Post by Xaverri on Feb 19, 2012 23:05:32 GMT
Source: fashionablyhonest.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-with-fin-at-alexandra-palace.html
Click the link for pictures.
Interview with fiN at Alexandra Palace.
On Friday 4th November, I travelled down to London with Jai Widdowson-Jones, where fiN (to whom I have dedicated a previous post) were supporting the American rock band Incubus on their European tour.
We were lucky enough to get back stage access, before the band went on to perform in this, the biggest show of their lives - which led to us nearly bumping into Incubus singer Brandon Boyd upon entry of the venue! Before we could get the interview rolling, fiN had to do soundcheck - which Jai and I watched from the side. They already sounded huge and this is before the 10,000 screaming fans had entered the venue! Whilst watching soundcheck, Brandon Boyd casually went past on his skateboard along with Incubus DJ, Chris Kilmore where they rode around the empty venue looking as calm as ever. As soon as soundcheck finished, a rushed-off-their-feet fiN gave us a bit of their precious pre-gig relaxation time to do this interview:
First of all how is everyone feeling about tonight?
Luke: Can’t wait, we’re so excited. It’s just sinking in now.
Any nerves?
Luke: Of course, we will definitely get nervous just before we go on. When the lights go down, that’s when we think…ohhh shit. You get a rush in your stomach. But when we start playing all the nerves just go away.
Kerry: Yesterday (opening gig at Wolverhampton civic hall) my heart was beating so hard. I was thinking, oh my god, this is it, I’m going to have a heart attack!
Which band made you want to play music?
Simon: Phil Collins.
Kerry: It’s kind of controversial as it should be one or the other but definitely, Guns 'n' Roses and Nirvana.
Jonny: For me it’s a bit of Led Zeppelin, Queen, old school rock and a bit of Cream.
Luke: Mine was without doubt, Nirvana.
How would you best describe your sound without referring to another band?
Luke: Our music is a celebration over adversity.
If you could play or host your ideal gig with any artist dead or alive, what would the line up be?
Luke: Nirvana would be one. Deus would be there as well.
Kerry: Yeah definitely Deus, even though they are very similar bands!
Luke: Definitely us. No we’re kidding! Actually that would be really cool, just watching ourselves play and seeing what we’re like!
Simon: Suddenly all the bands we love have gone out of our heads!
Luke: Gotye has to be another.
Kerry: This is a really weird line up!
Luke: And then for old school because he was an amazing front man and he is totally dead now: Queen!
What a great but strange line up! Okay, what has been your biggest challenge as a band?
Kerry: Probably touring in a tour bus wouldn’t it?
Luke: I mean every week we get a new set of challenges that's just harder than the last- not that I’m complaining, of course it’s a great experience!
Simon: And just the DIY things, like setting up our own record label, releasing the singles ourselves, sorting out the merchandise ourselves, whilst having no money!
Luke: Having no space to sleep on the tour bus is very hard!
And do you think that affects your playing?
Luke: Yeah it does a little bit. To answer the question we would say: sleep deprevation and being enclosed in a small box with eachother! But we haven’t argued once… YET!
Wow, that’s impressive!
Luke: We are very mean to each other sometimes and swear at each other so much! But it’s brotherly love!
Right here’s one for each of you, what’s your favourite film?
Jonny: Mine is Shawshank Redemption.
Luke: Good choice! But it is a bit IMDb voted number one movie of all time!
Kerry: It’s a bit girly but I actually think Amelie is my favourite film.
Simon: I think it has to be the Green Mile.
Luke: Oh god, I don’t know. I’ve seen so many films. I’m obsessed with anything with Kevin Spacey in it.
Any favourite Kevin Spacey films?
Luke: I love K-PAX, that is a brilliant film! And American Beauty is a gem! Yes, I’m going to go with American Beauty.
What is your usual writing routine, if you have one?
Luke: What normally happens is, I come up with a basic idea, then I will just sit and jam on an acoustic where I will come up with a melody. I will then take it to Jonny who will either go: “That is the shittest thing I’ve ever heard”, or he will go: “ I love that, lets finish working on it”. We will then work on it a bit together, and then we’ll take it to the rest of the band, where they will add all their ideas in. It makes it easier when you start producing stuff to have a chain where people can constantly add things. If you have too many people at once- like having too many cooks in the kitchen- it complicates things. After we go over the song a number of times, which ends up sounding completely different to how it did at the start, I add the lyrics. I don’t actually come up with the concept of the song, until later on.
And what kind of concepts have you found yourself exploring lyrically?
Luke: My fear of death is one. Other things would be: making the most of your life; ignorance is bliss; how I wish that I was ignorant and that I could work a normal job- not saying that people who work normal jobs are ignorant, I’m just saying that a lot of people are happy to do that and I just cant do it.
