The Xenomania house band: JFK
Posted at
6:00 PM,
25 June 2009
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Jason Resch, Florrie Arnold and Kieran Jones are three of the musicians working as Xenomania's in-house band. They usually provide live backing for some of Xenomania's new roster of acts (those that don't actually have/are a "band" - Mini Viva, Jessie Malakouti, Alex Gardner, Eliza Noble).
Popjustice's Xenofest review tells us that for the time being they're called "JFK" (Jason-Florrie-Kieran). Besides playing live, they've already co-wrote and played as session musicians on several Xenomania records. They could be to Xenomania what the Funk Brothers were to Motown, by contributing with a recognizable sound and providing sonic consistency to Xenomania's output.
Here's a little bit about them. Ladies first:
FLORRIE ARNOLD (drums)
 Florrie Arnold is a 20-year-old professional drummer living in London. She used to play with the She Creatures, has worked with Guy Chambers, and is now part of Xenomania's in-house band.
She played the drums on two of Xenomania's biggest hits in recent years: Girls Aloud's "The Promise" (plus a few more songs on Out of Control) and Alesha's "The Boy Does Nothing" (as well as "Don't Ever Let Me Go", also on The Alesha Show).
The Xenofest review from GQ magazine reads: «A bunch of impossibly young looking musicians took to the stage. It turned out they were Xenomania's house band - the grizzled old hands compared to the actual acts. The drummer, female and devastatingly blonde and pretty was 19 years old. Many of the assembled thirty-something music hacks shuffled uncomfortably, and talked about it being time to change career.»
You can watch several videos of Florrie's drumming on YouTube.
JASON RESCH (guitar) and KIERAN JONES (bass)
  Jason Resch (20, guitar) and Kieran Jones (19, bass) are two Australian musicians who used to play together in a heavy rock band. They caught the eye of Brian Higgins while playing a gig in Melbourne and then moved to England to work with Xenomania.
Jason and Kieran co-wrote Girls Aloud's #1 hit "The Promise", which won the award for Best British Single at this year's BRIT Awards.
They've also played on most of Xenomania's recent output, including Gabriella Cilmi, Alesha Dixon, Girls Aloud and Pet Shop Boys.
Pet Shop Boys often talk about them in recent interviews - they're usually referred to as the "young Australian guys" who play bass & guitar in Xenomania's attic.
"Beautiful People", a song from Pet Shop Boys' latest album Yes, started out as a folky ballad and was later completely transformed by Kieran and Jason. Neil Tennant said in an interview: «The guys from Xenomania put a 60s beat on it and that made it much more powerful than it was - very catchy.»Labels: Florrie Arnold, Jason Resch, JFK, Kieran Jones
Pet Shop Boys and Mini Viva in Attitude magazine
Posted at
12:40 PM,
18 March 2009
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 The latest issue of Attitude magazine (April edition) features a lengthy interview with the Pet Shop Boys, conducted by Colin Crummy.
Chris Lowe, who «positively brightens» at the mention of Xenomania, laughs at the idea that the production team is having its cover blown by the Pet Shop Boys in a series of interviews: «So many people ask what is it like to work with Xenomania. It's a bit like they have a secret bunker in the country.»
 «Actually, it's really good fun working with them. Brian Higgins is a real character. They work in a way that is unique to them. He's very forthright; he tells you what he thinks as well», says Chris. «It's a very interesting meeting of forthright minds: Brian Higgins and the Pet Shop Boys. It would have made a great fly on the wall documentary, it really would have», adds Neils Tennant. «Of course we wouldn't do things like that and neither would he.»
Pet Shop Boys say that Brian Higgins talks in the most frank way about their music and career:
Chris Lowe: «If you had a fragile ego you wouldn't be able to cope with it. (...) The funniest thing he said about us, I just found it really funny, was that [adopts a Cumbrian accent] "You haven't made a good record since 1989"»
[Neil and Chris crack up laughing]
Neil Tennant [correcting him]: «'88. Cos it didn't include "It's Alright".»
Neil: «Every day would probably start with Brian and us analyzing someone's career, a record company, record company politics (which are so strange these days anyway) or just talking about music we like. He's got an amazing memory for music, has Brian. And also he's got amazing brain for detail. He'll suddenly stop and say: "Why have you used that word?" and you'll say: "Why, didn't you like it?" and Brian will reply [mock innocently]: "No, just wondering." So he makes you think about it. And you can't sneak anything past him either.»
Chris: «It's an amazing group of people, team of people. There's a couple of kids from Australia in the attic who played bass and drums...» [Kieran Jones and Jason Resch]
Neil: «Brian saw them in a bar in Melbourne and now they're in Kent! They've written "The Promise" for Girls Aloud. I think they're only 20.»
Chris: «It's just a hive of activity and they have these communal lunches. And everyone in there can do something. So you think someone is just the secretary, but it turns out they are actually a fantastic drummer. And most people can do everything.»
