Sixties, French, Erotic, Punk...and Digestive Biscuits

Gloss

And yet another female fronted band trying to make their way into the nation's eardrums. The recipe sounds simple, take an Icelandic girl singer, three Scousers and a Norwegian keyboarder, sign them to Nude and off it goes. Seems to work for Gloss, seeing they get radioplay and a positive response from the music press. So what exactly is it with Gloss? Singer Heidrun reckons the formula behind Gloss is "Sixties, French, Erotic, Punk and good". Well, obviously. Gloss come indeed aross a wee bit French cinema type kitsch. Think late Cardigans with early Catatonia guitars. Talking about the Cardigans, how do Gloss cope with being compared to these Swedish popsters all the time and everywhere? "Maybe because I have a pale skin and blonde hair. When I was in a band in Iceland, they said it also. But I cannot do anything about it". Heidrun doesn't seem to be too upset about the Cardigans thing then. Nor is guitarist Paul who reckons the Cardigans are a decent band, even though they're clearly not an influence for Gloss. Actually, in the ongoing history of female fronted bands, Gloss would much rather be Blondie than anyone else. Especially Heidrun, who adimts that she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life after seeing Debbie Harry on TV. So are Gloss as rock'n'roll as Blondie then? "No, we were really bad in the beginning, we didn't do much", states Heidrun and sounds a bit sorry. "I stayed up really late last night, eating biscuits, like Digestive biscuits till about two in the morning. I think that's about as rock'n'roll as it gets". Quite sweet actually, coming from a band that's just on the verge of fame and stardom. But how famous do they actually want to get? "I don't really know, I don't really think about that too much. Just carry on playing, carry on making records and making a living out of it, that's enough. We're taking one step at a time. And make another LP, that about as far ahead as we think of". Sounds like a good plan, keeping your feet firmly on the ground and all that. Gloss have taken off already though, they're touring the UK like crazy, supporting bands like Gay Dad and getting the occasional chance to headline. Talking about touring, are Gloss really the happy family they appear to be, even when stuck together day in day out? "Bad habits...She complains everytime...you know when you have like little mints in a packet, and you take them out one by one, and I always rip the whole package open. Oh, and too much farting on the bus". Thanks for being so open about digestion problems, Paul. We didn't really want to know. Heidrun, on the other hand, remains ladylike and points out that they're all good friends, even though..."It's more like little things. You know when you're together for so long, you start to notice everything. Like how people eat or how they hold their drinks. And it just pisses you off because the person is in front of you for so long". Fair enough.

Moving on from touring to life in general, what piece of adice would Heidrun give to you people out there? "Just do what you wanna do, don't give up. Just go for it, try as long as you can".