You’re performing a mixture of UK and European shows, do you find there’s a different fan reaction between them?
Barry: I think there’s definitely a big reaction in the fact that when we go to Europe we’re still a relatively unknown band. So when we go over there it’s very much a case of, especially in this instance we’re doing support shows, you’ve kinda got half an hour in front of a room full of people who’ve never heard you so its very much people taking you in for the first time. So it’s different reaction in that people obviously don’t sing along because they don’t know the words or anything. People just stand and appreciate music don’t they?
Craig: Well because they don’t understand you as well so they rely completely on the music. I don’t know if that’s good or bad..
Barry: Especially in Europe, there’s definitely much more of an emphasis on taking in new music. Over here I know support bands get ignored by quite a lot of the crowd and people talk over them and stuff. But in mainland Europe in general, they’re a lot more respectful of bands trying to play their music. And I guess because we’re playing our own shows and people are coming along who already know us, so in that respect the shows are always totally different. But it’s always nice, it’s equally nice to have someone singing along who’s already aware of the band, or it’s equally nice to have someone after a show who’ve seen you for the first time come up to you and say ‘I really enjoy your music’. It’s two different types of positive reaction.
The video for ‘Edit Me’ was premiered on the Kerrang! Website. How have you found the response to it?
Craig: Really positive. Even just the song… we didn’t know it had got played on Radio One, so we started getting these messages like ‘the new song sounds amazing’ and we though ‘uh-oh it’s been leaked already’! I think it’s a big relief for us because when you let people hear new music there’s always that fear that they won’t like it as much as the one’s you’ve done before, so the fact that pretty much everything’s been really positive about it. It’s been really encouraging that people are still enjoying what we do since the last time we recorded.
And can we expect a similar sound from the new album?
Barry: I think our music always tends to be, or it has in our short career anyway, fairly varied and I think this album; ‘Free’, is equally varied and diverse because we all draw on a big pool of different influences and we all like a lot of different types of music and I always think that comes across. Craig always says we get bored and impatient quite easily, so we always try to amuse ourselves by playing different styles of music. ‘Edit Me’ has certainly got a kind of grunginess and straight-forwardness… a lot of our songs before have been quite meandering but this album’s a lot more to the point and doesn’t wander about as much, so in that sense you can expect a lot more of the same kind of structured songs.
Are you due for any festival appearances this year?
Craig: Yes, loads hopefully. We’ve only got one so far called Groezrock which is in Belgium.
Barry: It’s quite cool, the stage we’re playing on -we’re playing with a lot of bands that we’re fans of. Hopefully a lot of festivals, but generally all the big festivals announce all the headliners first, and then hopefully in the next month or two they’ll start to announce bands our size and hopefully our name will be put up on a few things.
Who are your musical influences?
Craig: I think before we all had really varied influences like Barry was massively into Pink Floyd and Jeff Buckley, and Ross was really into dance music but I think just being in a band together for three years everything merges into one and we all start liking the same stuff. I think we all just had like, a melting pot, and we all put our influences together which is probably why we all enjoy making music together because we don’t all like exactly the same thing. Nowadays we just end up listening to each other’s stuff.
Barry: It’s always essentially the same things that gets played in the van when we’re driving along, just because as Craig was saying when we first got together it was a case of ‘have you heard this band?’ but now it’s just like ‘yeah you played them to me a couple of years ago’ so our iTunes are all a big mishmash.
You’ve supported an impressive list of well respected musicians including Biffy Clyro and Blink 182, what have you learnt from your time spent with them?
Barry: I think we always learn something different from every band. From way back when we first started touring with bands like The Subways, every band that we play with we always learn something new because every band has a different way of operating. Especially from a band like Blink 182, what we learnt was the sheer professionalism involved behind the scenes. They all seem to come on and they have a total laugh and make inappropriate jokes, it all seems like a big joke, but you actually see what goes on with their crew and the way the band act offstage and all the preparations that they make… it’s incredible. And with Biffy (Clyro) as well it was us and the crew that both take in a lot.
