Interviewer: Hi guys, Last month saw the release of your best of: 'Your History is Mine' So the subject of todays
interview is History, We hope thats OK?
Matt: Fair enough…I hope its not questions about actual history!
Gavin: Yeah, we’re rubbish.
Interviewer: I thought about that but I though ‘I failed history’ so…
Gavin: Yeah I didn’t even bother
Matt: 1066
Gavin: That’s the Battle of Hastings, I know that one
Matt: Yeah you got arrows in your eye – awesome
Interviewer: If you could go back to any time in history when would it be?
Gavin: 1066! (laugh)
Matt: So you want to be shot by arrows?
Gavin: Yeah
Matt: Hmmm. I’ve always wanted to go back to the 50’s, but not Britain in the 50’s America in the 50’s, because I’ve fell in love
with the whole style, the cars, that almost innocent way of life it seemed to portray…
Matt: You were allowed to have a quiff! (It was) when denim truly was something unique and original – and tight! (Points to
Gavin’s skinny jeans) Yeah it’s the 50’s for me because y’know there seems there was this whole kind of transitional thing from
the previous industrial revolution, you know before the war and stuff. Something about the air of the 50’s was pretty cool.
Interviewer: What’s your favourite song from your back catalogue?
Matt: What’s your favourite song? (To Gavin)
Gavin: My favourite song…
Matt: It’s easier for him ‘cause it’s different
Gavin: I dunno, I’d probably say Escape Artists (Never Die) ‘cause its one of my favourite songs to listen to and a favourite to
play live as well. It’s always one of the highlights of the set.
Matt: Umm for me probably Roses For The Dead, there’s something about the whole way that song connects with the audience,
like Juneau does it to a certain degree but I think that entire song connects from start to finish with the audience and that’s just
like a nice feeling.
Interviewer: What’s been your favourite show on this tour so far?
Matt: oddly enough probably Dublin. Dublin’s my favourite show of the tour. It was just very, I dunno, there was just something
about the vibe. Yeah, it wasn’t the biggest show of the tour but we had a show that was really good in…where was the other one?
Gavin: Brighton?
Matt: There was something about the show in Dublin, I dunno what it was, it just seemed like everyone was in a party mood, the
audience were in a party mood. There was none of that kinda standoffishness you sometimes get in an audience, it seemed like
everybody was just having a good laugh.
Gavin: I think we were all drunk... I sure was, on Guinness
Matt: Well we had a local support band in Ireland, we didn’t have any of the bands we’re playing with on the UK leg – the
England leg, and erm…Dy’know there was just a bit of a weird vide. Weird in a good way, not a band way, though they probably
enjoyed it y’know, a bit less stressed. Y’know there was really no pretentiousness between us or any of the audience it was just
a cool thing y’know, just get down and play music. It was good fun – well that was my favourite.
Gavin: It was a good show man
Matt: It was a good show!
Interviewer: What was your favourite show of them all?
Gavin: Umm I kind of…I enjoyed that show…I enjoyed them all but…yeah, it all depends, like some of the smaller ones…
Matt: Yeovil…
Gavin: ...can be just as enjoyable…yeah Yeovil was good ‘cause I remember that one. We’d just come out on stage, just about
to start the song, Mathew falls over on the floor!
Matt: Yeah I fell over a monitor, monitor landed on me as well so, y’know, before the first song even started
Interviewer: How?! (Can it fall on top of you?)
Matt: Well it was a very compact thing and the monitors were actually on the barrier, so I stood on the monitor to get over the
barrier to kinda like check – You couldn’t, the room was so low you couldn’t really see anything past the first row, so I wanted to
check out y’know how far back the audience went, stuff like that. So I got up onto the edge of the barrier and the step wasn’t
very secure, so the monitor toppled and I went with it, flying down and I landed on my bloody shins which wasn’t the best thing…
Gavin: Brilliant entrance though
Matt: It did give the night the right mood to even everything out, it was a good ice breaker for want of a better word or phrase.
Yeah it was fun, quite compact and you couldn’t move but it was (fun)
Interviewer: So what’s your favourite show ever or favourite place to play?
