April 7th, 2014 
Brian Leak 
Latimer House is a guitar-driven indie rock quartet based out of Prague in the Czech Republic, but all four members are originally from separate countries; The United States, Canada, England, and Azerbaijan. They joined forces as musically like-minded individuals to form a sound both fresh and familiar which eventually resulted in their debut LP, All The Rage.
Guitarist Joe Cook took some time to speak with us about their new album, Prague’s music scene, Record Store Day, and much more, so read below the jump to get the scoop on Latimer House.
First off, the band name — any story behind it?
It comes from Latimer Road, a street in the North Kensington / Ladbroke Grove / Shepherds Bush area of London, where I’m from. The street itself is named after Edward Latymer, a 17th Century philanthropist — but that’s a totally different story.
I also like the concept of a ‘house’; people visit, they come and go, move in and move out, and so on, but the house always remains. A good house has character and a history!
Ive always had Latimer House in mind as a band name and when this project was coming together we bounced around various names for the band but could never agree, so there came a point when I just took an executive decision!
The four of you are all from very different parts of the world, so how did you come together to start this project?
It came together naturally, and began when George (Jiri Kiminek, drummer), who grew up in Toronto, and I booked a rehearsal space and started jamming song ideas back in 2010, him on drums and me with my 12-string acoustic. One day during a break we heard some great keyboard playing in the rehearsal room next door, so we introduced ourselves to the guy — Anar, who’s from Baku. Then we needed to find a bass player, which is when Mike came in. Mike is originally from Virginia in the States. George, Mike and I have been in Prague for years, and Anar has been here a while, too. So that’s how we came together, organically, and then it was a question of jamming the songs and getting them into shape ahead of recording.
What kind of music scene would you say Prague has compared to your respective hometowns?
Well, there are plenty of technically gifted musicians in Prague, with quite a lively death metal and punk grunge scenes, if you’re into that, which I’m not! There’s a lively jazz scene, too. But regarding contemporary bands I have to say there is not a lot happening, but then again I may not be the best placed person to ask.
There’s a quirky outfit called DVA, which are quite interesting, and worth checking out. What I will say is that Prague has some cool venues– Akrpolis, The Meet Factory, Lucerna Music Bar–so we always get interesting bands coming through town. And this year’s ‘Colours of Ostrava’ festival looks good, with among others The National, MGMT, Seasick Steve and Robert Plant playing.
But the music scene simply cannot be compared to that of London or Toronto or any big US city. To put things into perspective, a band can get a gold disc in the Czech Republic by selling 3,000 copies, not that I’m saying sales equate with creativity or quality. There are not many radio stations that play alternative sounds, and there are few blogs. A very good blog is Nukain.cz, which is run by a group of cool guys. It’s a good blog and they are cool guys because they reviewed All The Rage and gave it 7/10. Thank you, Nukain!
Some of you guys are still involved with other projects outside of LH. Does that have a major effect on productivity for this band?
Mike and I have families and all four of us have jobs that keep us moving around. Right now Mike is in the States and George is in Serbia; Anar returned from Baku last week, and I’m off to Poland later this month. So, work, families and other projects mean that we’ve had to make time for Latimer House, something that we’ll continue to do in order to keep the thing moving. In any event, I’m strumming guitar and working on song ideas all the time so for me at least it never stops.
What influences would you say have played a major role in the sound and themes that you’ve adopted over time that eventually helped create your new album? I hear everything from The Smiths to Beck to Los Campesinos!, but I’m curious about specifics.
Good question, and I always find it tricky to talk about influences. As time goes by one absorbs so much music and musical ideas, consciously and subconsciously. I’m into guitar-driven pop and rock, from the guitar-based song writing of 1960s bands, such as the chime and jangle of psychedelia or the art noise and aggression of the VU, through post-punk new wave stuff like Talking Heads, Wire, XTC, Buzzcocks etc., to contemporary bands like Vampire Weekend or The National, Bombay Bicycle Club, Alex Bleeker, Temples. I like Damon Albarn’s work with Blur and Gorillaz and especially his opera, Dr Dee. I also listen to a lot of Blues, Ska and Soul, honest stuff like that.
