Behind the Scenes with: YER BEAUTIES

After 3 hours sleep I found myself in Glasgow Airport buying an overpriced tuna cheese melt and iced coffee combo for breakfast, after being given a ticking off for bringing a half-empty deodorant can through security. You’d think that that would be the one thing you’d definitely want to have on a flying tube packed full of people. This was not the beginning of any escape to the sun however, oh no. This was so that we could spend the weekend with Reading trio Yer Beauties, whose EP ‘Come On All The Darling’ we featured a couple of months ago.

When the guys got in touch and told us of their DIY parties held in an old room in a steel factory, along with their plans to record their next track ‘Fashion’ in an abandoned pub-turned-squat in the heart of London, we knew that this was something that had to be seen for ourselves. In person.

After being subjected to a bit of a heart-stopping landing in Gatwick (the plane pulling back into the air at great speed after another plane pulled out onto the runway where we were about to land), fighting our way through the ever-increasing security measures and making it onto the train after decrypting what ticket I needed out of the million different possible combinations, I was in Reading.

The melody section is comprised by brothers Rob and Scott on guitar/vocals and bass respectively. Balancing up their relative respectably short-haired attractive indie look is Kent the Kiwi on drums - a bit more wild and long haired in appearance, much like Animal off of the Muppets. It’s okay, I told him this in person, so there’s no danger of reprisal. The guys met in New Zealand through a rather coloured globetrotting youth, bringing Yer Beauties into being in the form it exists today.

Rob picked me up in a massive 4x4 which was quickly explained away as being part of a house-sitting for the week. The ice was broken by the arrival of some children at his quaint southern-built house - "Did you know I was a family man Steve?" After my half-arsed reply, Rob’s sly smile gave the game away. The water had been tested - we knew where we stood, and so it could continue.

We made our way through the city centre of Reading, picking up an assortment of bizarre items - guarana powder for pick-me-up coffees, spray paint, and lamps from the kind of ‘second-hand’ junk shop that wouldn’t seem out of place in Mary Poppins, or Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Seeing the sort of paraphernalia that we were accruing for the party that night, I had images of a pitch black, dank room where I’d cower in the corner trying to avoid the puddles and mould.

Instead, set amongst the typically English streets and up a stairwell, there lay an incredibly well kitted out room. Once part of the still-functioning steel factory below, the guys were renting the space out for a paltry amount per month, and had dressed it up to be a regular party and rehearsal pad; perfect for a working band to call their own. It hadn’t all been plain sailing mind you, with the Council being sent out with decibel meters in hand to measure the amount of noise their weekly practices were emitting to the vicinity of neighbours’ houses. Ridiculous. Windows closed and sound-proofing in place, they were given the all clear to carry on as before. Adorned with posters of rock-and-roll greats, there was even still a functioning hoist built into the walls. "We’re trying to work out some way to incorporate it into our show" says Scott, with an expression that’s difficult to tell whether he’s kidding or not. I hope he was..

Regardless, it’s that sort of calm, collected demeanour with which the band approach everything. Kent appears totally unfazed at the impending prospect of having to return to New Zealand upon the rapidly approaching expiration of his Visa, or the potential difficulties of coming back to the UK (especially given our current fascist, errr.. ‘coalition’ Government. If it was me in a similar situation, I’d probably be freaking out completely. Instead, they seem content to just let things unfold as they do. It takes quite a skill to appear both creative and chaotic as well as calm and in control, and it’s one that as a collective they pull off remarkably well.