Matt: Oh God! Ummmm….I’m taking into consideration various factors here, possibilities of what you can do round the show –
days off
Gavin: Australia would be one of my favourite places we’ve ever played
Matt: Yeah
Gavin: Generally because of the attitude there, the way the people are, the weather! (laughs) and y’know because it’s a
different place all together but erm…
Matt: My all time favourite place is Japan.
interview is History, We hope thats OK?
Matt: Fair enough…I hope its not questions about actual history!
Gavin: Yeah, we’re rubbish.
Interviewer: I thought about that but I though ‘I failed history’ so…
Gavin: Yeah I didn’t even bother
Matt: 1066
Gavin: That’s the Battle of Hastings, I know that one
Matt: Yeah you got arrows in your eye – awesome
Interviewer: If you could go back to any time in history when would it be?
Gavin: 1066! (laugh)
Matt: So you want to be shot by arrows?
Gavin: Yeah
Matt: Hmmm. I’ve always wanted to go back to the 50’s, but not Britain in the 50’s America in the 50’s, because I’ve fell in love
with the whole style, the cars, that almost innocent way of life it seemed to portray…
Matt: You were allowed to have a quiff! (It was) when denim truly was something unique and original – and tight! (Points to
Gavin’s skinny jeans) Yeah it’s the 50’s for me because y’know there seems there was this whole kind of transitional thing from
the previous industrial revolution, you know before the war and stuff. Something about the air of the 50’s was pretty cool.
Interviewer: What’s your favourite song from your back catalogue?
Matt: What’s your favourite song? (To Gavin)
Gavin: My favourite song…
Matt: It’s easier for him ‘cause it’s different
Gavin: I dunno, I’d probably say Escape Artists (Never Die) ‘cause its one of my favourite songs to listen to and a favourite to
play live as well. It’s always one of the highlights of the set.
Matt: Umm for me probably Roses For The Dead, there’s something about the whole way that song connects with the audience,
like Juneau does it to a certain degree but I think that entire song connects from start to finish with the audience and that’s just
like a nice feeling.
Interviewer: What’s been your favourite show on this tour so far?
Matt: oddly enough probably Dublin. Dublin’s my favourite show of the tour. It was just very, I dunno, there was just something
about the vibe. Yeah, it wasn’t the biggest show of the tour but we had a show that was really good in…where was the other one?
Gavin: Brighton?
Matt: There was something about the show in Dublin, I dunno what it was, it just seemed like everyone was in a party mood, the
audience were in a party mood. There was none of that kinda standoffishness you sometimes get in an audience, it seemed like
everybody was just having a good laugh.
Gavin: I think we were all drunk... I sure was, on Guinness
Matt: Well we had a local support band in Ireland, we didn’t have any of the bands we’re playing with on the UK leg – the
England leg, and erm…Dy’know there was just a bit of a weird vide. Weird in a good way, not a band way, though they probably
enjoyed it y’know, a bit less stressed. Y’know there was really no pretentiousness between us or any of the audience it was just
a cool thing y’know, just get down and play music. It was good fun – well that was my favourite.
Gavin: It was a good show man
Matt: It was a good show!
Interviewer: What was your favourite show of them all?
Gavin: Umm I kind of…I enjoyed that show…I enjoyed them all but…yeah, it all depends, like some of the smaller ones…
Matt: Yeovil…
Gavin: ...can be just as enjoyable…yeah Yeovil was good ‘cause I remember that one. We’d just come out on stage, just about
to start the song, Mathew falls over on the floor!
Matt: Yeah I fell over a monitor, monitor landed on me as well so, y’know, before the first song even started
Interviewer: How?! (Can it fall on top of you?)
Matt: Well it was a very compact thing and the monitors were actually on the barrier, so I stood on the monitor to get over the
barrier to kinda like check – You couldn’t, the room was so low you couldn’t really see anything past the first row, so I wanted to
check out y’know how far back the audience went, stuff like that. So I got up onto the edge of the barrier and the step wasn’t
very secure, so the monitor toppled and I went with it, flying down and I landed on my bloody shins which wasn’t the best thing…
Gavin: Brilliant entrance though
Matt: It did give the night the right mood to even everything out, it was a good ice breaker for want of a better word or phrase.
