Dots: As a new band, do you find the creative environment within which you exist to be more communal or competitive? And how do you interact with contemporaries of similar genre?
Jess: Having not played a lot of shows yet it's hard to say, but we've certainly felt welcomed. I've always been a bit sceptical of scenes, but in this case we sent one email to Sex Is Disgusting and they offered us a show and to put out our demos. They were really supportive and inclusive. Mazes have also been brilliant - we're not particularly similar musically, but they've been very kind about us and we love seeing them play. In general I don't think there's much of a competitive environment around us - we care about making good music and progressing as a band, but we don't want that to be at the expense of anyone else.
Dashes: Do you feel as though the pool of influences in which you're able to fish is in continual expansion, or are your influences rooted further back in time, in decades past?
Jess: I tend to be inspired more by things I read or by science podcasts than what I hear, so it's more a mood we're trying to create or a story we're trying to evoke. We all have different tastes in music so when I bring a song which is rooted in my head to the band, it's more about trying to create something between us rather than intentionally look at what's gone before.
Dots: For those yet to indulge in Fear Of Men how did it all come about?
Jess: I met Dan at an art show and we got talking and swapping mix tapes and ideas, and I'd been making soundtracks for my films and ambient stuff, but this drove it into a sort of "pop music" dimension. I wrote some more songs and we recorded the demos on a 4-track together at home and we were really enjoying it so we decided we needed a band. Lin came into the equation when she replied to a Gumtree add for a spare room in my flat and we just clicked, so she relearned how to play bass, and Antony was roped in to play drums soon after. We've been doing some new recordings at his house recently too, like our Pink Frost cover.
Dashes: And was the name born of a particular aversion to those of the male gender?
Jess: The name is an extension of the themes of mortality anxiety in the songs - what all men fear, but it's also the definition of the mental illness, androphobia. I like the biblical connotations too. I just like it because it has a lot of layers to it. We're quite a feminist band, but of course we have no aversion to men - 50% of the band is male.
Dots: The B-side to Ritual Confession, Spirit house is down on your Bandcamp as a Cassette Mix. What recording techniques have you employed to generate your distinctive impression, and how integral do you find the process of actually recording your material to be to your overall aural aesthetic?
Jess: The Cassette Mix is a not quite finished version so the one which makes it onto vinyl will be a little more polished. I think that home recording with a 4-track is just the most spontaneous way to work. We tried going into a studio once and though it was fun, it felt quite stilted in comparison. We also like having ultimate control, which I don't feel you get when someone else is doing the hands-on work. So for me it's a bit more to do with the recording process than the final outcome. Our first single is a result of the studio recordings, and it's pretty clean. I guess it's down to the tools you have at your disposal. Ultimately, I think home recordings just feel more natural to us, but we're not interested in being purposefully lo-fi...
Dashes: How has it been juggling studies with studio time and the like?
Jess: Difficult, but we make it work. Things are going to be harder next year when I have to get a job I think. Hopefully we can just constantly tour...
Dots: How relevant do you think LPs are at this moment in time, and have you plans for a full release in the near future?
Jess: To us, they're extremely relevant - we'd be really excited to work on a sustained project like that, and I certainly hope there's still a place for them. It's a much more rewarding way to listen to music than skipping about on an iPod shuffle. I much prefer an immersive, conceptual experience to the schizophrenia of jumping between artists.
