Sliding into view from Nowheresville, Midwest USA - well. Lawrence, Kansas, actually - THE BELLES write subtly melancholic songs that burrow their way gently under your skin and proceeed to stay there. The release of their superb recent "(Who Will Be) Here To Hear?" EP gave W&H the opportunity to track down singer/ songwriter/ guitarist CHRISTOPHER TOLLE while he was in residence at London's Columbia Hotel for a whistle-stop gigs'n'promotional events tour with erstwhile drummer Jake Cardwell.
As rock'n'roll tradition insists, The Belles have been partaking in a little liquid indulgence while at The Columbia, but Christopher insists he's relaxed "with a nice cup of tea and some scatter cushions" while we chat. You're obviously aware of the notorious reputation of your hotel, then. How are the vibes there at present?
"Well, I can entirely see why the Columbia has its' wild reputation," chuckles Christopher.
"I mean, we got back to our rooms at daybreak! Since then, Jake's been completely crashed out. I'm happily propped up here, though. This tea's real restorative. I need it - believe me!"
How have you been taking to England so far, then? This is your first trip, right?
"We got in Monday and did our first gig," replies Christopher proudly, confident he can still recall the sequence of events.
"It's been a whirlwind so far...shows, press etc. We'd love to go up west properly and all that, but unfortunately I think we'll have to leave the shopping and tourism for another time," he finishes wisely.
OK, well let's get down to business. The EP's a real fine achievement, proffering four achingly languid, dreamy tracks. You seem to have a particularly sharp grasp of memorable lyrical images too. For instance, the title song opens with the startling lines: "I'm pretty sure you'd kill me if you'd half the chance." Whoo. How autobiographical are your songs?
"I suppose it's probably me reaching a stage of maturity with my songwriting and being more honest than clever that allows me to write the way I do now," says Christopher, considering the question.
"I mean, we get older and experience things...not alway pleasant things either. These days I've definitely got less interest in trying to bullshit people and I'm really interested in language...double-meanings and the twist of certain phrases...things that provoke thought."
Right, and according to your press blurb, you're attracted to like-minded songwriters such as Neil Young, Dwight Twilley and Paul Westerberg, who are all great narrative songwriters. Do you see yourself as hailing from this tradition?
"Oh God, well I wouldn't be so arrogant to say I'm as good as those guys," replies Christopher, far too modestly.
"But yeah, I do see a certain natural kinship to what those guys are doing. I mean, Westerberg....The 'Mats (The Replacements, as we fans lovingly refer to them - Ed) were the first band who showed me I didn't have to be Kiss to have an impact," he says fondly.
"I vividly remember getting "Let It Be" (Replacements' ace fourth album) at 15 and I loved the fact they were just regular guys who didn't try to be anythig other than themselves....unlike Kiss and the like..."
Yeah, even though The 'Mats used to cover Kiss' "Black Diamond Express," didn't they...
"Yeah, yeah....Kiss, though, I never got them, unlike most adolescent males in the US...they lost the mystique when the make-up came off. I think they finally realised everything vaguely interesting went with it, so they had to bring it back. Fools."
Absolutely. Getting back to The Belles, though. Is the band basically you and Jake, with other musicians being used as and when. How do you put this over live?
"Well, we want to try and accomplish as much as possible as the two-piece band," Christopher replies.
"But I also have a vision of The Belles as a five-piece. Ideally, I'd like to present a different version of the band each time we tour, to keep things interesting. I'd love to give people a different version of the band each time we play every city, so the audience can go home saying - "wow, that was great, totally different from the last gig"."
Sounds great - if rather ambitious...
"Yeah, but it's necessary to keep it fresh. For instance I fire songs songs from the setlist all the time, because I have quite a short attention span with the stuff I do. I love going to other people's shows and they've put that extra bit of thought into it....for instance I saw Ed Harcourt in Chicago and that was great. He was really into re-working the songs arrangements' to keep the audience and himself excited. It worked really well."
OK, well you have an album entitled "Omerta" due in Spring 2004. Can we expect more songs in the same vein as the EP or are there some major departures?
"No, I think the EP is fairly representative," muses Christopher.
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"Two of the songs will be on the LP actually, but we've had the opportunity to record more new tracks recently, so I guess the LP will be a little bit of what we sounded like a while back and a little bit of what we're moving towards now."
"We usually record very live, " he continues.
"Jake and I have agood arrangement, and he does a brilliant job with the drums. The fact I do most of the rest in the studio saves us having too many arguments...or domestic departures, if you like," he laughs.
"But yeah, a lot of what you'll hear on the album will have been liad down in one or two takes, with us closely-miked and the drums in the same room. Get it all down quickly."
What about the album's title? If I have this right, "Omerta" is a Mafia term meaning 'vow of silence' or thereabouts. What inspired you to use it?
"Yeah, it's a Sicilian term," says Christopher, happy to embellish.
"I got it primarily from Wally Lamb's book "I Know This Much Is True", which is like this 2,000 page book relating....more to the idea of transgressions and skeletons in a family's cupboard and the things that go on beneath the surface, which fascinates me. So really it's directly relating to the book rather than any direct Mob-related thing, though that is another connotation, yeah."
Interesting. What about your recent gigging activities, though. You've been dragging around the corners of the States with Canyon and Dashboard Confessional, I believe. That guy Chris Carrabba from Dashboard Confessional seems to have it sewn up over there. Why do you think people go for him so much?
"I'm not entirely sure what his appeal is," replies Christopher, without any edge.
"He seems a bit of an anomoly on record, but certainly live he makes a lot more sense in that he gives a lot of himself. Plus he's young and cute and the young girls like that, and while in some ways he's not that different to Westerberg or Neil Young, he addresses slightly more juvenile subject matter, so that's his way in to the masses, I guess."
What did his fans makes of the unassuming Belles, then?
"I can only praise them...they were great to us," he admits, without hesitation.
"It was weird in a way because we were just these tow guys huddled together on enormous stages in, 14,000 seat venues. Daunting, but his crowd were really open to us and really listened for the most part. Can't fault them."
OK, Christopher, well I'd better get off the phone because you're due to receive more calls anytime. Before we part, though, tell me a little about your hometown, Lawrence, Kansas. Is there much of an underground scene there?
"Yeah, definitely," enthuses the entirely likeable Christopher.
"LA and New York would no doubt consider us a nowhere place, so we;re kinda left to our own devices. I mean, it's not like there's a stack of A&R people sniffing around our door all the time."
"But that means we can make our own music and develop free of obvious outside influences and at our own pace."
...Which is surely liberating in itself?
"Yeah, it's very vibrant," he agrees. "We have a good university and college scene and a county scene very much on the side of artists and musicians. It works well as there's no such thing as competition between artists. It doesn't exist..."
That sounds like Utopia of sorts...
"Well, yeah, I guess so," Christopher laughs heartily.
"But that's what it's really like. Back home, respect comes for someone who enjoys being 100% true to themselves. Which is how it should be really, don't you think?"
Well spoken, young sir. And that's the sort of unassuming commitment you get from The Belles on record, too. Theirs are songs of gentle grace and startling lyrical truisms and they're the kind of band you'll quietly fall in love with if you're even vaguely discerning. Good to know it can still happen even in this day and age, isn't it?
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