Neil [excitedly]: «And then there's [the] acts coming through. [...] two Geordie girls called Mini Viva who at lunchtime do a performance for everyone. It's completely rivetting.»
Mini Viva's single "Left My Heart in Tokyo" also gets a mention in Attitude magazine, in the "Turn Ons" section. The girls are described as a "modern-day Mel & Kim":
 Labels: Brian Higgins, Jason Resch, Kieran Jones, Mini Viva, new acts, Pet Shop Boys, press
Pet Shop Boys speak about Xenomania's unusual methods
Posted at
1:24 PM,
13 March 2009
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 Pet Shop Boys are the guests on this week's Guardian Music Weekly podcast. Click here to download or listen to the podcast.
In the interview, Neil Tennant says that with Xenomania «it's the most unusual way of working». He describes Xenomania's headquarters as being a bit "chaotic" sometimes and gives a rundown of some of the things that happen inside the house:
- all the rooms upstairs have a different studio setup
- in the attic there's "two young Australian guys" playing guitars and keyboards (Jason Resch and Kieran Jones)
- in other room there's "people working with mixing and lots of programming" (among them are Tim Powell and Nick Coler - who used to work with The KLF in the early '90s).
- there's "a french guy" (Fred Falke)
- in another room, a guy who records the vocals mainly and who's "a very good engineer" (Matt Tait?) - «people keep coming in and handing him memory sticks with a new bit of a song on and he listens to it and grades it»
With this setup, the Pet Shop Boys had to keep taking turns from one bedroom to another: «Sometimes we might be in different bedrooms. I might be doing vocals with Matt in one room, and on the other end of the corridor Chris is with Tim working on programming or something.» Neil revealed that every now and then «there's a meeting downstairs where they go through all the different projects». «When we were there, Girls Aloud's album was being finished and that was the priority, 'cos it was coming out that year. They also had their own bands developing and Alesha's album», Neil explained in the interview.
«It was exciting because while we were there "The Promise" was on the radio, Alesha's single "The Boy Does Nothing" was ALL OVER the radio, and they were having a big hit at the time with Gabriella Cilmi. So Brian Higgins would be looking at radio charts and things». At this point, Paul MacInnes (the Guardian interviewer) asked whether Brian Higgins looked triumphant. Neil replied: «He looks quietly satisfied, he doesn't really do triumphant».
Chris Lowe said that they were looking forward to writing songs with Xenomania: «It's quite interesting seeing how other people write the songs, we were really up for that. It's quite an interesting challenge. It was fascinating really, 'cos they write songs in such a different way than we do, and we've taken quite an awful lot away from it. They will keep on working the song, trying more melodies and trying more lyrical ideas, switching them around the song, and they'll just keep on pushing, and pushing, and pushing, until they've tried everything that can go there».
There's a a funny part in the interview when Neil Tennant is talking about the song "More than a dream" and starts singing various different bits. «It was originally a song called "Where the wild things are" and it had a spoken intro and a whole chorus that was based on the dee-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee [Neil starts singing the main melody riff]. That melody is still on the record but Miranda Cooper thought it was crap - because it was, it was a bit corny. We were going to scrap this song and then Chris wrote a bit of a melody (...), and suddenly Brian loved the savage contrast between the optimistic riff and this very European-sounding melody. The PSB melodies are more lugubrious, they've got more nerve and a bigger range, whereas Xenomania really got the pop riffs».
«With their songs, the song isn't really totally evident until the record is 70% made. I can wake up in the morning and finding myself singing something and then think "oh... it's 'The next big thing', the song we wrote with Xenomania that's never been recorded, that's lurking around on various memory sticks down in Kent. I quite like that song [laugh]».
The Pet Shop Boys consider Yes to be «a bit like a greatest hits record», with a sort of a «and the beat goes on concept»: «We wanted to have very, very, very strong melodic songs with strong ideas one after the other, and we wanted Xenomania because we wanted it to be electro-pop all the way through. So there's a linking sound, this album really hangs together».Labels: Brian Higgins, Fred Falke, Jason Resch, Kieran Jones, Miranda Cooper, Nick Coler, Pet Shop Boys
"The Promise" is number 1!
Posted at
6:55 PM,
26 October 2008
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 Congratulations to Girls Aloud and Xenomania! "The Promise" is their first UK number 1 single since "I'll Stand By You", back in 2004. The song sold 77.110 units, which makes it the fastest selling single of the year.
This is this week's UK top 10 singles chart:
1 - 77110 Girls Aloud - The Promise
2 - 37986 Pink - So What
3 - 29369 Guru Josh - Infinity 2008
4 - 28913 Kings Of Leon - Sex On Fire
5 - 24785 Razorlight - Wire To Wire
6 - 22539 The Saturdays - Up
7 - 21617 Katy Perry - Hot N Cold
8 - 21032 Kanye West - Love Lockdown
9 - 20490 Sash! - Raindrops
10 - 17634 Geraldine McQueen The Winner's Song
"The Promise" was written by Brian Higgins, Miranda Cooper, Carla Marie Williams, Jason Resch and Kieran Jones.
