It’s easy nowadays, to forget just how popular Menswe@r became during Britpop’s early years; the band performed regularly on Top Of The Pops and were seen as the UK’s next great export along with Oasis, Blur and Pulp. Now in 2013, Officers’ Jamie Baker talks to ex-Menswe@r frontman Johnny Dean in an exclusive and candid interview about the demise and the fallout from being at the centre of the whirlwind that was Britpop, being “missing” for 15 years and the gigs he’s putting together for autism awareness.

“I don’t own any Menswe@r records!”

S] Firstly hello Johnny, and how the bloody hell are you?

J] “Right now I’m wondering why I’m not doing a tribute to the Sex Pistols, or the Ramones, or the Clash. It would have been a lot easier than Bowie…”

S] It’s been years since we’ve heard anything from you at all (even to the point of having a website dedicated to finding where you were) can you talk to us about where you’ve been and what you’ve been up to and why the disappearance.

J] ”I’ve been on a journey that saw me facing up to self-loathing, self-doubt, self-blame, self-pity, anger, with myself, resentment, and regret. And I kicked every last one of those things to the curb. Except certain regrets. People who claim to have no regrets have either lived a very dull life, or have difficulty accepting they could ever have made mistakes. Regrets are what make us most human. It’s about having a conscience. Accepting responsibility. I came to the realisation that choosing who you surround yourself with is half the trick to gaining a happy life. The other half is having courage. Real courage is about accepting the truth and learning from your indiscretions. Understanding that saying ‘sorry’ makes you strong. There was nothing spiritual about this journey, that Deepak Chopra guff just ‘ain’t my style. That’s all about “avoiding” the truth, dodging responsibility, spouting holier than thou bull**it because you’re afraid of what might happen if you actually considered the repercussions of your actions. A lot of it seems to hinge on deferring responsibility to some great power in order to exonerate oneself of any blame when it come to committing wrongs. That’s a massive monolith of mammoth sh**. Cowardly. Easy. I can see why people buy into it. But self-awareness is important. You don’t get self aware by reading self-help books or re-tweeting the Dalai Llama. You get self-aware from getting “real”. You have to be honest with yourself and accept your faults and limitations, and then see if you can better them, or learn to live with them. Yeah, it’s been quite a trip. Basically I am the Britpop Ulysses…”

S] You’re performing the work of Bowie at a London show in June, how are you feeling in advance of the show? It’s been awhile ‘off the stage’ – is there anything else we can expect? Could we perhaps see a tour?

J] “I guess I’m nervous. I don’t have the best singing voice, and Bowie’s is immaculate. Bowie is my biggest hero. And I don’t have that many heroes. But he’s number one head-honcho in my book. I revere him for his effortless talent, his apparent dignity, his vision, his class. So doing a set of Bowie songs is fairly daunting. I’m hoping people aren’t expecting to see some kind of carbon copy replica of an actual Bowie show, because that’s not going to happen. Fun. That’s the point of all this. So if you fancy a bit of noisy Bowie revelry and maybe want to get involved, come along. If you’re going to stand there arms crossed and compare it all to the 1973 Hammersmith Apollo show you’re probably best off waiting to see if the man himself will do a tour at some point. There might be some more surprises on the night musically, it depends how I feel, and if I think the audience deserves it. Ha! As for touring, it’s a drag to be honest. I thought it was a drag when I was 23, so I doubt I’m gonna fall in love with it at 41…”

S] The show is in aid of the National Autistic Society – can you tell us a bit about your reasons for working with that charity and some of the work that they do. How else can people get involved?

“Autism is still fairly misunderstood in the UK. There are so many myths that people have accepted as fact and it’s important, to me, that people are educated about the condition. The National Autistic Society work hard to inform people about autism as well as giving those affected by it much needed support. Roughly one in every hundred people have some form of autism, so it’s not as rare as some might think. It’s my pleasure to help the NAS in any way I can. Anyone can contact the NAS if they want to do a fund raising event, it’s not difficult, how hard is it to write an e-mail or make a phone call? But just educating yourself about the condition is enough in my book. An hour or so of your time reading about it on Wikipedia, or the NAS website. Ignorance is not an excuse…”

S] You’ve talked a little bit recently about having Aspergers, and a few other luminaries, such as Gary Numan, have now started to speak out about living with the condition. Can you explain when you first got diagnosed, how you deal with it and is there any advice you can give to others..

