Though they're still something of an unknown quantity in the UK as yet, THE VEILS are the kind of enigma there's always room for, judging by the power of their startling debut EP, "More Heat Than Light." Signed to the Jesus & Mary Chain's old label, Blanco Y Negro, the band have intriguing rock'n'roll credentials, not least because they're fronted by one Finn Andrews, son of ex-SHRIEKBACK/ XTC mainstay Barry Andrews and a young man who did most of his growing up in New Zealand. Whisperin' & Hollerin' tracked Finn down for a chat during THE VEILS' recent bout of UK dates with The Jeevas...
Finn Andrews has the kind of deep, throaty speaking voice that his remarkable, wail of a vocal might suggest, though whether it's accentuated from excess live performance or not is debatable. Whatever, he's hypnotic to listen to and is gracious is helping us fill in some of the gaps concerning The Veils' raison d'etre.
As a fan of both XTC and SHRIEKBACK, though, it's probably inevitable that we begin our conversation by going back to Finn's roots and his old man's influence on his music.
"I was actually born in England, but did a lot of my essential growing up in New Zealand," says Finn, correcting my assertion that he'd actually been born in NZ.
"I can only really say that Dad's been wonderful and really supportive in me doing music. I didn't really get interested in music until I was living in New Zealand, and it was in no way a given thing that I'd be involved in music, despite my background. When I was young, art appealed more. I only wanted to draw and paint."
So was there a turning point during the NZ experience?
"Yeah, there was, and it was a folk club, believe it or not," says Finn.
"In Davenport where I lived there's a folk club right near the top of the volcano...really," he continues, probably pre-empting my incredulity.
"Every Monday night travelling folk musicians would come to play there and I used to go along. That was my earliest significant musical experience."
Meanwhile, Finn suggests that the Veils - who also include guitarist Oliver Drake, drummer Ben Woollacott and bassist Adam Kinsella just kinda fell together in the way great rock'n'roll bands often just seem to.
"Yeah, well it all happened very quickly," says Finn, shrugging.
"I mean, our drummer and bassist knew each other for years anyway, and Sarah (our manager) was the backing vocalist in Shriekback, so it's very incestuous (laughs heartily)!"
"I'd made some demos while I was still in New Zealand and our manager did most of the ground work while I was still over there missing school," he continues, tongue-in-cheek.
"So it was just the standard rock'n'roll story where everything fell into place when I came over to the UK and we rehearsed solidly and did showcase gigs and got signed. Simple as that, really."
You'd think the way Finn puts this that anyone could go through these motions simply and quickly, but one listen to The Veils' EP swiftly makes you realise that there's real chemistry going down here. "More Heat Than Light" itself is a massive whirlwind of a song with a huge, Stooges-style attack and Finn's unbelievable vocal capping it off. How did the song evolve?
"It was put together very quickly, actually," Finn replies.
"Dad actually wrote the lyrics for it. It's the only time he's had direct input that way. Actually, I think he found it a little odd when he realised it was being written for me. But it's only two chords and I wanted it to be a contrast to everything else we do."
"I like the end result because we tried to make it sound as intense as possible when we worked it up. Really, it's just a reflection of how I was feeling at the time, without being too specific."
Vocally, Finn is truly remarkable. Take the EP's final track, "Creatures Of Joy", where ancient,acoustic delta blues live graphically via Andrews' amazing moan of a voice, the kind of thing that only someone like Tom Waits would normally attempt. How did you get around to dredging this primordial swamp?
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"That song was improvised, mostly," says Finn.
"Possibly the conditions made a difference in that it was recorded after a lot of red wine in a studio shut away in Shoreditch during the hottest weekend last summer. It really was such a vile place, " he says putting true emphasis on the word "vile".
"It sounds spontaneous, and the verses were, I howled through them as I went along, but I had the structure for the chorus in place beforehand."
"I dunno, " he pauses, "I really love people like Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Van Morrison...singers who sing straight from the soul, so maybe I was trying to get to the sort of place they get to with that song."
Meanwhile, in terms of the band's all-important "image", I notice that while your website (www.theveils.com ) is attractively presented, you don't seem too keen to divulge too many details about the band. Is the air of mystery important to a rock'n'roll band, and to The Veils in particular?
"Yeah, well, to be honest I find it weird that critics seem to have problems putting us somewhere," Finn replies.
"In some cases, unless certain critics are literally told what a band stand for then they can't deal with it. I guess that's OK, too, in that you can weed out the people who really DO see what you're about. As for ourselves, I wouldn't say it's a conscious thing to remain elusive, but we don't want to spell ourselves out either."
Meanwhile - at the time of our interview - The Veils are completing their debut album. Can we expect anything as intense as the EP, Finn?
"Well, we've got loads of songs and we've more now we've been touring," he reveals.
"Before last Christmas I was back in New Zealand and I wrote five or six new songs. When I got there I felt drained from doing shows and so on, but I got onto a roll and these new songs just fell out after a while. To me, they sound miles ahead of anything we had before, so let's hope some of them will be on there."
Finally Finn, as we speak you're on the road doing UK shows with The Jeevas. How do you find the live gig experience generally? Does it suit The Veils?
"Hmm...I've always preferred recording to be honest," Finn considers.
"That said, I've got more confident with live work. This tour's been the best one so far, because we always seem to tour with bands that are upbeat and these (The Jeevas) are no exception."
"I think we may confuse audiences a bit," he continues, after a pause.
"We come on doing this sulky blues-y stuff, but we've been learning to present it in a more accessible way of late and it's really wonderful when it works live."
"My voice gets completely fucked quickly, y'know," he confesses.
"I can't sing unless it's loud and I rip my throat apart. I have to learn to pace myself though. Let's face it - we can't do one-week tours forever!"
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