thisisfubarproductions

[thisisfubarproductions]

☀️ Our debut single 72 & Sunny is released today! ☀️

As heard on BBC 6 Music Recommends with Steve Lamacq.

Download and stream from Bandcamp!

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INTERVIEW. 051 - CRAIG WEDREN

How do you approach writing lyrics? Where do you draw inspiration from? Has it changed from STT to your solo work?

My approach to lyric-writing varies depending on the venue. If I'm writing a song for a movie, I often employ more 'traditional' song craft and lyrical clarity.  This was exciting and challenging to me after Shudder To Think, where I took the opposite tack, opting instead for more natural, impressionistic juxtaposition of images that tickled or frightened me, kind of like a David Lynch film, but using words. My upcoming record, 'Adult Desire' is what I call 'Domestic Surrealism' and lyrically (as well as melodically) ranges from the most direct, to the most abstract writing I think I've done.

How did you come up with the end verse of X French Tee Shirt? Did the melody or lyrics come first or both at once? Do those lyrics have any particular meaning to you or is it more a stream of consciousness? 

I wrote X-French Tee Shirt at my dad's apartment on an acoustic guitar (like many of Shudder songs).  I had a digital clock/cassette player next to my teenaged-bed into which I would jot ideas. I knew I wanted to make the simplest twisted song ever, with as few chord changes as possible, and let the vocal melody and rhythmic hiccups give the song character and texture.  For the end verse/outdo/chorus/whatever-it-is, I remember I was thinking vocally about Joni Mitchell -she packs so much challenging and satisfying info into her melodic and syllabic flights. But that was after the melody had evolved -I was like 'Oh -Joni Mitchell!'  the lyrics were stream-of-consciousness, but I worked them to a point where the stream was satisfying to me, emotionally and image-wise. so I couldn't tell you what its 'about' in the literal sense, but it feels right, and somehow meaningful to me intuitively, like seeing shapes and shadows out of the corner of your eye.

I have a gig poster with Foo Fighters, Shudder To Think and Wool on the bill - How did STT go down with Foo Fighters fans? And do you have any specific memories of Wool? They’re an overlooked band I think. 

Shudder To Think generally antagonized Foo Fighters fans, and both we and Foo Fighters LOVED IT.  For Foo Fighters' final encore, I would join them for a very straight, rousing and un-ironic version of 'Lovin Touching Squeezin' by Journey.  Fans HATED it. Except the ones who LOOOOOVED it.  Those were our people.As for Wool, I loved them, and I agree they're overlooked.  I don't have any specific memories, but I always loved SCREAM, and thought Wool was a great evolution from that band. The Stahl bros ROCK.

If you had to choose one standout moment from STT original run what would it be? 

My favorite Shudder To Think era was 'Get Your Goat' into 'Pony Express Record'. That was when my songwriting and singing style really crystallized -no compromises- and when band members were all on the same page.  One unit.  One mission.  Although the lineups are different on those records (Mike Russell on drums, Chris Matthews on guitar for 'Goat';  Adam Wade on drums, Nathan Larson on guitar for 'Pony Express') those records feel like a kind of coalescence of what we were about.

Does Epic Records still have the rights to Pony Express Record? Do you think there’s any chance of a reissue? It’d be cool if you could collaborate with Dischord to reissue the STT albums including the Epic releases similar to what Jawbox did with their major label albums. 

Ian MacKaye and I have been talking about how to re-release some of those records.  I would particularly like to get my hands on the multitracks of Tenspot, Funeral At The Movies, and Get Your Goat and do a little remixing, now that I know what the fuck I'm doing.  Particularly on Tenspot and Get Your Goat, a lot of detail and power -particularly in Chris Matthews' AWESOME guitar playing- is muddy.  So we're trying to track those down.  Fingers Xd.  Ditto Pony Express, but that doesn't necessarily need remixing.

Whats the deal with the pictures of you and Adam Wade in a studio last year? New STT? (C’monnn) 

I wrote a lot of new Shudder parts two Winters ago, and Adam and I started working some of them out, but then life/career/family intervened.  The rest of the band -Stuart, Nathan- were down, and basically said 'send us stuff when you've got the ideas together'!   But aside from me and Adam, we all live in different parts of the world and have very full lives, so its really a logistical question.  I just finished a super-busy school year's worth of film and TV work, plus am finishing my new record, so I'm about to dig back into the new Shudder stuff and figure out the best route forward.  David Wain and I have talked for years about making a movie (a narrative, not a doc) based on Shudder To Think music, so that may be the best forum for it, particularly given Nathan's and my 'day job' scoring films.  Or else just to release singles as we finish the songs.  We'll see.  Suffice to say its a priority in my heart(:

How did you transition from a band situation to scoring films? Did you learn as the work came along or did you have a good understanding of the process before you started?

