Interview with Peter Holstrom from the Dandy Warhols

The Dandy Warhols

The Dandy Warhols have just played London's Electric ballroom before their new album's release early next year. Claire Storrow caught up with guitarist Peter Holstrom before he went on-stage.

“Don’t mention Vodafone.”

That’s what I keep telling myself as I enter the Camden branch of Wagamama to meet Peter Holstrom, the Dandy Warhols’ guitarist. 
It’s not a very rock n roll venue and Pete, with his Clockwork Orange bowler hat and skinny black jeans certainly cuts a cool figure amongst the weekday diners. 

The truth is,  though, there’s more interesting things to talk about than “that song."
I know that the band saw the money that came from allowing Bohemian Like You to be used in the mobile provider’s advert as something of an artistic grant.

 It allowed them to buy a studio in their hometown of Portland Oregon, a vast creative space called The Odditorium where they can also relax and entertain friends like David Bowie and The Strokes.

 It seems a million miles away from the tabloid hoopla of Pete Doherty and Amy Winehouse.  What does he think of all that?

“It doesn’t even register in the U.S – I mean The Libertines barely even registered over there musically so nobody cares about him (Pete Doherty). I just wonder how it all (continued shenanigans and bad behaviour) translates into records.”

I comment that it’s funny how a lot of musicians I speak with don’t really know what’s going on in the media whether it's hype over new bands or in this case, mere entertainment - world gossip.
 It occurs to me that if you’re working in a creative field you often become so immersed in what you’re doing that you are unaware of  trends or news, and perhaps don’t particularly care?

“That’s Courtney (Dandy Warhols singer).  He doesn’t know what’s going on.  He listens to all this classical music, I don’t know, Baroque or Medieval.  And I suppose to some extent you don’t really want to be influenced by what’s going on.”

And so what music are you listening to at the moment?

“The Black Angels…I’m interested to see our support band tonight (The Lea Shores) and I’m waiting for the new Spiritualized album to come out. 

It seems kind of archaic waiting for an “album” to come out doesn’t it?  How does he feel about bands like The Charlatans and Radiohead making their albums available to download for free?  He shrugs,

“It’s great if you can do it because then everyone’s happy – we’ll probably end up releasing a record with a newspaper or however it’s done right now (laughs)”

So what about the live scene?  What was the last show you saw?

“I saw Spectrum (Peter “Sonic Boom” Kember formerly of Spaceman 3) and I’m into that – I like the idea of getting a bunch of keyboards and making droning noises but I’m sure it’s not that easy.”

That sounds very different direction to what the Dandy Warhols do – what can we expect from the new album?

“It’s all our usual sounds, it’s still jangly but a little more aggressive – much more song structured than the last record.”

I can’t wait to hear one particular song which Pete describes intriguingly as “what happens when you mix I Miss You by the Rolling Stones with Magnificent Seven by The Clash with Hey Ya by Outkast”. 
We’ll have to wait until March to hear that particular ear candy, when the band hope to release the album on their independent label ( they've left their label Capitol records )  Beat The World. 

They do however play a selection of new songs at that night’s show at the Electric Ballroom.
 Talk Radio is instantly memorable – always a good sign when hearing new material live; The Wasp and The Lotus has a dark and seductive edge; and Now You Love Me (which will be the first single) gets the crowd going almost immediately. 
And of course, they play Bohemian Like You– because we like it, yeah we like it… 

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