Congratulations to everyone!Labels: Brian Higgins, charts, Girls Aloud, Jason Resch, Kieran Jones
New Xenomania pictures
Posted at
5:58 PM,
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Neil Tennant posted a couple of pictures of "Xenomania people" on Pet Shop Boys' official site. On the afternoon of November 22nd, the band were recording backing vocals and taking pictures:
 That's Bob Stanley on the second picture, on the far left.
Jessie Malakouti has also been spending some time at Xenomania headquarters. Recently she posted a couple of pictures on her MySpace. That's Jason Resch (left) and Neil Tennant and Jessie, sharing headphones:
And here's Jessie with a happy-looking Brian Higgins, at Girls Aloud's birthday party, in Knightsbridge:
 Labels: Brian Higgins, Jason Resch, Jessie Malakouti, Kieran Jones, new acts, Pet Shop Boys, pictures, Saint Etienne, Sheila Burgel
Xenomania: what's coming (part 2)
Posted at
8:43 PM,
31 July 2008
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This is the second and final part of a quick recap of Xenomania's upcoming releases, projects and collaborations. On part 2: four female singer/songwriters (Gabriella Cilmi, Brooke Rose, Annie and Alesha) and two new as yet unnamed bands (a girl band and a band with boys). Part 1 is here.
-- GABRIELLA CILMI --
Gabriella Cilmi, whose first single "Sweet About Me" is still in the top 10 UK singles chart, will release her second single "Save The Lies (Good To Me)" on 18th August (available for pre-order here). Brian Higgins recently said that she's signed a five-album deal with Island Records and that he expects every one to be a "smash hit".
-- BROOKE X --
 Brooke X (a.k.a. Brooke Gengras) is an American singer. She's been a member of bands such as the soul-influenced Rider and Lez Zeppelin (yes, an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band -- she has even been named "Roberta Plant"). Brooke has recently been in England working with Xenomania on her debut solo album.
Here's a few things that have been written about her:
x «(...) one thing that makes Rider different (...) is Gengras’ voice, which shows a mixture of influences from 70’s soul to modern alt-rock groups such as the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.»
x «She was a channeler of Robert Plant. She had the moves, the bravado, and the low-riding pants. All of us, the sloppy drunk forty-somethings with their lighters, the queer boys with their lipstick, and me would have gone home with her in a second.»
x «(...) hands-down choice as the answer to "What if Janis Joplin and Robert Plant had a baby?".»
Links:
x Brooke X on MySpace
x Rider on MySpace (Brooke's old band)
x Live footage of Lez Zeppelin (with Brooke)
x Rider - "The March" video
-- ANNIE --
Annie's next single will be the Xenomania-produced "My Love Is Better", which will be released on September 22nd. The album Don't Stop should be out on October 6th.
-- ALESHA --
Alesha Dixon has been in the studio with Brian Higgins/Xenomania working on her new album. It should be released this November, along with the lead single "The Boy Does Nothing". Alesha says that it will be a "very colourful, mainstream pop record".
-- UNNAMED BAND #1 --
Jess, Janee Bennett and Jessica Martin are part of a new British unnamed girlband (previously called The Differents). Back in March Jessica revealed that they were recording an album with Xenomania: "it's going really well, (...) currently we are recording an album and working with a fantastic team". Their first single should be out soon.
Here's a picture of the band in Kent, sitting on Winston Churchill's statue:
Meanwhile, Janee has contributed with vocals for Roll Deep's new single "Do Me Wrong".
Links:
x Janee on MySpace
x Roll Deep feat. Janee - Do Me Wrong
-- UNNAMED BAND # 2 --
Jason Resch and Kieran Jones are two Australian musicians who have been at Xenomania writing for different artists and working on their own material.
They used to play in a band together when they caught the eye of Brian Higgins. Kieran, 18, and Jason, 19, have since traveled to England to work with Xenomania. They have been writing for some of Xenomania's upcoming releases/projects (Brooke Rose, Alex Vargas, Girls Aloud, among others). Jason and Kieran have also played guitar and bass (respectively) on Gabriella Cilmi's "Einstein" and the single "Sweet About Me".
Here's a picture of the two with Gabriella:
Links:
x Jason Resch playing keyboards on "Sweet About Me"Labels: Alesha, Annie, Brooke Gengras, Brooke X, Gabriella Cilmi, Jason Resch, Kieran Jones, new acts, Pageboy
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Florrie Arnold is a 20-year-old professional drummer living in London. She used to play with the She Creatures, has worked with Guy Chambers, and is now part of Xenomania's in-house band.
Jason Resch (20, guitar) and Kieran Jones (19, bass) are two Australian musicians who used to play together in a heavy rock band. They caught the eye of Brian Higgins while playing a gig in Melbourne and then moved to England to work with Xenomania.
