Scouting For Girls

April 2010

My weekend: Roy Stride 

I LOVE the cricket. That’s always on in the background. And it really annoys my girlfriend. Particularly since we moved house and had Sky installed. Before it was just on during the summer but now it’s all year round. That really annoys her.

I’m really hooked Flash Forward and Modern Family on Sky 1, which is probably the funniest show on TV. It’s a bit like The Office but in a family environment. And like The Simpsons, each episode has a nice feeling to it. It’s not cynical in any way.

I’ve also recorded the top 20 on MTV2, Jonathan Creek, Grey’s Anatomy and This Week, the politics show.

That said I don’t really have a lot of time to watch TV. Why? Because I’m writing songs and setting the charts on fire (laughs).

I buy loads of DVDs. I’ve got Flight Of The Conchords, The A-Team and Band Of Brothers. I’ve got The Hurt Locker which I’ve been meaning to watch for ages.

Avatar? No. I think I’m one of the only people in the world not to have seen Avatar. I haven’t been to the cinema in such a long time.

When we’re on tour sometimes the crew will go to the cinema during the day. But I generally stay at the hotel writing music.

I do watch a lot of music DVDs with a notebook. I literally watch them with a notebook so every time I see something I think, yep, I like that, we’ll have that. It can be anything, something to do with the lighting...

The masterclass for me is Robbie Williams Live At Knebworth. That is a man in complete control of 120,000 people. I take a lot from how Robbie Williams works and plays with the audience. It’s all about entertainment, having a really good time, connecting with the audience.

At home I like to listen to what’s going on right now in the charts. Unlike Greg our bass player who doesn’t listen to much after 1979. I’m enjoying Ellie Goulding, Florence & The Machine, Biffy Clyro, Keane, The Noisettes and Scouting For Girls’ Everybody Wants to Be On TV, the album of 2010.

I probably need to go to the gym. Not when I’m on tour because I run around for an hour and a half each night. But when I’m not...

When we’re on tour I like proper English pub food. I’m vegetarian which cuts down my options but I like vegetarian versions of sausage and mash or a roast dinner, without the roast meat, of course. That said we tend to eat off the rider most of the time. We have to. It’s like going swimming. You can’t eat too much before a show because you get on stage and you’re all bloated. And when you come off stage you have a few beers and then all you really want to do is go to sleep.

The last tour rider was good quality cheese and red wine. I think our aim is to get gout. How rock n roll are we?

We usually have a toast to whatever town we’re in before we go on stage. I don’t know if you’ve seen Spinal Tap where they say “Tap into America”, we say “Tap in to Nottingham” and have a glass of red.

I’ve just finished the Chris Evans autobiography, which is a really good read and I’m currently reading a biography of Phil Spector. The next one will be The Dirt by Motley Crue. I love reading books about musicians.

My perfect weekend when I’m not working, I would take the dog out, go to a country pub, sit out in the sun and have a roast dinner.

With the missus, yes. She’s with me at the moment so I have to say that.

Scouting For Girls play the Royal Concert Hall on April 28. Tickets are £22.50, call 0115 989 5555.

Scouting For Girls

November 2008

THEY have been on the road pretty much for the past 18 months flogging their debut album time and again in to the upper reaches of the chart.
And it's worked -- still sitting in the top twenty 14 months since its release.
And it's produced the hits She's So Lovely, Elvis Ain't Dead, Heartbeat and the reissued debut EP It's Not About You. But the latest single, I Wish I Was James Bond, only scraped in to the chart at No. 40.
Suggesting it's time for some material.
"We're hoping to get in to the studio early next year," says bassist Greg Churchouse.
"The album is well on the way. It's just when we get some time off from touring."
The relentless tour has seen them play the Rescue Rooms, then Rock City, with The Feeling at Clumber Park and now they're back again, at the Trent FM Arena this weekend.
"It's going to be a lot bigger and better visually this time round," he says.
Any dancing bears?
"Unfortunately not. The only dancers will be the three fools on stage."
Are you firing any cub scouts out of a canon?
"(Laughs) Why couldn't you have been around for the production meetings?"
Their association with Baden Powell's lot has extended beyond simply basing their name from the 1908 handbook Scouting for Boys.
As well as their fanclub of Wolf Cubs, last month SFG played to 40,000 girl guides at their annual Big Gig at the NEC in Birmingham.
"I tell you, my ears afterwards... the frequency that 14 year old's scream at is deafening," he complains.
Churchouse was never a scout, as a youth opting for the more thrilling air cadets.
"You'd get to fly planes, you'd get to go gliding."
He didn't want to join the RAF?
"I did think about applying but I have a phenomenally bad eyesight. The chief medical officer of the RAF said I was medically unfit for any military service. If there's any conscription I'm bringing that letter out."
While singer/songwriter/pianist Roy Stride was working at the Harrow's Carphone Warehouse at the beginning of last year, school mate Churchouse was earning his pre-fame crust at a nearby Thresher off-licence.
"For nine years," he groans.
"I had my fair share of robberies. A couple of times I took a bit of a smack but I'd say I was really lucky. I never had a knife or a gun pulled on me. I did chase someone out the shop once. He had taken a case of beer but luckily there was a police car right outside so the coppers carried on chasing him for me. I was quite glad I didn't catch up with him."
Since the band has taken off, the trio have played to more than a million people. And it's given them a chance to meet a hero or two.
"Tony Hadley".
Tony Hadley? A music hero?
"Don't let Pete hear you say that. He idolises Tony Hadley so much that the first time we met him he couldn't bring himself to say hello. He was so nervous.
"At V festival this year we did a set for Virgin Radio and he came on stage and did Suspicious Minds with us. It was a very moving moment."
Why?
"80s music is quite special to all of us. There are Spandau Ballet tracks that can bring a tear to the eye."
But it was during the 90s that he and Stride decided they wanted to be in a band.
"We were in the same year at school and discovered Britpop together."
Their first gig was Suede.
"It was the Dog Man Star tour, their second album, just after Bernard Butler had left. And it was wicked. We weren't sure what to expect and then the band came on and we all rushed as far forward as we could.
"We had tickets to see Blur but we were playing in a school music thing that night. Though we saw The Stone Roses at Wembley Arena. I've still got the T-shirt I bought outside for £4."
He also cites the likes of The Kinks and Madness as key influences.
"They write great pop tunes, which is what we endeavour to do."
So, who wants to be James Bond?
"A couple of years ago we discovered Pete wandering around our local nightclub using the chat up line that he was just about to be cast as the new James Bond," laughs Churchouse.
"To no avail I might add. He came away single every time."

Scouting For Girls play the Trent FM Arena on Sunday November 16 with The Days and Nottingham's Sam Beeton