FLY53 Summer 2012 Zine

FLY53 ZINE

ATARI TEENAGE RIOT SCROOBIUS PIP RANDOM IMPULSE ZULU WINTER THE FUTUREHEADS GALLOWS ISTROPICAL & MORE...

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THE

FLY53 ZINE

Welcome to the Summer 2012 FLY53 Fanzine in association with Artrocker magazine. We have worked together to interview, photograph and video some of the most kick ass UK bands out there at the moment and present them exclusively to you in a different light.

FLY53 has eighteen years of affiliation with music and each time we work with bands and DJ’s, we love it even more. This shit never gets tiring. Ever. The artists in these pages and the ones we didn’t have space to include that have given time and creativity to us over the years are seriously amazing. Credible and interesting musicians that work like true pros at creating their own path.

This Zine was so much fun to put together as we threw questions and situations at the artists they weren’t expecting, but handled with consummate ease. This is a labour of love for us so we want to extend a massive thanks to everyone that lent a hand in making it.

Gallows, Atari Teenage Riot, Zulu Winter photography Will Hutchinson The Futureheads photography Beki Cowey

Enjoy the pages. Dive in and don’t forget the exclusive smash-up Utah Saints mix.

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NEW NEW BANDS BANDS GENER A L F I A S C O

From Bellaghy, Co.Derry, General Fiasco write and

play infectious pop with staccato guitars and ear-worm

choruses. “Waves EP” took the attention of Radio 1 and with a new album out soon, these boys look to take the step up.

www.generalfiasco.co.uk

ALL THE YOUNG

Renowned for their incendiary live shows, and favourite new band of Morrissey. Stoke’s very

own All The Young combine energy and huge riffs, the kind of fist-pumping fodder that’s made them

THE JE Z A B E L S

festival favourites.

Australian four piece The Jezabels have spent the last year

www.alltheyoung.co.uk

honing their genre defying craft, selling out shows across the UK along the way. Their debut album ‘Prisoner’

VICTOR TALKING MACHINE

is infused with the band’s own brand of emotionally

London newcomers Victor Talking Machine write

charged, adrenaline fuelled classic rock/pop. The

songs that “recall the grubbier, sunnier side of

Jezabels are one of the most mesmerising bands to

pre-britpop indie” (NME). Big scuzzy riffs and

emerge in the last 12 months. www.thejezabels.com

memorable choruses, this band is definitely one to watch out for. www.facebook.com/pages/VictorTalking-Machine/8615752507

THE HEARTBREAKS Morecambe newcomers The Heartbreaks supported both Morrissey and Hurts across Europe playing to arena and theatre filled crowds of more than 200,000 people. They pen uptempo, punchy indie pop songs with melodic vocals and

SKETC H E S

majestic guitars about young romance and growing

Sketches are a 3 piece hailing from Leeds, who self

up in a small seaside town.

recorded their wonderfully crafted debut album ‘Bastion’

www.theheartbreaks.net

in a garage and shipped it off to Chicago to be carefully mixed by an old friend. From the ethereal, haunting

THE 1975

guitars of Bleed Victoria, to the grandiose crescendos

New Manchester based band’s influences range

of Carnivores, ‘Bastion’ is full of light and shade from a

from Brian Eno to Coco Chanel. Their lead track

band that have never wanted to just ‘blend in’.Sketches

‘The City’ has already picked up airplay from Zane

have already accomplished a lot, with warm support

Lowe, Fearne Cotton and Huw Stephens amongst

from BBC Radio and slots at Reading/Leeds Festival,

others.

they now offer you their first full body of work.

www.the1975.com

www.sketchesmusic.co.uk

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“I WILL LET YOU ALL INTO A LITTLE SECRET, I WAS SICK BEFORE WE WENT ONSTAGE THAT NIGHT.”

THE

XCERTs INTERVIEW ONLINE AT FLY53.com

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HITTING BACK “just seeing a smiling politician on TV… it doesn’t mean anything to me

Atari Teenage Riot

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POLITICAL-MINDED ELECTROHEADS ATARI TEENAGE RIOT DISCUSS DIGITAL ACTIVISTS ANONYMOUS, GETTING INTO FISTFIGHTS AT COACHELLA AND NEW UK BAND MEMBER ROWDY SUPERSTAR...

This year’s UK shows at the Old Blue Last and The Garage

Alec: In the summer of 2010 I wasn’t really sure if we should make a new record, but it seemed that there were so many things we had to speak about that we could write a lot of new songs.

A lot of people still find the topics we were speaking about in the ‘90s relevant corruption of government, wars etc. But then technology shifted - and right in that time was Anonymous and Wikileaks - all these topics that were constantly in the news, and actually this was inspiring.

were really well received. Rowdy Superstar, were they your

On the record, there’s ‘Black Flags’ which is mostly about the Bradley Manning

first gigs with the band?

case - whistleblowers and how they’re treated, and the Wikileaks that expose

Rowdy Superstar: It was really good - all my people in London had been asking questions; ‘you’re with Atari? How is it?’ and blah blah and everyone came to it. It’s a brilliant venue The Garage, I ended up swinging from the curtains!

corrupt governments and the army… there’s so much more. That song, we thought: it’s so important as citizens to have more information so we can make a decision who we want to vote for, if we want to vote at all. Because just seeing a smiling politician on TV… it doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s a new way of carrying out non-violent, direct action.

Everyone has been impressed at how ATR has survived through the decades but also maintained it’s intensity.

Yes, and a new way of educating people. Now at that point there was no contact [between ATR and Anonymous]. The contact happened when we did the ‘Black Flags’ viral video concept. It was a last minute decision to do this viral concept.

Alec Empire: That’s the Atari computer more than us - it’s all programmed!

Could you tell us about about your connection with and

Another video director we wanted to work with didn’t happen, so we said: OK why don’t we actually try something like this with the fans.

