Chips Speaks to the Real Dolls..

This blog was never intended to be one of those 'here's what we think is cool this month, please download it and bore the fuck out of the dancefloor at your clubnight with it, all of whom downloaded the same track from the same blog anyway' blogs, there's people doing that far better than we could ever hope to out there. So there'll be very few Feadz re-edits coming up exclusively on here. In fact, none.

What we'll hopefully have coming up is a selection of booze-fuelled chats with some of the bands we've got coming up interspersed with the odd exclusive live mix, pod-chat, web-cast, whatever, all in Googlephonic stereo. And music we like. Lots of it. And maybe even a few mixes from us, whenever we all are next in the same city.

So Chips is back on the 29th with Ebony Bones which you already know about, and going pretty much weekly Saturdays at Deaf and Dumb from then on. We've all manner of ace stuff programmed in, more of that later. The second Chips on Saturday 8th March at Deaf and Dumb features a band we've been trying to book for a while now, so we're glad to finally pin them down. And pin them down we did. To me, Real Dolls are equal parts 2 Live Crew, 'Sign O' The Times' -era Prince, Peaches and Andrew WK. The live show in the past has seen the likes of fan dancers, bikini-clad girls wearing giant reindeer heads and impromptu Fall homages.

If there were more bands like this in Manchester then, er, I'd probably leave London and come and watch bands up there more often. Anyway, I caught up with them recently and asked them a few questions about what we're in for.

Hey, Real Dolls. Great to finally have you on the Chips stage. From what I've heard so far, live and recorded, there's a healthy range of different influences I'm picking out - and it's good to hear a healthy booty bass influence coming from a UK band, though sometimes I pick out stuff like Peaches and Andrew WK - what would you say were your biggest influences?

You're right with Peaches, and we hadn't thought of dirty Mr WK but you could have something there too?! It's tempting too reel off a huge list of artists that inspire us creatively, but it gets bigger every day. We're all junkies for this god damn shit!! W e like a lot of hard rock and hip-hop, techno, electro..funk - Ah, fuck it, lets do some lists, the age of the list is upon us! -In no specific order, stuff we're each listening to right now that's potentially inspiring us and our SOUND:

Rod is listening to a lot of Diplo's shit and a lot of the Baille funk-influenced bass music, the Bi-Conicals of the Rammelzee is on heavy rotation at the moment, Cybertron, Metroplex, and Todd Terrys Royal House album.

Parkertron is hammering documentary DVDs, The MC5 and the Ramones are under scrutiny right now - and on the decks it's Death From Above 1979, Schooly-D, Egyptian lover and ACDC

Real Dve is pretty much loving everything coming out of Baltimore: Dan Deacon, Spank Rock et al, plus TV on the Radio, Battles, Mastodon, and he cant seem to put Giorgio Moroder down right now, even the good/bad shit like Push it to the Limit!! [off the Scarface soundtrack]

Yoshi listens to whatever the DJ is playing in any of the bars clubs or shops she lives in, she only goes home to sleep.

Ricky Doll just said he's listening to lots of old very unfasionable music but we've heard him playing Suicide, lots of Miles and some bossa nova.

Its hard to say exactly which bands have the most influence, but i guess that gives you a clue
where we're coming from.

Could you tell us a little bit the bands' plans for the year? How about your plans for the next 10 years? What about the next 50 years? The next 100 years?

The plan for this year is to get some tracks out and hopefully get some action started in time for the festivals, hopefully the Mount Fuji festival! Next year, we will move up to Academy 1 size venues, headlining our own tours, then move across Europe and soon after conquer America and the far east! After all that there will be some big budget action musical films made, many children will be born and lots of abstract paintings painted.

When can we expect a Real Dolls album? What's in the pipeline?

The album is pretty much done - we are talking with people - we also have remix album almost complete featuring our tracks remixed by lots of pals..it's great!

What's your live setup like these days? Last time I saw you, at Blowout in the Bier Keller I think, there were fan dancers, a girl wearing a reindeer head and half a bikini, and god knows what else.. How important is the visual aspect to your shows? What can the Chips crowd expect this time?

The visual aspect is still very important to us, but we have moved on a bit since back then. We always want to look like a band and we want people to know we are making an effort. Our setup live has changed dramatically we've saved our pocket money up and got some new kit. It's seriouse and sounds IIIILLL!! The Chips crowd can expect to sweat.

With the Chips blog we're trying to have an element of introducing music to people they might not have heard before, dunno, like a lesser-known floor-killer or a proper 4am devastator that makes everyone in the room fall silent with awe. Any tips for our readers?

OK!! lets see now.well on a dance tip "Security" by the Beat Club is pretty ace,"Set it off" by Big Daddy Kane is pretty nice too.."Boys in the Hood" or "da hood" - can't remember, the remix on Easy-E's Easy Duzzit kills it! A track called "The End(disco)"arranged by Ralf Hennings on a German release of the music of John Carpenter would do the trick too!

What were the last 5 records you bought? (We realise there's more than one of you, you are allowed to take the average / omit that Orb record you picked up for 1.50 in Vinyl Revival if you like)

Right, we'll just do one each as they're is five of us..!

1.The first Danzig album (bought at a car boot in Stoke)
2.Someone Great - LCD soundsystem(Fopp)
3.Relics by DMZ(downloaded)
4.The Human League - Holiday 80, Double 7"(King Bee records)
5.Atakak..(download)

Would you say it's a good time to be making music in Manchester?

It's always a good time to be making music, it can help you forget where you are! Manchester needs more live music promoters like Chips!more clubs playing better music, the independent spirit of our great city center is slowly being suffocated by the installation of millions of luxury flats.The scary thought is that at some point they will all be full of luxury people demanding luxury life styles that will be provided to them by special teams of luxury experts! At the same time 18-year old kids are shooting each other dead at an alarming rate! The balance needs to be addressed.
yours truly Bernard - Real Dolls Right ON. xx

------------------------

http://www.myspace.com/therealdolls

FREE REAL DOLLS MP3 - Simply visit http://www.therealdolls.co.uk/, fill out your email address and a crisp dancefloor-friendly Real Dolls MP3 is yours!

See you down the front on the 8th..

Rob