Filthy Little Devil's Fifth Birthday

Isn't it amazing how time flies when you're having fun. The Devil's favourite independent label Filthy Little Angels, a label that shares the Devil's commitment to unearthing unknown, unheard, unseen, unheralded, unfamiliar or downright unbelievable bands new or old, is five year old! Five years of independence, five years of eclecticism, an average of twenty releases each year, five years of brilliance.

To celebrate their fifth birthday the brains behind the label, Woon and Missy and the excellent Captain Polaroid (CP) took time out from opening the presents and stuffing their faces with jelly and birthday cake to reminisce about five years of independence.

The Devil: Filthy Little Angels has been around for five years, what's been the biggest lesson you've learned over those five years?

Woon: erm.....
CP: releasing and promoting a record is both expensive and time-consuming, but always ALWAYS enjoyable.
Woon: erm.....

The Devil: What has been your proudest achievement in the five years of existence?

CP: I'm torn between the sheer joy of having Steve Lamacq feature the Singles Club and working with Projekt A-ko...

Woon: It's always wonderful to work with, or be respected by, people you adored when you were younger. working with the IK+, The Lovely Eggs, Projekt A-Ko is a thrill, but, most importantly, having the likes of Steve Lamacq, a man who inspired our record collections, play these records and hopefully inspire other peoples record collections is the biggest buzz.

Missy: There's not just one proudest achievement moment. Having the respect of people we respect like Steve Lamacq, Huw Stephens, Devil Has The Best Tuna (flattery will get you everywhere - The Devil), and all of the wonderful musicians we've met along the way has been a sincere and humbling honor. And seeing our records on the wall at Piccadilly Records wasn't too bad either.

The Devil: What's been your biggest disappointment?

Woon: Egos
CP: Definitely. And eager bands with difficult-to-please management.
Woon: yeah, Egos and Managers... especially when the 2 combine
Missy: Bad managers and lazy people

The Devil: Where did the name Filthy Little Angels come from? What other names did you ponder before deciding on Filthy Little Angels?

Woon: its a line from 2 Hefner songs, most notably Lee Remick from "Boxing Hefner". the line goes "Those filthy little angels tugging at my heart saying ‘boredom is a sin, ambition should be everything'". Hefner had been a huge band to myself. and I believe captain too. and the name just felt right, a kind of naughty but nice kind of idea, hopefully thats the same feeling people get of us as a label. the discordant noise placed next to the anthemic pop gems
CP: I'm not sure I could say it any better than that. Hefner have so many amazing pop songs.
Missy: What they said...
Woon: ... oh and there was never any other name for the label

The Devil: What was the first record that you bought?

Woon: Oasis/Blur roll with it/country house
Missy: Duran Duran 7 and the ragged tiger 12"
CP: Oasis - Cigarettes and Alcohol / The Rutles - Shangri La (for the record Blur win every time for us)

The Devil: Are there any music genres that you'd never release on FLA?

Woon: probably drum and bass, RnB, chart dance music. music which has never meant anything to us.
Missy: Ummm...well I really love drum and bass and I think if someone approached me about it I'd be more than happy to release it as long as it was fantastic. I think that country-rock crossover or Christian rap are the 2 most unlikely future FLA releases.

The Devil: Which band would you have most liked to have released a single by and why?

Woon: of all time? or bands that somehow got away from us?? If we're talking bands that got away "Austere" by Sidecar Kisses (who foolishly renamed themselves Joy Formidable). I think its the most FLA sounding record that we didn't release. We had talked about releasing a 7" with them I think the stumbling block was that they wanted a 7" on their own, whereas we wanted them on a split 7" as part of the ongoing singles club. Also, Los Angeles pop princess Love Grenades. Again we talked about a 7" and the only thing that stopped us was the lack of money. shes utterly fantasic and writes perfect pop songs and im certain that she is destined for huge things. I guess those 2 on a split 7" is my fantasy record.

Missy: Their Hearts Were Full of Spring. We were never supposed to release anything by them (as far as I can remember) but if you have a listen you won't need an explanation as to why I would want to!

CP: I really wanted to release something by Johnny Foreigner and for a short while I thought it might happen... but for whatever reason it never did. They're a rather fantastic group, I'm looking forward to their new album.

Woon: well they're on our "Hark! The Filthy Angels Sing" aren't they?... but yeah would have been good to work more with them

The Devil: What is your favourite release from the FLA archives?

Woon: I'd go for the Right Turn Left ep, based solely on the music, they seem to be a band with egos but im not gonna let that ruin the music, which is infact as close to pop gold as we ever came

CP: The Projekt A-ko / Horowitz split is definitely my favourite but there are so many others that come close. All of The Vichy Government's release are outstanding and The Lovely Eggs / The Sexual Hot Bitches split is perfect.

Missy: AWWBLOT!

The Devil: Probably the most difficult question of all and, as The Lovely Eggs has already been bagged by CP, I'd have to say The Colt 45s 'Stockholm Syndrome'.

The Devil: And any records you regret putting the FLA name to?