Basically [we asked fans to] send in video footage of you lip synching the song, or something that we called at the time ‘corpsing’ - you go into a public space, lie

admiration from Anonymous

down on the floor like a dead person with the black flag over your head and do

group?

this silent protest thing. And people sent in crazy stuff - they did it in shopping malls and in front of statues, like the Bundestag in Germany. Sometimes in the background you can see cops going ‘what is going on there?’

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If you see ten people doing this it’s a very powerful statement.

So then we got the first clips in from Anonymous activists, who were like ‘OK, we can’t lip sync the song because we wear these Guy Fawkes masks, but can we still send in footage?’ We were like ‘Yeah of course, thank you!’

A few weeks later all the Occupy protests started to happen, and it was kind of interesting how that video evolved from just this simple idea that we needed fast, into almost a documentation of all these protests - because we got stuff from the student protests from Chile, anti Nuclear protests in Japan because of Fukushima, then in December my favourite moment came when Wikileaks gave us this footage of Julian Assange speaking at Occupy London.

And this because a little documentation of the past nine months of what activists were doing around the world. And to me that was quite good - because usually as an artist you control the music video, but when we opened up this platform something much more interesting came from it.

You can tell by the way that your new video clocked up over a million views on Youtube that ATR has a lot of support across the digital spectrum.

“HE GOT INTO TH E F I G H T, T H E N H E CAME BACK AND WA S L I K E ‘ F U C K YO U COACHELLA!’ IT WA S V E RY G O O D ”

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If you think about it, it’s almost two years since we

suing 20,000 people than from the record! But that is

started playing again - and we’ve toured so much,

why they made the record, to sue people. And to me

playing in countries that we didn’t visit in the ‘90s.

it’s like… this is why you’re making music?

We just played Mexico City and it was out of control, it was great.

“ I THINK OUR MAIN RO L E H A S A LWAYS

Atari Teenage Riot are on a roll at the

B E E N TO J U S T

moment, is it the plan to release a new album

There’s a cliche that bands aren’t political these days. It could be argued that ATR are a powerful quasi-political group, a separate

next year now?

M OT I VAT E P E O P L E . . .”

Alec: Yeah we’re just making it.

entity to Anonymous. So what do you see the

Can you give us any exclusive, you know,

role of a rock and roll band being in all this -

juicy details?

how can you make a difference?

Alec: It features Rowdy Superstar – the first English

I think our main role has always been to just motivate

member of ATR. It’s a big change – we played in

people. The first thing is to get people to even think

America and a few other shows, and it worked really

about these things.

well. People in America look at us and think ‘Ah the

Some people would

Europeans!’ I think it fits perfectly, and I was thinking

say ‘but is that the

‘why didn’t we do this much earlier?’

point?’ and I’d say

Rowdy: Well, as an artist you can talk about the

yeah – because it starts in your mind.

It’s so important for artists to go out there and express their opinions about these topics.

We find this very

music sometimes, but I think in this case we’ll make it, then once you get to hear it you judge it and see if you like it, rather than [us] giving it the rundown of what it’s going to sound like. Music isn’t something to be torn apart while you’re making it. I think it would be damaging for us to talk about it too much

important.

If you look at the

about a year now – I’m not looking forwards

was being censored here in the UK a few days ago. I was saying I think that’s wrong, but I also have criticized Pirate Bay in the past because of certain things with the ads and how it’s also sometimes working against independent musicians. But if you’re going to get armed police in to protect your songs… I’m totally against that. Ha ha! But if I even express that I see someone [online] say: ‘He has criticized Pirate Bay!’ and I see 300 less people on my profile… ha ha! Well, I have to live

watching the trailer for Prometheus for to it anymore!

Alec: One thing we can say is that Rowdy brings in something else.You can tell from his solo stuff too – like if you look at the Alec Empire solo work there’s a cross over point where you can say ‘this is a bit more like the Atari direction’, but if you look at the electronic stuff I’ve done, or the solo records Nic has done, it’s the same with Rowdy – if you know his solo work it’s not very logical; he brings in something really special. And it’s very angry stuff,

with that, but that’s my opinion.

right?

It’s not back and white though is it? Sometimes

Rowdy: Yeah!

the owners of these torrent sites are revealed to be

Alec: When we were playing Coachella, some of the

greedy businessmen in Bermuda shorts with two

other bands were like ‘Oh my God! This new guy’s in

swimming pools and five cadillacs. It’s not simple.

a fist fight by the second song!’ I was like, damn. He’s

Yeah, it’s a very complex debate. But I don’t think we

stealing the show. To get into a fistfight at Coachella?

should shy away from that debate even if it sometimes

It should have been me!

makes you less popular. A lot of bands are like ‘Hey,

Rowdy: Well I didn’t choose it! This guy obviously

it’s cool guys, take all the songs!’ – and then they go

felt that I was rubbing him up the wrong way, so

in the back room and hire five lawyers! There was a

he decided to come to the front. I jumped into the

German band a year ago who released a record, and

crowd and he punched me in the face, so I punched

had all the lawyers in place, and then sued everybody

him back, then took his hat and wore it for the rest of

they could track that had downloaded it illegally for

the show. It’s my new favourite accessory – and he’s

3000 Euros. So they actually made more money from

never getting it back.

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crowd and shouting ‘YEAH! COACHELLA! ARE YOU READY?’ then he got into the fight, then he came back and was like ‘FUCK YOU COACHELLA!’ It was very good.

Well, it must be reassuring to know that if there was

right now.

I know what you mean... I feel like I’ve been

way the Pirate Bay

Alec: It was great. At first Rowdy was going into the

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ever a sniper at an ATR show, they’d be taken out pretty quickly.

Alec: Yeah… we sense these kind of people.

Z WE CAUGHT UP WITH ZULU WINTER IN OUR OFFICES AS THE SUMMER STARTED TO BREAK WINTER’S BACK AND SUNSHINE LEFT IT’S WINTER CAVE. THE DISCUSSION WAS BRISK AND BANTER FLOWED FROM A GROUP ABOUT TO EMBARK ON A SUMMER OF GIGGING AND THROWING THEIR NAME ABOUT WITH WANTON ABANDON.