One thing we were all agreed on was that we wanted our instrumentation to sound as natural and unprocessed as possible, so that meant analogue keyboards and relatively straight guitar sounds. I think we captured that on All The Rage.
I really rate Beck, he’s a true artist, and The Smiths were a great band, so your references are flattering!
So let’s talk about All The Rage. Now that it’s out and making the rounds, you’ve had plenty of time to listen to it over and over I’m sure — beyond the unprocessed sound you mentioned, is it everything you had envisioned it being when you first began writing it and had an idea in mind of the direction you wanted to take?
I think it’s all pretty much there as far as sound and feel and instrumentation are concerned; it’s certainly an honest and natural record of where we’re at, or where we were at a few months ago. There is actually a broad palette of sounds and songs on the album, albeit within a certain frame, and direction-wise I’d say that it’s true to the song ideas, the band and the recording process. It’s an honest album.
Is there any one track on the album that you could call your personal favorite for one reason or another?
That’s a tough call. I couldn’t say that I have a personal favourite as different songs mean different things and have different connotations. I like “Burn,” with it’s cello and minimalist drum work, the simplicity of “Open Your Heart” and “Birdcage Walk,” the speed with which “Red Heart Sequin Blues” came together was a buzz, the arrangements on “Love’s Undermined,” the soundscape on “Your Love,” Anar’s harmonies on “Splash!”
Actually a real favourite is “Shake!,” which we put out with “This Is Pop” as a single and isn’t on the album. I edited the lyric down to just a few phrases and we stripped out all the rhythm guitars. I like this track because of the way Derek and I worked on it, creating something with a ‘less is more’ approach. There was a lesson for me in how we shaped that track! I think it’s a real psychedelic pop song, slightly spooky and certainly groovy. So, “Shake!” is my fave rave!
The kind of collaged album art is very interesting. Where did that piece come from and how do you feel it coincides with the album?
There’s a story behind that. I was reading the memoirs of Tracey Thorn; Bedsit Disco Queen; How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star, which by the way is worth reading, and I Googled her to see what she was up to and within a few clicks and links I was upon IWANTdesign, a London graphic design studio run by John Gilsenan. I loved the artwork he was producing, for Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt and other bands and labels, and as soon as I spotted that John had lived in Prague I literally picked up the phone there and then. We started chatting, and one thing led to another. I sent him quite a tight brief and we worked closely on arriving at designs for our single “This Is Pop,” the album All The Rage, our website, all the graphics for our digital stuff, the logo and typography for Latimer House, and stuff for our label, Honk Records. He was, and is, good to work with and has this ability to follow the client brief whilst also introducing his own ideas and suggestions. It worked really well for Latimer House, and we are still working on stuff now; website refresh, Honk Records, the next single sleeve etc., which reminds me that I have to chase him, yet again!
Back to your question: most if not all the imagery on the record cover can be traced to certain images in the lyrics from songs on the album, and I wanted an energetic and colourful collage of imagery — something that drew upon the pedigree of Dada, Pop Art and New Wave-cum-Punk. John also created a brilliant Latimer House logo and adapted the logo cleverly for the lyric sheet on the inner sleeve of the vinyl version of the album.
Last year in the Spring, Mike and I were in London and we went to see a fabulous Roy Lichtenstein retrospective at the Tate Modern and a great show of Kurt Schwitters’ work during his last years in England, also at the Tate. Seeing those shows was apposite to our working on the album and the related artwork and packaging design.
I’m glad you asked me this question! For me there is a direct read-across from the music to the album artwork and the band artwork, and I feel that it all hangs together nicely, that the whole works very well.
Have you been playing the new songs live or have any plans to tour this year?
No, we haven’t yet but I certainly want to play our music live. It will be interesting to work the songs in front of audiences. I’ll keep you updated.
