Picasso Kids Innocence;

When you leave a child alone in an ordinary room they have the potential to turn it in to a fantastical world. Usually this will involve chairs, table, bed sheet etc all being turned upside down or inside out. When an adult chooses to express themselves this way we begin to analyse the death out of the fun.

As Lachlann prepares his set (by this I mean a physical set not the usual list of song titles) for tonight’s Yoko Oh No! Performance in Glasgow, I am reminded of the common reaction to a Picasso painting; “a child of 6 could do that”. Maybe they could but would they choose to? You cannot help but feel reminded of the child-like drive and enthusiasm to create and then destroy anything to hand that Lachlann exhibits.

When discussing the effort that goes into a “Yoko Oh No!“ and “Gay Against You” performance Lachlann plays down any social implications that forcing the audience to watch and be involved in the act has;

“People said, yeah, breaking down barriers between band and audience but we never thought of it like that. We were just really nervous and didn’t know how to play the songs so we thought we best make it look good” And yes, the set, the lighting, the costumes all make for a unique and photo friendly performance, but I cannot ignore the strong link with performance art and visual art. It is almost as if “Yoko Oh No!” is teasing me and encouraging me to over analyse this explosion of colour and fun. Despite the claim of it being the result of nervous energy; so much of this is deliberate. The costumes, the props and even the music is controlled (as a pre recorded track) and so the audience is controlled. If the performance is this over the top what could the audience ever do to top it? It is a case of, if you can’t beat them, join them. But yet the ever shy Scots stand back when invited in.

"London is more like our band’s home. We get more gigs in London than Glasgow…On the whole people in Glasgow don’t seem to get it; it's all crossed arms…There something about the way we put our gigs on that must irk people” The Scottish audience have approached these performance-driven shows with slightly more hostility than the English. People are often bemused when invited to join in. This could also be down to the speed within which London develops a new scene. “G.A.Y.” (Gay Against You - not the London club, ed) fits in comfortably with London bands such as “Lost Penguin”, “Pre” and “Tiger Force”. The Scottish reaction to the gigs echos the stereotype, that Scots are critical of confidence and have a fear of it. Does Lachlann worry that this fear of their performance will result in them being written off as kids having a laugh? He quickly replies,

“I never really thought we would ever be taken seriously anyway”

I believe it is this view of having nothing to lose that keeps him pushing boundaries, whether it be with his audience of in the definition of his music. Of course his seemingly uncontrollable creativity also ensures that it is unlikely a bad reaction would put him off. Luckily the networking website Myspace has provided a perfect outlet for this creative drive.

“Yoko Oh No!” is a great advocate for the do it yourself attitude. The freedom and exposure websites like Myspace have given bands, is such that “Gay Against You” can book a whole European tour without the backing of a record label or a manager.

“We don’t have to have a manager or anything. We can just do it through Myspace…There are too many ideas going around and it’s nice to have an outlet. Myspace compartmentalizing the things you do”

So all the media scramble that related to Myspace as a great tool to break bands into the main stream, (which let’s face it was probably hype, generated by a mainstream record label) is not the long lasting legacy of Myspace. But Myspace has allowed independent, and by this I mean truly independent, bands to cut out the middle man and take on their own promotion, booking and advertising, all without any commercial industry pressures.

“I guess we’re not burdened by a big record label telling us what to do…They could get us press but we can do that ourselves and its more rewarding if we do it ourselves”

And if the admin gets too much, there are plenty of genuinely independent record label that are too using the networking system of Myspace. Similar to the Postcard Records scene and labels in Scotland like Chemical Underground. Lachlann’s main project “Gay Against You” as well as self releasing an EP has released an album through such a label Adaadat.

“Its good if you’re dealing with friends. You’re not going to get ripped off.”

Many of these projects and the forth coming “Gay Against You” European tour, are not built up on the philosophy of making a profit and any fee is simply to cover their costs. This is common with DIY projects and allows for more freedom when creating; you are not burdened by financial gain.

“As long as we can afford to do it, it doesn’t really matter if we make loads of money”

The fact that bands that operate like Lachlann’s are doing this for enjoyment rather that to pay the rent undoubtedly influences the music. Despite the Scottish reserve when it comes to performance and audience participation, the Do It Yourself attitude is something that Glasgow, like a lot of large cities is good at harbouring.

“Glasgow has creative communities…Your friends are people who are in to what you do, and the easiest way to do it do DIY why wait for someone else to do it for you…It is pretty incestuous, there are people and if you know people you’ll get stuff done but it’s quite easy to get to know people, you feel like you belong to”

“Gay Against You” and “Yoko Oh No!” ’s music falls under the categories of ‘laptop music’, if under any category. The recording and writing process of sitting in front of a computer is much the opposite of the live show yet still relates to child hood games, fun and the freedom to play without justifying it. Again leaving the analysis to the viewer.

“I am not very musical but I learnt to use Cubase, I think my music sounds like I don’t know what I am doing…I use to worry that because I didn’t know what I was doing I was doing something that had already been done but it hasn’t happened, I just do what I do and if people like it that good…I just think we do our own thing, and I think we like being different”

The music produced by “G.A.Y.” and “Yoko Oh No!” becomes genre less thought their presentation of it. When Lachlann is quizzed on different genres that maybe applied to his music it become clear that it is something for the beholder to determine.

“I think their quite poppy we use pop hooks, but when we play live its hard to get it to sound like that”

…and what of being labelled noise music?

“Noise is the new jazz, you get noise musos…It’s quite a funny scene populated by people who know everything about it”

…but of course the main difference between Noise and Pop music is commerciality;

“If you become pop music does that mean you're not experimental?…by pop music does it mean you're trying to make money?”

Genres nowadays have become meaningless and the way you advertise you band becomes more important that the music you play. Despite this, the music of “Yoko Oh No!” deliberately avoids being pigeon holing and over analyse of it can take the fun away. In this case it’s better to dress up and put on a show.

http://www.myspace.com/yokoohno

http://www.myspace.com/gayagainstyou

Gay Against You - full length debut 'musclemilk' on adaadat
(www.adaadat.com)