Growing up, I always had a home studio (first a 4-track, then an 8-track, now a sweet backyard facility called 'Pink Ape Studios') where I would make relatively experimental, atmospheric jams that people said sounded like movie music.  When I got to college a lot of my friends were in film school, and needed music for their student films.  I was the only guy they knew who was like a 'real' musician in an actual band with actual records, so I would sometimes make music for their films or theater pieces.  This group went on to become The State, an when we graduated, Shudder To Think signed to Epic and The State hooked up with MTV.  Again, they needed music, so I occasionally wrote for their skits (not to mention the theme song, which features Nation of Ulysses!).  After Pony Express Record, Shudder To Think started to rupture, and we could see that there was little future for us on a major label, at least if we wanted to stay creative and weird and happy.  We were all pretty big film buffs, and around that time -the end of the '90s- some of our friends were making their first feature films.  Our buddy Jesse Peretz made the film 'First Love Last Rites' for which he asked us to compose songs and score.  It was the perfect escape hatch, and led quickly to Lisa Cholodenko's debut 'High Art' and writing songs for 'Velvet Goldmine' by Todd Haynes.Sadly, that booster shot wasn't enough to keep the band from fraying -Nathan's and my relationship in particular had sadly corroded- and we parted ways.  But Nathan and I continued on our respective paths.

What are your favourite movie scores?

Oh boy -big question.Mica Levy's score for 'Under The Skin';  Bernard Herrmann's 'Vertigo' score; and pretty much anything by Nino Rota and Ennio Morricone come to mind.And the way that David Lynch uses sound design as score is my faaaaavorite thing.

What plans do you have for 2017?

My new album 'Adult Desire' will be out at the end of the Summer, and I'm creating an album-length video accompaniment.  Its melodically very direct but sonically the most experimental thing I've done.  I love it and am very excited!I'm starting a record label called 'Pink Ape Recordings' which will be releasing soundtracks by my composing team, Pink Ape.  I'll be continuing to perform and develop 'Sabbath Sessions' which is (loosely, very loosely) meditation music I create using just my voice and looping pedals.  And I intend to get the new Shudder songs together!  Plus of course continue forays into film and tv music, which is a dream a get to live every day.

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Farewell. 

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INTERVIEW. 050 - MILK TEETH

I saw/heard Milk Teeth for the first time a couple of weeks ago at the Refused show in Camden and liked them a lot. There are way more informative interviews with them elsewhere but for now at least someone answered the the age old question of would you scree for bree?

How do you feel the Refused show went? Was it a big show for you all as a band? I didn't even know you were playing.

Yeah we didn't get to announce until a few days before which sucked but the show was a lot of fun! Not a lot of room on stage but definitely one of my high lights of the year. I think we made some new fans too which is nice.

What was the Electric Ballroom like as a venue for Milk Teeth? Was there any difference for you than playing a floor show?

It's one of the most famous venues we've played for sure. One we've all heard of for years but have never been. So it was cool. Not a lot of difference for us in how we play, we always like to let it all out and have fun whether we're playing to 10 people or 1000. Always give it our all.

Olli (drums) had some intense-motioning to his temples-glare going on. Whatcha mad at Olli? Oli is mad about all the political injustice in the world.

What did you think of the pairing of Refused and Failure? Are you fans of both bands?

I liked it. They were bands I grew up listening to a load and bands I've never seen before. So to have both on the same bill was sick. Then to get to play with them is even better.

The crowd was fairly quiet until Refused came on and everyone lost their shit. Do you prefer to stand back and watch bands or get pushed around up front?

I guess that depends on the band. Sometimes, or most of the time if you're Oli, you gotta get right in there and get sweaty. But then for other bands I think it's cool to sit back and take it all in, the whole show ya dig.

Why have you taken it upon yourselves to bring the yo-yo back? Will they be incorporated into a guitar solo Jason Becker style? Firstly we wanted to see if we could persuade our label to even make em, peer pressure pays off. I thought it was a fun idea. A little more interesting than the usual album pre-order deal. And ha I wish. I can make them go down but I can't make it come back up again. So maybe nows my chance to practice.

What's going on in 2016 for Milk Teeth? Well our album comes out on Jan 29th which we're all dead excited for. And then we are playing as many different places as we can for the rest of you. Tour the album until we are sick of the songs.

