Category: Interviews

Akala has fast risen through the UK underground to receive big plays on TV and radio, becoming the first unsigned artist to appear on MTV’s TRL show. He’s politically and socially aware, but not in a preaching know-it-all way and his album, It’s Not A Rumour, is busy winning over fans from all corners of the music spectrum.

Abjekt met him in Café Rouge, a place where both felt a little too downmarket for, but talked about everything from RHCP to football and of course his music.

So, just to start with the background stuff, I read you were chosen to be in a maths masterclass as a kid, but it wasn’t really the sort of thing you wanted to go for.

Yeah, it was one of things that you’re good at but never really had any passion for. I was in school, so I had to study mathematics, found I had quite a talent for it, but I didn’t enjoy it. Physics wasn’t too bad, when you applied it to something, like the velocity of a football, tangible things, that was interesting. But factorising numbers and stuff wasn’t me thing.

And I also read you were an apprentice at Wimbledon and West Ham.

I was at West Ham when I was a schoolboy and I was an apprentice at Wimbledon.

What happened with that?

Again, I didn’t love it. I fell outta love with football, I still like it but I didn’t love it. It’s something that you need to have all your heart in and I didn’t have that.

How old were you when you decided it was music that you really wanted to go into?

I was 18.

You used to have a restaurant in Ayia Napa too right?

I did, it’s closed down now. We were very dependent on the rave scene out there y’know, and now they have a new mayor who wanted to make it all about family so there’s no real demand for what we had there.

Do you have any other interests like that at the moment?

Not at this point. I have other things that I’d like to do, but no other businesses running at the moment because I’m spending so much bloody time on Illastate [Akala’s self-run label]. I love getting into anything, so in the future we’ll see.

And onto the music, you take quite a broad approach to music, with the rock sounding stuff and the guitar licks in your songs, is it really important for you to be as expansive as possible?

Definitely. That’s what music is about. Its about trying to capture as broad a sound as you can. To encapsulate the biggest statement you can, inside of a song, both musically and lyrically. It’s important to make real music from your heart and your soul and to draw on all your experiences rather than focussing on one singular thing.

I’m not a big fan of the rap scene in America at the moment, because they just use obvious samples and one boring beat and rap about the same thing all the time.

Yeah, it’s awful, lyrical content, other than Kanye, it’s all garbage.

It’s all about the same thing, money and women.

Money and women, exactly. If I see another naked woman, I’m going to kill myself. Don’t get me wrong, I love women as much as the next man but its just so sad. I love hip hop so much and it actually hurts my feelings to see it as it is now. I have so much love and respect for this art form and if I were Wu Tang or any of the early lot, Run DMC, Big L, Onyx and I looked at hip hop now I’d be like “what the fuck have they done to my art?”. I’d be so upset. I mean I’m a nobody, I’m just a new kid from England, and it upsets me. But if I spent all my time and sweat turning hip hop into the credible art form it became and then saw how it was now, I’d kill myself.

Hip hop was so good for so long, even when it went past being new and fresh, it was the dominant music form both creatively and in terms of revenue for like, 10 years. Until 97 and 98 you had DMX, Big Pun and Eminem came out as new artists and since then you’ve not had anyone with the calibre of those artists.

Are you worried that UK kids are going to come out sounding like American wannabes?

I’m not worried, I just would feel sorry for them if they did. It’s accepted now that if you’re English and rap with an American accent, you’re an idiot. You’re just a twit if you do that, there’s no sideways or argument around that, you’re just a bloody idiot.

Especially with the grime scene doing so well as well as hip hop now, it’s such a distinctive vocal sound, there’s no need to be like that.

Exactly. I mean, Redman did a jungle song, but did he do it with an English accent? Of course he fucking didn’t, because he would have sounded like a twit.

You play with a live band, is that important to give your music an extra dimension live?

That’s exactly what its for, to give it that new dimension, so you really come to see a show. I could just out with my DJ and rap, but I think it makes for a much better to show to come and see me rap with live instruments.

And you seem to have a really good relationship with all your band.

They were all involved in the making of the record. Rez, the guitarist did 8 of the songs, and he’s my business partner, Danny on bass did “This Is London” and “Hold Your Head Up” and Cassell did the drums for “The Edge“, so they’ve all been involved in the record, they’re not session musicians.

Rez has worked with a lot of bigger American names, does he bring a lot to the production?

Oh yeah, he brings a lot to the production and a lot to me. I’ve learned a lot about myself as an artist through working with him to become what I am now. Not that I’m calling myself Picasso or anything, but he’s helped me develop.

He’s involved in Illastate too right?

Yeah, he’s my co-owner.

So what’s going on with Illastate right now? Obviously your album is out…

We have the first Illastate mixtape going to come out, which has basically got everyone from the grime scene: Nasty Crew, Roll Deep, J2K, Wariko, Gappy Ranks, Jammer… it’s basically a grime/ hip hop mix tape and will be out on June 4th on the streets, it won’t be out in HMV and Virgin until later on in the year. That and my album are the two projects we’re working on and depending on the success of them we’ll see what else we’re working on.

Was everyone receptive to it when you got in touch with them?

Completely, the politics in the music industry aren’t really artists politics, you’ll find an artist, if he likes the music will work with you. Artists know how difficult it is to put yourself out there, so there’s less snobbery amongst them. If I like someone’s work then I’ll work with them, if I don’t, I won’t. Whereas the politics in the music industry comes from the label, executives, radio, TV.

Do you find it important to have as much control as possible over your own stuff, hence setting up your own label?

Yeah, its really, really important.

You’ve been getting a fair amount of press and exposure, it’s nice to see your stuff on MTV too, aswell as just the usual Channel U…

Yeah, it’s great but I’ve still got such a long, long way to go. Things are improving, but I’m still miles, universes away from where I wanna be. It’s nice for people to recognise me, but we’re nowhere, we’re not even on the radar yet. So we’re going to get on the radar and then try and build on it by making nice music.

You were at Live8 last year, how was that?

Well, I did a little bit in my sister’s set, but it was weird. I’m not really a person who gives a shit about celebrities, I never have been, but that was weird. Literally, this happened to me, in one look I saw Robbie Williams, the Beckhams and Brad Pitt in one look. It was absurd, it was like you had to be a celebrity to be there.

How does that compare with the more intimate shows?

Well, I didn’t play a full show at Live8, and if there’s that many people and they don’t know your songs, it’s really hard to get anything out of them. Whereas an intimate crowd, like the Barfly show last week, a lot of people there weren’t my fans, they were just at the Barfly, but its easier to get something out of a smaller crowd, because you can connect with them more. When you get more popular, and you have a crowd of say 6,000, they can be 20 yards away but still be into the vibe, because they know the songs.

Ok, just to finish off, I have some quickfire questions:

Favourite UK artist?

Wariko, from Nottingham.

Favourite holiday destination>

Thailand.

The one vital thing to take on tour?

Water.

Favourite venue to play?

So far, the Barfly

What’s your most spun album

The Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Greatest Hits

And you’re an Arsenal fan so, are you going to beat Barcelona?

We are, yeah.

Akala’s album “This Is Not A Rumour” is out on Illastate Records now, make sure you pick it up.

Abjekt

Sweden’s very own Backyard Babies have been flying the flag for dirty, punked-up rock n’ roll for over a decade now. Over the years, they’ve released four full-length albums, notched up support slots with the likes of AC/DC and Velvet Revolver, and developed a fearsome live reputation.

Alex Gosman caught up with Nicke Borg (vocals/guitar) and Dregen (guitar/backing vocals) just before their last show at London’s Islington Academy.

So, how’s the tour going?

Dregen: It’s been great, we’ve been touring with Social Distortion since their London show [in early August], and we’ve also done three or four dates of our own in Switzerland and Belgium, when they had days off. So yeah, we’ve been busy! We’re pretty much done touring for now – because we did an American tour with Social Distortion, and then they asked us if we wanted to do the European tour too, so these three UK shows are the last ones before we go home and start writing the new album.

Do you have fond memories of playing in the UK? Have our crowds been good to you?

D: Yeah, always…but the sad thing is that back in 2000, we signed a worldwide deal with RCA Records, and they were complete c**ts over here…they didn’t release or promote our records properly, so for us it’s kinda like a restart in the UK, cos we pretty much haven’t been here for about 3 or 4 years, besides the shows we did with Velvet Revolver and Social Distortion. But now we’ve signed a new record deal with Century Media, who are releasing a compilation album called ‘Tinnitus‘…but most of our hardcore fans will already have all the songs, so we threw in a live CD too, of a show we did in Paris last spring, so it’s a good deal.

You first made a name for yourselves in the UK with ‘Total 13’, back in 1998. How do you feel you’ve changed as a band since then?

Nicke: Well, ‘Total 13′ was more like an angry, frustrated scream, and now we kinda control the anger better…the coolest thing about being in this band is that we’ve never felt trapped in a corner, having to play the same kind of music to keep the fans happy. I’m not saying we’ll go and record a country album, but in a way we could, because it would still sound like Backyard Babies. We’re hoping to branch out even more on the next record!

These days, you see the phrase ‘rock n’ roll’ mentioned a lot in the press, but it’s usually in relation to bands like the Strokes and the Libertines. Do you feel that these bands capture the spirit of rock n’ roll, or is it all just hype and no substance?

D: Well, I don’t think anyone will remember the Strokes in 50 years’ time, but they will remember Guns N’ Roses, you know? They called Nirvana a grunge band, but I would say Nirvana was way more rock n’ roll than the Strokes are.

N: The sad thing is, though, that bands like the Libertines are more rock n’ roll than Good Charlotte or Blink 182, the mainstream ‘punk’ bands…a bunch of sissies who are controlled by their record company. So in comparison to them, the Libertines and Strokes are rock n’ roll, but there’s a lot of better bands that people are missing out on, because of how fucked-up the media is.

