I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Paisley Pattenden from Detox Cute & the Beauty Junkies recently.

It’s been a long time since I have truly enjoyed every song a group has put in front of me. Twenty+ songs later and I am still in love with this duo from England.  Charlie writes the complex, yet elegant songs and Paisley provides the angelic life-giving breath that will sweep you off your feet.

Tuned-out:  Paisley, thank you for taking time from your busy schedule for a little Q&A. First off, why don’t you take a second and introduce yourself to the readers who may not know who you are.

Paisley: Hiya Tuned-Out! I always have time for you…! I’m Paisley, the singer from Detox Cute & The Beauty Junkies. I live in Brighton, a city by the sea in England, about an hour away from London. I have very long brown hair, cannot really play any instruments well and enjoy eating cakes and chocolate. I am currently addicted to Twitter. Charlie is here with me too – just in case I need a hand with any answers!

TO: Prior to your role as lead vocalist in Detox Cute & the Beauty Junkies, what other bands have you been in? I heard a rumor you used to be in a metal ABBA covers band? Care to elaborate? Sounds like a kick-ass concept considering I’m a fan.

PP: Cor, I have been in various bands, trios and duos! I started my singing career in a girl band, which quickly turned into another girl band. The bands I were in often had ‘personnel’ changes, but I love to sing so much I always stuck with them. Being in a band needs commitment that some just can’t give. I decided, after unsuccessful stints in various bands, to give up singing altogether. I was so upset with the feeling of not getting anywhere. But I couldn’t resist the buzz of singing live so I joined Abbatoir, a wonderful thrash metal Abba tribute band. It was great fun, we played all over, but I realised that singing covers wasn’t really my thing. Plus, I’m not that great at screamy shouty singing – the only way I could hear myself was by wearing ear plugs! So I gave up on the band. I hated being a quitter, and I was upset, but it just wasn’t for me. I have recorded loads of albums worth of songs in my various bands, and have worked with some chart topping producers. But I still yearn for success and singing is an itch I need to scratch!

TO: How old were you when you first got involved with singing? Any professional training here?

PP: I always loved to sing – from school and onwards into the big, bad world. But I soon discovered that the 9-5 world needed a bit more excitement, and to earn some extra cash I started doing some modeling for a local agency. Not much came of it, but I really enjoyed being in the spotlight! I had always fantasised that I was a singer, so I thought why not, I’m going to go for it!

TO: Besides singing, do you play any instruments?

PP: Hmm – I can sort of play but not very well! I played the oboe and cello at school, and have played electric guitar on stage once. It went so badly wrong. I only had to play one riff. It was a showcase in front of managers, producers and labels to show that the band could play instruments (we couldn’t). As soon as my time came, I completely slipped up and played goodness knows what! Luckily, everyone in the room laughed – although I looked silly and felt stupid it really did break the ice with the audience. Plus, I relaxed after that song was over, and could settle in to what I enjoy the most, singing.

TO: My understanding is that you and Charlie make up Detox Cute & the Beauty Junkies. How did you two come to end up working together?

PP: After Abbatoir, I still wanted to sing – and not sing covers. I searched the web for an opportunity, and I spotted Charlie’s ad for a singer. By the time I applied he had already found one. However, he saw that I was keen so offered me the role of backing vocalist and keyboard player. Now, as you know, I can’t really play any instruments! But after hearing Pop Trash, I had to be involved. I said yes! The band rehearsed a few times, with Charlie as manager. As time went on it was clear that the others didn’t have the commitment or drive to carry on, making excuses for not practicing or just turning up late. So I suggested to Charlie that we continue, as a duo! We both love Yazoo, The Carpenters, Pet Shop Boys and The Captain and the Tennille so we just went for it! I am so glad that we did!

TO: Tell me about your song writing process. What comes first: melody or lyrics? Do you bring a book of lyrics and match them up with Charlie’s melodies or do the songs evolve spontaneously??

PP: I have a secret. Not a shameful secret, but a secret nonetheless. Charlie is a genius. He creates the words, music – everything. I just sing. That’s it! I have put some lyrics to songs, Candid Café and Hello Kitty are two that I helped with lyrics. But Charlie is the brains behind the band. I am his biggest fan, so love to sing for him!

TO: Knowing you’re a duo, do you find it hard to re-create your studio recorded sound live when playing out? How do you compensate? Do you have a back-up band you travel with? If not, do you think the fans still prefer your live sound over your recordings??

PP: When we play, we try to create a real show – lots of lights and props. We also have a mix of Charlie on keys and then on guitar. We would love to have a live band one day, but for now, doing what we can as a duo is the important thing. We can rely on each other to turn up at least!

TO: I’ve been listening to the two albums you sent over a lot. I am quite taken by your sound. It’s a feel-good mix of LUSH, Pizzicato 5, The Cardigans and The Carpenters. What/who are your musical influences?

PP: Thank you so much! It is thrilling for us when people like our songs, and compare us to great artists! I really love any kind of pop music like Abba, The Carpenters, The Pet Shop Boys, Yazoo, Erasure – essentially anything that can be found on golden oldies radio shows. Charlie likes a lot of acoustic pop, like The Lilac Time, The Trashcan Sinatras, Edwyn Collins – he really appreciates good song writing and strong lyrics – even if the songs don’t always end up as hit singles.