U

L

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Language is a fast-evolving thing. No matter which

lyrics to their own means”. Despite the inadequacy

form it is in, ambiguity is an essential part of it. Zulu

of verbal language, there is a certain sense of

Winter know it well and despite their outfit’s name

legitimacy that lies in purely ambiguous forms of

being purely random, they have spent a lot of time

communication such as art, poetry and music. Mr

on the concept and the title of their debut album.

Walton adds: “obviously music is our language.

Language - released by Play It Again Sam Recordings

It is in many ways a form of communication able

on May 14th – is a compendium of perfectly-

to convey moods and atmospheres and it is more

crafted Pop tunes and oneiric atmospheres, in which

truthful than picking up words and getting ideas. It

ambiguity plays a central role. As guitarist Henry

is a slightly pure aesthetic. It is quite immediate and

Walton asserts: “we were always interested in writing

simple”. Hence a lot of musical and lyrical content of

in a way that was sort of ambiguous, it is up to the

this slowly conceived body of work relies on giving

listener to decipher the meaning and to interpret the

people room to interpret it in their own terms.

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The record follows an old traced path through a

imagery and using ideas, images, icons to bring up a

Wasteland that was tracked by the likes of T.S. Elliot,

feeling rather than just relying on words”.

one of the main literary references of the band.

Walton states “the song Let’s Move Back To Front was inspired by Walt Whitman and the album in its entirety was influenced quite a lot by TS Elliot’s The Wasteland. And that takes us back to the idea of ambiguity. That’s something that TS Elliot does incredibly well. He’s dealing with a huge range of

“Music is our language.

Of course Language is not a pretentious piece of

It is in many ways a form of

record full of catchy melodies and epic moments,

communication able to convey moods and atmospheres...”

post-modern avant-garde. It is an alchemical pop it fits into the ipod and yeah, you can play it in the shower. However, despite most of the stuff we are used to nowadays, it is an intelligent and insightful

issues like love and death, childhood and manhood.

Pop gem. Produced by Tom Morris - Lydia Lunch,

He does it in a way that is always modest rather than

Faust, Basement Jaxx - the album was entirely

providing any sort of answers. He relies more on

recorded on tape.

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“A lot of the things we run through are about looking for something simpler and less aggressive,

Z U L I N T

claustrophobic and pressurised”

After the astonishing buzzing followed by their

jobs, raising the money to keep on recording without

early singles – more than 100,000 plays on Youtube

any interfering. It’s a relief and it’s exciting now

in only four days for We Should Be Swimming

because we are all genuinely proud of the record

– the five piece London outfit made up by Will

that we’ve made. We haven’t played shows until

Daunt, Iain Lock, Dom Millard, Henry Walton

September and that was really difficult because of

and Guy Henderson has gained many legitimate

course you wanna get out there. It was a pretty

and illegitimate comparisons. Press dropped out

isolating experience”. However, isolation and escape

names such as Friendly Fires, Wild Beasts and even

of reality are probably the keys to the nature of the

Coldplay. Walton says: “You don’t wanna sound

record. “A lot of the things we run through are about

like an ungrateful little shit, we are grateful of the

looking for something simpler and less aggressive,

attention and we wanna get the record out there

claustrophobic and pressurised. I think that is

to as many people as possible. Obviously when the

definitely the result of London. We all love London,

media say certain things it’s useful but I think that is

we have friends and families here, the things that

just the result of having a large body of work behind

you can go out and find are incredible but it comes

you. There are lots of comparisons I don’t really get,

with it’s negatives as well. Every time I venture into

but you know, people have to sell their stuff. In a

central London I have a feeling of aggression and

month’s time it’s gonna be somebody else. It’s kind of

that’s quite hard to live with. I think music is an

the death of you to be honest but it doesn’t count for

escape from that. It is a sort of release of that tension.

all that much. For us it is all about exploring music.

The most direct song on our record is People You

Our advantage is we just lock ourselves away and we

Must Remember. People asked if that was about the

write.”

riots but it was actually written before the riots. It’s interesting now to listen to it and then think about

The whole record is in fact the product of nearly

the riots. I think this is what happens when you deal

two years of isolation from the outside world, the

with some of the simpler issues growing up looking

endless buzz and the industry. Walton explains: “It

at what’s going on around in your environment”.

wasn’t really intentional. It’s just that we recorded the majority of the album without management and without label so we were working full time crappy

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BOTH SCROOBIUS PIP AND RANDOM IMPULSE HAVE TROD A DIFFERENT PATH IN MUSIC TO GET TO WHERE THEY ARE NOW. PIP STARTED HIS OWN LABEL AND WORKED AS A BEARDED WHITE GUY IN RAP, PULSE LEARNED GUITAR FROM YOUTUBE WHEN WANTING TO GET AWAY FROM THE GRIME SCENE. BOTH ARE CLASSIC FLY53 BATTLERS WITH A WILL TO SUCCEED AND KNOCK THE OPPONENTS OUT. SO WE PUT THEM IN A BOXING RING TOGETHER

Album vs single?

grabbing’. Cause I made a point of saying that no money will go to charity, this

Impulse – I think every single label should concentrate on the albums.

will all go to me and my label. But again, the actual act of Ebaying didn’t make any difference its just the story of Ebay that made a difference and made the press.

It is trying to be interesting so it doesn’t have to be ‘you’ve got to be this polished thing’ it’s working with what you’ve got and making a story of it.

Pip – I write albums and then the label makes the singles. The label can then take the album apart and choose which song should be released as a single. If they say that’s the best thing to do then cool. But what I do is sit down and I write albums. I

Impulse – Yeah, the important thing is that the music is what you do. So make the music. Don’t have any thought about marketing when making the music. Then once you have that beautiful piece of innocent, pure work then you think ‘how can I be a pervert and completely violate this’. So the packaging etc make it seem more.

don’t sit down and write singles. Other people can go that singles route…

Solo vs band? – You’ve both had a go at this one.