D: But I’ve got a good feeling right now, because I think everyone’s waiting for something new…record companies aren’t looking for the new Strokes, that’s pretty much over. Maybe it’ll be time for us!

N: Again! [laughter]

You guys have toured almost non-stop over the past few years; would you say Backyard Babies are more of a live band than a studio band?

D: Yeah…I think this is the ninth tour we’ve done for this album, so it’ll be good to get home and start writing a new record…but I have to say we do get bored pretty fast in the studio. For us, records are a necessary evil, so we can go out and start touring again! You can’t be a rock n’ roll band without rolling, you gotta tour, you know?

N: I think for any rock n’ roll band, the live show is important. I hate bands who put out, like, 2 records a year, with maybe 2 or 3 good songs and the rest is all crap…we’ll never be one of those bands!

Do you ever get bored of playing your older songs live, or does the audience reaction make it worthwhile?

D: Yeah, it does…I mean, for us there’s no difference between playing [recent single] ‘Minus Celsius’ or [old favourite] ‘Highlights‘ live, but to be honest, in the rehearsal studio it does get boring sometimes!

N: Like you said, the audience makes it worth it…but I guess it would get boring if we only got a reaction for the old songs. The ideal thing would be to be like AC/DC, where almost every song you play is a hit!

An over-asked question, but what’s your opinion on mp3 downloading? If someone told you that they discovered Backyard Babies via downloading some of your tracks for free, how would you feel?

D: It doesn’t really bother me…ok, on the one hand, it would be good if people bought the records, because we need record sales to live off and to make more records…but on the other hand, I don’t really give a fuck, cos I love bootlegs, I’ve bought a lot of them. Thing is, I buy a lot of vinyl…not because I think it looks or sounds better, but because I like the whole packaging of a record, which is usually bigger and better with vinyl.

N: For me, it would be so boring just to sit there and download songs…it’s just not the same as putting on a CD, or vinyl, or whatever. Fair enough if you’re broke, but it pisses me off when I hear kids say “Oh, you’re all about the money these days” – it’s like, would you want to work in McDonalds, and not get paid?

D: I think it happened naturally, like a punk rock movement – people started to download, because record companies have been fucking their customers over for too long, first through re-releasing vinyl records on CD…and now I think they’ve fucked themselves. But it doesn’t affect us too bad, as we make most of our money from touring, and I think that only the good live bands can survive in that way.

Cool…and finally, what are your plans for the near future, after this tour ends?

[Dregen yawns and briefly pretends to fall asleep]

N: [laughing] We’re gonna go home, take about two weeks off for holiday, then go back down into the basement to start writing the new record…hopefully we should be recording by January, and the record should be out before next summer.

C: We’ve also got a DVD, ‘Jetlag’, which will be released on Century Media…it’s a kind of documentary about the band – 15 years of us on one DVD! – with a load of interviews and videos.

Backyard Babies’ most recent album ‘People Like People Like People Like Us’ is out now.. Check www.backyardbabies.com for more info

Alex Gosman

Long Beach trio Ugly Duckling dropped by Crossfire HQ to share some words with us about their upcoming European Tour and new album Bang For The Buck, but before as soon as he saw the posters in the office, Dizzy proclaimed it was great to be around skateboards and told us that the last thing he did skating was bust his tailbone.

So the guys decided they were going to take over and chat amongst themselves about skating. When Abjekt managed to grab a word, he got talking to them about everything from clean socks to animals fighting.

Ugly Duckling, you are Caught in the Crossfire!

Andy Cooper: What do you do when you’re caught in the crossfire?

DJ Young Einstein: Duck

Andy: What about you Diz?

Dizzy Dustin: Get hit, I’m a big dude.

Andy: Now, talk about your skating experience.

Dizzy: Man, I used to love to board. My favourite skater was Mark Gonzalez back in the day, he had the Gonzo decks. I tried to jump in a pool for the first time and I fell down and hit my tailbone and that was it, no more skateboarding. And I saw all my friends around me blowing up and I saw how much money they were making.

Andy: Who you talking about? Who was blowing up?

Dizzy: Rob Gonzalez, Ray Barbie, Ron Chapman, Danny Montoya, you could go on and on especially Southern California. What about you? Who was your favourite skateboarder?

Andy: I was a crap skateboarder, I never got beyond the point of doing 180s, I could turn around. I begged for one of those Air Hosoi skateboards. That was my Christmas wish. But the day before Christmas vacation, at school, its really loose in the classroom and the teacher writes my name on the board and puts a check like “Andy you’re talking too loud” and I said “Miss Carroll I don’t care if you put 10 checks”

Dizzy: What?!

Andy: I dunno what I was thinking but she sent me to the Principal’s office and I got thrown outta school that day and my dad was real adamant that you have to behave, and so I didn’t get the skateboard, I got this basketball thing and that kinda became the thing for the rest of my life. So that event took me outta skateboarding and I didn’t even get past the veraflex or the nash cheap skateboarding stage. What about you Einstein?

Einstein: I wasn’t that good of a skater, but in Long Beach they had the Vision Streetwear factory right by my house, so I used to get to go buy pants and shirts for 2 bucks from those guys, they’d sneak it out the back door, give me deals. But my favourite skater back in the day was Steve Rocco.

Andy: Who was the Vision Psycho Stick thing?

Dizzy: Yeah, the Psycho Stick was a bad board.

Andy: But who was the guy?

Dizzy: No, it was just a deck.

Zac: You’re thinking of Gator

Andy: Oh the Psycho Stick was just a brand thing?

Dizzy: Yeah, you remember when they brought in that fibre glass board shit? That was terrible.

Einstein: What about bonite? The ingredient that Powell Peralta came up with. It was basically paper.

Zac: Don’t leave your board out in the garden.

Einstein: Don’t get it wet!

Andy: The crap boards I used to use used to come with nose guards, guard rails, the backflip thing, it was like trying to skate around on an armoured vehicle.

Dizzy: My favourite skating moment was when Natas Kaupus came to the neighbourhood and us and Jeff Ramos used to skate through the neighbourhood and he was like “we’re gonna go skate” and he had the whole camera crew with him, that was my first time dealing with a camera crew. And there’s a very famous picture of him in Thrasher magazine of him ollying a cow from a dairy and was front page of Thrasher magazine and that was one of the best moments on my skateboarding life.

Andy: Do you remember the skate video where it was like, the search for Ho Chi Minh or something?

Einstein: Animal Chin

Andy: Ho Chi Minh was the Vietnam War, they were searching for him. But yeah we did a mock up of it in our neighbourhood with a little video camera and we were trying to do some of the stuff they did and they did a rap in it, a really bad rap. It was like “I knew a [high pitched] guy, his name was…

Dizzy: [high pitched] SLY!

Andy: Yeah something stupid like that, and I remember making a mock up rap of that, about my cat, which was one of the first raps I ever wrote. So there you go, a skateboarding connection with music.

Yeah, the music! You guys are over for a big European tour? Looking forward to that?

Andy: Well big is a generous word, we will be playing many shows and there will be people in attendance, we assume, and we’re happy to be here promoting our new album called Bang For The Buck.

I think you’re undermining yourself dude, last time I saw you at the Jazz Café, it was packed out, the most packed I’ve ever seen that venue.

Andy: We had a really good show there, Einstein loves playing there most of all. We went there yesterday actually, who’d we see…

Einstein: A group called the Art Ensemble Of Chicago

Andy: Free form wacky jazz, Dizzy couldn’t take it.

Dizzy: Yeah I got to the point where the horns were just piercing my eardrums and giving me a massive headache.

Andy: It sounded like they were killing puppies

Big crowd for that show too?

Andy: Pretty good

Dizzy: Yeah it was decent, they’re a legendary band so it was cool to see them, it had a cool little vibe.

Where else are you touring, round Europe right?

Dizzy: Yeah we’re all over the place, Germany, Holland…

Andy: Ireland, France, a few in Scandinavia and the Hague. They offering us a gig at the Isle Of Wight, but it’s a gig where we have to pay, and if we sell it out, its like a 200 person venue, if we sell it out then we might make like, fifty quid. I’ve never been there before, is going there worth the financial risk?

The only thing I know about it is that they used to have a massive rock festival.

Andy: That I know of.

And my dad went in the 70s to see Hendrix but he took so many drugs that he passed out and missed him. And his one regret is that my mum has seen him and he hasn’t.

Andy: Actually, I read a Hendrix book and that was like a week before he died too.

So that’s all I know about the Isle Of Wight.

Andy: Anti-drug message right there, don’t take so many drugs that you pass out before the star comes on. We mostly lose people who don’t watch our show from apathy rather than drugs.

Zac: Is that a new drug in Long Beach?

Andy: Got that apathy!

So do you guys have a favourite place to play and a least favourite place to play?

Dizzy: Its hard to say, every place we play at has special things about that area. I love to travel so when I go out and see certain spots, you always catch something a little different and special about that place. But I love sunny spots, I’m a fan of Australia, I love the scenery in Australia. But I love coming here because the support from the fans is so good, so like I said, there’s always something special we’re in.

Andy: I know easily where the place I like to play least is, no question: Long Beach California. It’s the worst. We got nobody who likes us and its all our friends who wanna get in for free. And we always have disastrous results when we play anywhere near where we live.

Is that because you’re not gangster rap?

Andy: That’s part of it, but its really not a great town for live stuff, its just not one of those kinds of place.

Dizzy: Nothing really jumps off in Long Beach except the Marley festival, that’s it.

The Marley festival?