Craig: It was a massive eye opener because you think you know what you’re doing, then you go on these tours and you realise you’re still out of your depth, but then you learn. The one’s were on now, I think we’re at a stage were we know how to survive on tour but I think you learn and these bands have always been really good to us and always given us advice as well.
Barry: And every band always operates slightly differently when they’re on the road so every band’s got a different set up, there’s always a new piece of information to take from each one. It’s a big learning experience.
How does your writing process work, do you all take part?
Craig: It’s kinda a group effort, but I think usually Sam will write most of the basic ideas. There’s a couple of songs on the new album… Barry wrote one and it’s essentially become Barry’s song really. But before it was mainly just Sam would write all the lyrics and the basic structure and then bring it to practice and we make it less..
Both: mental!
Craig: So a lot of the time it’s just that there would be a good idea but it would be hidden behind these really horrible discords and stuff. For a lot of these songs that still remains the same but Ross will have written some parts and Barry’s written parts of his own that we’ve used. But I just kinda sit at the back and play drums.
Barry: Craig’s putting himself down, he’s the glue that holds us all together! But I think it’s always good if Sam’s written something, its always nice for him if he’s got some chords and a melody to bring it to the three of us and get different input. When you’re writing something on your own or in a practice space, or even in your bedroom, it’s always great to get those extra three imaginations involved and that’s when the ideas really get fleshed out and turn into songs. Sometimes we’ll start with a riff that we really like, like a song or something that started as a bit of a joke riff and from there it turned into a song that’s one of the most fun to play. It always starts somewhere different.
Craig: We’re all very open to each others ideas.
At which point did you realise you could do this for a living?
Barry: I think when we started..
Craig: Getting sacked!
Barry: Yeah, when we stopped haemorrhaging money when we toured. I think when you first start touring as an unsigned band, the only financial support you’ve got is from your own pocket and touring’s really expensive. Not just the buying of gear but renting vehicles, diesel, and eating.. basic living. We used to work loads of hours when we were at home to save up to go on tour but, as Craig was saying, we eventually spent so much time touring that we all got sacked from our jobs!
Craig: It was one of those things where we made the decision that either we would have to stop touring or we’d have to just be really poor for a while. We chose to be poor and in a weird way that was when we thought we could do it for a living; when we had no money. Luckily now we can sustain ourselves a little bit so at least we don’t have to work.
Barry: We went through a really poor stage, and we were all very lucky to have friends and family to support us back home and when we were home we all had places to stay or relatives to live with. That was a big help because if it wasn’t for our family supporting us, I reckon none of us would have been able to afford to do it. So we’ve got a big thanks to all them for that.
Craig: Thanks families and friends!
If you could choose any, what would be your dream piece of kit?
Barry: Oooh that’s a good question! I’ve never been asked that before, how long have you got?!
Craig: Well I’m gonna be really sad and say I have my dream piece of kit now because I got a Gretsch endorsement quite recently, and they were always my dream drums. So yeah I’ve kinda got everything I’d want at the moment.
Barry: I would go for an original vintage Gibson 335. I’d never played one until we were recording this record and we got a loan of a guitar, a kind donation to the cause, and I ended up playing it for a lot of the record. But they’re so expensive I just can’t justify, or even think about beginning to afford one!
Craig: I’ll say I’d like some Gretsch USA customs because they’re like the best kind of Gretsch drums you could get. I don’t have them yet so that’s something to work up to.
Any venue you’d most like to play?
Craig: I guess there’s probably one in every city. In Glasgow it’s got to be Barrowlands, it’s a pretty famous venue and we’re working our way to that now so hopefully we’ll get to play there. And then for me I guess the big ones would be like Madison Square Gardens, that’d be my dream venue to play but that’s really big. Maybe one day!
Barry: For me it would definitely be Barrowlands because it would be such a roundabout achievement. Having been a young music fan living in the Glasgow area, anytime an exciting band came they would more often that not play the Barrowlands so just having been to so many gigs as a music fan there it would be so incredible to be on the other side of the fence and get to experience it.