J] ”Ha! A little bit?! It’s all I talk about these days! And rightly so! I think it’s essential for people with Aspergers to talk about it. Even more so if they are people in prominent positions. It helps to dispel any illusions people might have about us guys being helpless or unable to function or needing full-time care in order to survive. If encouraged properly, given the right guidance, tolerance and a lot of love, a person with Aspergers can excel. Fact. Since I could remember I had always felt different. I was very conscious that the way I thought was different to my peers. The way I interpreted the world. Information. Language. People. A lot of things confused me that seemed to leave other kids unaffected. At the same time I felt I understood certain things better, picked them up quicker. I would feel I had more in common with adults. When I was growing up, in the 70s and 80s, people were quite aware of full-blown autism but conditions on the other-end of the autistic scale were unheard of, especially in the UK. I had always felt an affinity with autistic people, some of the traits seemed to ring bells, but I ignored it. I can’t be autistic! I’m nothing like Rainman, etcetera, etcetera. Naturally the result of being undiagnosed led to depression, alienation, wanting to escape, drug abuse, meltdowns. I struggled. For years. Life was just a long painful slog. Everything just felt wrong and even worse, I felt, and was often made to feel like I was some kind of idiot loon. It was hellish basically. No one should have to struggle like that. I’m convinced to this day that certain people who I worked with back in the Menswe@r days have very little, or indeed no appreciation of what it was like for me back then. Even now. It was intense, just trying to keep things together was such a strain, a monumental task. Seriously, they have no idea. And when I hit walls there was very little support. They had their own self-generated ‘problems’ to worry about I guess, or maybe they didn’t care? They’ve certainly had ample opportunity to express any regrets. Understand I’m not bitter about it, just disappointed. Sad. Massive difference. Like I said, half the trick to having a happy life is surrounding yourself with the right people.

Eventually, approaching my mid-thirties I heard about Aspergers. It was like someone had turned the lights on. Bang! That’s it! Home! A few years later, after one of the worst bouts of depression that left me catatonic, I bit the bullet and sought a diagnosis. Enough was enough. I was tired of hiding from it to be honest, or in fact hiding it. Some people are dragged kicking and screaming into hospitals to be diagnosed with autism. It’s a shame. A symptom of a society that is intolerant, bigoted, and places stigma on mental illnesses or neurological conditions like Aspergers. I, however, felt nothing but relief. It was like getting off at the right station even though you were asleep for much of the journey. Home. And I embrace it. As should anyone diagnosed. It’s who I am. Most people go through most of their lives without knowing who or what they are. I’m lucky. So my advice to others, my fellow travellers in autism is this. Embrace it. Enjoy it. Live like you want to, and never let anyone treat you as an inferior, don’t let anyone talk to you like you are less of a person. You are a wonderful human being. You are extraordinarily precious. You are going to do great things. If you are a child or teenager, don’t worry, it gets better. If you are an adult, diagnosed late, then hold your head up high, you have come so far and against unbelievable odds you are still here. I know that path you’ve walked and I have nothing but utter admiration for you. Love.”

S] How do you feel about the legacy Menswe@r left behind and everything else that followed with Britpop at this point in your life? There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about the band, and people seem to forget you were ostensibly kids writing tunes for a laugh. The premise seemed pretty much at odds with the machinery inevitably behind the band and the britpop movement. To then go fu** the record company off, experiment and make a country album must have taken some balls. How did you get away with it?! Anything you regret looking back?