Impulse – Don’t do it bruv.

Pip – Yeah

Pip – It’s such a fickle audience these days.You will have stuff in the charts one

Impulse – Nah I haven’t. Oh when I play on stage? Its weird though cause for me

week and no-one will know about it a month later. Whereas when me and Dan

they’re like a backing track. Know what I mean? So it’s not like we all four build

(Le Sac) wrote an album that we were happy with and after our first song did

music together. I prefer having other live musicians on stage other than just having

well, people then looked at the album. That’s why we have continued to have a

a mike and decks.

fan base over the last 5 years. Rather than having that one moment of success then fading away. We didn’t just go: ‘right were gonna rinse this one single for years and do 10 remixes’. We made more songs and toured our asses off.

Pip – For me its all about variety. On tour at the moment with my live band.

With drums, guitar all that. I love that energy because I grew up in little punk bands. But equally I do stuff with Dan. And that’s the equivalent of having a band

Style vs substance. Is it how you look as opposed to what you do?

because Dan’s doing so much. There’s so much

Pip – You can’t fake it.

beats and live stuff,

Impulse – What it is yeah – One of my favourite stories is about Jack White

but also doing spoken

from the White Stripes. Because he wanted his music to be more bluesey it wasn’t

word, I love having the

marketable. He said he was going to make everything else other then the music

variation.

so plastic and stylised ‘we’re just going to wear black and white’ and ‘this is my sister’ even though it wasn’t. All these other stories so that the label was like ‘oh my God this is great’, but they forgot that the music is totally untouched and its just two people playing.

Pip – Everyone’s scared of the word marketing. There’s nothing wrong with marketing and pushing it if it’s to bring something you want people to hear.

When I put Introdiction out, in the video I cut my beard off and then I Ebayed my beard. I didn’t need to Ebay my beard. But it was a news story. It got people talking. Going ‘that’s ridiculous’ some people saying ‘that’s terrible, you’re money

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VS

Leg vs breast?

Pip – Breast Impulse – Leg Pip – You see, this shows my warped priorities at the moment. I instantly thought of KFC Impulse – Same.

There’s different appeal and different pay offs if you

gig. And if those people who are way far back, I

Pip – And I always go for leg. I wasn’t even thinking

know what I mean. After a gig with the band or with

personally wouldn’t be happy at a show being that far

of it as a sexual question. I was like ‘I always go for a

Dan, I’m sweating and knackered, I’m pumped.

back, but if they’re happy, then all the better man.

drum stick’

After a spoken word gig I’m kind of like ‘Yea that was

I would prefer not to do arenas and stuff like that, I

good, I’m a bit drunk and I’ve been talking loads.’

think that’s just ridiculous. Too much like, ahh I can’t

Impulse – I was actually thinking of food but then I

see anybody, I can’t tell if they’re liking it or not. Do

switched just so as not to feel silly. But I’m glad you

ya know what I mean?

said that. I was like I’m hungry, I haven’t eaten today.

Pip – You see you’ve caught me at an awkward

Manga vs MMA?

Big vs small gigs?

Impulse – I like big gigs. I dunno like small gigs are…. I like big gigs, fuck it man.You know why? cause big gigs you get everyone at the front. But if you think ahh this it too big, just look at the first 200/300 people and you feel like you’re at a small

time for both of us. I was playing at Wembley arena on Friday (Impulse laughs) in front of 11,000. It was amazing, but honestly generally its about the

Impulse – vs Manga? Manga, the most amazing

But with the Wembley one it was as exciting looking

thing ever put on this planet

was actually being there. It was more to go ‘WOW

SCROOBIUS PIP

my shit.

variation. I’ve done gigs that I enjoy more than that. at the photo we took from stage afterwards, than it

“I’M SWEATING AND KNACKERED...

I’M PUMPED”

Pip – Ahh MMA all day long. Mixed martial arts is

Pip – Ow yeah...

there’s that many people, but the actual gigs I’ve got

Impulse – Obviously Manga. Like MMA, Ok loads

the most buzz from have been the little rowdy ones

of city men running around fighting each other. Or

where you get the crowd just going crazy. It’s really

Manga.

rare.

Pip – You’ve admitted to me already that as soon as Impulse – Yea it’s a happy medium like 2,000, that’s

MMA gets Manga on the ground, theres nothing you

big for me. Cause some of us ain’t Scroobius Pip.

can do.You just get tapped out, you get arms broken,

Pip - Well just another Friday night you know what I mean. Just a Friday night knocking about at Wembley… (both laugh)

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you can break your balls out and shit.

Impulse – Nah man. Manga. Think about it bruv

come on. Manga is too much. Why you even… the artwork, the stories…. Do you know what. If you ever said what’s my biggest inspiration – Anime and Manga. Think I’m joking? If you could somehow put all that into real life, not the fantasy crazy ones just the normal ones. The storylines are so deep. MMA’s just senseless fighting.

Pip – I’m gonna ignore that bit of goading. But I think its true. I don’t think people realise how much can be influenced by film and things like that,

“NAH MAN. THINK ABOUT IT BRUV COME ON. MANGA IS TOO MUCH” RANDOM IMPULSE

2 years old. I never used to listen to music. I used to listen to music on the radio, but I was in my books

by Manga, by comics. There are amazing graphic

and science was all I cared about. I had no interest

novels out there with crazy ideas, but people always

in music. So I remember MTV raps being on. But

assume that because I come from a spoken word

Impulse – hahaha

I never used to like go and watch it, if it was on I

or what authors have influenced you the most. It’s

Pip - No honestly. Look it’s a chess game that gets

and stuff, but it’s more just the discovery of new

like Garth Ennis the graphic novel writer. He’s done

me excited more than anything.

music. But big up Jamal you know you’re my boy

background; They’re like, what’s your favourite poem

amazing stuff. So yeah it’s that whole thing of where inspiration has come from. But in conclusion MMA is better Impulse – Does MMA influence you?

