Words by Sean Moeller//Illustration by Shannon Palmer
The satellite system in The Futureheads tripped out bus was on the fritz a week and a half ago for their team’s most important soccer match in four years, so they did what any rock and roll band from Sunderland, England, touring through the soccer-phobic Dixieland of Mississippi would do in their position: they pulled into the nearest Native American-run slots and pull-machine casino and pulled up a chair.

“We stopped just outside of Biloxi,” Futureheads bassist (simply) Jaff said from his Manhattan hotel room following a shopping trip at Barney’s. “We got to watch the other games in the bus, but out satellite just wasn’t working that day.

“It was 11 in the morning and there was nobody in there. It was just us and our crew.”

At an a.m. hour that is more suited for bloody Marys with brunch, the young football-loving Brits were having beer for breakfast (something Paul Westerberg’s done enough times to write a concept album about the subject, not just a single song) as they watched David Beckham become the first Englishman to score in three different World Cups. His free kick, with his cinematically famous curl, hooked into the net to give England a 1-0 victory and a spot in the quarterfinals. They lost to Portugal on penalty kicks in the quarters, but it was a good run.

Jaff, who said Beckham’s poke was a “hella goal” and that, given the chance, he’d rather watch the Cup on the tele than in-person, couldn’t see the kind of enthused appreciation for the World Cup in their New York tourmates, new labelmates and next week’s featured Daytrotter band The French Kicks. They didn’t live the World Cup. They cared about it as much as a millionaire would care about the nickel lost and lying in front of them on the sidewalk. They cared as much about it as baby cares about dictionaries and thesauruses. They paid it no mind or at least not the mind they should have.

“They don’t seem to be into soccer as much as we are,” he said, in what likely is a grand understatement if they’re as American as they seem to be from up close.

Talk about the pitch is a fitting jumping off point when talking of the band’s sophomore record “News and Tributes,” just out on Vagrant Records. The title track to the album, which still dangles the keys to the XTC coach, but in a less flamboyant way than did their 2004 debut, is a poignant and touching tribute in its own right. Ross Millard tells the story about the Manchester United tragedy of 1958, when the team’s plane crashed in a snowstorm in Munich after tying Red Star Belgrade 3-3 in a pivotal league road match. Plane troubles caused two false starts before the plane was finally given permission for take-off. It never got off the ground but instead crashed into a couple of buildings at the end of the runway and burst into flames killing 23 of the 43 passengers. A week later, the team was to play again and only two of the original team were healthy enough to play as United was forced to assemble a new squad in a hurry. A United chairman placed this message in the program for that night’s match with Sheffield: “Although we morn our dead and grieve for our wounded, we believe that great days are not done for us. The sympathy and encouragement of the football world and particularly of our supporters will justify and inspire us. The road back may be long and hard but with the memory of those who died at Munich, of their stirring achievements and wonderful sportsmanship ever with us, Manchester United will rise again.”

“It was just a tragedy,” Jaff said of the song’s beginnings. “You don’t have to be a soccer fan to appreciate that. Ross was at a point where he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t be writing cheesy songs. He could have been writing about what happened to us on the road during all that time we were on tour, but that’s not very interesting. It was just a challenge he set for himself. We slowed it down a little from the way he originally wrote it.”

The album is a source of pride for a band that felt it didn’t know what it was doing when it released its debut – essentially a collection of singles the group started putting out in 2002 having formed from the staff roster at the Sunderland City Detached Youth Project. “News & Tributes” is another “magnum opus,” as Jaff calls it, featuring 16 songs, but this time he feels they all belong together and aren’t just convenient neighbors. He called the recording experience for the first record as “horrible,” but makes the process of this one as an idealistically pleasing sequester that involves cardiovascular, light meals and detachment from all the hustle and bustle.

“We removed ourselves from the public’s eye,” he said. “We rented a farmhouse that was a 40-minute drive to the nearest town. We’d get up in the morning and go for a jog or a walk or something outdoors. Sometimes we’d play some football, then we’d work on the record the rest of the morning. We’d have soup and sandwiches for lunch and then go back and work for four or five more hours on the record. We’d go back home for the weekend. It was a great experience.”

More than once on the album, the lyrics make mention that the Futureheads had no choice but to be doing what they’re doing. They are lifers, says Jaff.

“We put our hearts and souls into this. It’s not a job. It’s an obsession with us, but I’m less of a tortured artist than some people. I’m just a bass player,” he said with a laugh. “But you don’t get into a hotel room at night and all of a sudden switch off, which is a good thing in a way.”

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