Dizzy: The Bob Marley festival, comes every February, and gets like 15,000 people?

Andy: Yeah but they come from all over the place. I’m sure there’s towns like that in the UK, where there’s lots of people… It’s a commerce town, a port town, so there’s just not a college support crowd and its really ethnically diverse.

Dizzy: That’s weird, we have Long Beach State there, how come Long Beach State ain’t like any other college area.

Andy: Long Beach per capita is the most ethnically and economically diverse city in America. And so its really hard to have a consensus or a cultural event happening there. Its interesting to be from that place and that’s a lot of what goes into our music and eclecticism, but yeah we can’t do a good show there to save our lives. We can’t even get our friends to go now!

Have you played any shows with the new material?

Dizzy: Yeah our first show was in New York where we tried out some of the new stuff, well, before that was San Diego, then New York and of course we did Switzerland before here and a University gig out here. So we got a pretty feedback and its nice to do new material for a change instead of all the stuff we’ve been doing.

You got a good reaction then.

Dizzy: The thing with Bang For The Buck, we did the album with the live show in mind so it really transfers well onto the crowd, so far it’s a good thing. We’ve got another 40 something shows so we’ll see.

I don’t wanna kiss your arse too much…

Andy: Nah, go ahead

When I saw you guys at the Jazz Café, it was the most fun show I’ve ever been to.

Dizzy: Oh man, thank you.

People were really coming out smiling.

Dizzy: Well, we love to have fun man and if the crowd are willing to have fun then its gonna be a good night regardless.

And from what I’ve of the new album, which I love, I can imagine it’ll be more of the same.

Dizzy: Definitely.

Andy: I always think when we do the new songs, it starts off really well and people are always enthusiastic, but around the second chorus or halfway through the second verse, you see the lull starting to take over. There’s something about hip hop that going to a show is a celebration of the records as opposed to… well, when we went to see the Arts Ensemble, people go there to appreciate the musicianship and want something artsy and wanna capture a moment in time. Whereas if you go to a hip hop show you want to hear the songs you like and you wanna support the band who you follow. So when you do something they’re not familiar with they kinda…

Especially with hip hop, people like to sing along, especially on the chorus.

Andy: That’s it, and it’s a participatory music and culture so when you do that sometimes it’s interesting. Its hard to go “ok I want everyone to pay attention to the song, try and listen to the lyrics, this is a brand new one” so we try not to overpush it. We have a song on our last album called Turn It Up and when we first did it it went off really well, like one of our best songs ever so that’s also a good place to find out what works because if it goes off really well and no-one’s ever heard it then you know it must be a good song. And that’s one of those things you can’t tell until you get up and do in front of people.

So, you’re touring with Giant Panda, are you fans?

Dizzy: Yeah I really like what they do. It’s very seldom that you see a group come out of the area, or come out of the States that loves to keep the roots involved with hip hop as far as going back to the old school, sampling and the good party vibe and they’re good people as well. So its gonna be interesting doing this tour with them.

Andy: We’ll find out if they’re good people.

Dizzy: Well see I’ve known them for a while…

Andy: But everyday, in a car together for hours, you find out someone’s true character

When they start stealing your things or eating your food.

Andy: Well exactly, but they find out that stuff about you as well so…

They’ve been getting quite a big billing over here and I’m really looking forward to seeing them. I have a friend in Florida who has seen them a few times and he raves about them live.

Dizzy: Yeah they have a great live show.

Andy: Remember that movie with the rugby team who crash their plane in the Andes and half of them had to eat each other to survive? And at the end of the experience, you’re closer than you’ve ever been but you never wanna see each other again. That’s how it always is, you’ll never know someone better than spending every day with them and performing in front of people with them and watching their performance every night, the same thing. So at the end of the tour you know everything about this personal both artistically and personally and you just have no want to call them for a long, long time.

So, who would in a fight between a duckling and a panda?

Andy: I’d probably pick the panda.

Especially if its giant right?

Dizzy: I’d beg to differ, because ducks have that duck call, there’s more coming. Giant panda’s gotta be pretty slow. And ducks can go for the eyes, so if a duck goes for the eyeballs…

Airbourne attack too!

Dizzy: Yeah! Exactly.

Andy: Bear in mind, an ugly duckling is actually a swan, and those things can be very feisty.

Dizzy: And a long neck too, that whole attack mode.

Andy: Plus, let’s be honest, of the two, which is the endangered species? It ain’t the duck, we’re survivors, we’ve thrived. The panda, they’ve gotta put an armed garrison around those things to keep them alive. Gotta feed them bamboo. Why are they called Giant Panda?

Dizzy: I have no idea actually

Andy: I’m sure we’ll get the answer every day…

You guys are playing Dublin soon, are you upset that you missed St Patrick’s Day in Dublin?

Dizzy: Sorta. I was hoping that we’re coming out here so close to it, I’m Irish as well, so for me it’d be awesome to spend St Patrick’s Day somewhere in Ireland, Dublin, Belfast. I think every day in Ireland is like St Patrick’s Day.

First port of call is the Guinness factory for everyone I know that’s been there.

Dizzy: I definitely have to go there man. It’s like what, a pound and you can drink as much Guinness as possible, sounds like a great place for me to be.

One thing I have to ask, you’re going on this long European tour, what three things must you have?

Dizzy: Mine’s Iced Tea, I can’t live without my Iced Tea, I’m just glad its finally out here in the UK.

Zac: What about the rapper?

Dizzy: The what?

Zac: The rapper Ice-T

Dizzy: Oh! He’s an actor now, if you’d have said “what about the actor Ice-T?” I’d have got it. Yeah I can do without Ice-T, the rapper, but the Iced Tea is important.

Andy: What’s your item of necessity?

Einstein: Clean socks are a big one for me.

Andy: What’s important about clean socks?

Einstein: In clean socks, you kinda feel a bit cleaner. You wearing dirty socks and it brings your whole mood goes down.

Andy: With clean socks, you don’t even need to take a shower right?

Einstein: …uuuuh…

Andy: Einstein’s famous for not being the showering sort.

Dizzy: If that’s the way not to take a shower, just to have clean socks on, I’ma try that out. What about you Coop? I know what yours is. The magic pillow.

Andy: It’s true. I have a pillow, that I carry from my bed, its very big and very long, suitable to my large frame. And especially in Europe, like in Germany, the pillows are very thin and you can’t any head rest action, so I have this all encompassing pillow that I’ve taken on every trip we’ve ever been.

We don’t want you cranky when you get up!

Andy: That’s it, and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry.

So this new album took a while to record, is it because you wanted to go back to basics and make the best record you could. Do you think it’s the best record you’ve made… I mean, I know you’re not going to come out and say its shit.

Dizzy: I look at it like if it’s the best record we’ve made, we might as well stop doing what we do, because you should go out on top. But I think it took a long time because Andy and Einstein really worked hard as far as the samples and listening to records, and that’s what takes the majority of the time on the album. Whereas if I’ve gotta write lyrics or Andy’s gotta write lyrics then we can wrap that up pretty quick. The progression of it is just digging, finding the right loops, finding the right samples, 9 months is actually pretty quick.

I was gonna ask Einstein, what with Kanye using the most obvious samples ever in every song he ever releases, how important is it to you to go digging, rather than just throw some James Brown or Chaka Khan in?

Einstein: We’re a musical based group, so I think its maybe the most important aspect of our songs, the sample basis, because otherwise we’ll just sound like every other group and I think that’s one of the unique characteristics that we have, our sound.

Dizzy: And the fact that we can’t afford those samples. The more…

Andy: Obscure…

Dizzy: Yeah, the more obscure the sample is, the easier it is to get away with. And when Kanye can put out I don’t know how much money for the sample, and the writing credit, we can’t even touch that.

Andy: Plus, I saw that Kanye video for Touch The Sky, with the Curtis Mayfield sample, and it’s a cool song but when I hear it, I think of the Curtis Mayfield song and that’s one of the reasons you do it, because you already have an association with it and you flip something slightly familiar on it and make it into a new song and update it. But for us, its fun to dig deep and find hidden treasures and present them anew, because no-one will ever have heard these, no-one in our audience at least. I mean, we hadn’t heard them because we had to find them. So the idea of using the Bee Gees or James Brown or whatever it is, and reworking it, it’s already been done on a popular stage, whereas you find something obscure and rework it so its something brand new…

Dizzy: Plus if you sample a hit, it might be a hit again.

Easy option.

Andy: I always used to think Wyclef would do that, where they’d do remakes. Or even Mos Def, who is really good, but they would always use choruses that we already hip hop choruses, and like, we’ve done some of that too, but you wanna have your own identity and your own sound, and if you use something that is so obviously familiar then it kinda cuts you our own song.

And especially with something like Curtis Mayfield, I just think of the Curtis Mayfield song and think the Curtis Mayfield song is better.

Andy: The original song is always better, but at least with us, you’ve haven’t heard the original version! I just think of that Bend It Like Beckham movie, because they play that Curtis Mayfield song every scene.

Einstein, your gold chain, that’s gotta be the best weapon in rap music.

Einstein: It is. Sometimes when I have to defend myself, I use it like a pair of nunchucks

See, 50 Cent comes with his bullet wounds, but you get Einstein’s dookie gold rope and he’s going down.

Andy: Wouldn’t it be better to brag about not being shot? “I been shot a bunch of times”, that just sounds like bad judgement.

Einstein: I been shot AT but never hit.

Andy: I caught it in my teeth!

What would you say the most influential record that you could listen to over and over again or that got you into the music?

Dizzy: I would say 3 Feet High And Rising by De La Soul, that’s like my favourite, my top hip hop album ever.

Einstein: It always changes, but right now the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique.

