jack: “Bob.”
Michael: “Bob Dylan is probably more important, but I get more out of Leonard Cohen. He was more consistent throughout his career.”
What song should be made the new national anthem?
Michael: “John Shuttleworth – ‘Pigeons in Flight’.”
What’s your hangover cure?
Vehicle: “One you can apply to most types of hangovers is Lucozade Sport. Or Lucozade Original for Jack and Danny, as the Sport one gives them Lancashire headaches. Three pints will also work.”
Who is the best Beatle?
Michael: “Yoko.”
Favourite cowboy film?
Danny: “Rio Bravo (Howard Hawks, 1959).”
Michael: “Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch, 1995).”
Connall: “Midnight Cowboy (John Schlesinger, 1965) (it counts).”
Jack: “For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965).”
What is the most unexpected influence on the band?
Jack: “Sugababes are the greatest three-piece of all time.”
Michael: “There’s an evil quality to their music that isn’t there in most pop music. They have the combination of that darkness and sugary melodies that is like crack if you get it right.”
Who is your favourite author and why?
Michael: “Flann O’Brien. He does it all for me, every fucking corner of the building.”
Connall: “Ernest Hemingway. His writing is beautifully bleak.”
What’s your favourite kind of vehicle?
Michael: “A rock ‘n’ roll group.”