Yeah it was fun, quite compact and you couldn’t move but it was (fun)
Interviewer: So what’s your favourite show ever or favourite place to play?
Matt: Oh God! Ummmm….I’m taking into consideration various factors here, possibilities of what you can do round the show –
days off
Gavin: Australia would be one of my favourite places we’ve ever played
Matt: Yeah
Gavin: Generally because of the attitude there, the way the people are, the weather! (laughs) and y’know because it’s a
different place all together but erm…
Matt: My all time favourite place is Japan.
| Oct 27th saw Welsh rockers 'Funeral For A Friend' storm into Nottingham's iconic Rock City once again... Earlier in the day we grabbed a seat backstage, and talked History with Gavin (Bass) & Matt (Vocals)! |
Interviewer: Carrie-Anne Pollard
Interview Date: Oct 27th 09'
Location: Backstage At Rock City (Nottingham)
READ A FULL REVIEW OF THE GIG HERE
Interview Date: Oct 27th 09'
Location: Backstage At Rock City (Nottingham)
READ A FULL REVIEW OF THE GIG HERE
Interviewer: You’re going there with Finch in November
Matt: Yeah, yeah were going there, we’ve been over their must have been seven or
eight times now and it never fails to hit you square between the eyes
Gavin: Yeah its just very strange there
Matt: It’s kinda a cultural…well it’s not an anomaly because it’s their own. They’ve got
their own kind of culture, but in terms of the way they represent themselves and
present themselves, especially the youth, its unique in itself, because it’s a mix of all
elements of western fashion and cultural ideas into one ball, and its just kind of a bit
mad.
Gavin: Everything goes up
Matt: You know, everything goes up, nothing goes across its all up y’know (about the
architecture)
Interviewer: I’ve heard (off other bands) that everyone even queues up in the order
of the ticket numbers.
Matt: I’ve never heard about that but between every song everybody is like really
paying attention to it no matter what you sing about, it could be absolute bullshit but
they’re there like (stares straight forward) then there like (starts clapping) y’know
its…we’ve got used to that element and it’s definitely a lot of fun now and…Ah, they do
like y’know…I dunno, on some songs they’ll be like just chanting ‘Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi,
Oi.’. It’s weird but like – definitely Japan for me because it’s unique, there’s still very
much a y’know fresh perspective on it
Gavin: Yeah I’d probably say the same y’know I’ve only experienced it once so we’re
gonna go back… this month (Correction Note: November) so yeah I can’t wait to go
back y’know, its gonna be awesome
Matt: Jet-lag! We have two days off this time so…
Gavin: Jet-lag, yeah
Matt: We can go to the countryside for the first time and go find a temple, be awesome
Interviewer: What was your favourite band growing up?
Matt: Erm growing up in what way, in what way you know growing up as a teenager
growing up or growing up as a kid growing up ‘cause they’ll probably be two different
kinds of bands…
Interviewer: Both!
Matt: Erm my favourite band erm as a kid when I was about six or seven y’know that
kind of age probably was split equally between The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Erm
‘cause my Dad’s record collection was a huge influence on me when I was a kid ‘cause
my Dad used to play in a band erm vocally and I thought his record collection was
always…I would always like stick those records on when I was younger and I tried to be
John Lennon, sing Twist and Shout at the top of my voice on top of the sofa, running
round the sofa singing. Erm when I became a teenager I quickly discovered the joys of
Californian skate punk quite early on when I was a teen, ‘bout twelve, thirteen thanks to
MTV and my favourite band when I was that age then was probably bad religion
Gavin: Erm, mines a little bit different to Mathews. I’d probably say Guns and Roses,
that was like the first sort of band I really got into and kind of sort of dedicated myself to
them. I’d buy all their albums and sit in my room and play a tennis racket along to all
their albums and stuff, so yeah, it was probably them and then that led me on to sot of
heavier bands then like Iron Maiden and erm…what other bands…
Matt: Megadeath?
Gavin: What?
Matt: (Laughs) Megadeath…I never quite got into Megadeath
Gavin: Oh no I liked that, I just liked Iron Maiden when I was younger and then when I
got older I just…
Matt: When you were younger?