Jonny: We wrote the album during the recession so that subject also inspired us.
Luke: Also stuff about my family. It’s all just about me really- I’m so self obsessed. Only joking!
You haven’t said girls which is interesting!
Luke: I think I have written one break up song in my whole life but we don’t need to write about girls- everybody has written about girls! I mean what else can you write about them- ‘oooh she hurt me!'
What is the best way for a band to get their music out there?
Simon: The main thing is to gig. Gig loads, as many gigs as you can get! Just get out there and play to as many people as you can as you never know who’s going to be in what room.
Luke: One thing I would say is don’t go chasing the record deal. It doesn’t even exist anymore, just don’t bother with it. Just do your thing, get really good at doing it, and if you’re good enough, things will come to you. And record labels aren’t signed bands, so don’t even worry about them.
Can you all agree on the greatest album of all time?
All: I don’t think we can!
Come on you must agree on one great album?!
Kerry: Led Zeppelin IV
Simon: Of all time?! I mean that is in the top ten. I would say Michael Jackson the Bad album!
All: Put that one down!
Luke: I saw him at Wembley Stadium when I was about nine years old, and he was incredible!
What do you do for fun whilst touring?
Kerry: We learnt in Europe to play boules, I think the game was called pétanque. It’s a proper old man game!
Luke: We called Kerry casual cannonball whilst playing it as he’d throw it so casually yet he would destroy everything! Casual cannonball- sounds like an awful 80s song!
Simon: Obviously the main thing we do for fun would actually be playing the music!
Luke: The thing about touring is this: it’s really 23 and a half hours of mind-numbing hard work, then half an hour of pure ecstasy.
Now here are some quickfire questions:
Beatles or Dylan?
(Majority) Beatles.
Lyrics or music?
(Majority) Lyrics.
Sonic or Mario?
Luke: Mario!
Kerry, Simon, Jonny: Sonic!
Heavy or melodic?
Melodic.
Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?
Luke: Harry Potter definitely. Lords of the Rings: three movies about walking!
Recording or performing?
Kerry: I would say performing.
Simon: Performing.
Luke: I would say writing!
Simon: In recording you get to be creative and that’s when you get to see your songs come to life but when you are on stage you get to see the actual reaction from the audience.
Luke: I find for a singer that writing is a lot less stressful. I don’t have to worry about my voice and I don’t have to worry about all those things that come with it. But obviously I do love performing!
Incubus or Cage the Elephant?
Luke: Here’s the thing, we love them both and we can’t really choose between them. They are two very different bands and both have very different places in our hearts. We grew up listening to Incubus when we were young. We met Cage the Elephant and didn’t know much about them to begin with, and then we just fell in love with their whole vibe. They are both just great bands and fantastic at what they do so we refuse to answer the question!
Jonny: Cage the Incubus or Incubus the Elephant!
Would we all agree that this is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you as a band?
Jonny: For a band that has done everything themselves with no money, no record label, this is a huge step up from recording in a little room at home.
Luke: If you had said to us a year ago, 'In one years time after you’ve worked your arse off, you will be on tour with Incubus performing infront of 10,000 people', we would have said 'fuck off', but it’s happened. I don’t know how we did it but it’s happened.
How did you manage to get on tour with Incubus?
Luke: Well I’m not actually sure exactly what happened but when we were recording the record, our manager said to us: 'When this is all done, when I flick the switch, it’s going to just go'. Our thoughts were, we’ll believe it when we see it. And literally, he flicked the switch, with in a couple of months, we were out on tour and everything was going mental. As far as I know, our booking agent who is absolutely fantastic, managed to get us in touch with Incubus’ manager, and then next thing we know, Brandon Boyd has heard the music, he loves it, and he wants us to come out and tour in the UK and Europe, so we were like..OKAY!
Finally, can you explain to us about your DIY ethic?
Simon: We have been a band for quite some time and we have tried to approach record labels in the past. We never got anywhere, and we just got sick of it. So we then took a step back and thought, 'how are we going to do this?' We decided as a whole group, lets just do it ourselves, every little aspect, every little thing that a band has to do and we just got on with it!
Luke: A year and a half before we started our album, we were in a pub in Wandsworth, where we were hanging out and talking and all four of us were really unhappy. I said to them, 'Guys I cant keep living like this, either we do it ourselves or we knock it on the head' and everyone just went 'I don’t want to knock it on the head'. So then we just decided that was the way forward. We all agreed and we went to our manager who said 'If that’s what you want to do, I’m behind you'.
__________________________________________
After that brilliant interview that fiN gave us, we were lucky to watch them play their biggest show. I have to say, they nailed it! They ticked every box a support band should tick, giving a performance that exuded confidence, energy and talent. They certainly set the tone for a fantastic gig which Incubus, of course, followed in awe-inspiring fashion.