Woon: plenty, for various reasons, rarely the music

CP: I'm not sure about 'plenty', certainly some - and as you say, rarely because of the music

The Devil: Captain, as well as being part of the FLA team you are also an FLA artist. what is it to be an FLA approved artist?. and what would happen if Missy and Woon decided one day that they didn't like your records but still wanted u in the team?

CP: Woon has always been very complimentary about my music right from the beginning, even when I don't think it's deserved - similarly I think he's always been honest with me when something doesn't quite work as well as I had hoped. I only sent him a copy of Spitting Facts, Splitting Fractions because he liked a lot of the same artists as me, I had no idea he was involved with FLA. It'd be a shame if he stopped liking my records but I'd certainly still work with him on the label.

Woon: I think the captain will stop making records before I stop liking them

The Devil: If you weren't spending your time bringing fantastic indie into the world with FLA what would you be doing?

Missy: Continuing to work on films and my Psych degree
Woon: drinking a lot more, smoking a little less and admiring a much healthier bank balance
CP: I'd be thinking about starting a label in order to bring fantastic indie into the world.
Woon: what's the label in your head called?
CP: If we're assuming FLA never happened then Filthy Little Angels of course. Or perhaps Fingers In Your Ears Records.

The Devil: What are Filthy Little Angels doing to beat the credit crunch? Any tips for the Devil's readers?

Woon: we've been helping beat the credit crunch since before there was a credit crunch. We've been giving away records long before Radiohead ripped us off... tip.. hmm... ASDA SmartPrice
CP: forget SmartPrice... hang around at 5PM and you'll find some perfectly edible items for pence with those lovely yellow 'Whoops!' stickers on. I live for those stickers.
Woon: and in my day job i print those stickers. haha
Missy: Sell your television

The Devil: What did you think of this years Glastonbury line up? Was it final proof that the punks won the battle but the dinosaurs won the war?

Missy: Since I've yet to hear most of the performances I can't comment. The line up itself seemed like a nice blend of old and new but I would base it on who was good and who wasn't.
Woon: Who even played?
CP: Well obviously Blur played and I'm quite certain the other headliners were The Boss and Neil Young. Blur's set went down very well and from the footage I saw was much better than Hyde Park... but neither performance came close to their amazing Glasto 98 slot.
Woon: well yeah but i cant remember anyone other than Blur, was a major none-event this year. and Blur was as captain says not a patch on 1998... i don't think that answers your question tho...

The Devil: What's the plan for Filthy Little Angels for the next five years?

Woon: we're not savvy enough to have a plan, but by the time we're 10 years I expect we'll have sold out to a major
CP: That's not quite true, we sometimes make plans but always completely disregard them. There probably won't be any majors left by then, just iTunes. I'd love for iTunes to completely collapse on itself forcing people to buy physical formats again... we would then attack with an arsenal of coloured vinyl.
Missy: I'm having a hard enough time figuring out next week....!

The Devil: Anything else that you'd like to say to the Devil's readers?

CP: I'd like every one of you to write something really interesting/shocking/amusing/a combination of all three on a piece of paper, fold it up and hand it to a stranger in the street as you pass them.
Woon: i recommend you check out Bryan Adams back catalog and re-assess the position he holds in your hearts
Missy: 1. I recommend you do not do either of the things Woon or Captain have recommended. 2. Thank you for reading this! 3. Keep reading The Devil!!!

Go Try

Here are some tracks from the last five years of indie brilliance taken from the vaults at Filthy Little Angels central...

MP3 - We Do Kung Fu - ...And It All Falls Down(the latest blast of brilliance from the FLA bank of indie)
MP3 - Micropenis - The Lonesome Death Of Alan McGee
MP3 - Rocket Uppercut - Smashing On Love (debut EP from FLA sister label Leaving Home Records)
MP3 - The Vichy Government - Rubbish (Edit) (Little 001!)
MP3 - Hyperbubble - You're The One That I Want(from one of the FLA's legendary covers compilations 'Down To GREASE On Holiday')
MP3 - Awful Sparks & Jake Eliot - Do They Know It's Christmas? (from another of FLA's legendary compilations 'Hark The Filthy Angels Sing')
MP3 - The Colt 45's - Stockholm Syndrome (one of the Devil's favourite FLA tracks of the five years of it's existence)
MP3 - The Leatherettes - Mickey & Minnie (Demo)
MP3 - Captain Polaroid - The City Was Built Around You
MP3 - Shisho - The Thing That Only Eats Hippies
MP3 - Right Turn Left - House On Fire
MP3 - Heilige Lance - Her Steps Lay Hold Of Heaven
MP3 - Hilary & The Democrats - Somewhere In My Heart
MP3 - The Gaa Gaas - Ca Plane Pour Moi (from another of FLA's legendary compilations '1978')
If anyone from the IFPI is reading all these tracks are linked direct from the Filthy Little Angels website and are published with permission from FLA so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.

Go Visit

Filthy Little Angels - Myspace // Website // Last.FM

Go View

Sidecar Kisses (Or The Joy Formidable As You May Know Them)
Austere



Love Grenades
Young Lovers