Andy: I’m with Einstein in that its always changing, but one that really inspired us a lot on this record is It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. And not so much the political side of it, or the anger, but the excitement of those tracks. And we even did a few bites, at the start of Bring The Noise, the music’s doing this big build up, and at the start of one song on the new album called Yudee, we had a horn build up and tried to emulate that excitement and build up. Especially with the horns and squealing brass. We wanted to communicate that excitement, because that’s one thing in hip hop, the older records showcased a bit more was that enthusiasm.

Because it was a new thing as well.

Andy: Yeah and maybe because it was that part of the evolution. Like, hip hop started off with disco breaks and in the mid 80s there was the Def Jam and the LL Cool Js and for some reason at some point towards the end people started sampling and getting into funk. Ultramagnetic and Public Enemy and Jungle Brothers, it just really rocks.

Well thanks guys, it was great having you in.

Dizzy: Thanks for having us, great being out here in a skater environment for a change.

So do you have any final words for the Crossfire readers?

Einstein: Yeah, don’t do a lot of drugs.

Dizzy: Just do a little bit of drugs.

Einstein: Don’t gamble.

Dizzy: And pick up the Bang For The Buck album

Andy: I got it: Save the drug money and use it to buy the album

Dizzy: And you’ll get high off the album. And I heard if you lick the cover, you might even have an acid trip.

Andy: We’re Out

Dizzy: Check out our site at www.uglyduckling.us

The album Bang For The Buck is out now on All City Records, make sure you grab a copy today!

Despite making their own unique blend of melodic metal since 1990, Gothenburg quintet In Flames are only now enjoying the type of widespread success they’ve deserved for so long. A headline appearance on last year’s Download Festival second stage put the Swedes firmly on the map, and with new record ‘Come Clarity’ topping rock radio charts the world over, the tides are showing no signs of turning.

Ryan Bird took a brief break from proceedings at the Portsmouth Pyramids to grab a few choice words with bassist Peter Iwers in the hallowed backstage holy land.

How’s it going today? I hear the tour has been going pretty well thus far!

Yeah, it’s good! We’re the type of band that never expects anything but so far all the shows are either completely or almost sold out. It’s a good feeling.

You’ve just been at an in store signing, right? How did that go?

It was pretty good. I think there was a couple of hundred kids there. Maybe 250 or so.

That’s not bad for a place like Portsmouth!

Not at all! There was kids lining up right around the corner so that was pretty cool.

It seems like you come to the UK basically every year in recent times, but this is the first ever as a headline band. How have you found that compared to previous tours supporting bands like Slipknot and Motorhead?

Well as you said we’ve toured here as support with Motorhead and Slipknot, but apart from those we’ve only been here for one or maybe two shows so I don’t have THAT much to compare with. It’s definitely an honour to be able to be supported by a band like Sepultura, but I’m still not down with this rain thing you’ve got going on!

Why did it take so long for you guys to be able to head out on your own over here?

I think one of the main reasons is that our label (Nuclear Blast) wasn’t too big over here until maybe a year or a year and a half ago, so we didn’t have a proper publicist or anything in the UK. Now Dan (Tivemark – head of press and PR for Nuclear Blast in the UK) is here and doing an awesome job of getting us exposure. Plus the new record is really taking off and that’s helping a lot too.

Speaking of which, it seems your latest album ‘Come Clarity’ may indeed be putting you on the map in a bigger way than ever before, because the reception seems to have been nothing but positive. Are you pleased with how it’s been received thus far?

Oh yeah! Absolutely! As I said before we’re the type of band that doesn’t do something and then expect a certain result or whatever. We write the kind of music that we like and if people like it then that’s great. If people don’t then that’s fine too. It’s just also a reward for hard work I think. This is our eighth album now and it’s also the fastest selling thus far.

A lot of people were hoping for a back-to-basics return to your thrash roots with this one, but that’s not entirely the case. Would you say that you’re a band that thrives on going only forwards rather than back?

Yeah. A lot of bands tend to say things like “Yeah, well, with this album we’ve gone back to basics” blah blah blah, and I think that’s bullshit. I wasn’t even in the band when they wrote the first record but they’ll still have written what they liked and felt was right at the time just like with any other record. The best way to look at it is simply that we add different ingredients each time.

Plus, ‘Dead End’ is probably the song least like the typical In Flames sound, but it’s probably the best one on there!

I think it’s a classic In Flames song!

Really?!

Yeah!

You see I disagree with that simply for the female element alone, because Lisa Miskovsky (Swedish pop songstress) guests on the previous song in question. How did you come to meet someone like her?

Just at festivals in and around Sweden and things like that really. We had a lot of mutual friends and found out that she liked our music, so when we met we discussed maybe doing something like this in the future. It’s really good because there’s been so many times where we’ve been drinking with friends in other bands and such and spoken about guesting on their records and vice versa, but nothing ever happens. Finally it has with this one and I think it’s come out brilliantly.

Who came up with the idea to have her sing on the track? Was she immediately interested in doing it?

It would have been easy for us to ask, say, Christina from Lacuna Coil or something. Someone like that would probably be more acceptable to the metal world, but it was nice to have someone from outside that and bring them in a little bit. Fortunately for us she was off whilst we were recording, so she just came down to the studio and she and Anders fired it out basically.

Did you anticipate that her vocals would work so well with the rest of the song?

No, no. She’s a very talented musician and singer, so I knew it was going to come out great right from the start.

Another interesting point on ‘Come Clarity’ is the fact that you apparently had the album finished last summer, but only released it in February. Why was there such a delay?

Actually we’d had it finished as far back as April. It was just the usual record company bullshit and politics that needed straightening out. Making sure it didn’t clash with other releases and stuff like that. Plus we were changing labels in the US and we didn’t want to release it over here before that was sorted out. Otherwise you get things like importing and downloading going on which sucks.

How’s it going with Ferret in the US?

It’s going really, really well. We just wanted somebody who could get our albums out there in all the stores as opposed to a really big label with a high profile. We wanted people to be able to walk into basically any record store and buy an In Flames record, and that’s what we’ve been getting so far.

Plus I guess it’ll be helping enhance your US profile even further – particularly when alongside tours like Ozzfest last summer.

Definitely. Ozzfest was a strange experience though. We were first on the main stage, but that happened to be right when Rob Zombie was closing the second stage on the other side of the venue. We’d be playing to half empty arenas in front of people who had paid like a couple of hundred dollars for great seats just to see bands like Sabbath. It was a good experience though and definitely one that I’m glad we had.

A lot of the American bands on that tour were bands that have gotten pretty popular in a relatively short space of time, but bands like yourself and Soilwork have been making similar music for a decade and then some. Why do you think American bands are able to find success so much quicker?

I think one of the reasons is tags that journalists and certain labels come up with such as this “New Wave of American Heavy Metal”. It makes it appear like they’ve created something new and as a result it has a good marketing appeal, but it’s just bullshit. A lot of these bands are heavily influenced and inspired by music like ours which is very flattering, but it’s certainly not new.

Plus, a lot of the American bands while gaining popularity quickly have been around for years anyway, so it’s not even new in that respect!

Exactly! It’s just marketing bullshit, but whatever. If it makes it easier for kids to get into then it’s only a good thing for bands like us.

So I guess that with the success you’ve begun to enjoy in the past year, maybe now is the time for In Flames to finally enjoy those same riches regardless?

Hopefully! We’ve been doing this for around 15 years and have taken the “slowly but surely” route, so I think that even if some bands that are enjoying success now aren’t around anymore in a couple of years, we will be. We’re not going anywhere.

In Flames’ new album ‘Come Clarity’ is available now through Ferret Records in the US, and Nuclear Blast Records in all other territories. See www.inflames.com for more info.

Listening to Bullets And Octane’s forthcoming second album, ‘In The Mouth Of The Young’, you’d be forgiven for thinking them to be the kind of guys who’d drink your whisky, screw your girlfriend and ride off on your motorbike if you turned your back on them for a second.

After all, this Orange County quartet play lean, mean, full-throttle punk rock n’ roll like it’s in their blood; however, in person, they’re very friendly and approachable!

They recently visited the UK for the first time, supporting fellow OC rockers Avenged Sevenfold, and I caught up with Gene Louis (vocals) and Brent Clawson (bass) before the London Astoria show.

So, how’s the tour going so far?

GENE: It’s been going great, man, it’s our first time here…the kids seem to love it, there’s a lot of people who know the words to our songs, the shows have all been amazing with regard to the energy from the crowd. It’s like, we’ve just come over from the States; we’re a bit jetlagged, trying to figure out where the hell we are [laughs], so to get up onstage and see how great the crowds are, it’s like “Fuck, we’re on, let’s do it!”

How did this tour (and the previous one with Social Distortion) come about? Are you guys old friends?

BRENT: Yeah, it’s been going on for about three months now, and basically we all kinda knew each other because we’re all from the same neighbourhood and play the same genres of music, so it worked out that way pretty well.

How well known would you say you are in the States?

G: It would be the same as, uh…Christianity! [mass laughter]

Ha ha, quote of the year already!

B: It’s going pretty well actually – this is our first year of really hardcore touring; we’ve been touring our first CD [2004’s ‘Revelry’] for a while, so this year we’re gonna be touring the new record, and it’s coming right along, city to city. Every time we come back, it’s like the same people along with a load of new people; the word’s spread, it’s getting out there…it’s been really good.

I noticed that you have a Myspace page; has the internet helped you to get heard?

G: Oh yeah – it’s like, Myspace is the biggest thing for any company these days, it’s a great tool for meeting new bands and fans and, uh, women! [more laughter]

You’ve been described as ‘Social Distortion meets Guns N’ Roses’ – would you say that’s accurate, and are there any other particular bands that have really influenced you?

