Hookers Green No.1 are certainly the greatest band ever to come out of Aberdeen; in fact I can’t think of any others even though I lived there for five long years. And that’s not a backhanded compliment as HG are one of my favourite bands at the moment. I’ve been lucky enough to get a copy of the forthcoming album and have been swept away by the inventiveness and brilliant oddities of the songs complete with brass, strings and electronics bringing to mind the quirkiness of Gorkys and The Flaming Lips as well as the lushness and anxieties of Hood. Expect to see lots of them next year.

Members, and what you do in the band:
At the moment we have six members, not fifteen, as some have often foolishly misconstrued. This consists of two guitars, bass, drums, laptop and sax. It’s difficult to find brass players in this modern age, so we’re going to stick with d-lo on the love pipe for the time being.

Location: Aberdeen, the loneliest of Scotland’s ‘inspiring’ cities.
Formed: The long hard winter of 2000.

What do you think you sound like, and how different is that from what other people have said or written about you?

We try to experiment and sound as original as possible without degenerating into improv. I think we sound like a combination of the music we love. We don’t try to exclude anything we’re influenced by in our music, and I think it’s good to reinvent and combine elements from different genres. I don’t understand where some comparisons come from. Blur and Dexy’s Midnight Runners were two classics.

What do you do in your day-to-day lives, other than being Hookers Green?

Procrastination. And degrees and things like that. I’ve been trying to undermine the disgusting capitalist conduct of a certain establishment by working there, accepting wages and ‘not caring too much’ about how well I do my job: rotting it from the inside. As a result of this I feel like i’m doing something productive and worthwhile, for all our sakes.

Which is your favourite of your own tracks and why?

I like the title track, mainly because the best saxophonist in Aberdeen did the solo in one take. He’s a legend of the world famous Aberdeen jazz scene.

Who is your most famous fan, or the most famous person that owns one of your records?

Bruce Gilbert from Wire is my favourite. He came up to me at a London gig and bought me a gin, supplied me with a cigarette, and said he loved the drumming. I had no idea who he was at first since my visual representation of them is from 1977. He was a cool guy.

What is the concept behind the new album? Dare I ask who Captain Moon is?

The album is a loosely based concept album about Captain Moon saving us from ourselves. I think we wanted a sort of adventure album that was a bit like Moon’s journey. I’m not really sure who Captain Moon is, but he exists, I promise. that’s the beauty.

How difficult is it to record and play live when you have so many additional members? How different is the live set to the recorded versions?

It’s difficult to have members that are willing to commit and contribute. We don’t have that many additional members, but ideally I would like another brass fiend. People keep leaving and it takes ages to learn up new members. Bastards.

What’s on your stereo RIGHT NOW?

I’ve been celebrating the amazing invention of the iPod by listening to the new Tim Hecker record, ‘Mirages’ while I’m out. It’s nice for autumn. The Arcade Fire has been another recent favourite.

What are the best and worst local bands you’ve seen recently?

I don’t really keep up with the local scene anymore. There aren’t many surprises here but I heard Electric Tibet were going to make a comeback. They’re possibly my favourite aberdeen band ever. Politik, Dedalus and Masamune also look utterly promising. I’m a shameless sycophant.

Is there anything good about Aberdeen? Have you ever been boating in Duthie Park?

There’s some really nice streets and buildings and green areas here, you just have to seek them out. Most of our artwork is photos of Aberdeen and roundabout. There’s also a hilarious undercurrent of alcoholicism subsequent denial, for amusement. I’ve never been boating in Duthie Park, can you do that? I like the
winter gardens. One day I’ll live there with the big green frog that appears from underneath that pond, and I’ll operate the talking cactus, and scare the young and old alike.

What is your favourite useless fact?

Hell is real.

What are your upcoming plans?

I’m going to go downstairs and read some sections of the Observer, then I think I might watch ‘Shoot the Pianist’. Alternatively, I’ll make some tea and watch bad television to dumb me down in preparation for sleep.

Website: www.hookersgreen.com, but we don’t know how to make websites, so you’ll just have to wait.
Email: hookersgreen@hotmail.com.

Records we can buy:
On How The Illustrious Captain Moon Won The War For Us on Snowstorm