Audioweb - Guy Harling spoke to them, but was killed shortly afterwards in a freak explosion. So Elliott picked up the pieces.

Audioweb’s daddy was apparently a bank robber. That kind of thing really messes up your childhood. So, in a victory of genetics over environment, lead singer Martin is a moody fellow. In fact, he was being moody somewhere else when this interview took place. Either that or robbing banks. At any rate, the rest of them weren’t being moody. Instead they were existing at this kind of crossover point between a rock and a dance band : “It’s just a product of lads in what could be seen some times as a rock band, who go to clubs and listen to dance music as well. That’s why we sound like we do. Because there’s a dance element as much as there is a rock element.”

Okay, so you’re hearing bells ring, and images of The Stone Roses flickering through your mind, but apparently they’re no part of a Manchester scene - “if there is going to be a Manchester revival, people are going to latch on to whatever bands are in the charts. That’s what it was like last time. We’re in the charts, and we’re one of the few bands from Manchester doing that, so that’s what’s going to happen.”

So if that’s not where they’re coming from, then where, pray, are they? “We all have our influences. There’s no, like, band influence”. Not even the oft-mentioned Two-Tone? “We like looking back. They’re great tunes. But it’s not totally like us. Two-Tone was very much of the time, you know, early eighties, Thatcher in and all this business, miner strikes and shit like that. That’s what was going on. Now there’s a bit of apathy. It’s the same sort of thing going on. Our music reflects things in the same way that Two-Tone used to reflect things but that’s it.”

So - Audioweb - born of apathy. Now mingling with success. Mainly due to a very annoying cover of a Clash song. After they failed to inflict themselves on public conciousness with three of their own songs beforehand doesn’t that say something? “You could get annoyed if you thought that you didn’t have the songs behind you to re-create a top-twenty hit, but we know we’ve got that. It’s just the way everything worked. Indifference from the NME and Melody Maker and people like that didn’t quite help us when we started and now suddenly everyone’s jumping on board.”

So now all eyes turn to their eponymous debut album. A pioneering album of insightful social commentary, striking out on its own, apathetic to any scene. “We always thought it’d be like the first Stone Roses album insomuch as it wouldn’t go high in the charts, just word of mouth and things like that, and that seems to be happening, you know.” Honest. “It’s like the Stone Roses album again, you’ve got to listen to the whole thing really, you know what I mean? To get the whole picture. I think that’s what happens with us. If people pick out individual tracks, you won’t get everything what it’s about.”

What are Audioweb all about? I don’t really know, but so far it’s involved a lot of touring. Surely it’s about time they had a break. “It doesn’t look like we’re going to tour again until April. There might be a few one-off things in-between.” And in that break? “It will be nice to sit down and write some songs. You’ve gotta have some time to write the next album, because we’ll be busy all the summer, festivalling it and stuff. More European festivals and stuff than last year. We’ve already had Tribal Gathering confirmed in May and the Brighton Festival.”

And meanwhile - ploughing on and on down the muddy field of success? “Yeah, we’ve got another single from this album. For a lot of people, ‘Bankrobber’ is their first exposure to us. ‘Faker’ is gonna be the next one - it’s out at the end of March.” And on and on? “I should think that ‘Into My World’ is going to come out again, because it’s a song that deserves a lot more than 42 that it had last time. And I think that with this exposure, it could be a top ten record, so we have to take our chances and put it out again and see how it goes.”

See how it goes. Nobody knows. Have they indeed caught on to the formula for success? “You can go to a dance set and be bored stiff, you know. You could go and watch trip-hop and be really bored stiff sometimes, and you can go and see a rock band, and think that’s shit as well. But if you’ve got good songs with good beats as well...”

And there you have it. In a music world of increasing cross-pollinations, genre-benders, and straightforward pioneers, it’s nice to know that by contrast there exists a band who can mix two basic styles, and be no good at either of them.

Audioweb weren't talking to Elliott, in March 1997.