SHAKER MAKER GETS MODERN

Ex-Kula Shaker vocalist CRISPIAN MILLS has spoken fully for the first time about his forthcoming solo album, claiming it will be "heavier and more modern sounding".

In an interview posted on the official Kula Shaker website, www.kulashaker.co.uk, Mills reveals that his new band hope to play live before the end of the year, and the as-yet-untitled new album is more "honest" than anything he recorded with Kula Shaker.

Speaking about the record, he said: "I hope its going forward as opposed to backwards...as a musician you want to be constantly learning and soaking up new experiences, which can then go into the music. I think that this album is heavier and more modern-sounding.

"I think the main thing is I feel like I'm getting more in touch with what I was really, but never really had the confidence to express. In Kula Shaker I often dressed things up in a bit of a joke. I feel this one is a bit more honest."

Mills claims that the traditional Eastern sound which became the trademark of Kula Shaker is still present in his solo material, but is "more subtle". He continued: "The Indian sound is still there because I'm still there...it's being used in different ways. I think it's more subtle than before. I haven't done anything with Hari Prasad or sitars or anything like that."

Elsewhere in the interview, Mills reveals that he is working on another project which he is producing, and also on the site are a series of photographs taken in the studio during the recording of the album.

Kula Shaker split in September last year with Mills embarking on a solo career. At the time, he described the split as "like the changing of the seasons". Ex-Kula Shaker bassist Alonso Bevan has joined Johnny Marr's new group Healers.