They were a bit difficult to talk to, Ikara Colt. I’m a fan, which doesn’t always help, but they were guarded too – Paul especially (he, near as damn it, shut up half way through our conversation). When they first started out in 1999, Paul said that all bands should be taken out the back and shot after five years. Do the maths. It’s not something he, or any of them, wanted to speak about, not least because they’re always asked about it. The other favourite is the one about having two girls in the band. Paul thinks it’s a media preoccupation, but that’s unfair: everybody notices it – media and fans alike – and everybody likes the band because of it.
      Of the current Ikara Colt line-up, three – Paul (vocals), Claire (guitar and vocals), and Dominic (drums) – are original members. They got together at Guildhall Art College in London. Tracy (bass) joined the band for the recording of their second album, Modern Apprentice, which came out earlier this year. She was asked to play like Motörhead with her left hand and Joy Division with her right. That, Paul has said, is a better description of the band’s sound than most.
      Both Modern Apprentice and Chat and Business, their 2002 debut, were widely praised on their release but didn’t sell in particularly huge numbers. That’s led some people to describe them as some kind of ‘cult’ band, which is grossly unfair. Their music is intelligent and unique but it’s accessible too. They’re not suckers, though. At the root of the band is a healthy suspicion of the music industry and the trappings of fame. You could say, if you like, that there’s a bit of ‘fuck you’ about them and that probably holds them back from mainstream acceptance. Their wish is simply to play good music. How long they’ll stay in the game is their business. They’re all very alive and hold many interests outside of the band (check their website profiles). I suspect they’ll be around for a while doing something to kick people’s arses, even if they stay true to their order to keep rock ‘n’ roll young. Ikara Colt, they say, is not a career.

Tell me where you come from and what life was like growing up there.
Tracy: I’m from Burnley in Lancashire and basically it’s a dead-end northern mill town where there’s absolutely fuck all happening and people fight on Saturday nights. I left when I was 21. It was horrible but it made me who I am. I totally rebelled.
Paul: Suburbs of Leicester. The dull end.
Claire: Morden at the bottom of the Northern Line. Not very exciting.
Dominic: Born in Bristol, spent five years there and then moved to London where I’ve been ever since. North London. It’s alright.

Why did the three of you who are original members form the band?
Dominic: Good music.
Claire: I like the idea of structuring songs and building them, layer by layer. The dynamics can really get to you.

So music is the priority? Above the other opportunities that being in a band can provide?
Dominic: Yup, pure and simple as that.

But there’s more to Ikara Colt than just writing music. People can go to the shops and buy your records. Doesn’t something else become involved when that happens? For example, your lyrics, Paul, have the potential to influence people’s thoughts.
Paul: It depends. There are many ways of saying something. Just making a big noise can mean a lot. Having said that, I don’t think you can get away without having something in the lyrics. It’s a tricky one. Good art always says something, even if it’s silent like a sculpture or whatever.

Do you think rock ‘n’ roll has a lot in common with other forms of art?
Paul: It is an art form, a youthful art form.
Dominic: It’s about youth, rebellion, sexuality, those kinds of things.

You could argue, though, that rock ‘n’ roll has less resonance than the so-called fine art forms. It may be visceral and powerful, but it’s temporary and disposable.
Dominic: It is temporary, but there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s about the moment – dates and times. Even within the context of a band, people will talk about specific periods. That’s just what they do. And mostly everyone goes back to the beginning. Who would you rather see – a young Elvis or a fat, old one?
Tracy: But there’s permanence too. You can always go back to it. Music that’s been recorded exists now for the simple reason that it has been recorded.

Fair enough. What you were saying, Dominic, reminds me of that comment you once made, Paul, about the lifespan of a band. Perhaps you regret saying that. Your time is almost up.
Dominic: We’ve only got a few months left!

I thought that was an excellent comment. Maybe I even agree with you. What are you going to do when the anniversary arrives? Will you give up?
Dominic: We’ll walk it like we talk it.

Really?
Dominic: You never know.
Paul: We’ll flip a coin.
Tracy: It’s day by day.

Okay, let’s move on to something else you won’t want to talk about. Whether you like it or not, it’s very noticeable to people who go and see you play that there are two female members of Ikara Colt. Do you accept that it is noticeable and, if so, do you think that says anything interesting about rock ‘n’ roll music?
Paul: It’s something that should be normal.
Tracy: Really ought to be.