Finally would you Scree for Bree? Deffo bree. The lower you get the more powerful the bree

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INTERVIEW. 049 - BATON ROUGE

When and why did Baton Rouge form? we started in 2009 after we decided to play less with our previous band Daitro. We still wanted to play music together but wanted to play a music which was more up to date with what we were listening at home. So we found an inspiring open tuning for the guitars and started to write shorter and simple songs as we were used to. Who/what influences Baton Rouge? Whats the music scene like in France? On our last record we've really been into repetitive patterns, wether they were melodic or rythmic, that was the main inspiration behind it. Psyche or Krautrock bands pushed us in new territories and brought us new idea... bands like Neu!, Neil Young's Crazy Horse or Lungfish as well as the other ones who influenced us when we started the band : Sonic Youth, Unwound, Television or Fugazi... About the french scene, hard to say... it's a big country with tons of stuff, various bands and different people. Some are really good, some other are less interesting... But there is at least one thing in common, we almost all miss places to do small shows in almost every city. Even if we're a french band and have tons of friends, I won't try to book a week long tour only in France... this will be a pain in the ass for sure. But there are some amazing bands everywhere in the country. What is the lyrical content in your songs like? (for those who don't speak/understand French) We speak a lot about our travels... places we've been with the band or personnaly... also places where we live. It inspires us a lot. We collect memories, try to analyse them and put them into small lyrics. We also speak about some things we like and make reference to some books or comics we enjoyed. You've toured in many countries; have you found you got different reactions in different countries? For example what was the difference between touring in the UK and touring in Russia? we didn't tour in so much countries with Baton Rouge actually... and people who listen to our music often have similar tastes or same musical background... We didn't notice specific differences within the countries because we most of the time deal with super nice and friendly people. Maybe because kindness is an universal value ? If people react well to our show, it is probably because we're playing a good show. If they don't, well it's probably because of us as well. Touring in Russia and the UK were different logistically... we've been in the UK with our van whereas we mostly toured Russia by night trains. Travels in Russia were probably the most exciting part of the tour because it was an a new environment for us... Shows were great too but the travels were a brand new experience for a ll of us since we were travelling with Russian people being there for whatever reason. Then we would arrive at the club and were entering into a world with punk music afficionados that we know. The UK tour was more like a typical tour most of the DIY bands know : get up in your sleeping bag, talk with our host with a coffee, get in the van, drive, stop somewhere to eat, drive, do some visit then go to the venue) but we played with great bands in nice venues and made new friends. Both tours were really great though and were the highlights of our tours ! Fragments D'Eux-Memes to Totem was definite progression in sound; Will the next record be a continuation of Totem or do you think you'll go in another direction? Right now we can't tell...  we almost all live in different cities and have agendas who fit with more and more difficulty because of our jobs and families. It already asks us a lot of organization to play shows and tour so right now we don't know when we'll be able to write new stuff. Have you been surprised at the vinyl sales of Totem? When will the repress be available? yes, very pleased that people were into it because that was a hard one to make, it means our efforts and doubts were worth it in a way ! So it was a nice reward to see that the record moved fast so that we'd need to repress it. Repress is due on sept. 23rd and we'll maybe repress our first LP as well sooner or later. What other bands/music projects are you guys involved with? Gwen has another band called Torino, we'll tour together this fall, we're all good friends. Sam does some music for contemporary dancer pieces in Berlin. Julien has a new band who played no show yet but the first one should happen soon. He also has a project with Hugues (ex 12XU drummer) and they just asked Benoit to join for the percussions. He's also doing Echo Canyon Records. Benoit has no active other bands for the moment except the Hugues & Julien's project he just started to be part of Do you have any tours/recording planned for the future? We'll be playing a bunch of shows in France and Spain this fall and that's all... Have you ever listened to the American 80's Baton Rouge? Of course ! they remind us some mid80s Motley Crüe which we're all big fans. We'd like to know if they know us too ? Do you know the Portuguese Baton Rouge as well ? and there was another french band called Baton Rouge in Nantes... don't know if they're still playing though. Anything else you'd like to add? thanks for the interview ! Get in touch if you'd like to at batonrougeband [at] gmail.com . We also have a blog and a FB page... as well as a bandcamp where you can stream everything we recorded.

Listen to Baton Rouge here: https://batonrougeband.bandcamp.com/

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INTERVIEW. 048 - DAWN RAY’D

Why did you decide to dissolve We Came Out Like Tigers and start Dawn Ray'd?

Our bassist Ollie could no longer commit to touring and recording due to his work situation, and we decided to tour less would mean that the band would slowly grind to a halt, so it would be better to have a clean end to it, after all, Ollie, Fabian and myself started this band together, and it felt right that we would be in it together until the very last moment. We met in a cafe near our house and talked about it, and actually laughed a lot, but it was sad too, because we knew that the 3 of us would probably never tour together again. We are still close friends and we have all continued to do music in different ways. We all still share the same rehearsal space!

The band is currently a 3 piece with no bass; Whats the reason behind this setup?

Yeah its a 3 piece. We wanted to play more straight up black metal this time around, and we have always preferred a more cold and trebly guitar sound, and we didn't feel it was lacking anything. There is no bass guitar on the record or in the live performances. Dawn Ray'd started just the three of us, and had a really good working dynamic from the start so we decided to keep it that way, keep it simple.

