As the well of inspiration began to dry, redemption came in the form of reality TV. Even more surprisingly, creative juices really began to flow again with the help of obscure Japanese electro-punk. As Preston explains, it’s never straightforward for The Ordinary Boys.
Cast your mind back to Clash Issue 8 – we are in the studio with The Ordinary Boys, hearing exclusive tracks from their new album ‘Brassbound’. As the follow up to their debut ‘Over The Counter-Culture’ it sounded fuller, more mature and more expensive, but the reception that day was at odds with the public’s lukewarm reaction upon release. Over a year later, reborn and rejuvenated, Preston reflects on that recording’s apathy as a reaction to original drummer Charlie Stanley’s dismissal and the introduction of new blood (Simon Goldring) into the fold. Their dismay, however, would not last. “After ‘Brassbound’ I was prepared to literally give the whole thing up. I was like, ‘Fuck that, I’m just gonna back to an office job’,” says Preston. “It was all getting a bit stressful and depressing. Then you think, ‘Fuckin’ hell, we’ve got the best job. This is fuckin’ great!” We had this work ethic towards being in a band, but it shouldn’t be like that, it should be the best years of your life. When I’m all washed up and 18 stone with sick in my beard I’m gonna be thinking, ‘Fuckin’ hell, that was the best time ever!’”
Inspired to take some more risks within their band structure to keep things fresh, Preston’s next move would shock everyone yet prove the masterstroke that saved their career. “I did Big Brother. They phoned me up, “Do you wanna do it?” I was like, “Yeah, alright then”,” he laughs. “You come out of that and people fuckin’ wanna hear what you’ve got to say again. We all sat down and it was fuckin’ exciting again. We went into the studio and went, ‘We’ve done one fuckin’ ridiculous massive risk and it’s paid off alright, let’s do the album we’ve always wanted to make’. So we’ve done it.”
‘Ten Easy Steps To Everything You Ever Wanted’ is the result of the band’s most high-profile year. Its central theme is, unsurprisingly, fame and its trappings, which isn’t a new obsession to Preston, but is certainly one now seen from another angle. “I was always writing from the outside about this celebrity world where people don’t even fuckin’ work for a living,” he enthuses. “And now I’ve managed to scale the walls and I find myself in the middle of this bizarre world that I’ve always been deconstructing, and I can send a story from the frontlines.”
Write about what you know, that’s what songwriters are advised, and it’s certainly put to good use on ‘Ten Easy Steps…’ The lead single, ‘Lonely At The Top’ stems from the feeling around ‘Brassbound’ that the Boys wanted everyone to like them and then the realisation that was never going to happen. “I’d much rather the people who think we’re great think we’re fuckin’ great,” Preston candidly admits, “and the people who don’t like us I literally couldn’t fuckin’ care if they just all fucked off to be honest. It doesn’t stress me out anymore.”
This carefree attitude is apparent in the sound of the new album – recorded in “proper rock ‘n’ roll debauchery and fuckin’ anarchy” – as guitarist William Brown indulges the band in his love of Japanese electronic bands such as the frenetic Plus-Tech Squeeze Box. When it came to choosing a producer to capture this new vigour, their surprising choice, Grime DJ/producer Plastician, was down to a shared love of such bleepy Eastern delights. “He sent us this demo and it sounded really good,” Preston remembers. “We just thought, ‘No one else is working. We’ve got all these songs, let’s let this kid have a try.’ And it was brilliant.”
Augmented with an electronic edge, the all-new Ordinary Boys are the same but different; programmed synths, an array of exotic instruments and a polished pop sensibility all serve to enrich the “expansive sandwich” of sounds they’ve worked hard to build. “It sounds like quite a rude record in terms of its arrogance,” states Preston. “‘Brassbound’ was so timid and humble and I’m not humble at all – I’m a right wanker when it comes to stuff like that.”
After ‘Brassbound’ I was prepared to literally give the whole thing up.
Admitting that ‘Brassbound’ was affected by a bout of depression and the overuse of drugs, Preston is noticeably eloquent when describing his new music. Emboldened by his recent marriage, encouraged by his progression as a songwriter and proud of the efforts of his bandmates, it would seem everything appears to be, well, Ordinary again. No wonder there’s a song on the new album called ‘We’ve Got The Best Job Ever’! “I just feel like disgustingly almost hippyish in a way that I would have hated how I felt now a year ago,” he says. “Seeing myself now I would be like, ‘You fuckin’ hippy cunt!’ I would have hated it, but I think you see… not your own mortality, but just the fact that everything is just waiting to expire so you might as well enjoy it when it’s good.”
He continues: “I do certainly feel like someone’s waiting to pull the rug from underneath me and it’s all gonna come crashing down, so for that reason it makes me enjoy even more the fact that right now I can do gigs and people will show up.”
The enduring glory of The Ordinary Boys continues unabated.
