Justin Lockey Interview

Inhaler Records’ Andy Maddison talks to Justin Lockey, musician, songwriter, producer and outspoken skin beater with new duo White Belt Yellow Tag, about the Yourcodenameis:Milo, producing and the big smoke… sit tight kids.

Q1. Justin, most people will know you best by your previous musical output with Yourcodenameis: Milo or by your production work with bands like Late of The Pier, Kubicheck and Hot Club De Paris. How did current band White Belt Yellow Tag come about and for those not aware of the band could you describe your sound and influences?

White belt came about after i started working (mixing) out of a studio up here where Craig (singer) worked.. after a while  he asked me to help him out with some tunes he was working on..and then after a while I started chipping in more and before we knew it we had about an albums worth of tunes..! an unconventional way of starting a band but i guess its whatever works!

Q2. I met you briefly in the studio a few weeks ago and got the impression that you are no nonsense type of guy when it comes to dealing with people in the industry, do you feel it is important to be strong and uncompromising when dealing with these characters? and do you think things have changed much since you first set out as a professional musician in terms of how much power and control these people can wield over a young band?

Things have changed massively since I started out..even in the space between my previous band to now things have changed massively… I guess it has a lot to do with the way things are currently with everything… which is basically fucked. There just isn’t really the scope for the majors to throw unbelievable amounts of cash at artists to make them “work” nowadays… I think you’ll see a lot more pop because of this as they tend to throw a lot of wedge behind “pop” acts as they tend to have a larger and shorter turnaround of profit if any.. whereas if you take your guitar / rock acts they tend to need the space to grow and craft their music and catalogue over time..the problem is in the fact that most bands don’t really hit peak until album 2 or even 4 but majors wont back that long plan anymore..

On the indie side of things is where this becomes interesting, creativity works best under constraint, so if there isnt much going on in the majors to shout about and people see that route as fucked they tend to get their shit together faster on their own terms..this to me is a far better way of working, having been through the major label system the biggest thing you notice is how the stopwatch on the band starts as soon as the deal is done..and if you don’t give them the return they expect then its game over..take this in comparison to a diy / small indie set up.. bands record themselves / distribute themselves and everything instantly has more appeal and validity in it..so..when dealing with anyone these days i usually tend to be exactly how I’ve always been, which is straight up from the start, I’m not a big fan of fucking around and time-wasting, and the whole courtship process that the majors do is beyond boring if you’ve been through it already, far better to work to your own terms, which is why i very rarely head to London for meetings, if people from those circles have something to say they can head north with their lease car and expense account.I understand the draw that major deals have, for a start theres the money, and when you’re young it tends to dazzle you a bit, but once you’ve been through that and you get down to the bottom line of what its all about..nowadays i just think its can be far more rewarding musically and financially to just do you’re own thing, if you hold the rights to your music from a publishing and a recording aspect then if that lovely sync to a film / ad comes knocking its far better to reap the rewards rather than someone who has fuck all to do with your music scoop it all up.

Everythings so fucked up in the music industry nowadays that you can pretty much write the rules yourself, so the old school way of getting someone to hear your music and all that is pretty much redundant now. So as far as they wield power and influence to a young band, my best piece of advice would be to take stock, read up and dont be fucking retarded about it, hard work is always the key to gettting anywhere doing anything.

So you’ve no plans to move to London then? What do you think of the current music coming out of the capital?… are you not tempted to dig out the eighties dressing up clothes and dust off the synth?

London..no fucking chance. I can only deal with it in short spells..I like to be in a place where you can see the same person walk past you twice in the same day…London always holds itself in a far higher place musically to what actually comes out of there..case in point, jo lean and the jing jang jong..all that stabby guitar wafer thin bollocks is so transparent and holds no weight at all..its the rice paper of music. I reckon if you looked historically at all the great bands in british history im pretty sure the north will come out on top. So ive never been attracted by any particular London scene…..i’ll be happy leaving it up to them, theres just no fun spending every hour of everday trying to get  noticed in a camden toilet.

Have you found that by taking more control over band affairs and excluding the established ‘industry’ types it has been harder to achieve mainstream press and radio without their financial backing for lengthy media campaigns? I know that you have initially received excellent coverage from the likes of Huw Stephens and Zane Lowe but from our experience and from talking to others in the same situation as us we have found that there is certainly a an old boy mentality that exists and a lot of (alleged) backhander’s taking place to secure prime radio and press slots.

There’s definately an old boy mentality, but its not as present as it was even a couple of years ago..ive always taken a keen interest in the affairs of whichever band im in, it just makes sense..if you dont you’d be retarded, at the end of the day you build and pay a team to do their best for you, gotta make sure everyones on top of their game otherwise theres no point..

am a firm believer in getting shit done and putting the effort and hard work in, i think this is far more important than whatever club the old boys and backhanders deal in..theres an element of that in every business, even more so when said industry  is fucked. Its all in the planning. And of course who you deal with.

So are White Belt Yellow Tag going to be touring in the near future and who will be completing the live line up?

yep we’ll be touring extensively throughout the year, including festivals etc.. were going out for 5 days at the end of this week to try out the new set up under the radar… I’m well pleased with how its sounding so far. big. we’ve recruited a drummer to finish the line up, he’s called Tom and he used to play guitar in the cooper temple clause..he’s a super nice chap and a fookin amazing drummer.

Andy Maddison