Click the link for pictures.
Interview with fiN at Alexandra Palace.
On Friday 4th November, I travelled down to London with Jai Widdowson-Jones, where fiN (to whom I have dedicated a previous post) were supporting the American rock band Incubus on their European tour.
We were lucky enough to get back stage access, before the band went on to perform in this, the biggest show of their lives - which led to us nearly bumping into Incubus singer Brandon Boyd upon entry of the venue! Before we could get the interview rolling, fiN had to do soundcheck - which Jai and I watched from the side. They already sounded huge and this is before the 10,000 screaming fans had entered the venue! Whilst watching soundcheck, Brandon Boyd casually went past on his skateboard along with Incubus DJ, Chris Kilmore where they rode around the empty venue looking as calm as ever. As soon as soundcheck finished, a rushed-off-their-feet fiN gave us a bit of their precious pre-gig relaxation time to do this interview:
First of all how is everyone feeling about tonight?
Luke: Can’t wait, we’re so excited. It’s just sinking in now.
Any nerves?
Luke: Of course, we will definitely get nervous just before we go on. When the lights go down, that’s when we think…ohhh shit. You get a rush in your stomach. But when we start playing all the nerves just go away.
Kerry: Yesterday (opening gig at Wolverhampton civic hall) my heart was beating so hard. I was thinking, oh my god, this is it, I’m going to have a heart attack!
Which band made you want to play music?
Simon: Phil Collins.
Kerry: It’s kind of controversial as it should be one or the other but definitely, Guns 'n' Roses and Nirvana.
Jonny: For me it’s a bit of Led Zeppelin, Queen, old school rock and a bit of Cream.
Luke: Mine was without doubt, Nirvana.
How would you best describe your sound without referring to another band?
Luke: Our music is a celebration over adversity.
If you could play or host your ideal gig with any artist dead or alive, what would the line up be?
Luke: Nirvana would be one. Deus would be there as well.
Kerry: Yeah definitely Deus, even though they are very similar bands!
Luke: Definitely us. No we’re kidding! Actually that would be really cool, just watching ourselves play and seeing what we’re like!
Simon: Suddenly all the bands we love have gone out of our heads!
Luke: Gotye has to be another.
Kerry: This is a really weird line up!
Luke: And then for old school because he was an amazing front man and he is totally dead now: Queen!
What a great but strange line up! Okay, what has been your biggest challenge as a band?
Kerry: Probably touring in a tour bus wouldn’t it?
Luke: I mean every week we get a new set of challenges that's just harder than the last- not that I’m complaining, of course it’s a great experience!
Simon: And just the DIY things, like setting up our own record label, releasing the singles ourselves, sorting out the merchandise ourselves, whilst having no money!
Luke: Having no space to sleep on the tour bus is very hard!
And do you think that affects your playing?
Luke: Yeah it does a little bit. To answer the question we would say: sleep deprevation and being enclosed in a small box with eachother! But we haven’t argued once… YET!
Wow, that’s impressive!
Luke: We are very mean to each other sometimes and swear at each other so much! But it’s brotherly love!
Right here’s one for each of you, what’s your favourite film?
Jonny: Mine is Shawshank Redemption.
Luke: Good choice! But it is a bit IMDb voted number one movie of all time!
Kerry: It’s a bit girly but I actually think Amelie is my favourite film.
Simon: I think it has to be the Green Mile.
Luke: Oh god, I don’t know. I’ve seen so many films. I’m obsessed with anything with Kevin Spacey in it.
Any favourite Kevin Spacey films?
Luke: I love K-PAX, that is a brilliant film! And American Beauty is a gem! Yes, I’m going to go with American Beauty.
What is your usual writing routine, if you have one?
Luke: What normally happens is, I come up with a basic idea, then I will just sit and jam on an acoustic where I will come up with a melody. I will then take it to Jonny who will either go: “That is the shittest thing I’ve ever heard”, or he will go: “ I love that, lets finish working on it”. We will then work on it a bit together, and then we’ll take it to the rest of the band, where they will add all their ideas in. It makes it easier when you start producing stuff to have a chain where people can constantly add things. If you have too many people at once- like having too many cooks in the kitchen- it complicates things. After we go over the song a number of times, which ends up sounding completely different to how it did at the start, I add the lyrics. I don’t actually come up with the concept of the song, until later on.
And what kind of concepts have you found yourself exploring lyrically?
Luke: My fear of death is one. Other things would be: making the most of your life; ignorance is bliss; how I wish that I was ignorant and that I could work a normal job- not saying that people who work normal jobs are ignorant, I’m just saying that a lot of people are happy to do that and I just cant do it.
Jonny: We wrote the album during the recession so that subject also inspired us.
