8/8/2019 Sarah Barns Broadsheet Features

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THE CROOKES TIMES Wednesday 27 January 2010 www.thecrookestimes.com / / features@thecrookestimes.com 26

Features

‘We are nothing like the Arctic Monkeys’Channelling the musical grace of the 1960s juxtaposed with an outspoken tongue of theNoughties, Sarah Barns meets Shef eld’s latest addition to the indie music scene.

The new (indie) kids on the block after playing the main stage at this year’s Tramline festival: (From left to right) Alex, Dan, George and Russell.

Sitting on big brown leather sofa s sur-rounded by copies of The Guardian andempty mugs of tea, T he Crookes look likean advertisement for a trendy coffee shop.

The band’s name conjures images of pick-pockets or pilferers but they are actually afour-piece indie band formed in the epony-mous leafy Shef eld suburb.

They are all immaculately dressed in a uni-form of dark blue skinny jeans and pastelcoloured shirts.Indie-God Steve Lamacq says they arehis “favourite new band” and The Guard- ian describes them as “middle class ArcticMonkeys”.Before the band embark on their thirdtour we discuss famous fans, Quavers and

Jedward.

Before we delve into the serious stuff can you please tell our readers an inter-esting fact about yourselves?

Alex, 21: I am currently wearing Christmas socks. They are black with red Rudolph’s ying all overthem.George, 22: Damn. That’s quite a good fact. All of my plectrums have characters from South Park onthem. That’s quite a collection I must say.Russell, 22: I drive a Ford Mondeo and I think it isthe greatest car on the road.Dan, 22: Oh god. How am I ever going to top that.Every time we play a gig we write the number 17on our hands. It has sort of become a traditionbecause when we don’t do it things go wrong.Now we all know what socks you’re wear-ing and what cars you drive it’s time togo back to the start. How did you guysmeet?

Alex: We were all students at the University of Shef eld. Me and Dan met when we were living in Tapton halls of residence.Dan: We met Russ and George at the union’s indienight, Fuzz Club.Did your eyes meet across the crowdeddance oor and you instantly knew youshared the same dreams of stardom?Russell: I’m sure the media would love that! Un-fortunately we met at various Fuzz Clubs and juststarted hanging out together.

Alex: When we rst met we were just mates. Dandidn’t even really play an instrument and had only just started learning.

And a year on here the band sits. Whatmade you call yourselves The Crookes?

Alex: The Crookes is the laziest name ever. Me andDan looked out of the window at Tapton and wesaw it on a street sign.Dan: It was always one of those things that we

were meant to change but never quite got round todoing. Now it’s kind of stuck.George: When we go to London people just think

we can’t spell. We have to always explain that it isan area of Shef eld.

Alex: It provokes quite nostalgic memories for usthough.

There have been a lot of comparisons in

the press to you and indie bands such as The Smiths . What music do you like and what in uences you? Alex: The Smiths splits the band in two. Me andGeorge love them, Dan and Russ have grown toappreciate them.Dan: Everyone says our lyrics are similar to theirs

but I write the songs and I’ve never really listenedto them. Alex: At the moment I’m currently listening toa band called Brand New. They are an Americanband. I also like Taking Back Sunday.Dan: I enjoy sixties pop and girl bands like TheSupremes.If you could cover any song, past or

present, what would it be?Dan: After this we are meeting with indie bandBromheads Jacket to cover some Buddy Holly songs. We love Buddy.

You listen to quite a lot of ‘old’ music. Are you fans of programmes such as the‘X Factor’? Are you Jedward fans?

Alex: Oh yes. Big fans.Russell: I enjoyed Calvin Harris’ stage invasion butthey can’t sing.Dan: Yes, but they are so ridiculously entertaining.Russell: But it’s a singing contest. If you are mar-keted as a singer you should be able to sing.Do you think it’s more important to sing

well to the crowd or entertain them? Alex: I suppose people pay to be entertained.George: The one gig where we went crazy on stage,everyone went mental.

