Room Thirteen: It has only been a few months since Room Thirteen last spoke to you. What have you been up to?
Paul Gautrey: Well we have been recording some new material and some B sides. We are also coming to the end of a twenty day tour. It's been really busy but it's all good.
R13: Your album is out on the 25th April, what can fans expect?
PG: There are a few songs on there that we have never played onstage and there is a lot of our live set as well. We recorded it with a guy who was really respectful and we just played everything as a live band. I think it's a really honest album, we really happy and can't wait to get it out. I just hope everyone likes it.
R13:Is the album how you envisaged it?
PG:We are a band that just sort of fumbles along and we didn't really envisage any of it. When we first started out we thought we would be able to get an album out in a month but it took a lot longer. Likewise if you had ever said we would get the chance to work with Mike Clink we would have just laughed!
R13:What's your favourite track on the album?
PG:I like the first track of the album "Betterman" and the last track "Keep me up all night". They are completely different songs. The first is a full on sleazy rock track and the last is a probably the mellowest track we have done. I really like the contrast between the two.
R13:Have you any plans for a follow up album?
PG:We needed a few weeks to get away from the writing as we wrote over 30 songs our latest album. We are really busy touring at the moment but we all know that during any spare time we have, we must take the opportunity to write new material and get it into the live set.
R13:You have ten launch parties going on over the next couple of days. Will you be attending any of them yourself?
PG: Hey I have only just found out about that! We're not invited to any of them and with the last night of the tour being tomorrow I doubt it. I'd love to go because I don't actually know what they do at a launch party. It would be great to go and for people to not be able to see me, so I could check out the whether they like the album or if they are there just for the free drinks.
R13: You also have a tour set for May. Do you enjoy being out on the road?
PG: Yeah I love touring we have the best times. We are just coming to the end of a 20 day tour where we have only had one day off but it's been great. On the next tour a lot of the dates are places where we have never played before
R13: Are their any dates you are particularly looking forward to?
PG: I'm really looking forward to one we have been to before, that's always a really good place to play. It's a really small place called Harlow Square in Essex. I don't think people get many gigs there so they go absolutely mental. You don't even have to start playing and they are pushing each other around. Even if you were a band playing acoustic ballads I think they would go mental.
R13: What does the rest of 2005 hold for you?
PG: We are just really excited about the album and seeing how that goes. We really want to try to take it out to as many people as possible.
R13: Do you have any festivals planned for this year?
PG: We already have Download, Leeds and Reading confirmed. Last year was the first year we really did any festivals and they went really well for us.
R13: Which of the other festivals would you like to get on to?
PG: There is a good chance we will do T in the Park and as we love playing so much, we will do anything that is offered to us. Some of the bands we have supported are so musically different us but we just can't turn anyone down. We never feel that we are to cool to play with this band or to rock to play to play another, we just want to play with everybody. You never know we might just win a few people over too!
R13: And finally there is a 2004 film called Glitterati, was this inspiration for your band name?
PG:No. John, Billy and myself were all in a Leeds band and we had a review which basically said that all our gigs where attended by the local glitterati. So when we were looking through some old reviews trying to find inspiration for a name for this band, it sort of struck a cord with us. We were really conscious of not getting stuck with a really beige, bland name. A lot of people at the time were telling us that it was too flashy but they were the same people that have since told us that they are pleased that we kept the name!
Glitterati's new album is out on the 25th April 2005. For more information see their website www.TheGlitterati.com