You sometimes remind me of the Supersuckers…

G: You know, that’s a great thing, because I hear a lot of different opinions from different people about what we sound like – and that’s cool, because we don’t really wanna get pigeonholed as just one kind of band…we’re influenced by a lot of old rock n’ roll, a lot of jazz, some old punk rock…it’s like, we all come from different types of backgrounds, but together we’re Bullets And Octane, so that’s cool.

You’ve got a very decadent sound, so I have to ask: can you guys hold your own in the partying stakes?

G: Well, yeah, on this trip it’s got to the point where if I’m not sleeping, I’m drinking! Usually I’m drinking so I can fall asleep, cos I’ve got this fucking jetlag…other than that though, people here seem to buy us a lot of drinks; it’s like [does brilliant British accent] “Come do a shot, mate!”, so you do shots of Jager, got some Jack Daniels in there too…and the next thing I know, I’m on the floor!

B: Funny story – one night when we were on tour in America with Avenged, we went to a bar with them after the show, and our drummer was so hammered that he started pissing all over the bar, and this bar brawl broke out…it was like a scene out of ‘Roadhouse’!

Haha! – You seem to tour a lot – would you say that you’re more of a live band than a studio band?

G: Both, man, they’re both great experiences…on the one hand, you wanna get out there, you wanna play, get dirty, enjoy it night by night…but when you’re in a creative mood, being in the studio is amazing too.

B: We learned to play in a studio; the first songs we wrote were on an 8-track recorder in a storage shed…that was before we had a full band, when it was just us two writing songs – so, you know, the studio environment has kinda become part of us.

What are Bullets And Octane’s plans for the near future, after this UK tour ends?

G: After this, we go back to the United States and we do our own tour there during April, supporting our new record coming out…that’ll last about five weeks, see where it takes us, then we’ll probably go back to the studio and do some more recording. But for now, we just hope to get back to the States alive, take things a day at a time!

‘In The Mouth Of The Young’ is released in late April. Check www.bullets-and-octane.com for more info.

Alex Gosman

Floridian quintet Yellowcard first made a name for themselves with 2003’s ‘Ocean Avenue’; a record which combined the traditional pop-punk sounds with those of their electric violin player!

They first visited the UK in early 2004, and following the recent release of new album ‘Lights & Sounds’, they’ve returned for their biggest UK headline tour to date. Alex Gosman caught up with bassist Pete Mosely before their second night at the London Astoria.

So, this is the second night of your tour – how did things go last night, and how long has it been now since you first visited the UK?

Last night was amazing… we’ve gone from supporting Less Than Jake [in May 2004] at the Brixton Academy, and supporting New Found Glory, to being able to come over here on our own and play two nights at a venue this size…it’s awesome, and I think tonight’s show will be even better, because we’re more used to the venue! It’s been about two years since we first came over here, we played a couple of small promo shows, one of them at the Garage…but our first real tour over here was with Less Than Jake.

Do you have good memories of your previous shows here?

For the most part, when you’re up on stage and rocking out, there’s not much difference between the crowds – you could be anywhere from Australia to Canada, you know? Generally, we pride ourselves on being a live band, and we always get a pretty good response from the crowd; and when you tour as much as we do, it’s hard to keep specific memories of places!

Your new album ‘Lights & Sounds’ is more musically varied than ‘Ocean Avenue’, especially with the orchestral elements. Was this intentional, or did it just work out that way?

A bit of both, really! Whilst we were touring ‘Ocean Avenue’, we kinda got plagued with this ‘pop-punk’ tag – not that there’s anything wrong with pop-punk music, but it does kind of make you cringe when you here it, especially as we never set out to be a pop-punk band. But we do understand how ‘Ocean Avenue’ got that tag, given the time when it was released and everything.

Some people call us punk rock, and we definitely have our roots in growing up listening to that kind of music – bands like Bad Religion and NOFX – but we’ve never actually come out and said that we’re punk rock, because that’s a big thing to claim. We want to wear the badge of rock n’ roll, because rock n’ roll can go in so many different directions, thanks to bands like the Beatles – and that’s what we wanted to show on this record; that we can step outside of any box and musically branch out. Not in the sense that we’re trying to be different just for the sake of it, but to reflect the fact that we’re influenced by many different kinds of music.

The trouble with that is that you tend to alienate people who prefer your older sound, but as a band, we were really thirsty to just move on and step into new areas.

One song from ‘Lights & Sounds’ particularly grabbed my attention – ‘Two Weeks From Twenty’ [a song about a young soldier, ‘Jimmy’, killed shortly before his twentieth birthday]. Is that a personal story to the band, or is it more of a reaction to the current situation in Iraq?

It’s kind of a generalisation…it’s the story of a G.I, it’s got some anti-war sentiment in it, but it’s not as openly political like – say – Propagandhi. It’s very non-specific; it doesn’t name names or point fingers, but it relates to an aspect of the American Armed Forces that I disagree with – the way they use cheap tricks to recruit kids out of high school. We’re talking about kids that might not have the grades or money to move on to university, so the Forces come along and offer them this ‘educational experience, get you ahead in life’, that kinda thing, and the kids often sign up for it – not really knowing that they’ll end up going to war.

In the song, Jimmy is a kid from a typical industrial town in New Jersey, who probably has a future working in a local factory…but the factory gets shut down, so he has to take the only other opportunity he sees as available to him, and ends up going to war and dying at a young age. So it’s not so much a song about war, as how it impacts on the lives of a young soldier and his family.

Do you get bored of playing your older songs time and time again, or does the crowd’s reaction make it worthwhile?

Well, yes, some songs definitely do get really old…like when we were touring’Ocean Avenue’, we played those songs about 300 times in the space of a year – plus we played the song ‘Ocean Avenue’ itself twice as much as the other songs, because of TV appearances, etc. So yeah, absolutely, it does get old, but then you can’t think that every fan follows you from city to city every night, so you have to keep those songs in the set. And yeah, it does feel good to see the crowd go crazy when you play an old school favourite, so it kinda makes it worthwhile.

What are Yellowcard’s plans for the near future, after this UK tour ends?

Uh…more touring! Our new record just came out a couple of months ago, and we’d been touring for about four or five months as a kind of ‘pre-promotion for it, which is kind of unusual. Now that it’s actually been released, we’ll probably be touring it for most of the next two years, although we’ll probably get a few breaks towards the end. We’re hoping to play some festivals over the summer.

‘Lights & Sounds’ is out now. Check out www.yellowcardrock.com for more info.

In a modern day climate where American hardcore and Scandinavian metal runs riot further by the day, it’s bands like Italy’s Lacuna Coil that keep heavy music fresh and exciting.

With their 2002 full-length ‘Comalies‘ being certified the biggest selling Century Media Records album in history – and the impending release of its long awaited follow-up Karmacode – it’s almost certain that before the year is out the Milan six-piece will be one of the genres biggest draws.

At an exclusive press day held at a secret North London location, Daniel Crouch spoke to the band in question about life on the other side of the lens.

How are you all today?

Cristiano Mozzati (Drums) – Pretty good, bit tired from yesterday but we’re good.

I hear you played a packed-out show at the Forum last night. How did that go?

Andrea Ferro (Vocals) – It was amazing. It was the first time we’d played the new songs live, the first time we’d used different instruments (refering to use of 7 string guitars on Karmacode). It was strange, but it turned out really good so it was great. There was a very good reaction.

Cristina Scabbia (Vocals) – It was awesome. We didn’t really have time to practice or anything as me and Andrea were doing promotional work at home in Milan so we didn’t really have a chance to get together and practice, so it was all about having fun and the reaction was amazing. We didn’t know what to expect as we were playing some new songs…. so it was crazy. We’re totally satisfied with it.

I guess this officially marks the start of the touring cycle for the new album – seeing as you’re soon heading to the US to support Rob Zombie and then hitting the European festival circuit. Are you pleased to be heading out on the road again?

A.F. – Certainly. After the European festivals we’re going to be out on the Ozzfest tour, and then we’ll do another headlining tour in Europe and after that, then maybe another headling tour in the US. I could go on, but it’s going to be a hard year. However, it’s going to be lots of fun as well. This time it’s much more organised from the beginning. For Comalies we did one year with just the record promotion, we did a European tour and then some small US shows, but then the album was released and it started to get picked up on the radio and on MTV. Then we had to go back out again and do two more years of promo in the US and then come back to do the festivals in Europe to show the people we’re not disappearing somewhere in America. It’s taken around 4 years to come from Comalies to Karmacode because of the unexpected success.

Cristiano Migliore (Guitar) – We had three years playing the stuff from Comalies so finally we have a chance to go out there and play some new stuff. I can’t wait to get out there.

So, level with me here…how sick are you, of playing ‘Heaven’s A Lie?‘

All – VERY!

C.M. – It’s probably how it feels to be Slayer or Metallica; how do they feel when they’re playing ‘Angel of Death‘ or ‘Seek And Destroy’ for the millionth time?

You’ll be playing Download festival over here again,which you played on last year…., it’s fast becoming ‘THE’ festival in the UK for heavy acts to play, with bands like Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, The Prodigy, Within Temptation and Korn already confirmed. Who are you looking forward personally, to seeing, if you get the chance?

C.S. – Well actually it’s pretty rare we get to see any of the other bands as it depends on which stage certain bands are playing at, and how much time we have around our set that isn’t devoted towards the show. It’s cool to see the other bands there but at the same time we have to concentrate solely on our own show.

Are there any places you’d like to hit this time around that you didn’t last time? You must’ve played just about everywhere there is since the Comalies tour lasted a good 3 years or so.

