I’m Judith Algar (vocals, keyboards) and my co-writer is Nick Nicholas (guitars, keyboards, effects). We met on an ill advised and doomed attempt to become teachers. We started writing songs together, and in a strange chain of events involving the accidental killing of a tank of tropical fish (a long story…) we met the band next door, Surge, an experimental ‘90s dance act, who helped us put our first recordings together.
2. How would you describe your sound?
The songs are written on a guitar and then mashed up with machines! We like to mix up layers and textures, so may have an ultra cold programmed part right up against a raucous guitar and a tender vocal. We’re miserable bastards, so a lot of our songs have a darker emotional side, but we also love beats, and lots of the tracks are quite dancey. As a reference people have said we fit somewhere between Air, The Velvet Underground and early Eurythmics.
3. On the new single Killing Time, I can detect a definite ‘80s influence, do you think this is a fair assessment, and who would you say influences your sound in general?
It’s true that we love a lot of music from the ‘80s. There were loads of art school pop bands mixing melancholy with great melodies and dance beats, and bands like Depeche Mode, Ultravox and The Human League are certainly influences. But we’re also hugely influenced by bands such as Radiohead, The Velvet Underground and Bowie, something people don’t always pick up on, maybe because our vocal style leads to different comparisons (Morcheeba, St. Etienne, etc….).
4. How has the new single been received to date?
Everyone who hears it seems to like it, which is great! It’s getting playlisted on lots of radio shows and is released on i-tunes on September 6th.
5. I read in the press release that you were once on George Michael’s own record label. How did this come about, did you get to meet George and what was it like working with him?
In the weird music biz way it goes, someone passed one of our demos to someone else and the next we heard George Michael was on a yacht off the South of France with some friends dancing to our music!Aegean, George Michael’s label, was an incredibly innovative and creative early attempt at an internet record label. George and his team were experimenting with all the new technology way ahead of everyone else and were putting together deals that were non-exploitative to the artist.George was very encouraging and supportive to our project and wanted to get involved in the production, but sadly Aegean did not survive.
6. I’m also interested in the fact your songs have been used on the cult tv As If and Cold Feet, did the producers come directly to you, how did they hear about The Pictures, and is there any program that you’d like to be asked to contribute to?
We’ve been lucky enough to be in and out of publishing deals with independents such as Hit and Run and majors such as EMI, so our music sometimes reaches unexpected ears. It’s always really exciting when our music is used on TV or film, as it really adds another dimension, especially when you like the characters involved or are gripped by the plot.We’d love to hear our music used on ‘Skins’ or anything involving David Lynch, and of course it would be a huge honour to hear it belting out of the jukebox at the Queen Vic.
7. As a duo, how do you go about performing live, do you add to the line up or do you use a bank of synths and computers?
The sound begins with a song and a guitar, and that’s at the heart of any live performance for us. We also have some amazing musicians we sometimes collaborate with. Depending on the venue and how we’re feeling, it could be anything from a stripped down set against a beat to a full band, but there’s usually a computer or a synth or two implicated.
8. One of the b-sides is a beat friendly remix of Killing Time, were you pleased with the results, are we going to hear more remixes of your work in the future, and is there anybody you’d like to collaborate with?
Joe (MyNameIsTokyo) who did the remix, is a bit of a genius, experimenting with sound waves and time signatures in all sorts of ways we don’t fully understand, pulling children’s toys apart to get new sounds and so on…. so it was great to work with him, and we think it’s interesting how a remix so coldly computerised can come over as strangely touching.We’ve always enjoyed working with remixers and seeing the different take someone makes of our work. It makes you realise that any song has infinite possible permutations, many of them surprising. We’d love to have more remixes done and would especially love to collaborate with Danger Mouse or The Chemical Brothers.
9. When can we expect a full length album by The Pictures, and what can we expect from it?
We’re putting the finishing touches to ‘Wake Up Dreaming’ our debut album now.We recorded it with awesome producer Gavin Monaghan (Editors, The Twang, Ocean Colour Scene…..) at the Magic Garden studio, which was a huge honour for us. It was a massively creative environment with everyone buzzing on the songs, vocals and parts often going down in one take and people wandering in and out and laying down guest parts en route. I think this excitement comes over on the album. There’s a mixture of the highly programmed and pure raucous energy. The songs range from intimate to angry, from the ‘80s influenced to the acoustic.Friends tell us it’s a great album for getting off with your girlfriend/boyfriend to!
10. What’s next in store for The Pictures?
We’ve written a lovely song with Midge Ure which we hope to release from the album early next year.
We’re working with a brilliant computer artist called Brendan Oliver and are looking at doing a web installation with him for a forthcoming video.And we’ll be writing, recording and playing as we’ve always done!