Gavin: Yeah I don’t like them anymore…but yeah, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera and
then I started to get into quite sort of like hardcore bands, and UK hardcore bands like
Stampin’ Ground and bands like that… yeah it’s all good
Matt: Knuckledust…
Gavin: Knuckledust, yeah
Matt: Yeah, yeah were going there, we’ve been over their must have been seven or
eight times now and it never fails to hit you square between the eyes
Gavin: Yeah its just very strange there
Matt: It’s kinda a cultural…well it’s not an anomaly because it’s their own. They’ve got
their own kind of culture, but in terms of the way they represent themselves and
present themselves, especially the youth, its unique in itself, because it’s a mix of all
elements of western fashion and cultural ideas into one ball, and its just kind of a bit
mad.
Gavin: Everything goes up
Matt: You know, everything goes up, nothing goes across its all up y’know (about the
architecture)
Interviewer: I’ve heard (off other bands) that everyone even queues up in the order
of the ticket numbers.
Matt: I’ve never heard about that but between every song everybody is like really
paying attention to it no matter what you sing about, it could be absolute bullshit but
they’re there like (stares straight forward) then there like (starts clapping) y’know
its…we’ve got used to that element and it’s definitely a lot of fun now and…Ah, they do
like y’know…I dunno, on some songs they’ll be like just chanting ‘Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi, Oi,
Oi.’. It’s weird but like – definitely Japan for me because it’s unique, there’s still very
much a y’know fresh perspective on it
Gavin: Yeah I’d probably say the same y’know I’ve only experienced it once so we’re
gonna go back… this month (Correction Note: November) so yeah I can’t wait to go
back y’know, its gonna be awesome
Matt: Jet-lag! We have two days off this time so…
Gavin: Jet-lag, yeah
Matt: We can go to the countryside for the first time and go find a temple, be awesome
Interviewer: What was your favourite band growing up?
Matt: Erm growing up in what way, in what way you know growing up as a teenager
growing up or growing up as a kid growing up ‘cause they’ll probably be two different
kinds of bands…
Interviewer: Both!
Matt: Erm my favourite band erm as a kid when I was about six or seven y’know that
kind of age probably was split equally between The Beach Boys and The Beatles. Erm
‘cause my Dad’s record collection was a huge influence on me when I was a kid ‘cause
my Dad used to play in a band erm vocally and I thought his record collection was
always…I would always like stick those records on when I was younger and I tried to be
John Lennon, sing Twist and Shout at the top of my voice on top of the sofa, running
round the sofa singing. Erm when I became a teenager I quickly discovered the joys of
Californian skate punk quite early on when I was a teen, ‘bout twelve, thirteen thanks to
MTV and my favourite band when I was that age then was probably bad religion
Gavin: Erm, mines a little bit different to Mathews. I’d probably say Guns and Roses,
that was like the first sort of band I really got into and kind of sort of dedicated myself to
them. I’d buy all their albums and sit in my room and play a tennis racket along to all
their albums and stuff, so yeah, it was probably them and then that led me on to sot of
heavier bands then like Iron Maiden and erm…what other bands…
Matt: Megadeath?
Gavin: What?
Matt: (Laughs) Megadeath…I never quite got into Megadeath
Gavin: Oh no I liked that, I just liked Iron Maiden when I was younger and then when I
got older I just…
Matt: When you were younger?
Gavin: Yeah I don’t like them anymore…but yeah, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Pantera and
then I started to get into quite sort of like hardcore bands, and UK hardcore bands like
Stampin’ Ground and bands like that… yeah it’s all good
Matt: Knuckledust…
Gavin: Knuckledust, yeah
Interviewer: What was the first gig you went to?