A.F. – Well this time we’re planning to go to places like Australia, which we didn’t get to go to last time. We pretty much stuck solely to Europe and America last time because of how successful the album was becoming. We simply didn’t get the chance to go elsewhere as it was very much a spur of the moment thing.

How did you manage to write the new album under such a busy schedule?

C.M. – Well I think we started writing stuff and collecting ideas right after we’d finished Comalies. Of course all these ideas didn’t end up on the album, but they evolved and we worked on them as time went by.

A.F. – We tried to write on tour, but we were always on the X Box or playing games on the laptop. We’ve realised we’re unable to write music on the road, so this time we’re just going to relax and get into a routine, and then get the inspiration. We write our parts seperately and then bring all the parts together and work out the songs in the practice room together for the arrangements.

Who made the decision to take the X Boxes away then ?

A.F. – We did. We’re keeping the X Boxes in America just for the touring. If we bring it back, then we’re fucked!

Because of the success of Comalies, was there much pressure was there on you as a band to come up with something equally as successful?

C.M. – Not really. We just recorded the album with the best songs we had. I mean, maybe there was a little bit of pressure at the start because Comalies was a great album for us and we’ve had a lot of success with it, but we were thinking more of the music and were just trying to record great songs.

A.F. – We knew there’d be some pressure but we were prepared for that, so we just did our job as we usually do and tried to keep the pressure away from the band. We could have approached the new album in 3 different ways, one way was just to repeat Comalies, the other way was to go super commercial and do only clean guitars and clean vocals, and the other way was just to make an album which starts from Comalies and incorporates the different influences we’ve collected and without caring too much as to whether it’s going to be too heavy or too soft. That’s basically the way we went.

Your new album’s called Karmacode. What’s the concept behind that?

A.F – Well when I was searching for a title for the album, I was reading this book where the author was trying to explain the existence of a God through mathematics. It’s such a weird, technical approach to such a sacred subject like God. It caught my attention because I think there is a really big need for spirituality in the world today which is not strictly connected to organised religion anymore because they’ve lost a lot of their credibility to the people because of all the mistakes; the excuses for war and trying to sell religion in some way. Especially in America where you have groups that are only in it for the money.

The album sounds a lot heavier than Comalies, was this a conscious decision?

A.F – No, it came out naturally. The producer helped us with finding the right sounds but didn’t really affect how we wanted the record to sound. That’s why we also chose another guy to mix it because we wanted a different sound. In the end the record was made in Europe and all made by Europeans but it has a more American approach to it, especially in the rhythmical section there is more groove and a bigger bass sound. On the other hand, you’ve got the strings and the violins and cellos.

Did you have any major influences lending a hand to any of the songs? It must be difficult to avoid current musical trends, such as the metalcore movement that seems to be sweeping the music world at present.

A.F. – We’re always being influenced. You live in this world so when you write something you’re always influenced by what you want to be influenced by. We’ve been living in the US for the last 2 years and you’re there and you’re part of that kind of life and start to like it, so that ends up on your songs. On this album the songs are much bigger and I suppose more American sounding, but we still keep the euro melodic style there.

There’s the Depeche Mode cover on the album, what made you choose to do a cover on your album?

A.F. – Basically, we just like Depeche Mode. We tried to record songs by some other bands, like Soundgarden and Sisters of Mercy, but the result was that you come out with some trashy cover that just sounds weird. This song was just a song we liked a lot. We like the band and the result is pretty good.

C.M – If you listen to how we arranged the song, it sounds like a Lacuna Coil song. The way it starts with a chorus, unlike the original, was Marco’s way of stamping his mark on the song.

Out of interest, which Soundgarden song did you cover?

C.M- It was Black Hole Sun.

How did you get both vocalists working on that one?

A.F. – That was the problem – we couldn’t!

C.M – Next time we’re going to do ‘The Final Countdown’! *laughs*

In the past you’ve always been a band that could play on heavier bills such as Ozzfest, but also on “softer” and more melodic bills as well. Do you feel that both of these aspects have been portrayed nicely this time around on the record?

A.F – Yeah, I think on Karmacode we have a good mix between the heavy songs and the slower songs. Maybe before we had less heavy and more mid tempo songs, whilst here we have much heavier ones.

C.M – I think the mixture is good, we can play with bands like Meshuggah and then with bands like Within Temptation, and now of course Rob Zombie. We dont want to limit ourselves, we just want to write music. You can hear the heavier sound on this album because we started using 7 string guitars and were working a lot on the bass sound.

I think one of the strengths of Lacuna Coil, even if you’re not overly a fan of the music, is Cristina’s voice. Even as a die hard thrash metal fan; I’d say it could probably convert anyone to Lacuna Coil’s music. What do you have to do, or in some cases NOT do, to take care of that voice?

C.S. – To be honest, I don’t really do anything special. I try to get a lot of sleep, and I don’t smoke or drink too much as that’s bad for your voice. But what I do that I shouldn’t is talk a lot; because I’m Italian AND I’m a woman, I talk ALL the time, which I really shouldn’t do!

Marco Coti Zelati (bass) – She’s lying, she’s the biggest drinker in the band by far! *laughs*

Blatantly. Well, thank you all very much for taking some time out for this. Good luck with the new album, and I shall see YOU at Download.

Lacuna Coil’s new album Karmacode is release on April 24th through Century Media. See www.lacunacoil.it or www.centurymedia.net for details.

Emmanuel has produced tracks for some of the biggest names in music both Stateside and in the good old UK. But after all these years working behind big names, he’s finally had the chance to release his own album, which features some monumental guest spots and delivers with an outside range of sounds. Abjekt caught up with Emmanuel to quiz him on all things musical:

Can you introduce yourself to the readers of Crossfire briefly, for those that don’t know you too well?

Greetings. My name is Colin Emmanuel aka C.Swing. I am a producer, songwriter, remixer, arranger and musician.

I read that you’ve been producing for 10 years come this November, what were you doing before you got into the music making business?

Originally I was on the road to becoming a professional footballer or at least that was the dream, but I was unfortunately run over a week before my trials for Spurs and lost half of my right foot. That’s when the music thing came to the forefront, but before I went full time I went to Leicester Polytechnic and studied IT. I was also attending the School Of Audio Engineering at weekends and studying Sound Engineering before going on to do a Tonmiester in Production. Had a few jobs here and there, worked on the Credit Card Sales line for Wembley Stadium and was in Pre Sales Technical Support for a computer company before I went full time into music. Exciting stuff eh!!

What made you leave the 9-5 to get into producing?

Well, I’d never really planned to get a nine to five, I was always determined to make it in music. But it’s a struggle and bills have to be paid. I was working with Definition of Sound and we simply ran out of money. They were on the verge of signing a new deal but everything was in limbo, so the only solution was to get a temporary job until their deal came through. Then I could leave and work on the album and and get paid for all the work I’d done etc. So I ended up temping for this computer company as a Sales Operator and was doing the music thing in my spare time. About 3 years later, Definition had their deal and chose to do the album with someone else, and I was now fulltime in the company and had been promoted to Pre Sales Technical Support (Big Ol’ Title).

It just felt like I was dying in there. I got to the stage where I just couldn’t handle going in and I decided that if I didn’t make an effort to leave and go for it I never would. Then a girl who worked in the same company lost her Brother who was quite young after a car accident. And that just triggered me to write my notice and go for it. Life’s to short for regrets, so I quit my nine to five around March of 1996 and signed my publishing deal in November 1996.

Was there any particular record or records that really took you over and made you think that making music was the thing you had to do? My dad is a huge music fan and has a massive library load of vinyl, was this the same with you?

My Dad’s record collection plays a huge part in my musical make up I had one of those Dad’s where as you hit the end of your road on the way home from school on Friday you could hear what he’d bought blaring down the road, and you knew you’d hear it until the following Friday. Earth, Wind & Fire, Marvin Gaye, Bob Marley, Queen, Bob James, Burning Spear. Always something different. And he’s still on point now, he’ll tell you about Timbaland being involved with Jodeci. He knows his stuff.

But apart from that, it’s always a moment when you discover something for yourself. So for me it would be the first Mantronix album. The drum programming blew me away, and really got me interested in music technically as well as musically. After that I’d have to say Guy’s first album. It mixed hip hop, R&B and gospel so well that it helped me make sense of what I wanted to do.

I guess there are a few tunes like that, that just make you wanna get in the studio, Jodeci’s Diary Of A Mad Band, D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar, the SOS Band with Just Be Good to Me and a lot of Loose Ends etc.

You’ve worked with big names in the past, Mary J Blige, En Vogue and smaller UK artists such as Yungun, Braintax and Doc Brown – Do you hand pick who you want to work with first? Or do you get these offered to you?

It’s a bit of both really. Thing’s like Mary J and En Vogue you usually find that there are a couple of people in the running and if your lucky enough it’ll be offered to you. I’m lucky in that because I’ve received more critical praise than commercial success I get a lot enquiries usually via management. But it’s also nice to be in a situation where you can approach a Mystro or Rodney P and ask to work with them I’m usually terrified they’ll say no so I don’t ask that often.

But ultimately whether it’s been offered or I approach the decision lies with me. I’d rather work with someone I want to work with then work with them just for the money or quedos.

You’ve always worked with The Beta Band, which isn’t the first group I’d associate with your production work – Do you think its important to be able to vary your sound in your work? Does working on albums like this in between straight hip hop albums keep you on your toes and allow you to evolve your production style?

I always tell people that I only have 12 notes to play with. And those are the same twelve notes you’ll find on a rock track, or a country track or a jazz track. Every musician has those 12 notes to work with, so I do see why I should them in just area, or be intimidated by using them in other areas.

It’s important for me to do stuff like that because I’m trying to be a “Producer” period!! Not an R&B producer or Hip Hop Producer, just a Producer. I want to be in the running to work with U2, Nora Jones, Braintax and score films but that’s just me.