Dawn Ray'd is tagged as Black Metal; What is Black Metal to you?

Black metal is a very extreme form of expression, and should always stay that way I think. Many people translate this as being tastelessly controversial which is cheap, and often immoral, I hate the tolerance of right wing ideas in the genre, but it is possible to destroy the right wing element but still keep that crucial extreme nature. It is often desperate, harsh and violent, and that is the side I am often attracted to. I think to lose the extreme and violent side of it is to misunderstand the genre completely. I do also really like the otherworldlyness that it can evoke, whether an album has that or not for me is what makes a good black metal album.

Your first record A Thorn, A Blight is out next week; What's the overall theme of the record?

There isn't one theme for this record to be honest, some of it is political (focusing on anarchism, anti-capitalism and hating the police to be exact) and some of it is about my own personal and emotional experiences. I have never been interested in writing a concept record of any kind, each song is written separately and about one specific issue or experience in my life. It is a sad yet also empowering record I think, which I think is a pretty consistent mood throughout all the songs.

Who did the artwork for the record?

Our friend Michael Chance. He used to live in Liverpool and played in an amazing doom/jazz band called Polka Tulkk, but he is also an amazing painter and runs an art gallery called Mercer Chance now too. He did that painting especially for this record, and we couldn't be happier with it.

Will the vinyl include any extra packaging/material like the WCOLT records?

There will be a lyric booklet and download code thats it this time! The lyric booklet has a lot of different things in it though, so I'm excited for people to read that.

What tours/plans do you have for the future?

We set off for tour next week to go to Scandinavia, and then we will do a UK tour at the end of the year. We will then take a break until spring which I'm looking forward to, it's been a pretty hectic time since starting this band, and I'm looking forward to a few weeks of not thinking about pressing records or endlessly booking shows!

Listen to Dawn Ray’d here: https://dawnrayd.bandcamp.com

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INTERVIEW. 047 - RATBOYS

When did Ratboys start? What/who have been your main influences that have led to your sound?

I (Julia) had been playing music and writing songs on my own since around the age of fourteen. It's not that I hadn't wanted to collaborate with others or start a band, but the time and circumstances just weren't right. Then, on the first day of my freshman year at Notre Dame, I met Dave, and we pretty much struck up a friendship right away and started playing music together in the dorms.

By the end of that school year, we decided - very much on a whim and without really discussing what we were doing - to work together to record five songs I had written between 2008-2010. We got started at school and then returned to our respective homes during spring break to put it all together separately, this thing that became the RATBOY EP, which we put up on bandcamp/facebook on April 1st, 2011.

From that point on, we called the project 'Ratboy,' which is a nickname my friends gave to me during a lunch-table conversation in freshman year of high school. People seemed to enjoy the songs, and so we decided to start playing shows that summer. We haven't really stopped doing so, save a year (2012-2013) when we separated to study in different countries.

It's been a slightly winding road - at one point we were intimidated into adding an 's' onto the end of our name by a fellow Ratboy in Upstate New York who told us he was 'almost on Jimmy Kimmel' - but everything's brought us here, which is right where I want to be.

As far as influences go, right when we first met Dave and I each made one another a mix CD, which turned out to have a quite a bit of overlap (lots of beck, radiohead, st. vincent). What was cooler, though, we showed each other a lot of stuff the other wasn't familiar with - I distinctly remember Dave introducing me to The Books and The Dodos and The Microphones and Algernon Cadwallader and subsequently this whole nationwide DIY thing that had been going on for years that I hadn't known about. In December 2010 we went to a show at Strangelight in Chicago (ft. Snowing & 1994!), and I remember feeling SUPER energized by the experience of being in the crowd for that show. I showed him Chad Van Gaalen and Air and Broken Social Scene for good measure, and we were off and running.

It's a funny question, about influences, because I get it a lot, but it literally changes every day. Every day. There are certain voices & expressive perspectives that stick with you forever - core influences I suppose. But I so firmly believe that that category is never closed. The moment I heard the Yes Album, for instance, my life as an artist changed forever. No joke, no drama, it just did. Right now I'm experiencing that sort of revelatory obsession with Kim Deal. Everything she's ever made or been involved in, I'm sopping up like a sponge right now.

We listen to anything and everything on the road, though, and I can't wait to watch this answer change again and again.

Is there a particular story behind naming the record AOID? (Void with an upside down V right?)

There is a story! During the summer of 2011, Dave came down to visit me in my home state of Kentucky for a few days. We decided to go on a little country drive one afternoon, and during our wanderings, we came across this huge county fair completely in the middle of nowhere. Like, the entire landscape was rolling hills of farms, and then BAM! There were ferris wheels and roller coasters everywhere.

