THE FACE INTERVIEW!!!!!!!!!

 I love The Face. Ever since seeing them strut their booties with Alphabeat I was smitten! 
Their pop is relentless, delicious, poptastic and glamorous. When Tamer, Christie and 
Francine take to the stage they send affacionades of mirrorball music like me into cries 
of delirious pleasure. Today we talk about their new album, Army of Lovers and meeting 
in a Soho Alley. I hope you enjoy...

Thank you The Face!

C: Anytime
F: Thank you for the support.

Where do The Face draw their inspirations from?

F: Anywhere there is colour and drama. It could be a Grace Jones performance; a Guy Bourdin
photograph; our friends; each other. 

T: I’m honestly inspired by so much. But my musical inspiration is heavily influenced by
Disco and Rock. Growing up my dad played a big part, his music collection was mostly
classical, opera and disco. He was a very stylish man and a great musician.
C: Anything that is fabulous and inspirational.

Where did you all meet?

F: Tamer and I met at the BRIT School where we studied. We saw Christie performing in
Soho and basically followed her into an alleyway.
C: Yes that's true, it was in an alleyway.
T: I met Francine at the BRIT School, but it wasn’t till after BRIT perhaps a year later one
fateful night that we met at a party and really began to adore each other, realising how many
of the same things we had in common. We both met Christie in London in an alley way
outside a sex clinic in Soho, we had seen her sing previously. We struck up a conversation,
next thing we knew, we were singing in the alleyway and everything after that progressed
pretty organically.

Would it be fair to say you sound a little bit like ABBA, Madonna, Kylie and 
Scissor Sisters and Grace Jones?

F: Unfair due to the level of flattery! Even if we're the littlest bit comparable to the
heavyweights you mentioned we’re happy.
T: Well that is an honour. They are artists we truly respect and love.
C: To be compared to them… hey, I'm very happy with that.

Are you determined to have fun with pop while still messing around with the 
norms and traditions that often stereotype the genre.....

T: Absolutely! It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing.
C: As long as we love our music and our fans do then we will always have fun with it.
F: We're determined to have fun and make good music. As far as
confounding stereotypes we've been doing that all our lives so if that comes across in our art, so much
the better.

You’re working with pop heavy weights Le Kid and Anders Hansson?

T: Indeed.

How did that come about?

T: Our managers approached them, they took a shine to us and wanted to be a part of the
project. We were totally over the moon.
F: We were told that they took a look at one of our images and were intrigued. Thankfully
we could actually sing when we met them in person so it all grew from there.

What is it like working with Felix?

T: AMAZUAL!
C: We had such a great working relationship with him. We had fun but had serious moments
too so it was a great combination!
F: Felix is very smart, as is Marta. They both have a great pop sensibility but quite a wry
sense of humour. It's a dichotomy but that's what we like. Anders’ enthusiasm is boundless.

There is certainly Swedish feel to the look and sound of The Face. There are moments 
when I see shadows the mighty Army Of Lovers, BwO and Alcazar? This is a good thing! 
Did any of these bands inspire The Face?

T: They are all brilliant bands.
F: We styled ourselves for all our promo photoshoots and performances to date, so I'd say our
look is definitely British, but the flamboyancy has probably contributed to our mutual attraction
with Swedish pop artists, who value glamour as well. We have always been huge fans of
Army of Lovers, and musically, Swedish pop is so much at the forefront it really inspires
everyone.
C: We were very fortunate to have Alexander Bard write a song for us, which we recorded
with Anders.

Which bands have played a pivotal role in influencing the group?

F: Love Roisin Murphy, Scissor Sisters, ELO, MJ, Grace Jones, Queen.
C: MJ, Scissor Sisters, Prince, Donna Summer and many more.

If The Face were to cover one song it would have to be something like Army of Lovers  
Crucified! Now that would be epic!  What songs would you cover and incorporate into your 
setlist?

F: Love that song! We quite like unexpected covers, sung in harmony.
We like to surprise our audience with a new interpretation.
C: There are some. Maybe we’ll record them for the album.
T: Let’s see shall we....

Would you like to pursue more of that Swedish side to The Face?

C: Definitely
T: Absolutely!
F: We're lucky we’ve been embraced by a place with such a rich musical heritage and we'd like
to make more music as long as they’ll have us.

You give everything in your performances. The stage is yours. Do you have any pre-stage 
rituals?

T: We do.
F: Just one but it's a secret.
C: No one knows apart from us.

The Face is very much about team-work and you can really see that on stage. There’s a lot of 
love circulating in and around the project – you must be itching to release the album.

C: Everything we do is teamwork - that's why it works so well. Itching is not the word!!
T: We want to make sure everything is in place.
F: Before we had management or producers or labels, we would sing and party together, and
we take that energy into our performances. The industry is not always easy and we’re all still here
because we love our band and what we do.

How is that coming about by the way?

T: Actually it’s coming along very well, we have some more work to do. But hopefully soon.
C: We will keep recording and see. We enough songs for an album already.

While I love the Scissor Sisters I ain’t feeling Magic Hour at all. But I am sure it works live.  
But the album was a bit of a white wash for me. Listening to your music I was so taken 
aback. You’re providing music that's like a firecracker of pop which recalls the 
groundbreaking force of the Scissor Sisters when they first arrived on the scene….. 
May I be so bold to say that The Face are the band who’ve picked up where the Scissor 
Sisters clearly dropped the (mirror)ball. Was that your intention….? (and is the comparison comfortable with you?).

F: We are bona fide Scissters. I personally love the direction of Magic Hour it really captures the New
York club kid and vogue house scene we adore - very Paris Is Burning. We have a lot of the same
influences and are inspired by the Scissor Sisters a great deal so the comparison is one we welcome.
C: We love them and I think the new stuff is great too. I think the world wouldn't be the same without
the Scissor Sisters in it.
T: I love how creatively fearless they are - one of my favourite bands. I think Magic Hour is a
beautiful piece of work.

Let us talk about your song Tallula!!! That is an absolutely epic pop song of polemic proportions. 
Pop never tasted so big!  Did the gay icon Talulah Bankhead provide inspiration for that anthem?

F: Nope, the song is named for a drag queen.
C: Yes, my mum. (Only kidding mum, haha)

Love Stuck is gonna be the next single....When is getting a release?

T: It's out now in Sweden and will be on Spotify soon. (Swedish Itunes Link)

And lastly, if I was to set up a The Face tribute band I’d call it The Bum. Because your music 
makes me bum whiggle. A Lot. If you three could join any tribute band which act would it be…
and what would you call yourselves?

C: Mmm, that’s a tricky one.
T: Hahaha. Thanks I look forward to seeing The Bum perform. I think if I made a tribute band it might be for the musical ‘Hedwig  & The Angry Inch’ We’d be called The Fabulashes (but disco legend Sylvester already took that title)
F: I’ve always wanted to be in a band called ‘Curl Up & Dye’ since seeing it in a movie as the name of a hair salon. We could perform tracks from the musical ‘Hair’.

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Amazing

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