If the music press can come up with new musical genres every six months in order to pigeonhole a load of bands together, then why can't bands start too. We join The Playmates underneath Albion Street in the Mixing Tin, before the band are due to perform, to discuss this new genre and musical revolution. Lead singer Mr Neil explains: "For an unknown band to be heard and to become noticed, they need to do anything and everything they can to interact with the audience". Neil is not fan of bands that stand still and playing it straight, he says: "They've got to grab the audience's attention, and if the audience isn't going to come to you, then you've got to go too the audience, and give them a show, something to remember." He believes that "bands just need to have some fun onstage, to have tongue in cheek humour and not go on about teenage angst and problems". This belief in showmanship, is on evidence tonight as The Playmates perform later on. Neil literally goes to the audience who are still stuck to the bar, and pulls them to the front of the stage he stands on chairs, tells jokes, and attempts to make the songs memorable, in anyway that he can. It's entertaining and humorous. The Playmates is not Mr Neil's first band. He was in the semi-legendary Les Flames along with drummer Geoff, until the end of 2004, but decided to form The Playmates with guitarist Benbo Brown and bassist Ali Valium ("not even I know my real name"). They've already come on leaps and bounds with many gigs in and around Leeds and a high number of songs. It also helps that Neil is also a club promoter and has been on the local music scene for a few years, so he knows how to spread the word about his band, and gets to know a lot of the other bands in the local music scene. The Playmates sense of fun and showmanship seems to be a common theme with most of Leeds bands, particularly Kaiser Chiefs and The Cribs. Kaiser Chiefs is a big talking point for the band, as is the current state of the Leeds music scene at the moment. Neil says: "It's a real joy seeing the quality of bands coming through over the last year or so, and the Kaiser Chiefs have helped a lot, though it doesn't mean you can be rubbish". Guitarist Benbo Brown adds: "Even if you don't like Kaiser Chiefs you can still see what they've done for Leeds in general, particularly with the students turning up at various venues, and people in general forming bands of their own". As Geoff quite rightly points out there have always been great bands in Leeds, its just that no A&R men have bothered to come up from London before Kaiser Chiefs. Neil explains: "If every city was an indie label then Leeds would be the biggest indie label in the country". When The Playmates are working together they claim they get more creative when they're in a mood or pissed off with each other and take it out on each other, or have had a bad day. Geoff says: "When we’re in love with each other, nothing comes through or gets done, but when we are angry or in a bad mood with each other we get loads done". It's clear that although they have a laugh when doing interviews or playing live (it's incredibly hard to get a word in edgeways as they're all talking enthusiastically one to the dozen with their own funny anecdotes) when it does come to focus on the band they're serious and committed to getting songs recorded and performances done. Which they've done a lot in the space of three months. When asked about forthcoming plans, it's clear that they've built themselves up an incredible amount of work. Neil says: "We've got a little seven-night tour with the 10,000 Things which we're looking forward to. As well as being friends of ours they are an incredibly good live band, despite the pasting they got from NME." There's also a single planned, possibly out on the Dance To The Radio label. They've also got a few gigs coming up in Leeds including one supporting Goldblade on 21 June at the Cockpit. Another upcoming gig that The Playmates are excited to talk about is gig as part of the Futuresound competition, which they've just been confirmed for, they're headlining one of the ten gigs at the Cockpit on Thursday 14 July 2005. The winner from a final list of 30 bands get the chance to play at the Leeds Festival and get free equipment and studio time. Neil thinks that they have got a good chance of winning, although he points out that there's strong competition this year: "29 of the bands have a got a good chance, but that's also good because it gives us and the Leeds music scene a lot of confidence". Though the band say there's a few bands that didn't make it such as The Acutes and Napoleon 111rd that should have, they admit that "it's a lottery which is very nice to be apart of, and bands shouldn't complain if they don't get in, it's a chance to grab opportunities and make the most of it". While discussing the musical influences of The Playmates, the band come back to the credentials of their confrontational cabaret rock revolution. Ali Valium says: "When we go to write songs we turn our influences off, so to speak, and make the songs that are us". Showmanship-wise, Neil says he's influenced by John Robb from Goldblade and The Dead Pets. He says: "You've gotta put on a show, even if you annoy someone in the audience, in order for them to make them take notice of you and your band. You have to have extremely world beatingly brilliant songs for people to care and take notice of." There you have it, put your pints down, stop clinging on to the bar - the confrontational cabaret rock revolution is here. The pop punk of The Playmates will be tearing up a stage near you soon. | 