Alex: Robbie Williams can do both.Dan: Oh, the ‘Robster’. We love the ‘Robster.’How do you feel about indie music ‘slid-ing off the radar’? (Fuzz Club closed after ten

years due to poor ticket sales)Russell: There is a noticeable difference if you lis-tened to the charts in 2004 and 2005 to now.George: Mainstream music has become a bit

weird. Alex: Zane Lowe plays a lot of drum and bass now but we’re hoping that guitar bands will come back around.Russell: The charts are full of a worse and worser

version of a popular thing. There’s lots of recyclednineties dance in the charts. Loads of stuff is sam-pled and then just rapped over.

Alex: When we hear something different on the ra-dio like Kasabian we turn it up. Oh god everyone’sgoing to think we’re huge Kasabian fans now.

There’s nothing wrong with Kasabian. What has been the best moment in theband for you so far?

Alex: Recording at Maida Vale studios in London was my highlight. I’m not sure about everyone else.I got to sing Nirvana.Dan: My favourite was Abbey Road. We had our

rst single mastered there. We took photographsof everything like massive tourists.George: The rst Tramlines festival in Shef eldlast year was good too.

And the worst moment? Alex: We were in Bristol doing a sound check when we were like ‘where’s the bass?’ We then realisedthat we had left it in this gangsta rap club called

Yoyo in London. We had to drive to London and

back to get it and then ended up playing to aboutten people at the gig. There were only two spacesleft in the local hotel so we drew straws and Danand George had to sleep in the van.Dan: Yeah it was freezing and the door wouldn’tlock.George: That was possibly the lowest point of my life, not just of my time in the band.Do times like this put you off tr ying tobe famous?Russell: Even all that is better than a real job.George: Yes that’s okay for you to say, you didn’tsleep in the van.

Alex: We had lots of Quavers so at least the crisps were good.Dan: We sort out expected to be doing things likethis. You know you aren’t going to start out play-ing Wembley.

Is playing at Wembley a hope for the fu-ture?Russell: My future ambition is to win a Nobelpeace prize for kick boxing.Dan: I’d say we’re fairly ambitious.

Alex: We would love to play Wembley. We wouldlove to do massive stadium tours and headline lotsof music festivals.George: Yes we’d love to be as big as the ArcticMonkeys or the Kings of Leon.The Guardian describes you as “middleclass Arctic Monkeys.” How do you feelabout this?Russell: We’re nothing like the Arctic Monkeys.

Alex: Alex Turner spoke for most of the rst al -bum where as George actually sings.George: I do sing a lot.Russell: The media loves Shef eld and everything

from it gets tarred with the same brush. You already have quite a few famousfans. Steve Lamacq and Jon McClurehave praised your music.

Alex: We were really scared when we rst metSteve.Dan: Yes, but now we just take the p**s out of him.Russell: We’ve learnt that people in the business arequite ckle but Steve’s one of the genuine ones.

Alex: He gets given loads and loads of demos andhe never throws them away. He broke Coldplay.He’s a great guy.Lamacq said your music makes him feelnostalgic. How do you want people tofeel when listening to your music?

Alex: I don’t want to sound pretentious – happy?George: The lyrics can be quite depressing and

melancholic.Dan: Cheers guys. I just want people to dance tothem. I write and think how they’d sound on thedance oor.

And fnally can you sum up The Crookesin just three words?Russell: Ear-f**k? Is that one word? Could we hy-phenate that?

Alex: Sync potential.Rest of the band: What on Earth does that evenmean?Dan: Dynamic.

Alex: Happy, nostalgic ... Crookes.

The Crookes third tour begins on March 24.

To watch the band performing please visit www.thecrookestimes.com.

Neighbours from hell? No, these lot are having a wheelie good time

Listen very closely and youcan almost hear the pian-ist warming up ready to playthe theme tune as Hope andSimon walk down the streettogether.“Oh, duck, this road is like a vil-

lage. Always has been, probably always will be,” says Hope Ever-son, a long-standing resident of Harcourt Road as she prunes herroses.Harcourt Road isn’t just any or-

dinary Shef eld street.It is like one straight out of a

soap opera.It is the norm here to leave your

children in the care of the neigh-bours. There is a monthly newsletterdetailing all the events and gos-sip occurring on this leafy road.Hell, they even all go to yoga

club together.But like any good soap opera

something must come along toupset the peace.In Harcourt Road’s case it’s a

certain bunch of someone’s thatarrive each September.“Every year a new group of

students moves in and wehave to learn to adapt toeach other’s lives,” saysHope, wiping her brow

with a bunch of thornsin her hand.“There isn’t really a lot of

trouble with students. It’smore of a mismatch of life-styles.” Are these pesky students thethorns in the beautiful bloomthat is Harcourt Road?Not exactly. But everything’s

done to make sure these in-comers are pruned to perfec-tion. Andy Marsden runs a vol-untary service that promotesharmony between students andtheir neighbourhood hosts.“Every year at the start of term,

Shef eld Volunteering run acampaign called ‘Love Where

You Live.’ The campaignhas been running for threeyears and it is proving moresuccessful each year,” saysMr Marsden as he hands outpolystyrene cups over owing

with tea.