Pip – Yea hugely. Genuinely, the craft of a good ground battle.

didn’t mind.Yeah SBTV. Even though SBTV is live

innit.

MTV raps vs SBTV? Pip – It’s tough. I would say MTV raps. But that’s just because I’m a sentimental old man.

Impulse – I got into the scene late so it’s different for me. To me Radiohead’s a year old, Queens Of The Stone Age are a year old and the Beatles are like

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CHRIS LANCASTER HITS THE CAMDEN CRAWL TO TRACK DOWN THE

You’ve taken risks musically by recording a

hour and then went and sang it live straight on the

whole album of acapella songs. How did that

radio (laughs) and that was a much bigger risk than

come to pass?

anything we’d done up to that point, although we enjoyed taking that risk definitely and got a lot out of

FUTUREHEADS TO FIND OUT WHY THEY TURNED OFF THEIR AMPS AND LET THEIR VOICES DO THE TALKING

Barry: We did a session for Jo Wiley and when you

it. It’s similar to when you play a bunch of new songs

do a session for the Live Lounge it’s a good little

live at a gig, the feeling of relief when you’ve played

challenge as you do one of your own songs, you have

them, and played them all correctly, is worth all the

to do an arrangement of someone else’s song that

built up anxiety beforehand leading up to it. It’s that

is in the charts that week so we chose ‘Acapella’ by

risk that’s important because if you don’t care then

Kelis and we managed to arrange it in about half and

what are you risking?

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THE FUTUREHEADS THE FUTUREHEADS I N

H A R M O N Y

Ross: I think that a lot of bands feel misunderstood

Barry: Led Zeppelin 3 mainly, they took a risk there

by others at certain times but with an acapella album,

and it didn’t really pay off for them but at least they

what’s there to misunderstand? You can’t really miss that one, you can’t hide behind anything, and it’s really upfront.

Have there been any outside bands or artists that have influenced the writing and playing

“NOWADAYS IT’S NOT AS MUCH ABOUT THE CRAFT - ITS ABOUT BEING CRAFTY...”

of the recent albums/recordings?

then followed it up with number 4 and ‘Stairway to Heaven’ so you have to think would they have ever written that if they’d never made number 3?

Ross: I think it was just speaking to each other as well that influenced the album, saying ok well we’ve always sang in 4 part harmony and added certain acapella parts to songs so why not try and do a whole albums worth of purely acapella songs?

Ross: Led Zeppelin T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E

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I think that by reducing the instruments as well it helped push the idea for a live situation as well as you can’t really do a whole 80 minutes of acapella music, you’d be asking too much of the crowd to sit there in silence throughout, especially when a good 90% of people aren’t capable of giving that much attention to something for that length of time when they’ve come to a rock and roll show. I mean no disrespect to anyone but it is very intense to do that for a whole show so we added the acoustic and older instruments like mandolins and cellos.

Barry: We like the old instruments as well as they are so old as they are very ancestral instruments to us so it’s a good feeling when the songs go across in this way, songs like ‘The Keeper’ are very elemental in their presentation, we are trying to present something old as new songs, the melodies are so strong and so familiar as well, as they were written in an era when the songs meant more and there was more of a craft, where as nowadays its not as much about the craft, it’s about being crafty (laughs) Ross: that’s what we really like about these songs as well, they are so simple in their construction, there are no mathematical riffs to remember or strange time signatures to remember, it’s about getting up there, playing the songs and having a good time.

Barry: I’d say that the build up over the previous four albums have been a kind of apprenticeship to this stage that we’ve arrived at now and once you get to that stage it’s almost validation of what you’ve achieved and you can then look at things objectively and say right, what can we do now?

Have you heard Todd Rundgren’s 1985 album ‘Acapella’? If so was it an influence on the concept?

Barry: You mean Dolph Lundgren? (Laughs) Ross: It’s when he sampled himself and used the

vocals through a synth type emulator.

it or anything like that, they are literally recording whilst travelling which I think is quite amazing really.

Barry: Oh no, no I haven’t heard, I’d like to though definitely.

Ross: Although they usually fly everywhere in jets so they must have to have a REALLY good idea to

Jaff: I saw him when he came over for the ‘A Wizard,

take the bus (all laughs) that’s really big deal megastar

A True Star’ gigs in Hammersmith and that was

stuff really, the best we’d get would be a 8 track in

amazing although I wasn’t too sure about him also

the van.

doing the blues band stuff at the start but the main show was really great.

Barry: Obviously when you’re travelling in a vehicle or walking somewhere, that tends to be a common

Barry: It might be a good idea actually to have a bad

time for you to have ideas, when you’re kind of

support band then the crowd is so appreciative of the

distracted, so I think in a sense songs begin on the

first note of your set (laughs)

road when you’re just going about your daily business and then you have to make a date really and decide

Do you write on the road?

to work on the song on this day and record it on this day and then the rest of the process just takes over.

Ross: Its quite difficult when you’re touring as you’re preoccupied with doing the gigs and enjoying the experience of being ‘on tour’ although you do remember individual ideas that you’ve put to one side for a better time that you can then bring to the table when we get back at a later date. But writing on the road isn’t really something we do; I don’t think many bands do it either that we’ve met.

Barry: Linkin Park! I heard that they have a tour bus that is a recording studio, there aren’t any beds on

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“IT’S ABOUT GETTING UP THERE, PLAYING THE SONGS AND HAVING A GOOD TIME...”

You don’t stop writing a song until it’s mastered. I

work if not more as you have the original attachment

‘achieve’ an album, nothing more; it’s nothing about

consider the mixing process just as important as the

to the song and the initial relationship so in that

the demographic (laughs)

lyrical process or the guitar process, it’s not finished

respect you have to let them change and evolve.

until you essentially press stop.

