Knives At Noon Sounds of Doom

Knives at Noon, they call themselves. A bit more enigmatic than "McCartney, Gauvin, Wilson & Couch", is it not?

"We could have done that," laughs drummer Tim Couch.

Too law firm like?

"Yeah, sounds like optometrists."

Any other contenders for a name then?

"Couch and Friends... The Tim McCartney band.... We threw around a couple of ideas but that's the one that really kind of stuck around. We did have mention of another name but I'd probably get castrated by the rest of the band if I told you."

So you'll have to find them on the toga floor and ask them yourself, sorry 'bout that.

These Knives at Noon boys are rather creative in the naming department. In order to answer the age old question "What kind of music do you play?", the foursome simply decided to make up their own genre.

"People are always asking, 'Do you play rock?' So we decided fuck it: we'll make up a genre," says Couch, member of Knives since 2009. Thus Doom Pop was born, and the curious label has stuck with them ever since. "It's kind of heavy guitars, with floating synth over top, animalistic drums and quirky lyrics."

The boys have also thrown the term "Slime Fuzz" in the mix. Perhaps they should consider "Dance Music for The Eclectic Postmodernist"?

"That sounds pretty good actually," Couch says. "Oli [Wilson, keys man] just finished his PhD so he's all about his postmodernism – being old school, new school and all of the other schools in between."

Old school, new school, heavy strings yet floating synths – contradictions are aplenty when it comes to the band. Their individual musical preferences are a prime example: Drummer Tim is into the stuff that's "a bit harder and a bit heavier" whereas Oli is classically trained with the composition of a symphony under his belt. Tim McCartney (vocalist) and Paul Gauvin (guitar) have equally diverse tastes as well.

"Everyone can bring in their own flavours and influences but you don't exactly hear everyone's influences coming across in our songs," Couch says. "We like to think they give us creativity to make our own music."

Which is precisely what happened. The Glitter Guts EP released in 2010 provided a four track tease of things to come and featured the popular 'Violins and Violence'. Their efforts caught the attention of international label Liberation Music (which they subsequently signed with) and they've performed at Homegrown and opened for Vampire Weekend. Since the EP release, the boys have been working on some new songs for the upcoming album Less Noise – though it's taking a little longer than they first anticipated.

"It's taking ages and is lots of really hard work because we really don't want it to be shit," their Facebook page says. McCartney has added, "We're hoping some diamonds fly and we capture something special for humans to hear or even to make love to" – but on the advice of so-called 'musical fortune tellers' they've decided to hold off a while.

"We've put a lot of thought into it and we had a few songs that we were about to release last year but now we've decided that we are going see what we are going to do in 2012," Couch says. "We're looking at working with a producer up in Auckland. We'll hopefully have something out by the middle of the year."

The band spend most of their time in Scarfie Central, where Couch has not only managed to drum his way through various bands (he was also a member of post-punk/hardcore foursome, Kill The Fake Patient) but also made somewhat of a foray into local body politics: he once ran to be the mayor of Dunedin.

"There were 10 people running, I didn't come last. We'll leave it at that."

Now they're getting ready to make the move up to Auckland – a slightly concerning prospect, given that Dunedin brew Emerson's is somewhat of a source of writing inspiration.

"[But] they have it up in Auckland!" exclaims Tim. "I've gone and investigated and Emerson's is sold at most New Worlds around the country." Crisis averted.

After releasing some new tunes the band intends to tour – a prospect Couch relishes. "We'll definitely be touring after that. I can't wait to get back on the road, it feels like it's been far too long."

They are also keen to get back to Christchurch. It will be the first time they've returned since that which shall not be named.

"I'm really looking forward to the O week gigs. You're playing to a whole lot of freshies, chomping at the bit to get away from the old lady and let loose. They're all about new experiences and soaking up the atmosphere and meeting new friends."

You can catch Knives at Noon at "Rock My Toga" on the Friday 17th of February, along with Midnight Youth, Cairo Knife Fight and Sleepy Age. Get there. Experience the Doom Pop/Slime Fuzz phenomenon yourself.