In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up and coming stars on the planet.

This time, we talk to Little Cub frontman Dominic Gore. The Peckham pop bunch are zooming towards the release of their debut album Still Life, due Friday April 28th via Domino Records.

Channeling the spirit of post-punk through a decidedly more poppy sheen, Little Cub's early steps have shown a thoughtful and meticulous edge to their passionate, melodic odes to modern life.

Taking in everything from personal anguish to comments on the state of wider society, they meld the pulse and groove of New Order and Underworld to an effortlessly catchy pop backbone. It's an approach that's seen them blossom from South London hopefuls to potential figureheads for a whole new scene of smart pop producers.

With a whole host of live shows and festival appearances set to follow the release of Still Life, TMR caught up with Dominic to talk first steps, keeping pop alive and interesting, and how those wide-ranging influences shaped the world of Little Cub.

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TMR: When did the seeds of Little Cub first plant, then?

Dominic Gore: Well, the three of us have been friends for a long time, but even though we were all working on very different things we were always sharing and listening to music together. (Duncan was living in the US at the time). I wrote 'Snow' for my Mum's funeral and - even though I was somewhat reticent to play it again - it started me wanting to write songs, and the only people I would have considered writing with were Ady and Duncan.

TMR: You seem quite proud of your Peckham base – do you think that surrounding feeds into your music at all?

DG: Absolutely. We're small town boys really and even though we've lived in cities for most of our lives, Peckham very much has that balance. There's a very good electronic music scene here and we're influenced by that but also there's so many interesting people working in all disciplines that live round here, so all bases are covered really.

TMR: Musically, you seem to dip into the worlds of pop and more left-field dance in equal measure. How easily do those influences meld?

DG: For us it’s always felt quite natural, we’ve grown up on British bands (The Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Underworld etc) where fusing those two cultures is at the heart of their aesthetic. Again, using hardware synthesisers and acoustic instruments in combination instantly points at those things without necessarily it being a conceptual thing.



TMR: Do you think there’s a place for ‘weirder’, more interesting textures in pop? Is it something you see in chart pop at all these days?

DG: Yes, definitely. But whether it's currently there or not is probably up for debate. I mean, there are definitely some really great producers working on straight-up pop records, but a lot of the time it's more the songwriting that is a little banal. It's funny to think that bands like Depeche Mode, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure were not only top of the pop charts but also at the forefront of technological innovation then, too. I'm not sure it's really the same now. I mean I would say that some subtlety has been lost in favour of over-processed sounds, but I'm sure every generation says that.

TMR: How important is it to you to keep things tangible? A lot of Still Life feels quite modular, rather than over-reliant on computers or digital sounds.

DG: We work mainly with analogue gear so hopefully that translates into a quite organic sound. We wanted to emphasise that we were a band and not just three guys with a laptop. Sonically, we think physical gear sounds and feels a little different to sounds made by the computer. It's not a judgement as we definitely play with both, but we definitely have a preference.



TMR: Lyrically, a lot of the tracks are quite self-deprecating. How much of that is drawn from personal experience?

DG: All of it. We're not very self aggrandising as people and even though a certain amount of posing is inherent in making pop music we're far too self aware as people to really buy into that. I like being playful with that sort of thing and most of my favourite artists lyrically tend to straddle those two poles. I find it amusing when people think we're a doer band for example, even though our songs deal with some pretty heavy subject material I hope that we bring a relatively 3 dimensional (and importantly) personal voice to what ever we write about.

TMR: The sun’s coming out, and your album's release is perfectly timed to soundtrack it. What are Little Cub’s summer plans? 

DG: Our album is out on the 28th April and the album launch show is on may 9th at the Lexington in London. We're playing with our friends the Rhythm Method and this great Danish band Gents. We'll be playing at Latitude, Great Escape, Dot to Dot, a show with Foals and we have a tour planned for later in the year so should be very busy few months.



-Tom Connick