It's open season

The Open formed at art college in Liverpool in 2002, with members from Walsall and Birkenhead. The NME picked them for its Hot List for 2004, and last month Loog Records released their debut album, The Silent Hours. Tomorrow they play the Carling Weekend: Leeds Festival at Bramham Park, near Wetherby, and a September 12 gig awaits at Fibbers in York. Charles Hutchinson catches up with vocalist Steven Bayley

You sing about life, death, love and everything in between. How would you describe your music?

"Our music is not trendy. It's honest. There's no guard up, no bull. It's a big sound with someone in the middle of it screaming their heart out. I'm not scared of being who I am. On the contrary, I think if we had a bit more of that, it would be good."

The band name, The Open, suggests wide open possibilities, and wide open, grandstanding music.

"I'm glad you got that! Most people think it's to do with golf, as if I'd name a band after golf! No, it's that thing of being in the open to do whatever we want."

You're not short on ambition, then?

"Well, I think The Open should be massive."

What's more important, the music or commercial success?

"It would be great to be massive, but the challenge is to make great music. That's what I want to do. It's that thing of evolving as a band. That's what is most important to me."

How do you define great music?

"It's music that moves you. With a great song, it's whether it moves you, not whether a band can play or not."

How are The Open progressing?

"We're halfway through writing the next album, and we'll do it as quickly as we can. We're demo-ing new songs now, and we've already been in the studio in April to do three tracks.

"I like writing on tour because I hate just sitting around at home. We don't want to stop. Like Dylan, who's my hero; he was always writing, and if the music is coming out of you, you may as well put it out on record."

What are you doing at the moment?

"Recording some songs in Liverpool, more stuff for the next record. I've got an old eight-track reel-to-reel at home that I use, and I do all the B sides here as well."

Your debut album, The Silent Hours, was recorded in North Wales with producer Simon Raymonde, formerly of the Cocteau Twins. They made dark, symphonic records, and so do you.

"Lyrically, it's a dark record. For me, so many important times have been when I've been at rock bottom, and those feelings are reflected on the album. It's head music. If there's any message it's: quit the job, leave the town, search for whatever you're looking for. You never know, you just may find it."

Is there a unifying theme to the album?

"The album is a journey from no hope to hope, and that's like my journey. It's not like 'Oh god, I've got a record deal, I've found hope'; it's a spiritual thing. The title The Silent Hours comes from a song I've had for a while, it's a good song, and though it's not on this record, it's still going to get recorded. It's about that three o'clock in the morning feeling, when you wonder what the hell is going on? I kind of find those times positive: I just don't think you realise it at the time."

Next month's gig at Fibbers will be your third appearance there.

"It's one of my favourite places. We've done it once as a signed band earlier this year, and once supporting Wreckless Eric last year. He was really horrible to us; he seemed to be under the impression that he really was someone, but who is he?"

Ah, the innocence of youth. Wreckless Eric, Whole Wide World, great single, but that was the 1970s. The Open have the whole, wide, open world ahead of them, and as Steven Bayley says: "I know people out there are gonna get our music... because it's brilliant."

The Open appear on the second stage at the Carling Weekend; Leeds Festival, at Bramham Park, tomorrow, and play Fibbers, York, on September 12, supported by Thirteen Senses. Tickets cost £6 in advance, £7 on the door.

New single Elevation will be released on August 30 on Loog Records.

Updated: 15:37 Thursday, August 26, 2004