Interviews

Here is the A&B vault of interviews, presently dating from May 1999 to January 2000. Anything older is in the questionaire section, anything more recent should be on the main page. Anyway, enough of the formalities, pick a band and read an in-depth interview with them. Then go and buy their records, okay? ATOMIKA Date: May 1999 Venue: Outside the Students Union at the University of Surrey, Guildford. 'The whole sell-out thing doesn't appeal to me at all. I don't care if people say we've sold out.' They like to play gigs do gritty lo-fi rock types Atomika. Lots of gigs. A&B caught them at one of the area's less prestigious venues. CARETAKER Date: October 1999 Venue: Listening to Alex Tea DJing at the West End Centre, Aldershot. 'When you hear these guitar bands with a bloke like, wanking all over his fretboard, I think our stuff is so much better than that.' Caretaker are the best thing to come out of the Aldershot scene for a very long time, and it's cool to see them constantly refining their noise-rock sound. Simon Williams said they sound like Mogwai if they were on Dischord don't you know. CAY Date: May 1999 Venue: Hedgehog PR office, London. 'No-one ever complains that a song part is boring for them to play, of if they do they get told to shut up and use their imagination to liven it up. That's what makes us a little bit better than a straightforward punk band.' On the eve of their debut album's release, Cay tell A&B about their devestatingly raw metal sound, their tour with Three Colurs Red and er...why they signed to East West. INTER Date: December 1999 Venue: Backstage at the west End Centre, Aldershot. 'I was up at a gig in London the other day and someone came up to me and went 'urgh, you're in Inter' and ran off laughing.' The best live act you will ever see, and they make pretty good records too. Inter are classy songwriters who aren't afraid to dabble with both snotty punk and meandering strings. And they are not teenagers! FANTASMAGROOVER Date: June 1999 Venue: In the main 'arena' at the Plantation Cafe, Guildford. 'We want to challenge Chicks to a 3-a-side football match!' Forget the name, Fantasmagroover make it cool to like buzzsaw, high-pitched indie again. MONKEY BOY Date:January 2000 Venue: Cyberspace 'We got bored playing the same thing the same way every night. It's all good fun...until somebody loses an eye!' Two mad bass players, one deranged singing drummer and too many confusing stop-start songs. Monkey Boy rock my world. MONKEY ISLAND Date: May 1999 Venue: Passageway outside the Plantation Cafe, Guildford. 'When everyone's turned their blazer inside out, you turn yours out again. The cycle just goes on and on, when there's nothing left to subvert, subvert.' Monkey Island ripped the cosy Plantation Cafe to pieces with their combination of sleazy blues, angry dynamics and white noise. And then they talked to A&B! SNUG Date: June 1999 Venue: Opposite The Drink nightclub, Guildford. 'We'd prefer to be remembered as not really making it at all, rather than as part of a scene that died after six months.' They may specialise in harmonies and power riffs but Snug are a surprisingly confrontational band to interview. Don't get mean with them. SPEARMINT Date: September 1999 Venue: Eating dinner at the West End Centre, Aldershot. 'We're polymorphus pop because there's very quiet ones and these are done better than most people who do quiet songs all the time, and the hard rock songs are done better than most hard rock bands.' Er, I'm not sure about the hard rock, but Spearmint are definitely one of the most adorable examples of indie-pop anywhere. Lovely bunch of guys too.