I’m always excited to see a vinyl option and based on the fact that you pressed All The Rage on vinyl and seem to post about vinyl related matters regularly, I’d suspect that you’re either collectors and/or just really enjoy the format. Did you always know going into this album that you wanted to press it on vinyl?
Yes. For me vinyl is the best medium for music, and I have loads of records. From the get-go our single and album were always going to be on vinyl, no doubt whatsoever! I think you can’t beat the sound of vinyl cranked up loud over a good system. I like the physical experience of it, the fact that you have to get up and operate a machine and turn the record over; you have to get involved. Also, I think the format helps structure an album’s running order. Plus with an album, depending on the sleeve, you get four or six 12″x 12″ canvasses for the artwork, which gives you a total creative package to develop and work with. I’ve never bought a record because of the sleeve alone, but I have been sorely tempted!
And I think the 7″, single it is the perfect pop medium. We put “This Is Pop” out on super-cool mint green vinyl and wrapped it in a fold out sleeve! It’s fab! If anyone loves 7″ singles as much as me then they should check out Jason Egan’s 7inches blog.
Having said all of that, Latimer House live in the here and now. So in parallel with the loveable eccentricities of vinyl we also had to get our arms around digital, which is of course by far the quickest, cheapest and most user-friendly route to getting music distributed, heard, reviewed, available, streamed, sold etc. So, it was a question of working with all formats, learning about them and understanding them from the creation and production and distribution aspects. In fact we need some help with physical product distribution, so if anyone out there who is reading this is in a position to help, and who digs our music, then we should talk about partnering.
On a more general note, I follow the streaming debate with interest. It is clearly the future of music, which is a topic for a separate conversation, perhaps even for a separate book or thesis or something, but I think there will always be a place for vinyl, at least in Latimer House.
To expand on the topic, out of personal curiosity, is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to hunting down on Record Store Day this year?
Nothing in particular. I just got the debut album, on vinyl, by a Scottish band called Randolph’s Leap, an eccentric folk-pop “team” of about nine people, quirky and melodic and a bit bonkers! And I’ve sent for a 10″ EP called In The Half Light by an interesting British band called High Hazels. As for Record Store Day, I understand the need for it and I support it, but I do think it’s rather a shame that we have to have a ‘Record Store Day,’ and it says a lot about retail, not just records. Nowadays one can buy stuff without leaving the house, like, er, High Hazels’ discs! Good record shops, like good delicatessens or boutiques are great places where people exchange knowledge, chat, strike up conversations, hang out, buy stuff, swap stuff, complain about things, celebrate things etc. Support your local shop!
Who put together the video for “This Is Pop” and how did you find so many pieces that worked out? There’s a great variety of archival footage but all the visuals are perfectly literal for the lyrical content.
Joe Carhart, a guy who works in the film industry in England who I have known for years, helped pull it together. The idea is based on a concept from us, the band, and it follows the lyrics. We knew we wanted a montage of clips so Joe and Vicki Kisner, who’s at the Met Film School in London, spent time going through film libraries to help us source copyright-free and rights-free footage. It’s amazing what is available and what can be achieved on a tight budget, some clips were as cheap as $5. The band footage was shot by Will Tizard, who writes for Hollywood Reporter and also makes documentaries. He filmed us dressed up and fooling around at our old rehearsal space and shot us miming to the track in an empty café one Sunday afternoon. Ben Pollard was a star, editing the thing together in a very professional and creative way. Joe, Ben, Vicki and Will, via about a million emails and phone calls, made our video happen. We’re looking forward to making the next one!
So the album’s been out for about a month and a half. What are you guys working on now? Will LH be a priority for you all or just something to return to when time allows?
New songs. We have enough material for another album already, so now we are jamming and rehearsing the ideas and plan to go into the studio in two or three months time. We also want to put out a second single, a track from All The Rage backed with a song called “Until Then” that we have in the can from the album sessions. I hope we can get another video together, too. And we’re also looking at having some remixes done for a 12″ EP. So there is plenty in the works.
Latimer House is certainly a priority for me. It’s essential, something that I have to do, let the music flow.
All The Rage is available now digitally and on CD and vinyl.
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