J] ”After Menswe@r split I tried my very best to avoid anything to do with it. I actually don’t own any Menswe@r records! We were given such a hard time, by the music press especially. Well, it was usually certain journalists. I understand that there’s a demand for music criticism, and criticism is fine, but a lot of what we received wasn’t even criticism. It was just people being nasty at the end of the day. Mean. Bullying. It’s endemic in British culture isn’t it, bullying? And the press are the biggest bullies out there. Which in turn makes it okay for people to come up to me in the street and be abusive. Sometimes physically. Some people might find that great fun. I don’t. I think it fu**ing stinks. People need to be more responsible. Picking on some kids for making music, having fun and getting a record deal is fu**ing dumb. Sure, if you don’t like the music, that’s fair enough,  just don’t listen to it. Easy. But getting personal? I think that kind of thing says a lot about the person writing that kind of sh**.  So having been put through the mill for daring to make some pop records I was a little bit reticent to get back in the saddle after we split. Over the years I’ve had conversations with people who loved what we did and inevitably the same question always pops up. Reunion? I don’t think so. But maybe something else…one day. I am however very proud of what we achieved. We took the music industry on, we had hit records, some of which I personally think are great pop singles. We made a mark in what may prove to be the last important cultural movement produced by Britain. We were as much a part of Britpop as our more successful peers were, our input can’t be ignored. I embrace it now. It’s part of me.

A lot of people still hold the misconception that Menswe@r were a manufactured band. This is because certain publications still push the idea. It’s not true. I’ve met people who were in nappies during the Britpop period who think they know better than me because they read an NME special or saw a blog by someone called BritModChamp. We manufactured ourselves. If you have a problem with that then you really should have a problem with just about every other band out there. Okay, so we looked good. And? If we’re going to go into the whole ‘manufactured image’ thing then it’s worth pointing out that two of the most iconic bands in British music history were far more contrived than Menswe@r. That’s right, I give you The Beatles and the Sex Pistols. Nobody told me what to wear. I pity anyone who’d try. The Pistols were put together to sell clothes! So let’s not have that discussion. It’s just silly. I think it’s lazy really. Just cribbing what someone else has written. Which brings me to the music. So apparently we were ripping off Elastica? Really? This argument usually arises because the person blurting it has heard one of our songs, ‘Daydreamer’. Point of fact. ‘Daydreamer’ is ripping off Wire. Not Elastica. And we were not sued by Wire like Elastica were, because ‘Daydreamer’ is influenced by Wire, rather than plagiarising them. I was actually introduced to Wire by Graham Coxon, not Elastica. Additionally, none of our other songs sound like ‘Daydreamer’. Again, it’s just lazy…and boring.

The second album is quite a befuddling thing really. A strange beast. Very much a cocaine and heroin record. I have difficulty listening to it. I don’t even regard it as a Menswe@r record to be totally honest. We didn’t set out to piss London Records off by making a country rock record. I was fairly unconvinced by the whole thing, but by that point I had passed the point of caring. It was a compromise, that album. Internally Menswe@r suffered from a lot of disruption. There were always factions within the band and it’s entourage. Sometimes it appeared the entourage had far more influence over what happened than the actual band members. It was very unhealthy. ‘Schizophrenic’ would sum it up perfectly. Looking back I can see that certain people were not team players, they wanted things their way or else. That’s how ‘Hay Tiempo’ happened. Absolutely. A compromise to keep people happy. It basically prevented the band from splitting in mid ‘96. That’s the actual truth of it. Matt Everitt’s sacking was the start of a shift in power, most definitely. He had always been the voice of reason, an anchor that kept the ship from drifting off into arbitrary territory. When the chain to that anchor was cut we were pretty much sunk. Ultimately we paid the price, London Records didn’t want anything to do with that album and I can’t blame them, so our contract was mutually terminated. Understandably, nobody else wanted to invest in Menswe@r,  surprise! And that was that. So we didn’t ‘get away with it’ at all.”

If you could have held things down without the industry and media pressures do you think you’d have taken the same experimental approach? Would we maybe have seen a kraftwerk-esque menswe@r record further down the line?