Aside from that, I can twist a production in any direction because I can pull from the different areas I’ve worked in.

It does keep you on your toes, keeps you humble, and where the Beta Band are concerned it can remind you of how you used to work, how to break the rules etc. I loved doing that. I’d love to do more stuff like that.

When you start working with an artist, do you already have a particular style or beat in mind for their track, or do you work with the artist and make it a mutual thing that comes about only after you’ve met them to get the right sound?

Getting the artist’s personality on to the track is my one golden rule. So when first working I may have a few ideas in my head, but I’ll let them guide the first few sessions and together we’ll find their sound. Once I’ve made that connection and got it right , I’m able to work on idea’s without the artist being there sometimes as I’ve got their profile in my head, so I can tailor make tracks for them.

So tell us about your new album, D’illusions Of Grandeur. When is it out, who is on it, and do you have any favourite tracks on the album?

D’illusions of Grandeur is my debut solo album. I’d got to a stage where I was seriously thinking about calling it a day. Various friends and colleagues convinced me that if I was gonna call it a day then the least I do is put out some of my own material which represented me, and not what I do day to day as a producer for other artists and labels etc. Often you work on a project for a label and a piece of work gets turned down for whatever reason. You start to know what’s worth handing in and what you might as well keep for yourself. Terri Walker’s Flirtin was rejected by Def Jam for her 2nd album when she was with them. Even though Nate James’s Pretend was done for the album, the initial reaction from his camp was that it was too underground and specialist to do anything, so I could do what I wanted with it. So when I sat down and went through some of the material that was turned down for whatever reason or deemed too underground, I realised I had the bulk of the album.

In saying that, I still set about trying to give the album an overall sound that was not Jamelia, or Beta Band or Beverly Knight etc. I wanted to come from an angle that no one was expecting of me and to avoid it being a typical Producers album. So it was more about getting the right songs with the right artists as opposed to getting big feature after big feature.

I wanted to use people that I felt were often overlooked or not being given the recognition they deserve. Most of the people on the album I’ve known for between 5 to 10 years, so it was like a family vibe working it.

So we have appearance’s on the album from Steve Mason (ex Beta Band, King Biscuit Time), KRS1, Nate James, Belle, Celetia Martin (Ladies In Question), Daniel DeBourg, Dyanna Fearon, Michelle Escoffery, Mystro, Braintax, Rodney P, Terri Walker, Sammi Jay and Michelle Escoffery . Not to mention musical contributions from James and Jason Yarde, Chris Jerome and Eric Appapoulay.

It’s definitely more a “black” album rather than “urban”, I suppose I’m trying to pay tribute to the music that influenced me.

How did the hook up with KRS-One come about? Had you always been a fan of his? I’d imagine it must have been pretty special to work with a legend like him.

That hook up was down to my friend Dave Veejay who was working for Kiss FM at the time (he’s now on Choice FM). He calls me up one day and asks if I’d fancy doing a track with KRS1. I was like yeah, whatever, this is a joke right? But he explain KRS was coming over to give some talks and wanted to get in the studio while he was here. So I gave him 2 beats on a cassette as he asked and Dave took it round to his hotel. I’d forgotten about it, convinced it was a wind up until Dave called back saying book a studio for the weekend, he’ll do it on Saturday night. This is all way back in 1997, originally it was on a different backing track, but I updated it for the album. That’s what went down.

I’m a huge fan of KRS so it was an incredible moment. I mean this guy is part of my musical make up. I’ve spent time in my room trying to program BDP teams. My Philosophy is one of my all time favourite tunes, but the guy has so many classics. It changed my life working with the guy. I mean once you work with someone of that stature, and they call out your name for the chorus, and then hang in the studio for hours after just talking but stuff in general; I’ve never had a need to fear anyone I’m working with since then.

Myself, Sandra Escoffery, Dave Veejay, James Yarde and KRS1 sitting in a studio just chatting. That’s a memory I will hold forever.

What are your links with Lowlife Records? You worked on Braintax’s Biro Funk and you’ve got Brains and Mystro up on the album, are you close to those guys?

I ghost write all of the raps for Brains, Mystro, Jehst etc. I’m just too shy to be a rapper!! JOKE!! No, I’ve worked in the same building as Low Life for years, and when we had to move business they found me a space across the hall from them. So bottom line is that there like family. We have a laugh, argue, help out on each others tracks, all that kind of stuff really. I do a lot of radio edits and mastering for them.

I’ve known Brains for years and he is a really good friend. I’ve got nothing but love and respect for the guy, he has a brutal honesty that keeps you in check and he’s one of the people who convinced me to do an album. I owe the guy a lot.

Mystro, well that’s my Brotha from anotha Mutha. Simple as that. I met him through Brains. Love working with the guy, I think he’s one of the best MC’s in the UK period. Most sessions are usually just jokes.

So yes, we’re all close, but that’s the whole reason why the album has the features it does, it’s all about my musical family.

Linked to this, do you think that its important for you to keep working within the UK scene, considering the big US names you’ve worked with? Is the scene stronger now than ever before?

It’s a flattering question, but I don’t think it makes a blind bit of difference to the UK whether I stay working here or not. I know that if I spend the rest of my life working here I’ll die with nothing, so at some point I’m going to have to make a step to another territory, not necessarily the States (I think people tend to overplay the importance of the States in the overall scheme of things).

I work in the UK because there are people in the UK I want to work with and people who want to work with me. It’s certainly not the industry that keeps me here because I hate to burst a bubble, but we don’t have one… Well not one worth shouting about at the moment anyway.

Creatively, this country has always been strong, and the advances made in multimedia with the internet etc has seen us develop better platforms to be heard and seen from.

The scene is quite strong at the moment but I don’t know if it’s at it’s strongest. The next stage in my mind for the UK is who wants to address the UK. What I mean by that is that we’re now just starting to grasp what the rock and indie bands do which is to work on generating fan bases outside of their area. That’s how you add value to your product, when you have customers for it across the country and in different territories. And once you can make money without a major, a major will want a piece of that.

Is there anyone you’d like to work with in the future?

Stateside I’d love to work with Dwele, Jill Scott, NAS, Joe Budden, The Foo Fighters and De La Soul amongst others.

In the UK I’d love to link with Ty, Baby Blue, Fundamental, Mews, Lemar, Kylie and a few others. UK wise I can pretty much get to who I’m interested in. But ultimately I’d love to hook up with a film director because I’d really love to score a film.

What are the plans for C-Swing in 2006?

Well it’s looking like quite a busy year ahead. I’ve already remixed Beverley Knight’s single Another Piece Of My Heart and made an appearance in the video for it, and I’ve also just finished remixing Terri Walker’s first single from her album I Am which should be out at some point this year.

On the schedule at the moment are tracks for albums coming from Mystro, Michelle Escoffery, Belle, Satomi, Doc Brown and Rodney P. I’m doing a complete album for Braintax and producing most of the Ladies in Question album which is Celetia Martin’s group. I’ll also be doing some side projects with Steve Mason (ex Beta Band now King Biscuit Time).

But you can also expect a few more tracks from Emmanuel, a new EP later in the year called BLACK EINSTEIN and work should begin on album two before the end of the year.

And finally, do you have any message for the Crossfire readers?

I’d like to say thanks for all your support. I hope you enjoy the album (if you haven’t got a copy why not?). If you like it my name is Colin Emmanuel and if you don’t then I’m Robbie Williams. Peace.

Peace to you, I really enjoyed the album, it’s top notch.

Emmanuel’s D’Illusions Of Grandeur is out now, through Little League Productions.

Born in a military hospital in his native South America, Immortal Technique came over to the States to live in New York.

There, he got into hip hop and after a stint in prison, Tech came out intent on bringing his politically charged anti-Government message to the masses. After 2 albums on Viper Records, Tech is back in 2006 with “The Middle Passage” and, as ever, had a lot to say when he spoke to Abjekt.

What’s the news on The Middle Passage? Can we be expecting it to drop in 2006?

You can expect it to drop when I release it, I’m working as hard as I can on that album and a movie, executive producing, making beats and another mixtape to follow the album.

I read in another interview you said you were going to deal with your problems with major labels, is this still the case?

Deal with my problems? Like machine gun them niggaz. Not right now. But eventually I have to go back to the table they just better talk right this time or I’ll leave and make more money without them. I sold about 80,000 units of Revolutionary Vol.2. I have no ego about myself, that’s the only reason they give a fuck about me. They don’t care for my music or for anything else, I mean look at the “talent” they sign, they just want something they know will sell.

You’re the Executive VP on Viper Records, which released your first two albums. Are you completely involved in the releasing of your music from the very start to the very end in this capacity?

I’m actually the president now. And yeah, I run the show.

You’re now associated with Babygrande records, home to the likes of the GZA. How did that come about and why did you join up with them?

I have a distribution deal through babygrande for one project. I ain’t signed to no one. I’m still independent and take orders from one person. Me.

When you came over to London and rocked the Islington Academy, you had cats spilling from the doors it was so packed. That must have been a great sight for you, to see you get that much support?

It just goes to show you that the love of hardcore street hiphop that talks about real shit is still there. If you talk about the hood, and rep for the hood, and really talk about the issue that we face in the ghetto people relate to that. Whether it’s a ghetto here in America or in London, or Paris, or Nigeria, Jamaica, Colombia the colonization is the same basic set up. The brutality and the extent of poverty is different especially in the 3rd world but the principles are a set standard of mind control. Even if people are not from the hood they feel it.

