What was life like for you before you got into music?
AGB: Oh, wow. Where do I begin? Conceived in the Italian Alps. Born in Sydney, Australia. English second language. Grew up mostly in Sydney but also North Queensland and Ferrara, Italy. First came to England at the age of 18. Worked for the NME. Britpop godfather Alan McGee wanted me to sing with the Jesus & Mary Chain; I said no because I was too shy. (I really was too shy.)
Returned to Sydney. Worked for Vogue, Elle, Rolling Stone. Married, had a baby, divorced, returned to England with my daughter. Alan invited me to dinner with a Grammy Award-winning producer who said that I should sing – something about the way air moves over my larynx. Alan lost his mind. DO IT! DO IT! And so I did. Started my first band in late 2021. Sacked them on the advice of multiplatinum producer Gavin Monaghan, with whom I recorded my first real song, in early 2022. Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine, my cultural analysis of the 20th and 21st centuries, was published in mid-2022.
Gavin and I kissed for the first time later that night. I persuaded him to join MAMA two months later. We recorded Apex Predators before playing a single gig. Why? Because we lived in different counties, I don’t know how to drive and Gavin has severe ADHD and hates driving; we ran up massive phone bills instead. After I moved up from Kent, we played our first gig – headlining our venue at the inaugural Feel the Noise festival – on April 19. On May 21, our debut album, Apex Predators, was released. One night later, I was wearing a 17th Century Napoleonic military officer’s hat at the Ivors, where I found myself chatting to Brandon Flowers and Lola Young. Life, you know, is super weird.
GM: Well, I’ve been playing a really long time. I was given my first guitar when I was ten years old, and learned Cavatina by John Williams in the wrong key because my parents’ record deck was too slow. Later, I found out that it was played in two parts – I’d been playing both in one! I’ve never learnt to read music, mostly because of my ADHD, but I have perfect pitch and can do a string arrangement in my head without writing anything down. When I was a teenager, I started getting into bands – from there, it was a natural progression to start hanging out in studios, and that’s where I’ve always been happiest.
There was nothing before music. Everything came after it.
What’s the live music scene like in Wolverhampton right now? Anyone we should be looking out for (bar you, of course)?
AGB: There’s the sense of a musical New Wave really beginning to take shape in this area – I’m including Birmingham and Manchester, of course. So much rolling, wild energy. As for bands: Bldsugr, a young metal outfit, are brilliant. Headshrinkers. Senses. Esorealle.
GM: There are a surprising amount of venues for a town this size. Wolverhampton has two main venues and a whole host of smaller ones tucked away in the town centre. Bands? Off the top of my head: Lydons. Amara. Fitzroy Holt. The Twang. Scott Matthews. Loads of others.
It seems like being a social media curator has become added to the many jobs of a musician, how do you feel about this?
AGB: I’m seeing so much frustration in musicians – and writers, too – with this. Agents and festivals checking out follower counts rather than reading books and listening to music. It’s so fucking stupid. What you end up with is really talented short video makers being mistaken for writers and musicians. Fin Power from STONE – Gavin produced their best-loved songs – is rightfully enraged. Why the fuck, he asked in the NME, do we have to do little dances for TikTok instead of working? And he’s right.
For the most part, the artists who kill it as influencers disappear without a trace.
I really love social media and it can be fantastically creative, but do find the insatiable appetite for content really difficult to manage. Where do you find the time? I mean, how do you compose music, rehearse, record, execute publicity requirements – posing for shoots, answering interviews and emails and so on – work a day job, look after a kid and a relationship, deal with extended family issues, find time for friends, and have time to, you know, ride a bike or read a book in addition to creating endless content? It’s a recipe for madness.
GM: I fucking hate it, but it’s necessary in order to be visible. Antonella does most of it for the band – she’s loads better at it than I am.
How do you manage engagement on your socials?
AGB: Because I’m so new to music, my social engagement at the moment is generally at its most intense about the books or writing. This is slowly changing.
GM: I listen to everything that people send me. It’s quite difficult because I’m so busy, but every single piece of music is listened to. Hearing new music is one of my favourite highs. From the perspective of MAMA, I love it when people engage.
What’s your view on the Music industry today?
AGB: SO much discrimination! I mean, it’s insane. Why is almost every new artist under 25? Why songs on the charts almost exclusively concern teen themes? I mean, they absolutely have their place but seriously? At awards ceremonies, 75 percent of the audience seems to be white, male, and mostly over 40. Could this be why most female singers are not only super-young but pressured to strip to their knickers in videos? How many shaking adolescent arses do we have to see? What the fuck is wrong with this picture?
Noone takes them seriously, either – no matter how talented they are, they’re made to feel that their dominant value is as eye candy. I mean, even JLo felt the need to kiss a woman on stage to feel relevant. It’s just so sad. The industry needs a MASSIVE overhaul.
One thing I love: the increasing number of girls in bands who just do their thing, like Sarah from Stone, Scarlett from Headshrinkers, or Lolly from Bldsugr. Pure magic.