“Around 50 stu-dents get involved

in the one-off event we holdat the startof term toimprove rela-

tions betweenthem and the localresidents.“Hopefully eve-

ryone is enjoying themselves.”Hope certainly is as

she happily barks or-ders at a young man

with a wheelbarrow full of manure. The basic aim of ‘Andy’s army’ is tohelp the residentstend to their gardensand spray their wheel-ie bins neon coloursall in the name of ‘community cohe-sion.’Or, as Andy puts it,

“to prove not all stu-dents are like that idiotfrom Hallam who uri-

nated on the war memorial.”Harry Manley, the student rep-

resentative for Crookesmoor,says “It’s all about people com-ing together through colourful

wheelie bins.”Coming together through

wheelie bins? Madness.But the residents are lapping it

up and seem to be having a jolly good time.Hope’s husband, Simon, remi-

niscent of an Emmerdale charac-ter in his green quilted coat andbrown boots, shouts: “Andy canI borrow the hedge trimmer?”“Of course Simon, remem-

ber to wear gloves and a mask though!” replies Andy jollily.Safety rst. God forbid this

turns into some sort of rose- wheelie bin massacre. Whilst Simon attacks the near-est hedge, Hope settles down

with a cup of Earl Grey andplunges into an anecdote aboutpast neighbours.“Well, there was this group of

rather rich, dashing sort of guys who offered to put me and Si ina hotel for the night while they

had a party.” Did she oblige?“Are you kidding, duck? I

couldn’t have slept a wink if I’dhave gone away.“They were always quite nice

and bought us a bottle of wineround in the morning to apolo-gise for the noise so I didn’t re-ally ever mind.”It’s clear the way to the residents

hearts are similar to that of thestudents. Volunteers have by now takenover the street. There is someone spraying,sweeping, pruning, carrying,fetching or cooking in every di-rection.It’s like a scene out of Cin-

derella.It is a freezing cold day in the

middle of January but there is abarbeque set up in the middle of the street.“Yes I didn’t think it would be

so cold to be honest but we re-ally wanted to have a barbeque,”says Jason Hall, a student vol-unteer as he ips a slightly overdone chicken burger.Nothing will stop this road I tell

you, nothing! There is a couple in a red Minihowever who don’t look toopleased about having to wait forthe tea trolley to be moved sothey can continue driving downthe street.I’m sort of waiting for Hope

to dash over, ing open the cardoors and invite them over for ahot dog. But no such luck.Simon returns to the scene car-

rying at least 15 pieces of oa k.“I’ve got enough wood for the

Bon re tonight but I might getsome more just in case.”Looks like he wore his mask

and gloves then. There is an annual street bon retonight which Hope informs meis a highlight of the year.“It’s a lovely event for the road

and ends the day nicely,” she in-forms me as she stands proudly next to her bright pink bin. Will Simon survive the bon re?

Will Hope run off to a hotel with a student? Will Andy everstop giving out cups of tea? Tune in next time to nd out.Roll credits.

Painting-wheelie-bins by numbers

95 people volunteered in theLove Where You Live cam-paign: 38 residents and 57 stu-dent volunteers.

30 garden experts planted arange of wild owers to givethe street some colour.

38 bins were painted a vari-ety of neon colours to identify

who they belong to enabling better ownership.

8 gardens bene ted from hedgetrimming, waste removal andtree surgery.

1 street was tidied and sweptand the litter and leaves wereremoved.

To nd out about local community projects in your area please visit our web- site www.crookestime.com/local

Punters celebrating potty 95-year passion for beef It was one of the few products never rationed during the First World War, it was ‘snap’ for pitmen because it didn’t go offunderground and it’s one business still thriving in the recession. Emma Wright discovers Binghams’ recipe for success.