Luke: Also stuff about my family. It’s all just about me really- I’m so self obsessed. Only joking!
You haven’t said girls which is interesting!
Luke: I think I have written one break up song in my whole life but we don’t need to write about girls- everybody has written about girls! I mean what else can you write about them- ‘oooh she hurt me!'
What is the best way for a band to get their music out there?
Simon: The main thing is to gig. Gig loads, as many gigs as you can get! Just get out there and play to as many people as you can as you never know who’s going to be in what room.
Luke: One thing I would say is don’t go chasing the record deal. It doesn’t even exist anymore, just don’t bother with it. Just do your thing, get really good at doing it, and if you’re good enough, things will come to you. And record labels aren’t signed bands, so don’t even worry about them.
Can you all agree on the greatest album of all time?
All: I don’t think we can!
Come on you must agree on one great album?!
Kerry: Led Zeppelin IV
Simon: Of all time?! I mean that is in the top ten. I would say Michael Jackson the Bad album!
All: Put that one down!
Luke: I saw him at Wembley Stadium when I was about nine years old, and he was incredible!
What do you do for fun whilst touring?
Kerry: We learnt in Europe to play boules, I think the game was called pétanque. It’s a proper old man game!
Luke: We called Kerry casual cannonball whilst playing it as he’d throw it so casually yet he would destroy everything! Casual cannonball- sounds like an awful 80s song!
Simon: Obviously the main thing we do for fun would actually be playing the music!
Luke: The thing about touring is this: it’s really 23 and a half hours of mind-numbing hard work, then half an hour of pure ecstasy.
Now here are some quickfire questions:
Beatles or Dylan?
(Majority) Beatles.
Lyrics or music?
(Majority) Lyrics.
Sonic or Mario?
Luke: Mario!
Kerry, Simon, Jonny: Sonic!
Heavy or melodic?
Melodic.
Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings?
Luke: Harry Potter definitely. Lords of the Rings: three movies about walking!
Recording or performing?
Kerry: I would say performing.
Simon: Performing.
Luke: I would say writing!
Simon: In recording you get to be creative and that’s when you get to see your songs come to life but when you are on stage you get to see the actual reaction from the audience.
Luke: I find for a singer that writing is a lot less stressful. I don’t have to worry about my voice and I don’t have to worry about all those things that come with it. But obviously I do love performing!
Incubus or Cage the Elephant?
Luke: Here’s the thing, we love them both and we can’t really choose between them. They are two very different bands and both have very different places in our hearts. We grew up listening to Incubus when we were young. We met Cage the Elephant and didn’t know much about them to begin with, and then we just fell in love with their whole vibe. They are both just great bands and fantastic at what they do so we refuse to answer the question!
Jonny: Cage the Incubus or Incubus the Elephant!
Would we all agree that this is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to you as a band?
Jonny: For a band that has done everything themselves with no money, no record label, this is a huge step up from recording in a little room at home.
Luke: If you had said to us a year ago, 'In one years time after you’ve worked your arse off, you will be on tour with Incubus performing infront of 10,000 people', we would have said 'fuck off', but it’s happened. I don’t know how we did it but it’s happened.
How did you manage to get on tour with Incubus?
Luke: Well I’m not actually sure exactly what happened but when we were recording the record, our manager said to us: 'When this is all done, when I flick the switch, it’s going to just go'. Our thoughts were, we’ll believe it when we see it. And literally, he flicked the switch, with in a couple of months, we were out on tour and everything was going mental. As far as I know, our booking agent who is absolutely fantastic, managed to get us in touch with Incubus’ manager, and then next thing we know, Brandon Boyd has heard the music, he loves it, and he wants us to come out and tour in the UK and Europe, so we were like..OKAY!
Finally, can you explain to us about your DIY ethic?
Simon: We have been a band for quite some time and we have tried to approach record labels in the past. We never got anywhere, and we just got sick of it. So we then took a step back and thought, 'how are we going to do this?' We decided as a whole group, lets just do it ourselves, every little aspect, every little thing that a band has to do and we just got on with it!
Luke: A year and a half before we started our album, we were in a pub in Wandsworth, where we were hanging out and talking and all four of us were really unhappy. I said to them, 'Guys I cant keep living like this, either we do it ourselves or we knock it on the head' and everyone just went 'I don’t want to knock it on the head'. So then we just decided that was the way forward. We all agreed and we went to our manager who said 'If that’s what you want to do, I’m behind you'.
__________________________________________
After that brilliant interview that fiN gave us, we were lucky to watch them play their biggest show. I have to say, they nailed it! They ticked every box a support band should tick, giving a performance that exuded confidence, energy and talent. They certainly set the tone for a fantastic gig which Incubus, of course, followed in awe-inspiring fashion.