Welcome to the Expert World.
It is all about capturing the moment. Hearing something and it making a difference. Having something that matters to you. Happy or sad. Every Real Experts song is designed to be a moment of ‘perfect pop’. Music is about being in random situations in life and within a few seconds a bar or a beat or a note can change you forever.
There has been a golden generation of music where electro has met indie, creating something special. Frequently upbeat, sometimes unplugged, every song will irreversibly be firmly stuck in the head of every listener, with trademark catchy lyrics and infectious choruses.
Following on from previous albums ‘Benchmark’ and ‘The Trade Off’, 2016 has seen the release of the singles ‘Apart Is Still Enough’ featuring CountessM, ‘Laser Me To Heaven’ featuring Strobegirl, and the new anthem ‘How About No’, all to be included in the forthcoming third studio album.
As a warm up to that, and as a thank you to all the collaborators and fans and friends of the past four years, the remix album REAL/MIX is out now, featuring 18 of the Expert tracks so far, with contributors such as Parralox, Night Club, Tiny Magnetic Pets, Clive Farrington of When In Rome, and Oren Amram.
There are no true genres in modern music, songs must be judged as songs. If they can do something to you then it’s a good start. Real Experts strive for real expertise.
Punk Globe: You've been collaborating with other artists like Daniel Angelus, Heather Strobes, Eden or Vivian Marie. How do you usually manage to connect with so many amazing singers?
Andrew Maley: Yes indeed, we’ve been lucky to have worked with so many talented people. Usually the initial introduction has come via social media, which seems to be the way these days. There are a few exceptions, Eden was from an audition we held, where we also discovered Mike and Mimi. There has always been an attraction to us to try and be as varied as possible from track to track. Fortunately now we have a back catalogue where we can show people what being on a Real Experts song will sound like and mean, so that helps too. It’s nice that no one really has had to be bullied into it!
Punk Globe: In your opinion, what's the best Real Experts' track?
Andrew Maley: What a question. Well...for years I would have always said Out Of My System, but now we have so many more songs and it’s harder to answer. In terms of lyrics the songs I’m most proud of are Flying Saucers and My Love Is Nothing More Than This. But a great song is usually about the final overall impact and a combination of factors. Sometimes I hear songs back and can’t remember how I even got to the end product, they can evolve themselves quite often, I find the best ones can be where I become detached from them and they just become catchy pop moments like How About No or Don’t Stay. Disposable pop songs can end up having the greatest influence on people of all.
Punk Globe: Your song Let's Go Viral is part of the movie DMUS soundtrack. How did you decide to be involved in such project?
Andrew Maley: Well there was an element of luck and good timing involved. Sadie Duarte had asked for submissions and of course the idea of having a song featured in a film is amazing, so I was only too happy to pretty much submit our back catalogue at that point. Personally, I wasn’t expecting Let’s Go Viral to be the song chosen collectively by the production team, but it also gave us an opportunity to promote it more too. The campaign to invite fans to send in photos probably wouldn’t have happened otherwise. We’re honoured that any song of ours was chosen.
Punk Globe: Last year, you arranged a concert at the Dublin Castle in London to celebrate DMUS together with Will Sid Smith, Daniel Angelus and Francesca Fabris. Francesca even sang Let's Go Viral with you! How do you remember this awesome gig?
Andrew Maley: Well I remember every detail of everything we ever do, so it’s not hard to recount the night! It was great to host it at a venue in London that actually is very famous, notably in the late 70s for being a home to Madness and their first live shows. It’s a bit of a rock and ska spiritual home really. But the night itself took a lot of planning but like with all live shows, when you are on stage you realise it’s always worth it. To have something documented as a tribute to the music of the film was very fulfilling. Yes, asking Francesca to join us was also a big highlight, the collaboration between artists on the soundtracks I guess embodies what Sadie was trying to do as a whole.
Punk Globe: Not so long ago, you also released an album as Tame Genius. What are the main differences between Tame Genius and Real Experts?
Andrew Maley: Funnily enough I get asked this a lot! There are two differences really. Sometimes when recording music I realize that I don’t need anyone else for that particular track and almost by accident I finish it, so I think it may as well be Tame Genius instead. But also a lot of the solo tracks have a more humorous and sarcastic undertone to them and wouldn’t quite fit in with Real Experts. Although that said, the next Real Experts studio album, which is almost done, is a bit of an amalgamation of the two in terms of genre, more funky and dancey and soulful, so I think the official Tame Genius releases will be more sporadic.
Punk Globe: You also have your own record label, Black Towers Records and a radio show. It seems you're working all the time! Tell us about all this.
Andrew Maley: Yes, it does feel like my brain could explode at any given moment! But it’s a healthy thing to be in demand and I still feel like I can offer more and more the music world. In 2017 we will step back into action with recruiting acts for Black Towers, that’s taken the biggest step back amidst all the chaos, but the plan to find and produce and release exciting pop acts is still there. The radio show is going very well, PERFECT/POP on www.artefaktorradio.com. I’m very honoured that Artefaktor have given me a platform to essentially play whatever I like! And some big things are planned in terms of special interviews I will do also, along the lines of the recent Rusty Egan interview which was an amazing thing to have done. But all the time I am writing songs in my head, it never stops. No songwriter should ever feel that they’ve done enough, you always have to keep being creative.
Punk Globe: Let us know about the latest Real Experts' news and where we can listen to and/or buy your songs.
Andrew Maley: We’re about to have a big blitz of new material. The remix album, REAL/MIX, which has been in the planning for months is out now, and filled with all sorts of treats from a host of big names. But the next studio album is pretty much ready to go too. Can’t begin to say how good it’s sounding. That will be out early 2017, preceded by the next new single which will be announced soon, featuring another new guest vocalist, but just so happens to be a star of YouTube. We also have some live shows in the pipeline for next year, and even more collaborations beyond this next album release. All our music is at www.soundcloud.com/realexperts to listen to. It’s available to buy on all the digital platforms, iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, Google Play, Amazon, etc.
Real Experts - How About No (Official Lyric Video):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmy3nX67mxQ
Punk Globe: How can our readers contact you?
Andrew Maley: We’re very easy to find! Always very active on social media, so please come and say hello:
www.facebook.com/realexperts
www.twitter.com/REAL_EXPERTS
But anyone who wants to email me about anything, whether it’s Real Experts or Black Towers or just to make a song request for my radio show can do so with pleasure: tamegenius@black-towers.com