Ross: It’s very rare that you play every song off

Ross: we just feel we’ve become better musicians as

an album live anyway so it’s only when we’re re-

we’ve progressed and are trying new things out and

Is a song ever finished? For the ‘Rant’

arranged them that they have actually made it to the

it’s just as valid an experience to us as anything else

album you’ve re-recorded some songs from

set, they just seemed to fit better in that acoustic

that we’ve done.

your back catalogue for example and then

setting this time around.

performed them live including different arrangements once again.

What are the plans for The Futureheads for Can you see a time where you’d do both

the summer/rest of the year?

versions in a live setting?

Barry: In that sense, in the terms of a life of a song absolutely it never ends, you can stunt its growth

Ross: We have a handful of festivals through the Barry: I think you could get away with that.

(laughs) or you can be really rigid with it and play

summer and a gig at Shepherds Bush Empire coming up, then after we will be releasing the next part of

it the same every night but that’s quite tedious for

David ‘Jaff ’ Craig (Bass/cello/vocals): Well in

the acoustic albums. We have also been recording

the band so everything slowly starts to take its own

fact a friend of ours who heard ‘Rant’ said “well

each of our shows on the tour so hopefully we’ll have

quality, but what we’ve done on this acoustic album

there were a couple of the re-recorded ones that

a live album out as well to follow.

we’ve made, as when we made ‘Rant’, we re-

were better than the original and some that weren’t”

invented some of our old songs for other instruments

which was strange because we then had to explain

Can the fans expect a return to the electric

not just vocals.

that we weren’t trying to replace any of the originals

line up after?

or do them better as such, we were just trying Ross: Help give them some CPR! (Laughs)

something new and trying them out in this setting

Ross:Yes well we have a gig next week that’s full on

and arrangement for our own enjoyment really.

band, so sooner than they think (laughs).

songs to us and it’s strange that for some people,

Barry: It’s strange that people always need to attach

Barry: It’s been a very rejuvenating experience

when you’re releasing albums that aren’t entirely of

reason to things. Sometimes there isn’t a valid reason

playing acoustic and acapella so going back to

new material that they think “Oh they must have ran

behind something and you have people asking “so

electric instruments after such a long time off will be

out of ideas” but to re-record an old song is as much

what are you trying to achieve with this album?”

exciting, we can’t wait.

of an idea as writing a new one; it takes as much

and we have to say…well nothing, we are trying to

Barry: By doing this they really do feel like new

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IST IS IST

"FUCKING TINS OF FISH EVERYWHERE IN THE VAN & IT STINKS...."

TROPICAL S TROPICAL ISTROPICAL WAS FORMED OUT OF

Gary: Never to fly Ryanair would be one of them

THE ASHES OF RATTY RAT RAT WHERE

Simon: Yea it would be good to do a tour of places as well like around India, China, South America

TWO OF THE BAND CUT THEIR TEETH

and places like that. We’re planning to do a South

America tour in September this year. We played a few

TOURING AND RACKING UP THE MILES

places in South America, which worked out well for

IN THE U.K. NEVER KNOWN TO DO THE

us. So yeah we’d like to take that further and do some

SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE THEY ARE

doesn’t often tour.

AS CREATIVE WITH THEIR MUSIC AS

Dom: To travel and not be poor basically

places like China and stuff where Western music

As anyone who saw their

THEY ARE WITH EVERYTHING ELSE IN

THE BAND. THAT’S ONE OF THE MANY REASONS KITSUNE SIGNED THEM.

FROM LIGHT SHOWS TO THEIR BAND

Greeks, which notched up

Do you think you’d survive a South American

over a million views in a

tour?

week, you’ll know what

we are talking about.Partly

Simon: Yeah, it’s a bit sketchy, when we played in Venezuela and Caracas we

because of this creativity there wasn’t any hesitation

TEES, THEY ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING

when we asked them to do this photoshoot with

ADDITIONAL AND INTERESTING TO DO

When arriving in for the shoot in Hackney and

WITH WHAT’S IN FRONT OF THEM.

Gary: A string of no.1 hits. By string, I mean at least 3.

breakout video for The

weren’t allowed to leave the side of the people looking

three pigs heads fresh from the local butcher shop.

after us because they have

express kidnaps there. They

seeing the pigs on the floor, there wasn’t a single

primadonna strop or even any real amazement, just an acceptance of it being just another day in their lives.

The guys are legends.

Ultimate goal?

Simon: Ultimate goal is to not be on the bread line to be on the croissant line. Eat lobster.

"TABLE & CHAIRS ALL WENT OFF THE ROOF....” “BUT IT WASN’T OUR FAULT"

kidnap you have credit card machines to make it easier, for real. So that was the one thing when we were trying to book this is that it’s a bit sketchy. I think South America is quite famous for their planes

Gary: Everyday Dom: I look forward to paying for all my World of War Craft accounts, which would be a good end goal

T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E

said there were people who

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not staying in the air.

ISTROPICAL ISTROPICAL ISTROPICAL ISTROPICAL

IT WASN’T OUR FAULT.

IT WAS THE DEMONS THAT TOOK OVER... ...ALCOHOL DEMONS

Will you still wear masks when you’re coming back in decade’s time?

Gary: We will probably have breathing difficulties by then.

Dom: Oxygen masks and cannisters.

Simon: Hideously over weight.

Gary: Opening each other’s mouths just trying to get some air.

Simon: Yeah mobility scooters and oxygen masks.

Gary: We don’t want to pay the lawsuits so we have to tone it

Dom: It’s a waste.

Gary: Driving, round drunk and crashing into things,

Simon: Yeah Yeah. Don’t wanna

thats pretty bad.

get sued out there.

That’s what the plan is.

Simon: Quite costly.

Got any bad tour habits?