Matt: Erm the first gig I properly erm ever went to was probably to see The Eagles. My dad took me to see them,
that was in Wembley bloody Arena ah Stadium actually, I was fourteen it was one of the properly big gigs I went
to, you had to sit down as well which was kinda boring, but that time it was Eagles so it didn’t really require you to
have a circle pit (Laughs) My first well proper gig, like the way we play, like audience wise was probably erm a
punk band, or a melodic punk band called Gameface. They played TJ’s in Newport and me and a bunch of
friends of mine at the time were really in love with the band, they had an album out called Every Last Time and
we just literally all of us in the group of friends just played It non-stop. It was like one of those revelation records,
it was just like unbelievable to us and when we heard they were playing locally – they came all the way from
California to play the UK, we just went down and we literally… there were maybe thirty people in the room, and we
were all at the front and erm just our lot just fucking rocking down at the front, like with like nobody else, like they
were all standing at the sides and we were just rocking out and argh! Yeah they are still one of my favourite
bands; we actually covered one of their songs for one of our b-sides – erm, that was probably one of my first
ever proper punk rock gigs
Gavin: My first gig was erm R.E.M. I remember it quite well actually, it was them, Cranberries supporting them
and erm Delemitri
Matt: Delemitri (laughs)
Gavin: Delemitri, remember them?
Matt: Yeah course I do
Gavin: Yeah it was kind of…it was awesome, such a big spectacle as well when you first like – That’s the sad
thing about being in a band in a way because going to shows the magic kind of wears off y’know, because you
know too much about everything, but y’know back then it was like such an amazing thing, being in a place with all
these different people y’know.
Interviewer: What was the first album you bought?
Matt: First album I ever bought with my own money was erm Generated by Bad Religion. I saw them playing live
on Rock am Ring on MTV one time fell in love, didn’t know what albums they had, it was before the internet
probably even became use-able
Gavin: It was a step back
Matt: It was a step back y’know, you got your little cassette player thing y’know your cassette player in the car
and erm, it was the only one I could find in my local HMV…which is Cardiff really, a train ride away. It didn’t have
much in the way of stuff from those bands and it was the only one and I paid something like nine pound eighty
nine or something like
Gavin: I remember going to Our Price, remember that, Our Price? And I bought erm a Kyle and Jason single for
about a pound probably, crackin it was
Matt: Was that Especially For You? (both start singing Especially For You)
Gavin: Ah that, yeah not that cool, y’know (laughs)
Interviewer: How did you choose what songs to put on Your History Is Mine?
Matt: Erm y’know what we just kind of, all of us compiled a list of songs that we thought represented us as a
band from the last seven years. We kind of emailed them to each other and they were pretty much spot on
identical, it was a weird thing. We wanted it to be like a chronological kind of thing where it started from the first
song we ever wrote to the newest stuff we’d written so y’know…and it was just kind of all our landmark songs from
all our albums throughout the years and it was as simple as that to be honest. There was none of that kind of
crazy vibes into it like oh yeah, there was probably some songs that we didn’t initially would’ve liked to put on it
but…
Gavin: You kind of know what songs are gonna work best anyway y’know when you play them live, which songs
get a better reaction and y’know the songs that people feel more connected to so yeah, there were a couple of
ones at the end which we didn’t know, we weren’t quite sure of apart from that it was pretty painless
Interviewer: Do you prefer open air gigs or ones inside?
Matt: I prefer ones inside
Gavin: Inside definitely – for playing and watching, they always sound terrible to be honest, you don’t get a lot of
time to prepare you know when you’re playing a festival you basically get like twenty minutes to put all your gear
on, you don’t get a sound check or anything and it usually sounds rubbish
Matt: You get rained on as well
Gavin: Like in Reading, we got rained on
Interviewer: At least you know people are going to enjoy you if they’ve come to see you
Matt: Well yeah that’s the thing, you know when you’re playing an indoor, when it’s your own show predominantly
they do tend to be indoors so you know that, you know the boundaries of the room, how many people are gonna
be there, you know the kind of atmospheres gonna be potentially, with a big open air gig there are so many
possibilities that can happen that your brain never stops working as your playing
Gavin: Yeah
Matt: It’s something that you can never really shut down, when your playing to a room you just control it more
Interviewer: Well, that’s about it guys, thanks for chatting!
Matt: Thanks
Gavin: Cheers!