It was very surreal, very strange, and we knew we had to stop and spend some time here. We paid $3 or something like that for a ticket in, and upon entry our hands were stamped with this neon blue stamp that looked like it was meant to spell 'VOID,' but I guess it was glitched and spelled out this seemingly nonsensical 'AOID' word instead.

We were so confused, but so happy. The stamp was bright blue, I mean like it seemed to radiate in the sunlight of that moment. We were so perplexed by the turn our day was taking, so Dave grabbed his phone and took a photo of my fist. From then on, there was some sort of unspoken pact between us that we wanted to use that photo for the cover of our next release.

Progressing from the Ratboy EP to AOID there is obviously a difference in the scope of sound; do you plan to add anything further to your sound in the future (more vocals, keys etc?) or do you feel settled with your current setup?

You're correct in pointing that out - for the EP, I played only acoustic guitar and Dave recorded the percussion not by playing a full kit, but by individually tracking each component.

When we went to record the LP (in autumn 2014), we again approached the project with very little deliberation, but we had played enough shows at that point so that Pat (our good friend and drummer at the time) was able to lay down his drum parts on a full kit first thing.

I also recorded my guitar parts on both acoustic and electric guitars for the LP (I had only just recently purchased my danelectro and fender amp at the time), which was a great exploration of the instrument for me.

Now that I've switched over to playing the electric live full-time, the next record will probably have more of an emphasis on that and will include acoustic guitar more sparingly (and thus in more deliberate spots). We're planning to arrange // revise the new songs more as a group, so the next recordings will hopefully have more of a forceful full-band sound. Writing vocal harmonies is one of my favorite things to do in general, so I want to write songs that allow me to play around with that as much as possible.

We're not planning to add any new members or instruments to the line-up at this time, though. Excited to see what we can do in the coming little while.

AOID is the first record Topshelf have put out on cassette; was it a goal to have the record out on as many different formats or are you just fans of cassettes?

It is! We're so proud of that. It was funny, we emailed them asking to put the album out on cassette, and they said something like, 'We've never done that, but if you're down to be the guinea pigs, let's do it!' We were so stoked, because some of us collect cassettes, but mostly because we wanted to hear the songs in as many different formats as possible, and to give anyone out there the opportunity to do the same.

We also came up with the idea to create different album art for each medium of the release. The CDs have a the photo of my fist on the front, while the tapes have a line drawing of the fist and the vinyl has a painting and collage on the cover. Dave's an insanely capable artist, so it's been a fun challenge for him to illustrate the different covers.

Having members in other bands like Dowsing and The Normal Years is it difficult to prioritise time between bands or musical ideas for each band or is it easy to keep it separate?

It's actually been quite easy to balance everything between the bands, which doesn't totally come as a surprise but which I also am careful not to take for granted.

The guys in Dowsing are our close friends and are also very careful planners, so we're able to put our heads together to plan our tours so that they correspond rather than conflict. For the past 9 months we've had a sort of routine that when they hit the road, we stay home and work, write and plan. Then, when they return, we hit the road and they take up our routine or hit the road for their other projects.

Will (our bassist, who plays drums in Dowsing) is a road dog, and is thankfully down with his life of constant travel. Next year, upon the release of Dowsing's new full-length, we're planning to join forces and hit the road together. It's gonna be dope & WILD.

The Normal Years is taking a little break right now, but I'm very much looking forward to (hopefully) recording a full length for that project once Drew returns from the trip he's on. He's written 12+ fantastic songs for it, which I think people will really love.

When is the Ratboys/Donovan Wolfington UK tour gonna happen? Thats what I (and I'm sure many others) want. Don't disappoint me now!

Oh man. I want this to happen more than you do. Maybe next summer? With Dowsing & Kittyhawk too?

Where should we play?!

Who have been your favourite bands to play with? For fans of Ratboys who would you recommend checking out?

Ohhhhh man this is such a great question and a list that grows bigger all the time. Right when Dave and I put out the EP, like the same week I think, our friend Kyle Lang put out an EP called 'Demonstration' under the name Easter. Those four songs will always stand out as hugely special to us and will continue to inspire me to write good songs until I croak. Playing shows with Easter is a rare treat, and we always look forward to it.

Monobody is making fascinating music in Chicago right now. This year we played with our friends Sundials and Spraynard and Donovan Wolfington which was DOPE. About to hit the road with Woozy from NOLA, and we love them.

Nathan K from Ypsilanti. Single Player from Champaign. Pierre from Minneapolis. Mimisiku from Denton. Runaway Brother from Cleveland. Soft Fangs from Brooklyn. Arizona Landmine from Ames. Prince Daddy & The Hyena from Albany. Meridian from Cleveland.  Our good friend and collaborator Seth Engel makes music under the name Options, and his latest release is in my top five for 2k15.