You tour lots as well; do you ever end up

Dom: Fucking tins of fish everywhere in the van and it stinks.

Simon: Obviously the places we get to. Turning up and not having enough time to actually look around where we are. Like just spending a few hours in some cities which is a pretty bad habit.

down a bit.

trashing the places?

So you’ve been asked tonnes of questions before from everybody. Are there any questions you

Simon: No, no we tend to be quite respectful at the places. Except if we get a bit too drunk and end up at some random house or something like that. One time we got an email from a solicitor, demanding we pay money for a BBQ set we threw off the roof.

Dom: Plastic table and chairs all went off the roof.

haven’t been asked but wish you had?

Simon: It’s weird, it’s one of those things like jokes you don’t remember a joke at the right time right.

Gary: We had a really great one once in France, which was about your favourite sex playlist. So you had to make like a 10 song playlist that you’d like to

Simon: But it wasn’t our fault. It was the demons

make love to. It’s hard to do off the top of your head

that took over. Alcohol demons. Hopefully everything

but..

goes to plan, our next tour is around America with Crystal Fighters and yeah there might be a chance to

Dom: Mostly Bon Jovi for hair inspiration.

Simon: But also 10 songs, he was being a bit ‘phew’

get a bit more in trouble.

it’s quite a long playlist.

WE DON’T WANT TO PAY THE LAWSUITS SO WE HAVE TO TONE IT DOWN A BIT. T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E

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Gary: What snippet of songs would you put together…

Dom: Ha, what - 10 intros’s for a minute long list.

UTAH us sat in a studio for weeks, so even when a track is

on the radio you find it hard to get your head around the fact that people are actually listening. We’re

pretty harsh on ourselves in terms of constantly setting the bar really high, making good music,

SAINTS We set a task of mixing a very diverse crowd

audience can on the surface appear very different in

of collaborators from the Zine, how hard was

terms of age and dress, the attitude and energy levels

it to mix?

are pretty universal - people are still up for a great

Challenging! It’s always good fun to be given a set

party.

What was your biggest argument about (if

luckily we’ve had a bit of practice over the years with

you argue)?

never know where it will end up.

and like anyone who makes anything, you need self doubt, painful as that is, to keep driving you to up your game.

What else freaks you out?

Everything pretty much -give enough thought to anything and you can freak yourself out. We’re always really pleased when people have love for Utah Saints, more recently there are a number of big new acts (… too modest to name them) who have come up and told us how much we influenced their music, which we didn’t expect and we found that an awesome thing to be honest. We were influenced by some great acts, so for that to pass on is an amazing feeling.

It’s your NY Eve party 2012 - who’s the line up?

of tracks this diverse and shoehorn them together sampling, so kind of know where to start, although

finding good music and being good at what we do,

Hard one. OK - Utah Saints, Jeff Mills, Dave Clarke, Lost Prophets, AC/DC, Knife Party, Skrillex, Plan B,

We’re lucky in that we each have different skills, and don’t overlap too much, so not too many arguments.

David Bowie, Feed Me, Hadouken, Tantrum Desire, Foo Fighters, Switch, Abba Tribute, Lee Fields, Pyramid, Punks Jump Up, Public Enemy and Bill

You have spanned two decades and have a

Disagreements, if we have them are usually the other

history to be proud of, what’s changed in the

way round, “You have the bigger piece of cake, no

crowds from the first gigs?

YOU have the bigger piece” etc etc

Any thanks?

It’s funny, it’s a great time for music right now,

Also the odd musical difference, but nothing too

as everything has fallen back under the banner

major, and one of us does still want to buy a tank for

Yes, thank you for the questions, thank you for

of EDM, so sets can be really diverse - when we

a tour bus.

started in 1991 it was similar - no genre barriers, just good exciting electronic music. We play a lot of very different gigs from main stage at festivals to small underground clubs, and although the

Bailey.

reading, thank you for listening and thank you for checking out our Soundcloud - www.SoundCloud.

Do you get freaked out by fans and their knowledge of your music?

Twitter www.Twitter.com/UtahSaints.Visit FLY53. com for exclusive zine video content, unedited

Yes, making music is a weird thing, as it’s just two of

T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E

com/UtahSaints and thank you for following us on

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interviews and the Utah Saints Mix.

T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E

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GALLOW

GALLOWS THE SHOCK OF TH

THE SHOCK OF THE NEW “MAKING THINGS MORE PUNK ROCK AGAIN, THAT JUST WORKS FOR US”

It’s fair to say that when they burst out of Watford in 2006 Gallows caused quite a stir. A lot of heads were being scratched at how five heavily tattooed men who took their musical cues from Scandinavian mathcore and classic hardcore could play sold out shows across the globe, headline festival stages and sign a seven figure deal with one of the biggest record labels in the world. It’s also fair to say that in the 3 years that have passed since the release of ‘Grey Britain’, a concept album about the decline of British society, that the state of the band has been as bleak as the subject matter of their music.

Now to turn it on its head, what has Wade brought to the band?

Stu Gili-Ross (Bass): Well lyrics. Plus we have to get out of bed really early and work hard whereas normally on the last record we just used to turn up whenever the hell we wanted Laurent Barnard (Guitar): Yea I think Gallows used to be a lazy band, probably the laziest band ever. We used to have zero work ethic and one band practice a year. When Wade joined the band he was like ‘You guys never practice?’

However it’s all change in the Gallows camp. New singer, new album and a brand new record label and, it seems, a brand new fire in their collective bellies. We travelled to a garage studio in Watford to talk organised chaos, writing a record while being split across the Atlantic and how America and Canada is NOT the same thing

and we went ‘nah not really, gigs were practice’. It’s definitely made us up our game since Wade joined the band.

On your studio blog you say that Gallows has always been a mess but it was this mess that made ‘Orchestra of Wolves’ and it was this mess that made ‘Grey Britain’. Do you guys think you have to be a mess to

First things first, how has the band’s new singer and former Black Lungs and Alexisonfire member Wade McNeil been settling in?

make something good?

