Hey little robots! Great to have you on the bill at The Dorothy Pax on 14th December. Tell us a bit about how little robots came together, who is involved and what you’ve been up to so far.
Little robots started out as a wee side project whilst Laura was studying Jewellery and Silversmithing in London. By day she was making little robots and by night recording little ditties. Over the last ten years we have messed around, fluffed up and settled down into our proverbial slippers with the current line up of Laura Burn Acaster, Mary Booth, Lindy Surtees and Lee England.
I saw a whisper that you might have a new EP in the offing, any news?
Yes – We like to take things slowly. This EP began life three years ago and since then many life changing events have occurred – mainly procreation. Since the last kid popped out we’ve finished overdubs and are just waiting with bated breath for the mixing and mastering to be completed. We keep saying the EP will be released in a few months – We still think that’s true.
As well as the gig at Dorothy Pax on 14th December we’re looking forward to joining Captives on The Carousel for their Christmas special at Blue Moon Cafe on 20th December then a gig in February at Regather. Who knows, maybe an album launch will pop up in amongst those dates too.
Which artist has been most pivotal to your development as a group?
That’s a hard question! We’re all from different musical backgrounds and we mostly write songs independently then bring them to the group and collectively work on parts and arrangements. It’s meant that we don’t try to sound like anyone else or stick to a genre. We just try to be the best song writers we can be – to express a feeling and create a reaction in people, to move them emotionally. Then there’s the endless search for the elusive expressive lyrics that work both phonically and rhythmically. We also love a hook and melodies that really stick with people and become earworms. To pin our development down to one artist is impossible but we’ve made a list of some of our favourites (see below) – that’s been an easier task to set us!
Which other musicians in Sheffield are you excited about?
We feel quite out of the loop since our children have come along. The closest Laura’s been to a gig recently was hearing Rod Stewart belting it out from the United football stadium as she was putting the baby to bed. It took a while to get her down that night. Saying that, we had a brilliant time when we played the Folk Forest festival in the Summer – surrounded by Sheffield sounds. We were followed on stage by Oh Papa an indie band who used to play as kids in the woods surrounding the festival. They play a warm and gentle yet toe-tapping style of indie – they’ve crafted a Summer feeling in their sounds.
Could you give me a collective top five or ten favourite tracks? Or would one of you be up for putting a compilation / mix / Spotify playlist together?
In no particular order…
Take This Waltz – Leonard Cohen
Oh My Mamma – Alela Diane
Me and My Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin
Jackson – Johnny Cash and June Carter
Don’t Let The Kids Win – Julia Jacklin
Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby – Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss
Goodnight Irene – Kelly Joe Phelps
The Barrel – Aldous Harding
What He Wrote – Laura Marling
One Rainy Wish – Jimi Hendrix
little robots open our show on Saturday 14th December at The Dorothy Pax, supporting Arch Garrison and Emily Jones – more details here.