^ This list is definitely not exhaustive. The best part about touring is not only playing a show every night, but seeing a show every night. So so so much fun.

Do you have any immediate or future plans?

Well, tonight I'm going over to my friends Anthony/Evan/Johnny's apartment to watch a movie called 'Still Flowing' by this Australian rapper named Raed. They've been considerably hyping it for like months now, so that should be something...

Dowsing's leaving for a short run here in a couple days, so I'm planning to stay home and work and write songs in their absence. We're doing that run with Woozy down to the Community Records Block Party in NOLA - that's in mid-October.

On 10/29 we're playing a 'Halloweed' show here in Chicago at Quenchers. Dressing up as Sesame Street and playing a full cover set in costume. Planning that out...

And then we're in the midst of booking a three-week tour to the west coast of the USA in november. My brother and sister live in Portland, OR, and I'm really looking forward to visiting them there for the first time.

After that, we'll lie low until January when we're planning to head to the southeast with The Island of Misfit Toys!

2k15 is a bountiful time, and we love it.

What is a Ratboy?

Oh man. It's strange, I've never really given the concept of a 'ratboy' much thought before, it's just a name I was given and find funny. It's me! You gotta see me scurry around sometime, then you'll know.

Listen to Ratboys here: https://ratboys.bandcamp.com

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INTERVIEW. 046 - SLEEP BEGGAR/BASTIONS/MY PROJECT GHOST.

Here’s an interview with Jamie who does vocals in Bastions and My Project Ghost as well his own music under the name Sleep Beggar. 

Whats the current situation with Bastions? I was going to ask you whats the bands secret to longevity as many of the bands Bastions are associated with have broken up fairly recently but now you're on a hiatus? Did you start recording for a 2nd album?

Hi Rory, thanks for the interview. Bastions are taking a break for the moment. We were eight songs into a new record but constraints outside of the band have made it difficult for us to continue for the current time being. We never have any shortage of new musical ideas we want to try, but life outside of music has a way of placing you in difficult circumstances at times.

What's your opinion on all the bands that have broken up recently? A good chunk of all the UK hardcore bands that were heavily active a few years ago are gone now. Do you think it's inherent for these kind of bands to have short lifespans?

I think it’s a privilege that I had the opportunity to play with and experience these bands and their music in the first place. Bands like Brotherhood Of The Lake, Grappler, Pariso, Goodtime Boys, Kerouac, and The Long Haul, to name but a small few, released some incredible records. What’s always been more important to me is not the lifespan of something, but it’s contribution to art and expression in the first place. These bands have left brilliant pieces of work to inspire future musicians.

Besides Bastions you're also involved in My Project Ghost and Sleep Beggar. How did My Project Ghost start? Why did you decide to get involved in another heavy band besides Bastions? Do you feel MPG is a separate vehicle for you musically or are both bands interchangeable in terms of songwriting?

I’m always interested in making music and having the opportunity to do creative projects teaches me to be more adaptive in my approach to each different piece of work. Whether it’s rhyming couplets and composing my own beats with Sleep Beggar or writing with a band like My Project Ghost, I try to approach everything with a blank slate.

My Project Ghost started after Morgan (guitarist) had finished his time touring with Architects and had messaged me with a few ideas. Both he and Jake (drummer of Red Seas Fire) had been recording some music with Nolly (Periphery). I was interested to try some new ideas over the music and it grew from there. We played our first show last weekend and recruited Tony on bass whose toured/touring with The Long Haul and Svalbard.

Will My Project Ghost become more active now that Bastions are on hiatus? What plans are there for the band?

With My Project Ghost, we have recorded an EP and we’re focusing on releasing the music in the right way, but will be booking shows in the coming months. There are two tracks up on YouTube to view for anyone interested.

How, why and when did you start Sleep Beggar? Whats the process for you making music? is it a bedroom setup?

Sleep Beggar began in March 2013. I needed some word release from the circumstances I was in at the time and needed to be on tour, which is the vehicle that Sleep Beggar carried me in. The process happened pretty organically considering it’s largely electronic music. I had a mic, a laptop, a copy of Reason and Garageband and just built tracks from there. Now I’m working with Mr Phormula (check out his work on the track “Hiphopishiphop”) at Panad Studios on some cool releases coming very soon.

I guess I wanted to do something that scared the shit out of me. Something that pushed me out of my comfort zone. It’s taken me into a new underground subculture of music where noise/hiphop/live instrumentation/DJing/lyricism exists. It evokes a feeling in me the way I felt when I first saw Converge’s Long Road Home DVD or read Rollins’ Get In The Van. It makes me feel like electronic based music is kind of dangerous, exciting and unpredictable.

