Interviews

Dananananaykroyd

Paul Cook 15/11/2009

GIITTV's Paul Cook caught up with all 6 of the Scottish hardcore pop-rockers before their energetic live show at Norwich Arts Centre.

Any interesting tales to tell from the tour so far?

John: We keep taking pictures of Kyle in his sleep. He keeps getting pictures taken of him with his legs wide open when he's asleep in the van. He doesn't like it. He told us he doesn't like it so that's why we do it.
Kyle: You know why I sleep? Have you heard of The World at War, the documentary by Laurence Olivier? I'm trying to watch that series at the moment and I just keep falling asleep. Also I've been listening to Drum 'n' Bass - that sends me to sleep too.

Is the broken elbow the only mishap you've had on-stage due to your high energy live shows?

John: I've sprained my ankle a few times. David has sprained his ankle.
Calum: I had a wee cold a few weeks ago!
John: There has been a few injuries but most of it has been sustained by one man. It's all just part of it and most of it isn't from anything mad. Like I've hung completely upside down from balconies and shit like that and nothings happened. It's just freak accidents that catch us out.

Have you visited Norwich before and what do you think?
John: Yeah it's nice. We've seen loads of students walking around but haven't actually seen the university or college. We saw a cool looking guy with a black cap on over the road, about eight years old, thought he was awesome. And the Toys 'R' Us round the corner. We're all really big fans of Alan Partridge so it's been cool to see some of the places we've seen on that.

What would you say are you summer highlights?

John: Splendour in the Grass in Australia, playing to thousands of people who knew our songs was great. It's strange for us being a band like we are to be able to go to another country and for people to know our songs. Here we've had to tour for years and years for that to happen but over there it just sort of happened. Reading was incredible, the timing of the weather was brilliant. Five minutes before we had to go on-stage there was a total down pour so the tent that was probably too big for us was absolutely crammed! Hopefully we managed to convert a few of those that were in there just to keep warm and dry!

Although you've been asked many times before, how would you define your music? Is it correct you once described it as 'busycore'?

John: Haha! Busycore. Maybe Quasi-core. Hardcore. I don't know. We used to call it 'fight-pop' until everyone else started calling it 'fight-pop' then we were kind of like “maybe not then!” That name kind of worked but it also gave people the wrong idea because it made people think we were all about violence. It's heavy, it sounds aggressive but it's not about violence.

Is this where the 'Wall of Cuddles' came about? To dispel a myth of being about violence?

John: Yeah, definitely. Plus we kind of liked it all along. It was kind of our thing. We decided it should be more of a feature because there was that misconception about our music being violent and so we used the 'Wall of Death' thing and replaced it with cuddles to flip it on its head I guess.

Explain the idea behind 'Some Dresses.'

It's just about comparing the writing of a song to the making of a dress. I don't think we have any other songs that are like that. It's about clicking heels and how music can change that. It's a general theme on the record I suppose.

What's the plan for new material? Is there a second album on the horizon?

John: Yeah there is. We've been playing new songs on the tour already and you'll hear two new songs tonight. We'll be working on the next album early next year.

So we'll possibly be seeing that around this time next year?

John: Possibly.
Duncan: Maybe.
Calum: Definitely.

Have you got anything new planned for the show tonight?

Duncan: The two new songs.
John: I've got a new jacket.
Paul: I've got a new attitude.
Calum: I've got a new wrist support.
Ryan: I've got a new bag.
John: After watching Question Time I've got a brand new political affiliation.
Calum: That's not true!
John: No, no, once it's out there, it's on the tape, it's true!

We look forward to the second album later next year! Thanks for chatting to us.