Band Résumé

MEMBERS:Rachel Atkinson - Vocals, Richard Campbell - Guitars, Terrence Mortimer - Bass, Robbie McNaughton - Drums

PROFILES:

Rachel Atkinson
Born: 1979
Background: Has been involved in Music Theatre since the age of six. Possesses a Higher National Diploma in Acting & Performance.

Richard Campbell
Born: 1973
Background: Guitarist since mid-teens, having been in numerous local bands since that time, all of whom have written their own material and have been essentially live performers.

Terrence Mortimer
Born: 1970
Background: Bassist since late-teens, having played alongside Rich in all his previous bands.

Robbie McNaughton
Born: 1970
Background: Essentially the same as Rich and Terry, although despite having played in numerous local bands, this is the first time they have all been involved in the same project.

OBJECTIVE:

To write and perform music worthy of the 21st Century and become recognised globally, utilising every medium (past, present and future) to do so.

AN INTERVIEW WITH LUNG

The rain was beginning to come down quite heavy as I approached the large black High Street door that had 321 emblazoned upon it. It was a typical winter's day in Fife, and I was not feeling particularly ecstatic about having to meet a bunch of local musicians, on a miserable Sunday afternoon, in an alleged dilapidated old house.

I had been instructed by phone earlier that morning to simply dial the number from the phone-box across the road and let it ring three times. "After that make your way across to the door and someone'll come down to show you the way in," I was told. All very peculiar and mysterious I thought, until I realised that the door's bell was hanging off the wall.

Right enough, after about a couple of minutes, a long-haired, unshaven character appeared at the door introducing himself as the guitarist "Rich Campell". We shook hands and I followed him through a damp corridor until we arrived at another black door, with a hexagonal hole where a window must have once been. The door led us outside again, and from here we walked along an extremely narrow passage, up a flight of stairs to this huge unkempt garden, with a house that loomed menacingly over us and certainly wouldn't look at all out of place in the movie Psycho.

Fortunately Rich didn't appear too much like a psychopath, so I followed him through another door - that this time bejewelled a couple of transparent Fablon windows - into what surprised me as being a kitchen. Christ, I though, it's colder in here than it is outside.

From here we proceeded into another ice-cold room which at first sight was obviously the band's rehearsal area. "This used to be the dining-room," said Rich casually. "My parents split a while back and everyone buggered off leaving me to live here alone. My folks are still arguing over the place yet, while in the meantime the house deteriorates further and further. It's f**king great for rehearsing in though:no neighbours.make as much noise as you want."

We proceeded into the bowels of the house further, the next room being again filled with band equipment - obviously spare stuff this time, since it was all stacked in one corner. Here the room possessed characteristics of having once been the family living-room, although the floor was now covered with small chunks of green foam. "Bloody dog's been eating the couch again," said Rich.

Further and further into the house we ventured; through another door, up another narrow flight of stairs, double backing in the direction we had come from until entering the third door on the right. At last some warmth, I thought as I entered a reasonable sized bedroom. Two guys and a girl were present within the room, drinking beer, playing guitars and discussing music. The red-haired girl got up and introduced herself as Rachel Atkinson, vocalist; I was then introduced to drummer, Robbie McNaughton, and bassist, Terrence Mortimer.

Hundred of CDs littered a desk in the corner next to the stereo, whilst a crazy looking cross-bred dog chewed on a bone near a door that led to the balcony . "That's Booster," said Rachel, "band mascot and virtually fifth member of LUNG." Her accent was strange, not at all what I had expected for this part of Scotland, sounding curiously English with undertones of American.

After being handed a beer, we dispensed with some brief pleasantries, discussing which CD to put on, before getting down to business.