But do you accept that people do go, “Ooh, look at that – they’ve got two girls?”
Claire: Since Tracy joined, that seems to be the case. Sure.
Paul: I sometimes do one-to-one phone interviews for radio and things like that and people always ask me what it’s like being in a band with two girls. Would they ask me that if Tracy and Claire were two guys? That they’re girls is just the way it is.

I’m not making myself clear. Let me ask you, Tracy, if you’re more aware of a band if they have a female member or two?
Tracy: Maybe, but that wouldn’t make me like them any better. Music, of course, is the main thing.
Claire: But it is exciting seeing girls involved in music – in bands or programming.

Let’s talk about touring. Enjoy it?
All: Yes!

Do you enjoy the process of actually being on the road as well as playing?
Tracy: I do, but a lot of time you don’t get to see anything of the towns you’re in.
Dominic: I don’t. For me it’s only about playing. Ikara Colt are about performance.
Claire: If you’re doing six weeks in America playing every night it can really take its toll. Any band will tell you that it’s hard.
Dominic: Planning to get to America, getting in a van there, and driving down Route 66 or whatever is just the mythology of rock ‘n’ roll. That’s why people join bands. But isn’t it supposed to be all about the performance? If I wanted to see America properly, I’d go on holiday. At least then I’d understand something about the place. You don’t get to know anything about the cities you visit. It goes like this: Arrive, sound check, dressing room, stage, pack up, van, go, repeat.
Tracy: I enjoy it more than that. We all think slightly differently about it.
Dominic: I don’t feel like a member of Mötley Crüe. I’m not built for the road. They were, like Lemmy is.
Claire: But there are many things that are great about being on the road in places like America. It’s amazing when people in small towns come up to you and say, ‘I bought your record six months ago, I’m really into it and I’m glad you came here.’

Breaking British bands in America seems to be a huge preoccupation of the music industry here. Is that something Ikara Colt are particularly concerned with?
Claire: We’ve never said, ‘Let’s go out and dominate the world.’ It really is about the music with us. It’d be nice, of course, to play to huge numbers people in America but that’s not the primary concern. There is no drawn-up plan. This is not a career.
Dominic: It goes back to your question about why we formed the band. It wasn’t to make ourselves rich. It was to be a day-to-day kind of thing.

There are some bands, nonetheless, that stay true to their original reasons for forming but can’t resist these ideas of world domination. I met a band last week that you went out on tour with a couple of years ago – Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster – and they look to the skies. They have very pure and honest aspirations to make it to the top and they think they’ve got the courage and music to do it. You’re not like that, though. You’re more, as you say, day-to-day?
Claire: Yes.
Dominic: Whatever you choose to do, you have to walk it like you talk it. I think they’re a brilliant band and I can imagine them saying that and that’s alright. I love them. If they want to dominate the world, they’re gonna need to take the whole of America – not just New York and LA. The Eighties Matchbox have got the ability – they can do it, and that’s why touring is important to them. Getting your name out there. I go into venues in mainland America and look at the band stickers on the walls and I don’t know fucking any of them. And I think I’m up on what’s going on in music.

I guess America is so huge that each city will have its own thriving scene with fans that simply don’t need foreign bands to come in and save their lives.
Dominic: True. How many bands are playing a night in a decent-sized city over there? Forty? A hundred? And British bands are supposed to compete? Going to places like New Orleans can be depressing. There’s so much music there, and people can really play. It makes you humble, even if you’re watching a covers band catering for tourists in the French Quarter. They play things immaculately.

Do you find the response to your music differs from city to city, country to country?
Paul: Yes.

Does that affect the way you behave on stage?
Paul: It shouldn’t.
Tracy: If you’ve got a good crowd, it brings the best out in you. Simple as that. If there are only one or two people in front of you, it’s far harder work.

I seen you play many times and you seem to encourage your audiences – not in obvious ways, but by making it look like the show is an inclusive experience.
Claire: We do. Doesn’t always work but we try.

Last time I saw you, you were at the Barfly in Camden and you, Paul, had a right go at the venue for not booking you previously or something. What was all that about?
Paul: Next question (laughter).

And then you noticed that you were playing in front of a corporation’s banner, so you tried to pull it down. Want to talk about that?
Dominic (after a long silence): We always play for the people. If the crowd are up for it, so are we. That’s why we’re a good live band. We respond to what we’re given. If we’re confronted with lots of people weighing it up, we’ll weigh it up too and play matter-of-fact clean. If the crowd are giving us something, it gets more emotional. Then you get an emotionally clean performance and that’s the best. We play emotion-based music. We don’t play by numbers simply so we can take the money. It may sound a bit pretentious, but we try to make something more.