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So has it been a bed of roses since winning? What are the consequences of winning a record deal through a programme?
Jim: NME have been funny. They always said we were amazing so we were like well we know they’re going to hate it because they’re the NME but they have been nice to us…oh no they do hate us.
Ali: They basically hate us because we were on the telly.
Jim: Yeah but it’s inevitable. We have sort of made our beds with it.
Jarvey: Then we couldn’t get the single on the radio. The reason they gave was that they couldn’t play us because we won a talent show and that was frustrating.
Jim: NME comes and goes, but not getting on the radio…
Jarvey: The only way we will be able to overcome the stigma of winning a TV show is people being able to hear what we do and people to realise that there’s music there.
So you just go out and play?
Ali: Yeah that’s the sum total of our options!
Jim: The only thing we can do is just try to play to as many people as we can that’s the only way to have a direct relationship with people.
And that is just what they do. Whenever they take stage, their appearance makes them look like they raided the BBC costume and props cupboard. Ali usually sports a pair of trousers so ridiculously big for him they may well be a statement against the culture of skinny jeans. They have the sense of having made the effort…but they sort of missed the target, with a post Victorian melodramatic, ‘we just threw this on’ appearance. They are the anti-cool band. They have lamps onstage with them along with a stuffed pheasant - talk about ‘furniture rock’.
Jarvey: Hopefully there aren’t very many bands who are like us. We’re quite honest when we say that we’re a pop band, it seems to be some thing where people go ‘oooh we’re indie’. But we’re all making pop music and we’re quite happy to come out and say that.’”
And I respect them for that. If you like to keep things ‘alternative’ in the music department, you’ll pretend to hate Envy and Other Sins, but secretly love them. It’s time ‘pop’ wasn’t a dirty word that reminded you of dancing to Steps’ ‘5,6,7,8’ at a school disco. Now it is honest and heartfelt, quirky and upbeat but capable of melancholy with lyrics that strike a chord.
But my final question to them…I always wanted to know…why pick Envy of all the other sins?
Jarvey: We liked envy the best. It looks good as a word and its kinda the most complex.
Jim: As a small fat ginger man my experience in life is of envy. It was envy or wrath as far as I was concerned.
Ali: We couldn’t really call ourselves wrath and other sins. Gluttony and Other sins? Imagine that!
Jarvey: Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet?
They grin to each other and I’ve answered all my own questions. No, it isn’t cool to gain a record deal from a TV programme but when you win through being a bunch of interesting, intelligent and talented individuals…well you can’t argue with that. There aren’t any egos in this room, just four blokes who can’t believe their luck. But it still hasn’t been a dream ride. Now the real hard work starts. Their name is much better known and now it needs to be for the right reasons.
Will 2008 be the year of Envy? I guess there’s only one way to find out. Go buy ‘We Leave at Dawn’, go see them on tour and fall in love with pop music again. They’re no Leona Lewis I can tell you…
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