GM: The brilliant thing is that everyone now has access to the promotional teams that major labels work with, and it’s definitely one of the best times I can remember for independent music. The dark side of that is that it’s very hard to make a living from the streaming model, but where there’s a will there’s a way. Innovative artists always find their path. Talent, in my experience, will always out.
Where do you feel you currently sit within the music industry?
AGB: To be entirely frank, I don’t feel we fit anywhere at all. Apex Predators is a blur of genres, the antithesis of commercial. Our themes are very adult indeed. We’re not 18. From the very beginning, we were determined to make art rather than pander to marketing departments. We want to change the industry, not conform to it.
GM: What’s most important to me is making music I love; what other people make of it is their business.
What’s the biggest thing you have learned recently as you progress with your music?
AGB: Given that I’ve only really been making music for three years, most of that part-time, I’m learning new things every single day. Learning to be patient with the lyric-writing process is a big, big lesson, because it doesn’t come naturally.
GM: I’ve rediscovered what it’s like to be on the other side of the glass. Performing is definitely addictive. It’s fucking brilliant accompanying Antonella. Her lyrics are, hands down, the best I’ve ever heard, and cross-pollinating genres, as we did with Apex Predators, was fascinating from the production perspective. At times, the atmosphere in the studio was electric – you could actually feel that something important was happening.
What was your best experience on stage?
AGM: Given that I’ve only had one, I’d say opening my eyes on stage – they were closed for most of the performance – to see people really listening intently. That blew me away.
GM: I’ve played major festivals the world over, touring throughout my youth. At the time, I had no real appreciation for it, but now is a different matter. When we got up on stage at Feel the Noise, I felt like I’d come home.
What was your worst experience on stage?
AGM: Again, given that I’ve only had one: not wanting to take my massive parka off because I felt so exposed. So I looked like a Moomin.
GM: I had gastroenteritis during a performance in front of 50,000 people in Sweden and had to run off stage three times to find a bucket. Not my favorite show!
Tell us something about you / each member that you think people would be surprised about.
AGB: Wow. Probably my great, feverish passion for horseriding. I’ve dragged Gavin to Iceland where we herded horses. He ended up coming off his horse in a marsh – I’ve never laughed so hard in my life – but I was in heaven. I’d love to spend a summer there, just herding horses. But I have no interest in mucking out stalls, just herding – you know, riding through lagoons, galloping on black sand beaches, that kind of thing. The thing people would find most surprising about Gavin? He’s a Second Dan black belt and was a reserve in the Commonwealth Games British karate team. The speed at which he can move is very surprising, trust me.
GM: I ask my spirit guides for help before each show. As for Antonella, watching her destroy a bag of marshmallows makes a Great White look restrained.
I hear you have new music. What can you tell us about it?
AGB: Our debut album Apex Predators! It’s a narrative about love in the postindustrial era. Set in Wolverhampton and London and, in one song, North Queensland, it’s a dark, sweeping, emotional landscape, the stuff of those who love their music deep and raw and textural. Listen to it late at night, in low light, LOUD.
GM: Throughout Apex Predators, I called on the spirit of Johnny Lee Hooker. All the guitar was recorded on an iPhone, and for the rest of the recording, I took my inspiration from dub and jazz to showcase Antonella’s sublime voice. I kept everything lo-fi so that she could shine. Her vocals remind me of a time when people weren’t afraid to show real emotion, and every single song she writes is like a little independent film with an unlimited budget. Imagine an amalgam of Janis Joplin and Jim Jarmusch.
What was the recording process like?
AGB: So many wars! We laughed a lot, too. It was unforgettable, really – all of it.
GM: Every time one of us came up with an idea, we’d record it into whatever was handy. I’d take it all to the studio, and together, we discussed what we were trying to say and then assembled the tracks. Each one was a little cinematic experience. Live, we’re just a 60s jazz guitar and a vocal, but we make a lot of fucking noise. I lay the guitar as much like a drum as a stringed instrument.
What was the biggest learning curve in writing the new tunes?
AGB: Again, cutting through to the bone, both lyrically and vocally. My first instinct was always to play it safe.
GM: For me, it was learning to be in a band again because I was deadset against it. Mostly because I was too busy, and the whole thing seemed like so much work, but I’m so glad I did it now … when she isn’t nausing me to death [laughs]
Your favourite songs on Apex Predators?
AGB: Commercial Road/A Call to Light. If You Like, too. And If I Can’t Have You, because it’s so totally fucking psychotic. And Morning makes me feel so happy. This is a terrible question, because I love them all so much!
GM: Commercial Road/A Call to Light. Some Love comes second. Bloodlands.
Who chose the title and why?
AGB: I did. I’m in charge of all words. Why did I choose it? You need to listen to the songs to understand.
GM: She’s the Word God!
Would you change anything now it’s finished?
AGB: Literally nothing. Not one thing. It’s absolutely as we wanted it.
GM: There’s a famous industry saying that albums are never finished but merely abandoned. I don’t feel that way about Apex Predators; I wouldn’t change a note.
Is there anything else you would like to share with the world?
AGB: Follow us at www.instagram.com/gambottoburke and on www.tiktok.com/@mamaftantonella – we’d love to hear from you!
GM: Tell me what you think about the album at www.instagram.com/magicgardenstudio
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