TO: What’s the one song that gives you goose bumps every time you perform it? Why?

PP: For me it’s ”Pop Trash’ – when I first heard it on Charlie’s demos I knew it was a hit and I knew I had to be in this band. That feeling never goes away, no matter how often I sing it.  For Charlie it’s ‘Beautiful Thing’ – he feels that the dark lyrics compliment the pure pop melody and constantly keeps people guessing about the story behind the song.

TO: I find myself going back and listening to the track “Julia Misbehaves” from the album “Songs from the Bedsit at the Candid Café” – I couldn’t decide what I liked more – the lyrics or the melody. Can you fill me in on where the idea for this song came from and how it all came together? It’s definitely one of the stand-out songs from this album.

PP: Ah, this has been a millstone around Charlie’s neck for ages. Various producers and record companies have messed around with the song – asking him to add choruses – mixing live versions then dance versions – that it drove him half-mad. When I came along Charlie said he was going back to his original template and recorded it himself without any outside interference and he’s really happy with the result.  The idea for the song came from Charlie watching a play called ‘Miss Julie’ by August Strindberg – a rich girl and a poor servant have a relationship, they plan to run away on midsummer’s eve, but at the last minute she changes her mind, leaving him devastated.  ‘Julia Misbehaves’ was simply a film title Charlie liked the sound of for a song, and like Mike Nesmith before him, Charlie likes to confuse the suits in the record labels buy having song titles that don’t refer to the lyrics in the song.

TO: Have you and Charlie ever considered getting a DJ involved and re-mixing a couple of your more popular songs? I could totally hear these songs re-invented just by adding a little street-level urban undertone. Now, while it would change the dynamic somewhat it would open your sound up to a new audience.

PP: We would be up for anything! A good song is a good song (even if I do say so myself!) so any kind of mix would be fun. We have some friends in New Jersey who are looking at remixing a couple of the songs, so we will let you know how that goes!

TO: I see you’ve worked with a songwriter outside of you and Charlie. Any plans to do that in the future? How do you come to using another songwriter?

PP: Before working with Charlie I worked with many other songwriters and producers. Some have had real chart success, both in the UK and internationally. But alas, that success was not to be repeated. Charlie and me are on to a really good thing, so I have no plans to work with anyone else. And nor has he – I hope!

TO: Have you ever written songs for someone else? If not, would you ever consider it? Some people get really attached to their creative work and find it hard to let go.

PP: We haven’t done that yet but we would definitely consider sharing the songs with other artists. If that would give the songs a good chance of getting ‘out there’, I would wholeheartedly support that.

TO: What’s next for Detox Cute & the Beauty Junkies?

PP:  Oooh – all sorts of daftness! We are releasing a Christmas single in the UK – it is an ode to Christmas songs from the past. The race for the Christmas number one used to be fun, but Simon Cowell has stolen that now. Every year the X Factor winner gets the coveted top spot for Christmas.  So we are releasing a protest/Christmas/Cliff Richard song! We will also be releasing our version of the Cilla Black B Side song ‘La la la lu (I love you) in the new year, plus an album of Paisley and Charlie songs.

TO: What projects are you working on outside of Detox Cute & the Beauty Junkies? Any solo work or side project not related to music?

PP: Detox Cute – Paisley and Charlie. Both projects are just the two of us, and both keep us mega busy! We have had offers to record albums for other songwriters in Europe, which we are looking into at the moment.

TO: Any plans to try and make it over to the U.S. for SXSW in 2010?

PP: We would love to! We have lots of friends in the US who would like us to come over and play…we just have to save up for the air fare! We haven’t earnt mega bucks (or even a penny!) yet from our music, but we are hoping to turn that around!

TO: Are there plans to shop your music to labels? If so, is your plan to focus on indie labels first or are you going to aim for major labels from the start?

PP: We love music, making music and playing music. We haven’t contacted any major labels at all, but are in touch with a few indie ones which is great. For now we are happy where we are, but we might have to sort ourselves out and get some help from people who know the music business soon! I think things have changed so much in the last few years, no one really knows the key to success. We will keep going, making music we love, and see what happens!

TO: Is there anything you’d like to mention? Upcoming events, etc.?

PP: We are playing a show up in our musical spiritual home Liverpool on 30^th October. The best way to keep in touch and hear about the band is by twitter – I am there most of the time and will happily keep everyone up to date and informed of news as it happens!

Only Pop Music Can Save Us Now!

TO: Here’s a video for one of my faves – Julia Misbehaves!

TO: Here’s the video for Pop Trash – The song that had Paisley hooked!

They also made a silly 6 part online tv show called ‘Pop Trash TV’ – You’ll find this quite entertaining.

Pop Trash TV

You can stay up to date on Detox Cute & the Beauty Junkies here:

Detox Cute & the beauty Junkies

This entry was posted on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 11:32 am and is filed under Interview. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.