Odd, but Hoosiers pop up again

It's proving to be a busy 2008 for "odd-pop" sensations The Hoosiers as they prepare for an appearance at next month's V-Festival as well as their second UK tour of 2008.

Ian Harvey talks to singer Irwin Sparkes.

Following the number one success of their debut album The Trick To Life, The Hoosiers have been keeping the singles charts alight with songs including Worried About Ray, Goodbye Mr A and Cops and Robbers.

Known for their upbeat, quirky approach to music and life, The Hoosiers are Irwin Sparkes, Martin Skarendahl and Alphonso Sharland.

Hailing from Exeter, Reading and Stockholm, they call their blend of music "odd-pop", with their main influences including The Cure, Jeff Buckley, The Flaming Lips and XTC.

But, I ask singer Irwin Sparkes, what on earth is odd-pop?

"We called our music 'odd-pop' because we're so bored of the term indie-pop," he says.

"We liked the pomposity of a debut band claiming they'd invented a genre, so we did it!

"I think all the best pop is odd - Bowie, Prince, The Cars - it has its own style and that's what we aspire to. We like chord structures that surprise us and lyrics that pull you in."

There are all manner of stories about the band's eccentric take on life and I'm particularly taken with the idea of their wacky sartorial approach to Wednesdays, where they deliberately dress up as outlandishly as possible, usually as superheroes or skeletons, just for the fun of it.

So what will Irwin be wearing next Wednesday?

"Clothes, fancy ones," he replies, before explaining: "It was the head of RCA who came down to the recording studio for the first time and found us playing hakki sack in a car park dressed as luminous skeletons.

"We'd started turning a little simple in the head after spending months locked in this isolated country studio, and after moustache growing contests (which led to our drummer's unique look), cat juggling and attempted fish drownings, we turned our attention to dressing up in an attempt to save our sanity.

"We didn't care too much about the label head's reaction as we were doing it to make each other laugh, as is so often the case."

Strange for such an insistently upbeat trio but a number of their songs wrestle with weighty concepts like anxiety and about not having control over your life, particularly on songs like Worried About Ray, Run Rabbit Run and Sadness Runs Through Him.

"Ray is a metaphor for anything you love," explains Irwin. "Because no matter what it is you love, at some point in the future some harm will befall it and because you love it, you are vulnerable to suffer pain when the harm comes.

"That's what we're saying with 'The future's out to get you'. We wrote the song from the perspective of parents fearing for their young child who doesn't see the harm that surrounds him at every point in the big, bad world."

Looking ahead to this year's festival appearances and gigs, I wonder whether Irwin prefers playing indoors or outdoors.

"It's all about the best atmosphere," he replies. "Often it seems you get more excitement in a smaller, sweaty venue!"

And finally, I ask, if the Hoosiers had a mission statement, what would it be?

"It would be to challenge conventional logic via pop," is the snappy answer.

With world domination already under way, they might just succeed.

• The Hoosiers play V-Festival at Weston Park on August 17 and Wolverhampton Civic Hall on October 21. Tickets for the Wolverhampton gig are £17.

See www.gigsandtours.com, www.wolvescivic.co.uk, and www.thehoosiers.com