Matt: Erm the first gig I properly erm ever went to was probably to see The Eagles. My dad took me to see them,
that was in Wembley bloody Arena ah Stadium actually, I was fourteen it was one of the properly big gigs I went
to, you had to sit down as well which was kinda boring, but that time it was Eagles so it didn’t really require you to
have a circle pit (Laughs) My first well proper gig, like the way we play, like audience wise was probably erm a
punk band, or a melodic punk band called Gameface. They played TJ’s in Newport and me and a bunch of
friends of mine at the time were really in love with the band, they had an album out called Every Last Time and
we just literally all of us in the group of friends just played It non-stop. It was like one of those revelation records,
it was just like unbelievable to us and when we heard they were playing locally – they came all the way from
California to play the UK, we just went down and we literally… there were maybe thirty people in the room, and we
were all at the front and erm just our lot just fucking rocking down at the front, like with like nobody else, like they
were all standing at the sides and we were just rocking out and argh! Yeah they are still one of my favourite
bands; we actually covered one of their songs for one of our b-sides – erm, that was probably one of my first
ever proper punk rock gigs
Gavin: My first gig was erm R.E.M. I remember it quite well actually, it was them, Cranberries supporting them
and erm Delemitri
Matt: Delemitri (laughs)
Gavin: Delemitri, remember them?
Matt: Yeah course I do
Gavin: Yeah it was kind of…it was awesome, such a big spectacle as well when you first like – That’s the sad
thing about being in a band in a way because going to shows the magic kind of wears off y’know, because you
know too much about everything, but y’know back then it was like such an amazing thing, being in a place with all
these different people y’know.
Interviewer: What was the first album you bought?
Matt: First album I ever bought with my own money was erm Generated by Bad Religion. I saw them playing live
on Rock am Ring on MTV one time fell in love, didn’t know what albums they had, it was before the internet
probably even became use-able
Gavin: It was a step back
Matt: It was a step back y’know, you got your little cassette player thing y’know your cassette player in the car
and erm, it was the only one I could find in my local HMV…which is Cardiff really, a train ride away. It didn’t have
much in the way of stuff from those bands and it was the only one and I paid something like nine pound eighty
nine or something like
Gavin: I remember going to Our Price, remember that, Our Price? And I bought erm a Kyle and Jason single for
about a pound probably, crackin it was
Matt: Was that Especially For You? (both start singing Especially For You)
Gavin: Ah that, yeah not that cool, y’know (laughs)
Interviewer: How did you choose what songs to put on Your History Is Mine?
Matt: Erm y’know what we just kind of, all of us compiled a list of songs that we thought represented us as a
band from the last seven years. We kind of emailed them to each other and they were pretty much spot on
identical, it was a weird thing. We wanted it to be like a chronological kind of thing where it started from the first
song we ever wrote to the newest stuff we’d written so y’know…and it was just kind of all our landmark songs from
all our albums throughout the years and it was as simple as that to be honest. There was none of that kind of
crazy vibes into it like oh yeah, there was probably some songs that we didn’t initially would’ve liked to put on it
but…
Gavin: You kind of know what songs are gonna work best anyway y’know when you play them live, which songs
get a better reaction and y’know the songs that people feel more connected to so yeah, there were a couple of
ones at the end which we didn’t know, we weren’t quite sure of apart from that it was pretty painless
Interviewer: Do you prefer open air gigs or ones inside?
Matt: I prefer ones inside
Gavin: Inside definitely – for playing and watching, they always sound terrible to be honest, you don’t get a lot of
time to prepare you know when you’re playing a festival you basically get like twenty minutes to put all your gear
on, you don’t get a sound check or anything and it usually sounds rubbish
Matt: You get rained on as well
Gavin: Like in Reading, we got rained on
Interviewer: At least you know people are going to enjoy you if they’ve come to see you
Matt: Well yeah that’s the thing, you know when you’re playing an indoor, when it’s your own show predominantly
they do tend to be indoors so you know that, you know the boundaries of the room, how many people are gonna
be there, you know the kind of atmospheres gonna be potentially, with a big open air gig there are so many
possibilities that can happen that your brain never stops working as your playing
Gavin: Yeah
Matt: It’s something that you can never really shut down, when your playing to a room you just control it more
Interviewer: Well, that’s about it guys, thanks for chatting!
Matt: Thanks
Gavin: Cheers!
