silver biplanes | Interview | New Album, ‘Travelling By Candlelight’
Indie psych dreamers silver biplanes are back with their second album, ‘Travelling By Candlelight.’
I’ve only become aware of silver biplanes over the last few months or so, just as their second album ‘Travelling By Candlelight’ was being released. This was after I received a message from the group’s founder, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tim Vass.
He was alerting me to the fact that the group had just released a version of Hawkwind’s perennial space rock sensation ‘Silver Machine’ as their latest single—alas, as such, it is only available on streaming platforms, not on physical CD or 7”; although the song is also included on their above-mentioned album. The group had already released their first LP, ‘A Moment In The Sun,’ at the start of 2023, which had subsequently been reviewed in the pages of Shindig! magazine; stupidly, however, I seemed to have missed it at the time.
The video they made for ‘Silver Machine’ was really fun to watch and listen to, leaving my ears duly twitching to hear more. So, ready to dive in deeper, I needed to find out what other delectable things silver biplanes had in their cabinet of aural delights. I already knew that Tim had been heavily involved with the gorgeously strange, slightly folk-o-delic sounds of a group called Red Chair Fadeaway in the distant past—whom I was already fond of—and, of course, Razorcuts, whose ‘Big Pink Cake’ single on Bristol’s Subway Organization label had been an indie sensation circa 1986-87. Razorcuts would also go on to have two albums released by Creation.
Both silver biplanes albums were issued by the label Where It’s At Is Where You Are (WIAIWYA)—with the second one being a collaborative effort with Greece’s Old Bad Habits (check them out too)—and both albums are crammed full of great, memorable tunes, some of which are odd and quirky, and some deliciously, sunnily atmospheric. The silver biplanes sound palette stretches around and through what some deem musical pigeonholes (styles), and the majority of the material the group has recorded thus far definitely shows off a wide and varied range of influences. Many of their songs are played out in a celebratory manner, although, here and there, there are also some melancholic pop joys in evidence.
It’s not too far-fetched to say that the likes of ‘Hell In A Handcart,’ as well as the title track of album number two, ‘Travelling By Candlelight,’ at times come across like kindred spirits of those mid-1980s, Edinburgh-based indie-pop/punksters the Shop Assistants—but sounding more like they were playing something from, say, the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band’s songbook. Another of the many highlights from said album is the delightfully mesmeric ‘Radiogram’. This one properly sticks around, playing inside your brain, swirling around forever like a poppier Spacemen 3 partying on with Stereolab. Many silver biplanes songs—while not sounding particularly like the Television Personalities—could nonetheless have been written by that group’s celebrated founder Daniel Treacy.
Fortunately, I was able to witness silver biplanes play for the first time live on stage just a few days ago at the tiny Leith Depot venue in Edinburgh, and they were every bit as thrilling and spellbinding as I imagined they would be. Vanessa Vass out front on lead vocals looked and sounded splendid; bright, colorful, and clear, engaging such songs as ‘Parallel World,’ ‘Searching For Your Name,’ the tremendous, almost garagey psych-style winner ‘Back Of My Mind,’ as well as ‘Just One More Thing’ and the hypnotically pleasing ‘Songs That Don’t Exist’ all with a mixture of charm, naïve eloquence, and, well, just plain wonderment. Meanwhile, Tim’s bumblebee bass patterns held things together with assurity, and drummer Rob knocked the full eleven bells out of the kit for most of the gig, although he also toned things down when a song warranted slightly more subtle work. Noel on guitar could shift from choppy, rhythmic chords and picked-out notes to sharper tones, as well as some fuzzy outings—this could’ve been somewhat louder in the mix, admittedly, but was still perfectly audible. Embellishing the set further with some gorgeous high-registered tones and other, more spacey sound isolations was keyboardist Steve. And even if there wasn’t any twelve-string guitar action live—there most definitely is, especially spread across the second album, played by Tim—and furthermore, even if they omitted to play a few personal favorites, namely the magnificent ‘Fairground Rocket Ride’ and ‘There’s A Party’, both from the first album—both of these more in the fizzy, fuzzy, groovy indie-a-go-go realms—as well as the fantastic modern-day anthem ‘Hell In A Handcart,’ their setlist was nevertheless still packed with many outstanding tracks taken from each album. And yes, of course, they ended the night with a suitably wigged-out romp through that 1972 classic ‘Silver Machine.’