Could you (or have you) combined elements of Sleep Beggar into Bastions or My Project Ghost? Such as how bands like Refused have done?

Yeah electronic elements such as the old analog synths like the SH101 within tracks have been discussed for sure. I guess Sleep Beggar is a purely selfish thing, it’s just me making music I want to hear, whereas my role in a band setting is more collaborative. In a band setting everyone is working together to write a good song.

Now that My Project Ghost are playing shows are there any tour plans?

We’re focusing on releasing new material first, watch this space.

What are your thoughts on the current state of the UK hardcore scene? it seems to me to be dying down a bit with bands breaking up and venues closing down. It seems like around 2010/2011 was a high point in terms of the output from bands. Do you think anything has changed? (or is it just me? its probably just me)

I disagree with you about the UK hardcore scene dying down. There are bands like More Than Life, Landscapes, Broken Teeth, Svalbard, Human Future, Tantrum, We Never Learned To Live, Yards, Employed To Serve, Crows An Wra, Teef, Throats, Grey Widow, Up River, Mine, The River Card, Black Art (I could go on) killing it. We have people like Thrash Hits and The Death Of A Modernist blogs covering all the up and coming stuff. Maybe it’s just you looking back with a halcyon view? I agree there are some great venues closing down which is a shame but the scene finds a way to keep it going, always does.

Anything else you'd like to add?

Thank you for the opportunity to speak, trust your bullshit detector and take care.

Check out Sleep Beggar here: https://soundcloud.com/sleepbeggar

Check out My Project Ghost here: https://www.facebook.com/myprojectghostband/info?tab=page_info

Check out Bastions here: https://bastions.bandcamp.com

[thisisfubarproductions]

INTERVIEW. 045 - KUTOSIS

This is my second interview with Kutosis. Their second album ‘Dream It Away’ came out last summer and I reckon it’s my favourite of 2014. It’s that bleddy good.

What led to the 'surf' direction of your second album 'Dream It Away'? Do you all surf? Or are just interested in the culture around it?

The surf direction came about gradually over the song writing period and reflected a lot of what we were listening to. We're not surfers ourselves although Ben has been known to dabble. There was a point early on in the recording process where we decided to go all in with this new sound which meant we ended up ditching quite a few songs that sounded more like the tracks on our first album.

This album seems to have received far more promotion than Fanatical Love. Have you been consciously more focused on promoting this album?

Not consciously although there was quite a long time between finishing the album and releasing it. Because we’d put so much in to it, we wanted to make sure everything was right when it came to putting it out. Also, given the change in sound on our first two albums, the audiences have probably been quite different.

A few songs from Dream it Away have been licensed for tv shows. This isn't the first time your songs have been used on tv if I'm right? Do you know how the songs will feature in the shows?

Yeah that’s right. A few songs off our first album were used on tv and adverts, and now a few have been picked up for shows in the US. We don’t know how exactly they feature – we haven’t seen any of the shows yet! But they’re really important for a band like us to keep on recording and doing what we do.

What has been the response to the vinyl press of Dream it away? Will you continue to put future releases out on vinyl? And what about putting out past releases on vinyl? 

It’s been fantastic and I imagine we’ll keep on doing it for future releases since it’s been so well received. We’ve sold copies all around Europe, Japan and the US. It also allows you to do more artwork wise too – we included some limited edition Dream It Away screenprints by our friend Adam Chard (Croatoan Design) in the first batch of records, which we couldn't have really done with any other format. No plans yet to put Fanatical Love out on vinyl – maybe we’ll wait for the 10th anniversary.

What can you tell us about album #3? Will it steer off in a new direction again or will you keep the surf vibe?

The change between the first two albums was quite stark. This one is more of a development of the Dream It Away sound. We’ve written about half the album and demoed the songs and we’re really excited about them - they've definitely kept that surf vibe.

Do you plan to tour more in the future? What about festivals?

We’re really keen to get over to the US and play there, and also some European dates. The Dream It Away songs are great to play live, and hopefully we’ll get the chance to showcase them at a few more festivals too.

What other good music is coming out of Cardiff? Do you think Cardiff is a good base for the band?

It’s a great base for a band. There’s an excellent community of musicians who are really supportive of each other. Then you’ve got the labels – Jealous Lovers Club obviously, and also the likes of Shape and Turnstile who are some of the most interesting labels you’ll find anywhere.

Speaking of Cardiff your buddies Samoans acquired a second guitar player last year. Don't you think it's about time I joined on shoo-redding guitar? On a serious note have you thought about expanding the band or do you think the 3 piece setup is the way to go?

The songwriting works really well between the three of us. We’ve got some ideas for potentially expanding the live line up in the future but nothing concrete for now. (If you can organise a tour of Japan for us, you can be on lead guitar!)

