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The Review - MUSIC - grooves with CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS
Published: 27 March 2008

Slinky Sunbeam

Proud return for Slinky & co

INTERVIEW: SLINKY SUNBEAM

“SLINKY Sunbeam”, bassist with the Mornington Crescent band The More Assured, has had more “wardrobe malfunctions” than a stripper – and every time he gets naked it ends up on the front page of a tabloid.
But there’s more to his cheeky stunts than meet the eye: his pop band, fronted by Al “Your Pal”, have performed alongside the Fratellis in Ibiza, sold out their debut single in a day and recently worked with Razorlight producer John Fortis. They are currently recording their debut album.

Charlotte Chambers: Your forthcoming single, I Want To Be A Sex Offender, charts your dislike of the tabloid press – why?
Slinky Sunbeam: It’s horrible. It infiltrates your mind and it’s repeatedly untrue. The London Lite is read by a million people a day and they could really change the way people think but instead they’re just talking about flavour of the month – although when they write about us its great!
Sex Offender is about how the media will take a story and rewrite it. I’ve been at the end of this – the Sunday Mirror two weeks ago had a picture of me and [Chasing Pavements singer] Adele and said we were going out, and then Look and Now magazines called and asked me if it was true and then said we’d been texting and calling – and I realised that everything else is probably a lie as well. At least half what you read is made up.

CC: What about when you were snapped naked with Peaches Geldof?
SS: It was just a wardrobe malfunction – all my clothes fell off. Someone said it was a sex offence, which is partly behind the name of the song. Peaches just thinks I’m doing it to get publicity... but I didn’t want to upset her. (He then describes the time he gave Russell Brand a Best Amy Winehouse Lookalike 2007 award at a premiere, and how he tried to give Hugh Grant a tin of baked beans after the actor threw beans at a photographer.)
We’ve made lots of videos for You Tube but my new year’s resolution was to not get naked again, although I don’t know why more bands don’t do [stunts].

CC: The song It’s All In Your Head is about Al’s experiences in care.
SS: It was a really bad experience and he turned it into happy pop songs. That’s the way he’s coped with it. Staff would tell him “It’s all in your head” when he’d complain.
The Guardian called us “cocksure rich kids”... but I grew up on two estates and a tower block and Al... For people to think we’re rich, well, we sacrificed a lot to do this band.

CC: You seem to be a big hit with the teen market but are you at risk of alienating an older crowd?
SS: All markets are important but for whatever reason we’ve become really popular in schools. [Trying to gain an older audience is] something we’ve become aware of and we’re trying to crack it. That’s why we’re doing older venues like Proud and Ibiza Rocks.
But bands that appeal to over-18s don’t sell records – unless you’ve got a massive team behind you you won’t sell. I don’t know anyone who buys records.
We sold out our single in a day – that’s the teens. They’re more appreciative. The music becomes a part of their lifestyle.

* The More Assured perform at Mucha Marcha at Proud Bar, Stables Market, on Friday

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