In order to find out more about the who, what, why, and wherefore behind the existence of these silver biplanes on our planet, I sought to communicate further with Tim Vass, who kindly agreed to answer a few questions for It’s Psychedelic Baby readers, which I passed his way via a well-known electronic messenger service.
“My wife Vanessa and I were both stalwarts of the indie scene a while back”
When and by whom did the idea come around to form the silver biplanes?
Tim Vass: My wife Vanessa and I were both stalwarts of the indie scene a while back, playing in bands, doing gigs, and making lots of records. But we hadn’t really done anything musically for some time—like a lot of people, we stepped away to do other things, especially bringing up the kids! Then, during lockdown, I found myself with a bit of time on my hands, and I started writing songs. It was all pretty low-key at first, but I gradually realized that, for the first time in ages, I had a real passion to make music again. Of course, it helped a lot that I happened to be married to a brilliant singer! Eventually, around July 2021, we went into the studio and sketched out four or five songs together. We were really excited by the results, and I started to think in terms of a whole album with a variety of different sounds and approaches.
Please introduce us to the members of the group, saying which instruments they play.
One of the first decisions we made after listening to our initial demos was to get a drummer on board. I’d used some programmed drums on the demos, but I knew that a good drummer would be able to help us add a whole new dimension. It just so happened that fairly recently, I’d met Rob Scott, who had been the drummer in Vanessa’s old band, The Melons, in the ’90s. Rob and I got on really well, so we recruited him into the band, and, as I’d hoped, his contributions really lifted the songs. The three of us put together twelve songs, and that became the first album, called ‘A Moment In The Sun.’ It came out (on beautiful orange vinyl!) in January 2023.
The next step was to put together a full lineup so that we could perform the songs live. Again, we were very fortunate to find Noel Douglas (guitar) and Steve Peebles (keyboards). They both have pretty similar taste in music to us; they’re both really enthusiastic and come up with great ideas. Most importantly, we all get along together really well. We very soon found that the five of us had become a gang, and we always have a great time playing live and hanging out together.
You are obviously big fans of mid-sixties to early-mid seventies sounds, but which groups would you say have majorly inspired or influenced the sound that the Silver Biplanes are becoming renowned for?
This is a hard question to answer because, when I started recording the songs, I decided that I wouldn’t restrict myself to one style and that I would pull in inspiration from all over the place. I’ve been a huge fan of music all my life, and I love loads of different styles and sounds. Obviously, it’s quite difficult to incorporate a wide range of influences while still having a distinct band identity, but I think we’ve managed to pull it off pretty well.
Vanessa’s singing helps to tie everything together, of course. Anyone who listens to either of our two albums will very quickly realize that, while there is a strong undercurrent of ’60s and ’70s guitar music (The Byrds, Love, Buzzcocks, Blondie, etc.), there are also a lot of other things going on. For example, some of the songs draw on the quieter side of early ’80s post-punk indie music (Young Marble Giants, Marine Girls), and there are elements of folk, C86, and the arty end of glam in there too. I’ve also tried to incorporate a bit of Krautrock—the first album has a song dedicated to Neu!, and the second one has a La Düsseldorf cover version.
These songs are particularly important to me because when I was very young, in the pre-punk era, Krautrock was a big part of the soundtrack to my life. There’s all sorts of other stuff thrown in the mix. I can hear elements of OMD, Procol Harum, The Small Faces, Moody Blues, Teardrop Explodes, The Rain Parade, Broadcast, Kraftwerk, and The Shop Assistants—some of these might be more obvious than others to people listening to the records! On our second album (‘Travelling by Candlelight’), there are four “silver”-themed cover versions of songs by Hawkwind, Mike Nesmith, La Düsseldorf, and Hamilton Streetcar. I think it’s fair to say that we’re a lot more eclectic than your average indie band! But at the end of the day, it’s all about the songs—we like hooks, melodies, and catchy choruses!
