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ROSITA, DERBY VICTORIA INN, MAY 2000 Rosita are the only band so far this century that I can imagine completely falling for. Formed from the ashes of Sunderland heroes Kenickie, Marie Du Santiago and Emmy Kate Montrose are joined in their latest adventure by nice-bloke drummer Paddy Pulzer and Fatboy Slim looky-like Matt McGinn. And, yeah, Kenickie - well, Kenickie were my Beatles, my Sex Pistols (I bottle out of asking them to sign my copy of ‘Catsuit City’) but Rosita have so much to offer it seems vicious to encumber them with their history. Especially with these songs, they sound completely smitten, full of stinging kisses. Records that make you sigh and smile at the same time. I actually ache during ‘Sugar’. So if Kenickie were the Greased Lightning, then Rosita are the summer nights falling in love. Except Rosita do something Kenickie never, ever did. They Rock. Proper Rock. Manowar Rock. Rock Rock. Swimming in subtler waters than the knife to the throat attack of support band Mika Bomb (music to make jelly babies walk the plank to - watch out for coming Mika Bomb poseable action figures, anime cartoons and video games), Rosita, nevertheless, appear completely unassailable. DAVID: Okay, so there’s been quite a long gestation period. Rosita started, conceptually, a few days after Kenickie split, but you’re only just now releasing your first proper single. So what’s been going on? EMMY-KATE: Erm, well I think usually there hasn’t really been that long in terms of every other band, but because we sort of said "This is what we’re gonna do" from day one, when we first had the idea, it seemed ages. But when you think we only started writing songs a year and a bit ago and got the band together about a year ago, erm, it’s not really that long. Like, most bands do all that stuff and then go "Hello! We’re a group!" Whereas we went "Hello! We’re a group! Whaay!" Y’know, and then had to do all those things. But we wanted to take our time, make sure we’re releasing things that are good, y’know. Getting used to writing together and playing together. DAVID: Did you feel that you had to take a bit of a step back and just acquire a new perspective on things before you started out fresh as well? EMMY-KATE: Not really, cos obviously although we knew what was going on a long time before Kenickie split up. So, we, me and Marie, already knew what we were gonna do by the end of it. So it wasn’t a case of "ARGHH!! Whatnowwhatnow?!?" and then ages after we thought "Ooh", y’know, we knew what we were gonna do. And the night Kenickie split up, or said they split up, we knew we were gonna do this. So there was no kind’ve weird period of, like, confusion. But, y’know, it was exciting an’ that, starting again. Cos I’d never written songs an’ that before. So that’s been really good. [actually, Emma’s employing selective memory. She wrote an early Kenickie b-side about a dinner lady who looked like a walrus. Called ‘Walrus’.] DAVID: So how conceptual was Rosita in the beginning? Did you use a specific agenda as a point of departure, were there specific references feeding into the band’s inception, or did it just evolve from the songs being written at the time? EMMY-KATE: No, it started in a kind of me and Marie getting drunk and goin’ "Shall we have a band?! Wruughh! Okay!" Y’know, when we first talked about it I was really kind’ve flattered to be honest, because Marie was going "Right, we’ll try and write some songs" and I was thinking "But I’ve never written them. They might be shit." Y’know! Erm, and it started - me and Marie thought it would be us two - we weren’t sure who else would be involved really. We thought we’d maybe get Matt involved cos he’s a very good guitarist and he was around because him and Marie share a flat and stuff. And we asked Paddy because he’s the best drummer we knew, but everything became so much of a group. But it became a group rather than me and Marie and some friends. It was like, it became a proper group, really, so - I can’t remember what the question was now. It wasn’t really. We just set out with the idea of writing some songs together and seeing how it went, really. That was the original plan. DAVID: Okay, you’re working on your debut album now aren’t you? EMMY-KATE: Yeah. DAVID: So, over the past year - year and a bit it’s been, since Rosita started, what kind of changes have you implemented to make the group more sleeker and streamlined and fitter happier more productive? EMMY-KATE: I think it’s a really natural process, really. You don’t think - just get used to playing with each other - playing with each other! Whooh! That sounds a bit, er, bad. [laughs] No! Get used to playing as a group and writing together. It just kinds of holds itself and the more you write as well, the more ruthless you get and you can chop out what you think is the dead wood of the set and you’re like "We’ll leave that one! We’re bored of it" and blah-de-blah, you know. Erm, so I think it’s quite a natural process, really. It’s not something you can enforce. DAVID: How far is success an integral part of Rosita’s future? Is it still a motivating factor in what you’re doing, or have you become more jaded through past experience? EMMY-KATE: Not jaded, but more foresighted in that what’s most important to me and - well, the rest of us really - is to make really, really good records. And hopefully commercial success will follow. If it doesn’t, hopefully enough success that we can carry on making good records. DAVID:If, God forbid it should happen, but could a lack of commercial success starve, or at least, stunt Rosita’s growth? Would it be pointless crafting perfect pop songs if that market were to prove to be unresponsive. Is your devotion to the band unshakeable or would Top of the Pops and daytime Radio 1 be a necessity? EMMY-KATE: Not really. Because with us being on Grand Royal and stuff it’s a much wider picture. We’ve talked to a lot of people in other countries and people are really up for us going to America and places who don’t know who the fuck we are and we can just go and start again. England, Great Britain, is a really small place, y’know, it’s not the end of the world if they don’t play your single on Radio 1. The world’s much bigger than that. Really. DAVID: Okay. Are Rosita more sunrise or sunset? EMMY-KATE: Sunset, I think. Yeah, there’s a bit of that galloping off into the sunset feel about it. With that, I’ll have to leave it cos, er, I have to go entertain my in-laws. It’s a rockin’ world. ‘Santa Poca’s Dream EP’ is out now and if you don’t own a copy then you have no soul. David McNamee |
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[pix][sounds] [links] • Quotes: 02/1999 • NME: 03/1999 • Melody Maker: 07/1999 |