Taking their lead from Magazine and Talking Heads, Stained Glass Heroes’ mission is to make pop interesting again. Their method: drill down Krautrock, post-punk and traditional Turkish music into three-minute pop diamonds.
Wheel spied the Glasses from afar, flying kites through Brockwell Park near their South London base. We ambled over to talk with three members, Dave, Pete and Al.
By Michael Garrad
Who would listen to Stained Glass Heroes?
Dave - It’s got universal appeal, everybody would like it.
What kind of music do Stained Glass Heroes make?
D - Progressive pop!
Al -That sounds awful.
D - Bands either go over to the pop side or the progressive side – I don't think there are many that go in the middle.
Where do Stained Glass Heroes make music?
A - In our studio.
D - It’s an old stables.
Pete - The interesting thing about horse stables is they build the floor on a slope so when they’re cleaning them out with hoses, all the sh– all the… material, the faeces –
A - the whiskers –
P - the horses’ whiskers, run down to one end of the stable and then they’re scooped out. For band purposes a slope isn’t really convenient so we built a stage to make the floor level.
D - The timber we used to make the stage is from an old milk factory that was based in Brixton and the wood is, we were told, about 150 years old.
When do Stained Glass Heroes make music?
A - Three times a week. Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
D - We do all-day practice on Saturday. That’s quite fun on a big hangover… It does help because you don’t get distracted – it’s hard enough just to concentrate on one thing.
P - The throbbing pain in your head doesn't distract you?
A - Not after the nice pizza we get from the local place.
P - I don’t find splitting headaches and loud guitars compatible.
How do Stained Glass Heroes write songs?
D - They all start as jams where anybody plays anything and end up being ridiculously meticulous.
P - We take the power of the jams and compress them and it multiplies in a way; they retain that experimental, alternative thing. It’s more valuable when you take a long idea and compress it into something smaller.
D - With four people it can be really brutal and everybody ends up arguing.
P - [But] it’s something we’d never achieve singularly. There’s a real inventiveness and something so original when we work together. It’s like Power Rangers.
Why do Stained Glass Heroes make music?
P - We formed the band out of sheer boredom, faced with the prospect of sitting in an office for the rest of our lives. Al and I were sat across from each other in a publishing company. We used to talk about music and bore the hell out of everybody on the desk. We started a band as a way to escape it.
A - What I like about the Saturday sessions is we get there about 12 o’clock… 4 o’clock… and we sit down and have a bit of a chat.
P - To be honest that’s what it’s more about.
D - It’s the counselling.
A - The group therapy before each Saturday practice is really good.
P - That’s really important for me. That bonding experience is almost as important as the music.
D - One helps the other. The music and the friendship, they go back-to-back.
P - It’s true. I will never be as close to anybody else in my life as I am to you three. 
The band regularly play live in London. Find out when and where and more more more
Fun Fact: Spizz, lead singer of Spizz Energi and Spizz Athletico ’80 once joined the Heroes for a live rendition of his post-punk classic Person Impersonator. As he took to the stage, Spizz referred to the band as “the Stained Glass Windows.” A joke so funny the entire crowd went berserk with laughter and one man’s head exploded.
UNNATURAL HABITAT continues... >>
Interview © 2009 Wheel Me Out. No part can be used for any purpose without prior consent. Please contact editorial@wheelmeout.com
