Morgan Condon from Motorcycle Display Team talks to Leeds-based journalist Liv Walker ahead of next Saturday’s charity gig in aid of Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers …
Commercial success is something that everyone who has ever been in a band dreams of – and it’s coming true for North-London based 3-peice Motorcycle Display Team. With a new album finished, songs featured in TV dramas on both sides of the Atlantic, and a summer tour of Ireland, followed by an upcoming gig in Leeds, drummer Morgan Condon is feeling pleased with life.
“Ireland was great, we had a brilliant time, but we worked very hard while we were there. We were all over the place and we were lucky enough to get a lot of media exposure so we were up doing radio interviews each morning after late gigs each night. Dublin in particular was really good. We got a very encouraging response and it was one of those nights were everything fell into place.”
It seems they’re blend of rock and powerpop music, focusing on carefully crafted songs along with high-energy live performances is going down well. Current single “A Taste” has the unusual quality of being a bouncy danceable pop song about addiction, wrapping the pain of alcoholism in an infectious set of guitar riffs. The music video shows passport-photo people drinking at a bar stocked with chewy cola bottles – a highly entertaining watch.
It’s the latest in a series of Motorcycle Display Team videos with high production values.
“These days, videos are really important.” Morgan explains. “Most people will watch a video sooner than listen to a song, so if you’re trying to grab attention, you must have some sort of video. Personally, I like to listen to music and let my own imagination paint a picture and colour to the music, but other people like visuals, so I’m not so sure if one’s more important than the other.” And they are certainly visually exciting. The one for “Tweenager”, another track from debut album Captatio Benevolentiae, sees frontman Steve give a highly comic performance of a flamboyant teenager dreaming of rockstardom in falsetto, all whilst being caked with facepaint.
“All our earlier videos were made by Steve’s friend Ross Carwell Caswell who’s an independent film maker. In all cases we’ve discussed different ideas, but we realise we’re not film makers, so whoever we work with, we place a lot of hope and faith in.”
So aside from the singles – what will highlight of their set when they take to the stage at Wharf Chambers in Leeds next Saturday night? “Our favourite song to play live changes all the time. At the moment, I’m really enjoying a brand new song we have called ‘Yours Probably’. It’s a full on 9 minutes of pleasure and pain.” It may be last chance to see them play live in a while. “We’re currently writing a lot and hoping to release something, hopefully a couple of singles, in the New Year and then, fingers crossed, we’ll release a new album late next year. This of course means fewer gigs, but we’ve been gigging crazy over the past few months, so I think we’ll welcome the change. Plus, I love writing with Steve and Matt, so we’ve got a nice phase ahead of us.”
Motorcycle Display Team are one of three bands playing Eclectica III, a music and food fundraiser in aid of Positive Action for Refugees and Asylum Seekers next Saturday 7th September at Wharf Chambers, Wharf Street, Leeds from 7pm. Their debut album Captatio Benevolentiae is available now