They know that the skewed view of the world they are being presented with by corporate controlled media is bullshit. I look forward to returning to London for an even bigger show. Something to showcase new material, sell some new shirts I’m about to make and show the UK I have not and will never forget about them. I just ask they be patient with the new album, I am not into rushing music and cheating the supporters out of a quality product.

Do you have any plans on returning to these shores?

I’ll be back in the summer. (2006)

What got you into being proactive against how the world is run? Was it music? Or works written by anyone in particular?

I was just tired of seeing niggaz talk about streets but talk around the streets and not in the streets and not be there with the people. I reinvest I own land I support the people and I make moves wherever I am. I can remember listening to this weekly radio station while I was locked up and they would play just underground shit. I thought that I had the ability to do better. So I used to write rhymes and more rhymes, shit I aint done since I was a little kid. I found a way to express thoughts and frustrations about my situation and shit my people were going through in that. I guess it takes you being a slave to understand what freedom really is.

Obviously hip hop is a vessel for giving everyone and anyone a voice, how powerful do you think it can be against the power bloc?

It’ll be as powerful as we are willing to sacrifice to make it.

Do you think it’s a shame that you get these rappers on MTV boasting about how they’ve been shot, or how much jewellery they have, when the people who are struggling and need a voice, don’t have as much exposure as these bling-era rappers?

I don’t give a fuck what other niggaz do, I’m not eating with them so really I don’t focus on it too much. I’m not here to knock anyone’s hustle, not everyone gives a fuck about the culture they are just trying to feed their family. As long as they just stay the fuck outta my way, we cool.

Do you aim your tracks at any group of people in particular as a fanbase? Or are you just putting your message out there and want anyone to grab hold of it?

I make music for whoever listens to it.

You have a new single out, Bin Laden, with Mos Def, with Chuck D and KRS-1 on the remix, can you tell us a bit about the track? And did you particularly want the likes of Chuck and KRS on a track with you because of their political background in hip hop?

They have been long time supporters of the music I made they both heard the album I had “Revolutionary Vol.2” and when KRS reached out to me about doing some shows I was there. When I reached out to him about the hook he was right there. Chuck D is someone who supported me before he ever knew me so I respect them both very much and I’m glad to be able to work with them. Same thing with MosDef we run in very different circles, he’ getting that Hollywood money but he did this joint with Green Lantern and Green Lantern put me on it for the verses. When he heard it he showed it love, I appreciate any support I get from people that are veterans in this game. Niggaz like me need that. Really Bin Laden and the Remix were more of a buzz single to keep people at bay until more exclusive material is ready and the official lead single for ‘The Middle Passage’ is ready. But it’s a song that I am very glad I made and that I put out there.

Are there any artists you are into particularly at the moment?

I just finished executive producing an album by this artist from NYC called “AKIR” his album is title is Legacy and that shit is crazy. It’s his creative vision but I helped him with it. It talks about the self righteous aspect of Revolutionaries, how they fuck themselves over with that racist shit against whites, against other blacks, against themselves, brown and Asian. It talks about the street hustle of making it on your own. We came up in very similar ways but I came straight out of jail into battling while Akir was more of a producer and a hustler before he realized he had a talent for this.

How disappointed were you that Bush got back in for a second term? A first time is bad enough, but surely you’d think people would have learnt the lesson after his first term?

I knew he would win again because nobody ever went broke underestimating the ignorance of the American public. And since America is the bastard child of the British Empire its destiny lies in overextension and internal chaos as did Britain’s. But believe me the empire will find a new form just as the Romans did when their empire collapses, they could not conquer with the sword so they hid their paganism and their ideology of world domination inside the voice of a man that they themselves crucified. Much like America claims to honor Martin Luther King Jr. and his message but it was America who killed him.

It was Dick Cheney, the Vice President and Trent Lott, Former Majority leader of the Senate, who were some of the few people who voted against making his birthday a national holiday. After Bush there will be another conservative fuck who gets elected, people are willing to accept slavery to feel even a little bit more secure about their money especially since it’s painfully obvious that America is fighting a losing industrial war with China and India. Shit is real out here and when America goes hungry the streets starve first. So I’m making moves.

Finally, do you have any messages to the readers of Caught In The Crossfire?

Try having an original idea. Don’t believe the right or the left, (labor or conservative) they both want your money, don’t even believe me. Read all sides of things and make up your own mind it is the only way to confront an issue.

Thanks for your time, peace to you and keep on fighting!

Much Respect for having me here. Peace.
Immortal Technique

Check out all of Tech’s info on www.viperrecords.com.

A few short months ago, if you’d mentioned the name Wolfmother to most UK music fans, you’d be met with a stare similar to that of someone who has just witnessed a person eating their own head.

However, with a sold-out UK tour firmly underway and the release of their debut album fast approaching, things couldn’t be looking much better for the Aussie three-piece.

Drummer Myles Heskett got caught in the crossfire with Ryan Bird to discuss everything from life in one of rock’s most promising young bands, to the happenings of an artistic lunatic…

Good afternoon sir. How are you today?

I’m good cheers!

How’s the tour going thus far?

It’s going well. We’re enjoying the beautiful countryside and the shows are going really well. The reception has been fantastic so far.

I guess if you’ve been in the States fairly recently then it must be nice to actually see some green scenery rather than skyscrapers!

Haha! Yeah, it’s nice. We’ve been to LA, New York, Chicago and places like that in America and it was pretty cool to see new places I guess.

All of the shows so far seem to have sold extremely well, and is most cases totally sold out. Not bad for three lads from down under!

It’s awesome! We tend to try not to have any expectations about certain shows or tours really. That way when you get there and people turn up it’s almost like a bit of a treat!

You’ve more or less appeared from nowhere in recent months, and now you’re headlining a sell out tour of the UK. Why do you think you’ve succeeded where many bands would falter?

I couldn’t really say. We just try to make the best music and put on the best shows we possibly can for people to enjoy. I’m not sure why it’s worked out so well for us in particular but it’s definitely cool that it has.

You seem to have a unique sound, which is refreshing in a world where we’re pumped full of the same old shit on a daily basis. What’s your opinion on the current music scene?

I’m not really that immersed in the current rock scene. I don’t really follow a lot of NME bands as you might say. We’ve kind of come from outside of everything so I don’t always pay attention to what’s going on musically. Certainly back home in Sydney we locked ourselves away in a room and wrote music we wanted to hear without caring about other bands or music. We’re pretty selfish like that.

Do you think hailing from a country like Australia perhaps helps breed individuality?

I don’t think so. I don’t consider our sound to have any sort of home-grown elements or influences. We listen to music from all over the world and take inspiration from that more than anything Australian really. We’re not the most patriotic people in the world!

What’s the music scene like in Australia? How does it differ from overseas?

I guess it’s not really that different from here in the UK overall. We listen to a lot of the same stuff that you guys do and the same sort of music is big over there. We all know about the Arctic Monkeys for instance. It just takes a little longer for things to sink through to us.

Kind of like us and the latest episodes of Neighbours!

Right! Haha!

The thing about Australia is that it’s so far away and very few people actually know anything about it. What sort of things did you use to entertain yourself with as a youngster?

The thing about Australia is that it’s such a huge country but not a lot of people live there. You can get really nice big houses with lots of land and stuff like that. You’re really never far away from nature. I’d go Hiking and Camping and stuff like that. I’m a bit of a nerd so I was into that type of thing!

So you were never much of a skater then? I’ve heard it has a very healthy scene…

Well Chris is a big skater and snowboarder I know that, and there’s definitely a real beach culture since most major towns and cities are all near or on the coastline, but I don’t really know too much about it. I’m a bit of a nerd as I said!

Ok, let’s get back to music for a bit. Your debut album is set to hit shelves in the UK next month – almost half a year after its original release. It must feel like giving birth somewhat!

It’s exciting! We put the album out in Australia pretty much as soon as it was mixed. We didn’t have any type of hype or whatever – we just put it out there. It’ll be interesting to see how people in the UK and the States take to it.

Is it frustrating to be beginning a touring cycle in the UK of a record you’ve already be plugging elsewhere for so long, or does the fact that it’s pastures new bring new life to the experience?

It’s definitely a very exciting thing above all else. We’ve been around in Australia for a couple of years now and we’ve found our feet with touring and stuff like that there, so to take it onto a world stage almost makes it feel like a new experience.

Have you already begun throwing ideas together for your next release?

Not really. We’ve been so swamped for these past few months and put so much into this current record that we haven’t had the time or energy to think about new material yet!

I’d say it’s not likely to slow down any time soon either!

Definitely! We’re finishing off this tour and then hitting the States again for some more shows, but I think we’re coming back in April for a show in London maybe.

Yeah, at the Koko right?

Yeah I think that’s it!

And then of course you’re off to Coachella in California…

Yeah, that should be a great time. There’s a lot of cool bands playing that one.

Tool are headlining. What more do you need?

Exactly! I hope we get to stick around for them. I’ve seen them a couple of times before and they’re a great band. I think I heard that Maynard doesn’t like to be seen onstage anymore though?

Yeah, last time I saw him play with A Perfect Circle he had these weird screens so that all you could see was his sillouhette. You know what’s he’s like though. Artistic maniac.

Yeah, totally!

So with all this coming up, would you agree that 2006 perhaps signals the REAL beginning for Wolfmother?

Internationally yeah, definitely. All the major labels in the UK and the States are really eager for us to get over and play some shows. I don’t think we’re going to be at home at all this year! We have a couple of weeks off in June I think, but other than that I’d say we’re pretty swamped. We’ll just keep on playing as best we can and see what it brings.

Wolfmother’s self-titled debut is released on April 24th through Modular/Island Records.

Take your grubby paws over to www.wolfmother.com for more details and if you would like to read a Crossfire live review of a show in Oxford Zodiac, click here.