R.M.M. So how long has this project been going for?
R.C. Oh, since about October 98. We met Rachel several months before that and I've known Terry and Robbie since school.
R.A. Back then we had Graeme as our drummer, who we recorded our demo CD, Reinvention, with.
T.M. Graeme was sound, but he never seemed that committed to what we were trying to achieve, he's living through in Edinburgh with his girlfriend now, so best of luck to him.
R.M.M. So how has the music changed since Robbie's arrival?
R.M. (with a sly look on his face) It's a damn sight better, of course.
R.C. Everything is tightening up remarkably…we've ditched a few songs and written a few new ones, but the main thing is that we feel as though we can play around more cleverly with the timing and structure of the music.
R.A. It's given me an opportunity to look a lot more closely at my vocal melody lines.
T.M. It has been at times frustrating, having to tear everything to pieces and virtually start again, but Robbie's arrival has given us an opportunity to analyse the music in small sections and build it up from there.
R.A. Something we never really got a chance to do properly with Graeme.
R.M. I think they all thought I was a pernickety bastard when I first arrived (laughs), but I feel a lot of work needed to be done to the rhythm section in order to create a really tight unit.
R.M.M. How do you feel about the recent MP3 revolution, does the fact that anyone can download your music off the internet for free scare you in any way?
T.M. As a relatively unknown band globally, it doesn't worry me at all. People have always been able to record and rip off copies of artists' music whether it's by cassette or MP3.
R.M. I think it gives us a great opportunity to be heard in parts of the world that we normally wouldn't reach at our present level of recognition.
R.A. Yeh, we're still at the promotional level and when you stay in a dead-end town like this one you need all the help you can get to be heard.
R.C. I believe that no matter how successful MP3s become, people will still always want to buy the original item. Humans are naturally hoarders. I only wish suppliers, manufacturers and record companies would realise this fact and work to reduce the retail price of CDs a little.

R.M.M. Now that we're in the 21st century, how do you see the evolution of music taking shape?
R.M. There's a lot of good bands and musicians out there but they just don't get the airplay. Everything has become so commercialised these days that you have to basically sell your soul to the record company to get the exposure.
T.M. Yeh, I mean look at the Spice Girls for heaven's sake, not one of them has any talent, they all share about half a brain cell between them, yet they sell records in their thousands to naïve teenage girls who've got f**k all else to do with their pocket money.
R.C. It's a quick, easy and purely temporary market for their record company, and now that they are at the top with their popularity beginning to wane, they have the audacity to moan about the gutter press having a go at them. What the hell did they expect after prostituting themselves to such a degree?
R.M.M. So what about the music scene in Fife then?
T.M. Here in Kirkcaldy it's appalling, although Dunfermline has much to offer, where punters actually make the effort to go out and listen to a live band with original material.
R.C. Years ago the Kirkcaldy band scene used to be thriving, but that has long since been destroyed by a lack of support from local newspapers such as The Fife Free Press.
R.M.M. Ah, I assume you are referring to the journalistic japes of music hack Neil Reid.
R.M. Hmm. Yes.
R.M.M. I've had some run ins with the man myself, he didn't seem to like my opinions at all.
T.M. He's a slippers and pipe, armchair bound, blues fanatic; exactly how anyone can review local bands without actually making the effort to see them is quite beyond me.
R.A. We've invited him along to review our gigs on several occasions and he's not made the slightest effort to turn up to any of them.
R.C. Our last CD was recorded at the studio in Glenrothes College, and despite the studio's popularity amongst local musicians, Kevin Clark, the Senior Music Lecturer, told us that Mr. Reid couldn't see how it was in anyway relevant to the Fife music scene.
R.M.M. Glenrothes College has just recently bought in a load of new equipment, haven't they?
R.M. Yeh, at least about £250,000 worth as far as I know.
R.A. We've made plans to return to Glenrothes within the first couple of months of 2000 to record our new stuff. We're quite excited about it. We know we are a tight enough unit now to really make a difference this time around.

R.M.M. Your accent is strange for this area, where exactly are you from?
R.A. I'm a RAF-brat. I was born in Germany, have English parents and later moved to Elgin in Scotland.
R.M.M. Ah, that explains it. So what the hell are you doing here in Kirkcaldy?
R.A. Madness probably. Last couple of years I was studying an HND in Acting & Performance and I met these guys and got involved in LUNG.
R.M.M. I've listened to a couple of your tracks on MP3 and as a band you have a somewhat dark sound to you, is that the Kirkcaldy reality tunnel kicking in?
R.C. I certainly hope not, although it may explain some of it. We like to tune to E flat so our dark sound is intentional, although our stuff is punchy enough never to depress.
R.M.M. Okay, lastly, what artists have influenced you mostly and why?
R.C. Oh, no. We're not falling into that trap.
R.M. We have many influences, and we all possess varied tastes.
R.C. If we give you names of bands that have influenced us, the public will expect to hear the sound of those bands in our music. If you don't want to risk spending money on a band you haven't heard, download an MP3 and make up your own mind then buy the CD.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT psybernaut@freenet.co.uk or visit LUNG's website at http://www.peoplesound.com/artist/lung