What’s your favourite food? A big cream cakecovered in pink icing? Maybe a punnet of freshstrawberries doused in sugar? Or perhaps acrunchy Yorkshire pudding flled with gravy?Did potted beef spring to mind? The name

hardly sends the taste buds into a saliva inducing frenzy.But potted beef makers Binghams must be do-

ing something right because they arecelebrating their 95th birthday this year.Established by Charles

Bingham and hisbrother Walter beforethe First World War,Binghams’ pottedbeef was oneof the only productsduring thistime notplacedon foodrations.

Charles began producing the product at his home onReservoir Road in Crookes until it moved to its cur-rent premises on Weston Road in 1934. After Charles died it fell into the hands of a largeconglomerate until it was bought by Peter Moon inDecember 2007.

“I’m not a Bingham and it was the rst time thebusiness went back into private ownership,” Mr

Moon says as he pins up photographs of Charlesand Walter in his of ce.

“It meant a lot to me and I wanted to give the businessmore focus.”Mr Moon worked for North-

ern Foods for over ten yearsbefore purchasing Binghams

with his wife, Marie.“I was sick of working forsuch a massive business. Ihad no sense of identity.

“When I heard that Bing-hams had fallen into thehands of a big corpora-

tion I knew I had todo something.“It had to regain its

‘small family busi-ness’ identity.” The business hassurvived an abun-dance of historic

events - World WarOne, World War Two

and the foot and mouthcrisis ten years ago to name

but a few.It was even a symbol of the coal miner’s lifestyle.“Our heartland will always be Shef eld because pot -

ted beef was the only thing you could take down themines and it wouldn’t go off,” Mr Moon says with abig grin on his face. The business is even going strong in the midst of recession.“If anything the current nancial state of the coun -

try has helped us.” Mr Moon can’t seem to hide hissatisfaction.“We are a good value for money product, high in

protein, iron and vitamin B12.“People are turning to us when they can’t afford to

fork out for a leg of beef.”But Binghams’ demographics are impressive – it’s

stocked everywhere from Netto to Waitrose.“We have a wide following. I don’t like to pigeon hole

my customers and say ‘Oh this p roduct is only forrich people over the age of 45.’ There is something inthe range for everyone.”Mr Moon opens the bottom drawer of his wooden

desk and pulls out a pile of letters.“We offer a personal service to our customers. I put

my email and postal address on the back of the prod-ucts to encourage consumers to get in touch.”He grabs a box of potted beef from a nearby shelf

and points to his email address much like a presenter would point to a product on a late night shopping channel.“I receive around half a dozen emails and letters per

week. Some of it is criticism but most of it is praise.”He hands me a sheet of white A5 paper headed in

neat calligraphy “Dear Mr Moon an d family.”“We get a lot of letters from older folk. They write in

and say quite emotional things.“For many I think our product evokes memories of

childhood and the war. It’s quite nostalgic for them.”Mrs Edith Harman from Rotherham has written in

to say “never stop making the product” and that shebuys “up to two pots of the beef a week.”“I distribute the letters around to staff because I feel

it’s important to help boost morale and show thatpeople really do enjoy the product,” says Mr Moon ashe puts the pile back neatly in his drawer.Binghams employs around 20 members of staff,

most of who have been working at the company formore than ten years.“Everyone knows each other so well. We make sure

that everyone here has their say and we sort issues outlike a big fa mily.” All the staff seem amazingly attentive and welcom-ing.I have been offered at least four cups of tea during

my 20 minutes here and there is even a lady going round taking sh and chip orders.“The term passion is overused but I really do have a

passion for what I do.“I have two objectives: make pro ts and have fun. I

like to keep it simple like our product.”So what really goes into the product?“Only beef and seasoning. It is such a pure product I

have never felt the need to mess with it.“We’ve been here for 95 years and I aim to reach

100.”Spread the word.

To celebrate Bingham’s birthday we have a crate of potted beef to give away.Please log on to www.crookestimes.com/competitions for details.

Happy workers celebrating Bingham’s 95th birthday: potted beef experts, George Watson and Lee Cullingworth

Imogen Child joins the jolliest street in Shef eld to discover the secret of its success over a good old cup of tea.