Wade: I think it’s out of the mess of the band almost falling apart and the band pulling itself back up by its bootstraps that’s going to make this record great.

Wade McNeil: At first it was absolutely insane. I joined the band, I flew over here, recorded a song, we went on tour all across the States, we made a record in two days. We didn’t know what the fuck we were doing and it was unbelievable some days and it was an absolute disaster other days but it worked. Everything fell together when we played that Christmas show at XOYO. I feel like nobody knew

Stu: It’s sort of like organised chaos this time You’ve chosen to record the album in your hometown of Watford.

Why did you choose this environment?

what was going on and we were finding our stride as a band on that first tour. It’s

Laurent: It’s familiar ground, we’re working with Steve & Mitch (of Watford

almost like starting over again in a lot of respects but I think we knew everything

band Spy Catcher who Stu also plays bass for) who we’ve known for years. It’s

was gonna be fine when we walked onstage at XOYO, we knew it was going to be

kind of like how ‘Orchestra of Wolves’ came together. ‘Grey Britain’ was an

ok. Now we’ve been writing this record and it’s been the most inspiring thing I’ve

amazing album but people always talk about the first record, I’m not sure if they

done in years, it’s the record I’ve always wanted to make.

are always going to talk about it but it’s going back to those DIY hardcore roots, as much of a cliché as it is, making things more punk rock again. That just works for us.

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GALLOW

THE SHOCK OF THE " I T ’ S S O RT O F L I K E O R G A N I S E D C H AO S T H I S T I M E . . . "

Stu: We’ve always demoed here, even for ‘Grey Britain’ all the demos were done

here and you always end up going into an expensive studio trying to recapture the sound of your demos so it just made sense to record the album where we do the demos.

Wade: It’s just the way it is too. We gotta make it work.

When bands record they often have weird reference points and working titles that people wouldn’t expect but can be indicative of how the record will sound. What are your reference points on this

The band is now more transatlantic with a couple of you living in the USA and Wade being in Canada. Has it been a challenge to write in that way?

record?

Wade: The first one I think that really blew people’s minds was when I was like ‘Ok, don’t write this off right away but Fleetwood Mac part’ and everyone was

Wade: I’m glad it’s obvious to some people, as I’m getting sick of being told I’m

like ‘What?’ cos I was coming in from the other room and I don’t think they were

American!

ready to hear it the other day.

Stu: I think the space and the distance with writing has allowed people to write at

Steph Carter (Guitar): It was the Fleetwood Mac song you were asking us to

home as opposed to bringing riffs to a practice and having to play in front of four

play. That’s why we weren’t ready to hear it.

other people. It’s been a bit easier to come with structured songs to work on as opposed to “well I’ve got this riff guys” and spending a whole day trying to learn it. I think a lot of bands do it that way these days, writing over emails and stuff like that so the record hasn’t come together since we’ve sat in here.

Stu: I think every band writes things like that.You want to write a riff that in your head sounds like an influence. For instance on the last record (2011’s ‘Death is Birth EP’, the first to feature Wade on vocals) we had this song with the working title ‘Cold Snakes’ cos it was Hot Snakes influenced to us. It didn’t sound anything

Laurent: We basically start the recording process with an idea of where the song

like them but the rhythm behind it where it was all downstrokes sounded to us

is going to go.You’ve got riffs and stuff lying about. When we did ‘Grey Britain’

like Hot Snakes. I think every band has that. We have stupid working titles on all

we started from scratch and went into the studio every day and there would be

the songs.

days where everyone just sat with their instrument and no one was really pulling together but this time around with riffs being sent around you know what’s going

Wade: That’s the best part.

to happen and you know what to expect

Care to share any?

Stu: It gives Wade a head start on vocal ideas and rhythms and stuff.

Stu: Spatula Tits is a favourite of mine.

T H E F LY 5 3 ‘ Z I N E

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" W E J U S T M A K E H E AV Y R E C O R D S . . . "

Wade: To be honest there are better ones. There’s a sequence of ‘Fuck Off’, ‘Fuck

with a bunch of the guys that worked on our record and that’s just what it is.

Right Off’ and ‘Wig & A Wind Machine’

There’s a lot of theatre in rock and roll and sometimes it needs that; just to keep

You guys announced your new label (the bands own Venn Records)

things going otherwise it would just be fucking boring really.

and with it came quite a scathing statement about people you have

It’s been 3 years to the day since ‘Grey Britain’ came out and you guys

previously worked with. How do you think those people would feel

have been around but in the intermittent time there have been a huge

when they read it?

amount of hardcore bands rise to prominence. Where do you think

Wade: Well I wrote that. I can say what every band feels like, that they just don’t have the grit to say it.

Gallows fit now?

Laurent: I don’t think we’ve ever tried to fit anywhere. We’ve never put

Laurent: It doesn’t affect us because Wade wasn’t in the band at the time (all laugh).

ourselves into one scene, we just played the music we wanted to play. I don’t think you could listen to any Gallows record from old ones to new ones to the one we’re about to release. I mean it all sounds like Gallows and that’s what

Stu: I think people that work at major labels know they’re part of this machine. I don’t think they’re under any pretence in how it’s regarded.

Gallows is, our own sound.

Stu: If people were saying ‘Oh, Gallows are sitting on throne for UK punk’ we’re

GALLOWS

Laurent: I know so many people who work at major labels and I’m still friends

not ever the ones who said that about ourselves. Someone else put us there. We just make heavy records.

THE SHOCK OF THE NEW

GALLOWS

THE SHOCK OF THE NEW

" I T WA S T H E F L E E T W O O D M A C S O N G Y O U W E R E A S K I N G U S T O P L A Y. T H A T ’ S W H Y W E W E R E N ’ T R E A D Y T O H E A R I T. . . "

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W W W. F LY 5 3 . C O M