Big Up – Seefeel on the Cocteau Twins, “the original experimental guitar band”
Seefeel’s Mark Clifford and Sarah Peacock big up 80s dreampop pioneers Cocteau Twins
Pic by Barry DA Stewart
Seefeel’s Sarah Peacock and Mark Clifford (pictured, above) are not only big fans of the Cocteau Twins, but even had experience of working in their West London studio and, eventually, being taken on tour as their support band of choice. Here, the pair tell us what the Cocteaus mean to them.
Sarah: “They’re the original experimental guitar band. We were huge, huge fans of theirs and Mark was possibly the biggest fan of all. To have them endorse what you do is the biggest thrill of all.
Mark: “I don’t think I would ever have developed in music if it wasn’t for the Cocteau Twins. Because I’m not really a musical person really. It’s kind of like a punk moment, the Cocteaus, it sort of makes you feel you can do it.
Sarah: “Also, the way they used electronics – they had a tape machine on stage with them and used drum machines, . They weren’t ever a straight ahead rock band, so that was a really big influence on us too.
Sarah: We were mostly left to ourselves when we recorded in their studio (the sessions ended up as part of the Succour album) – there were the more technical guys who worked there who helped them out, but the band themselves would pop in and say hello and it was always nice to see them.
Mark: “One of my main memories of that time was exactly that – Robin (Guthrie) would pop in with a cheeky grin on his face, and he’d always be chewing gum. He looked so cheeky and you could never quite read what he was thinking about what you were doing. They’re sort of ethereal beings, like gods, the way they get written about – and that’s how you expect them to be from the way their music sounds. But he’s, got a very, very dry sense of humour, very sarcastic.”