Anything else you'd like to add? Our next single 'This Avalanche Is' is out soon! The video can be found here: https://youtu.be/8d6o7Dz3LB4A

And you can get Dream It Away here: http://kutosis.bandcamp.com/album/dream-it-away-album

https://www.facebook.com/KUTOSIS

[thisisfubarproductions]

Fubar fact of the day: Did you know the Bastions song ‘Soar’ is about being ignorant? Also BLERGH.

[thisisfubarproductions]

New interviews to come. 

[thisisfubarproductions]

Phil is everywhere! I love Dublin!

[thisisfubarproductions]

4 years ago! Sickest day. Kasa were great. Dirty Sunday 4eva 💜 #timehop

[thisisfubarproductions]

INTERVIEW. 044 - MY VITRIOL

What were you listening to during writing for ‘Finelines’? How do you feel about the shoegaze label you were given? 

We love a few of those bands like MBV, Cocteau Twins, etc. But I don’t really see us as a shoegaze band, as there’s quite a difference in our sound to most of them.. Eg. The dynamics, drums, song structures. There are certain elements we share in common such as a huge collection of effects pedals haha and the love of spacey/ dreamy sounds, but that’s only one part of our sound. Hence why I joked that MV were the first NuGaze band. 

What was your favourite show/experience from the Finelines era?

Making that record was very tough on me. I seem to put myself in hospital every time I make a record with some stress related issue. It all started on this one. 

It was fun doing the Reading / Leeds shows as I went to that festival a lot as a teenager, so mainstage to that kinda crowd was fun. 

We got to play with a lot of our favourite bands etc which was very cool. 

You played live on Top Of The Pops; were you asked to mime originally?

We probably should have mimed as Ravi managed to split his kick drum skin during the performance! 

What led to the lengthy hiatus of the band?

After an intense 3/4 years we were all burnt out. We needed to take a break as I didn’t wanna hear another guitar / drum or whatever for a while. I think bands should only make records if they really want to. Not to fit a fiscal calendar of a record company. 

According to the old MV blog you had 11 tracks recorded in 2005. what happened to these? Did some songs end up on the ‘A Pyrrhic Victory EP’?

Yes. And some which we have been playing live like “The Agonies and the Ecstasies” should be on the Secret Sessions release. But the newest tracks like “London City Lights” have really got us excited. After all this time away, it feels like we are producing our best work now, and we’re the band we always wanted to be.

The new album is being funded through PledgeMusic. Why did you choose to go this route? 

Pledge have been awesome. They’re a great team. The main objective with that was to get the ball rolling as sometimes is hard to get everyone to prioritise. We didn’t know when it would be completed but we knew this would get us off the blocks. 

The recording has cost way more than the funds raised via Pledge. But we've waited on downtime at studios / with the engineers etc, so we can get good rates to make up for that! There isn't much income via recorded music anymore so we've taken a risk self funding... and we may never get any of it back! But it's never been about profit for us anyways.

Is the music for the new album a collection of ideas from the past decade or all fresh material? 

A lot of new pieces came about during the recording sessions. As they were so strong we decided to record them too. And now we have enough for a couple of records and we like all of it! We just need to complete them all now which is taking some time. 

Do you have any tour plans for 2015? 

Yes for sure. It would be great to do a few shows at least. We may wait on the festivals for the year after, however. 

What are you all listening to now? Are there any particular recent bands that have influenced your writing?

In this Era of Everything we have been doing as everyone else and listening to a lot of different stuff. Ravi introduced me the rap artist to Yellawolf.  Wasn’t huge on Eminem but his stuff is cool. I love some of that Wild Beast record. Also Lana del Rey… I’ve been playing a lot of piano on this record and I often find myself doing her stuff. Hence the Video Games cover. 

What’s your opinion on the current state of the music industry? If MV started in 2015 do you think you’d achieve the same success as you did back in the early 2000s? 

It’s a whole different thing now really. We released a record probably at the worst time you could! It was when the paradigm was shifting towards the current streaming / digital model and sales we’re dropping off the side of a cliff, however most bands were expected to sell like they did in the 90s. At least now that expectation is more realistic. 

Anything else you’d like to add?

Rock music seems to have faded away after 2007. I guess it was getting boring as every permutation of rock was big 2003-2007. It’s starting to sound fresh again. Nothing much has changed since 2008/9 if you think about it. Even the fact that everyone’s on iPhones, Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc. It’s even the same guys winning all the tennis slams. 

The difference between 1997 and 2007 however, was seismic. 2008-2014 is more than half that time but seems to have plateaued… without much rock music in the mainstream. Rock always seems to like a calm before the storm…. ‘63 ‘77 ‘91… ‘15? A band / scene will probably break back to the mainstream within the next couple of years. At least I hope so. I can feel it.

Pre order My Vitriol’s new album here:

http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/myvitriol