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Interview: The White Rose Movement
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The White Rose Movement are one of those slightly elusive bands that lurk just below the wave of the current trendsetters. When asked, people will invariably respond with, ‘Wait, hang on. I know that name...now what was it they did again?’ This subliminal recognition could stem from the fact that they share a name with a group of German students who formed an anti-Nazi leaflet campaign in the 40’s, or it could also be because of the fact that they are fast becoming a hotly touted band, said by many to be the new trend-setters of the London avant-garde. Regardless, the White Rose Movement are a band that are already on the edge of public consciousness, and with an upcoming national tour and album release in March they’re set to surface into full view sooner rather than later.
I caught up with lead singer Finn Vine and guitarist Jasper Milton for a brief insight into their take on where they were up to.
When asked initially how they had all met, Finn responded simply by saying that they had all grown up in the same area, that their parents had all known each other for years and that through this they had gravitated together. I was initially slightly perplexed by this response as I had heard through many interviews that they had grown up together in a Norfolk commune. At this announcement Finn immediately wore an exasperated expression on his face. ‘Has that been made into too big a deal?’ I ask, ‘Kind of..’ Finn replies, ‘It wasn’t really like that. It [the commune] had really dissolved at the end of the sixties.’ Jasper interjects. ‘It dissolved into a bunch of territorial kids really, but I guess we just hung out together… there were always musicians around and there were always amps...’ This understated beginning seemed to have more in line with a stripped down bohemian upbringing rather than a commune in the traditional sense, and seemed to set the scene for the band to group together and discover their talents.
Perhaps as a result of these lo-fi surroundings the White Rose Movement seem to have become a socially conscious band, which became apparent when I asked Jasper about the origin of their unusual moniker, ‘We formed the band just as we were going to war, and we wanted something that suggested peace, to wave a white flag to what was going on. Not only that, but it sounded good and made sense.’ Or as Finn succinctly says, ‘the right name for the right time’.
This awareness is continued as one of their songs, ‘Deborah Carne’, is named after a victim of a senseless attack that occurred in Essex around the time of the bands formation. When asked about the inspiration for this Jasper responded with ‘It was something that I read that I found incredibly disturbing. I found it really banal that people could do this. That life was so cheap.’ This all seems to link to the band’s continuing worldview as Jasper then went back to his thoughts of the war, ‘I remember when the war broke out and there was loads of advertising for war[video]games, right through the whole of the bombing… and seemed to be saying that young people [were] just losing their humanity’.
This group is clearly more than just nice haircuts, they’ve got their opinions too and they let these opinions shape the form of their music. ‘Our songs are all different though’ affirms Finn, ‘they’re all shaped by the things we see and the things we read, like anybody else really.’, ‘Yeah’ reinforces Jasper, ‘We aren’t necessarily a political band though, we’re musicians first, but if there’s something we notice we’ll draw influence from it.’
Evidently the White Rose Movement intend to continue m akin g music that affects both them and the world around them. This seems to set them apart from many of the other fad bands that are littering our musical world of late. With vague rumblings of tracks prepared for a second album already they definitely have their sights set on the long haul, and being in possession of such a genuine attitude as opposed to many of the other usual suspects of the superficial Indie fashion circle, they look like they’ll be a difficult band to ignore for much longer.
Interview by Paul Walters
The debut album for The White Rose Movement 'Kick' will be released 17th April, 2006 www.whiterosemovement.co.uk
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