Tim, you played in the Razorcuts back in the mid-to-late ’80s and into the early ’90s within the English indie scene, and then also with Red Chair Fadeaway and the Forever People. Here’s a three-parter to conjure with: how did these acts come about; do you still get reminded of these days; and what, if any, relics left over from these groups would you say are echoed in the music you are making today with silver biplanes?
My friend Gregory Webster and I had played together in various bands in the Luton area since the late ’70s. We had started out as a very ramshackle punk group and gradually morphed into a DIY indie band, heavily influenced by Orange Juice, the TV Personalities, and the post-punk small label scene. We released a self-financed DIY single under the name The Cinematics in 1982. A year or two later, we became friendly with the early Creation/Living Room crowd and effectively relocated the group to London. We renamed ourselves Razorcuts, and our initial plan was to marry the energy and pop sensibility of our favorite punk bands, especially the Buzzcocks, with our love of ’60s music, and in particular the folk rock of The Byrds, The Turtles, and the Beau Brummels. Over time, our music became a bit less frantic and a lot more considered, with layers of 12-string guitars and Hammond organ, thoughtful lyrics, and a kind of autumnal richness (or so we hoped!). After three singles for cool indie labels (Subway and Flying Nun), we eventually joined Creation, which had always been our ambition—really, we saw it as very much our spiritual home. We recorded two albums for Creation, ‘Storyteller ‘(1988) and ‘The World Keeps Turning’ (1989). Both albums were reissued on CD in 2010 and in deluxe vinyl editions in 2020. Gregory and I spent a lot of time on the reissues. We wrote some reminiscences ourselves, as well as commissioning detailed sleeve notes and sourcing photos, adverts, posters, and so on for the booklets. It was good fun, mainly because we are still very proud of both records.
My next group, Red Chair Fadeaway, overlapped with Razorcuts for a while (in fact, we did a few gigs as support to Razorcuts around 1990). Red Chair Fadeaway was basically a three-piece with me, my then-girlfriend Shirley Souter, and our friend Richard Mason, who sadly passed away last year. Shirley wrote most of the songs, and I concentrated mainly on the arrangements and on playing loads of different instruments! We were an out-and-out psychedelic pop and acid folk group, with loads of fuzz guitars, sitars, backwards tapes, mellotrons, and so on. We did four singles and two albums, and they’re pretty bonkers really, but all of it is very much song-based. A few songs have popped up on various compilation albums in recent years, which is a nice reminder of those times.
In the meantime, Gregory and I got together in 1992 to record a one-off single under the name The Forever People for the Sarah label. It was very specifically inspired by our concerns about the environment, and we even included a Friends of the Earth leaflet in the packaging. We’ve recently been talking about doing a follow-up ‘Forever People’ single.
Around the time RCF was winding down, I recorded an LP under the name Dandelion Wine, helped out by some of my mates. It was broadly in the same style as RCF, but I wrote all the songs and sang most of them. The album came out in 1996. I had put a lot into it, but I think I was very much out of step with the times, and after that, I drifted away from making music and devoted a lot of time to listening to my ever-growing vinyl collection!
Coming back to the present and my work with silver biplanes, I think there are some threads that connect back to my old bands. The most obvious one is the lyrics. Obviously, I’m a lot older and hopefully a bit wiser, but I don’t think my outlook has changed that much. I think I still tend to write about a lot of the same things—coping with day-to-day life, memories of growing up in an English town, my frustrations with the human race, and so on. My approach to recording remains much the same too—I really like experimenting in the studio, layering different sounds, using effects, recording things backwards, and miking up random objects (milk bottles, vacuum cleaners, or whatever!). We’re basically recording pop songs, but there’s a lot of attention to detail, and I like to think that’s one of the things that gives us our own character and identity.
So there we have it, folks, the very up-to-the-minute lowdown on Bedfordshire’s high-flying, wonder-gazing, hazily shimmering indie-psych and more hopefuls, the wonderful silver biplanes. Other than the gigs they’ve just played in Scotland (The Onion Cellar at Leith Depot in Edinburgh on 4 October and “Buckfest” at Bloc in Glasgow on 5 October), the group will be playing in Hamburg, Germany, on 2 November. If you’re keen to check them out and hear and see just what they’re all about, then here are a couple of initial pointers.
Lenny Helsing
silver biplanes Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