J] “This amuses me because I don’t view ‘Hay Tiempo’ as an experimental affair at all. The ‘mental’ part maybe. I think it’s fairly plodding, ‘pedestrian’ rock. Ostentatious. Self-indulgent to the point of being masturbatory. The kind of thing your (grand) dad listened to in the late 70s. I, personally, had always envisaged going down the Eno ‘Warm Jets’, Roxy Music, mid-to-late 70s Bowie route. Because that’s what I identified with. I’m British. And because it seemed more of a natural progression from ‘Nuisance’. And yes, a bit of Kraftwerk. You can hear this on ‘Crash’, a demo that appeared on one of the ‘We Love You’ releases. But like I said, pushing for that would have seen the band split mid ‘96. Definitely. Thinking about it now, I think that maybe we should have split. It would have made more sense. Less stressful.”

S] Apart from the Internet advances in selling and communication, what do think are the main differences for bands starting out these days. Is the ‘industry’ that much different at its heart do you think or do you think it has the same challenges.

J] “The industry is so different now. The physical market is pretty much dead. Over. The big wigs have had to do a lot of adjusting in the last few years, and I bet they’re still running scared because it’s only going to change even more in the next decade. The world wide web has completely changed the game. And I expect it to make more of an impact in the next decade, I’ve actually studied this stuff. There’s so much potential for bands to bypass the recording industry and the various businesses that feed off it. My advice to bands that are starting to make waves is this: do not blindly swim into the nets cast by record and management companies. Consider things very carefully before you sign anything. Remember the industry will be very different in just a few years time. The power is shifting. There are people out there who are perpetuating certain myths because if they didn’t they’d be out of a job. You don’t need them. You’ll need an internet connection, a bit of savvy, and a PA at the most. An administrator. They’re a lot cheaper and won’t make you feel like you’ve sold your soul to the devil.”

S] It’s been almost 20 years since the “Britpop” tag was coined. And we use the term loosely. Do you ever think we’ll see a movement in music, art, society, politics cross over like we did in the 90s come around again soon?

“No. Hand on heart. No. It’s a different world now. The web has changed everything. The Global Village has changed everything. They were innocent times. The last time we were so innocent I think. So, no…”

What types of cultural things are inspiring you right now? Music art or other. Are you working on or thinking of working on any new musical or creative projects (Brit pop gladiators aside). Are we about to witness a bit of a thaw session? Or is it strictly a one-off revisitation.

J] “I like it all. It’s all good. I’m not as bothered by contemporary music as I used to be. Strangely I think that’s made me happier, not giving a fu** about the Band of the Week. I go to more art exhibitions now than I do gigs. I used to be an art student. An “arty fu**er” as Matt Everitt would put it. I’d love to see people use the web more with art and music. It’s so accessible, no matter where you are. Smartphones. Tablets. There’s so much potential. So much. Excited. Who knows what could happen? Who fu**ing knows?”

For more information visit the official Menswe@r website.

Follow Johnny Dean on Twitter, find out more about the National Autistic Society, and buy tickets to his must-see show here.

Images: Hannah Goodwin

S] Hello! Could you start by introducing yourself?

B] ”Hi, I’m Buddy! I play trombone in the band Less Than Jake, and I jump around like a weird monkey.”

Have you just arrived at Groezrock?

B] ”I think we pulled in at around ten this morning, so yeah. We were at Monster Bash, a German festival right before this one, so we missed the first day, but now we’re here on the stinky final day.”

S] Do you think you’ll get chance to check out many bands today?

B] ”I already saw The Dopamines and some of Smoke Or Fire, then I had to go and get more coffee. Now I’m doing this, or I’d be watching The Flatliners right now. I need to look at the bigger list because all I know is what’s happening on our stage though. There’s gotta be somebody I want to see.”

S] How do European festivals such as this one compare to other festivals elsewhere in the world to play?

B] ”As far as European festivals go, they’re all comparable within each other. There’s always a huge tent, it’s kinda like a huge circus set up in the middle of nowhere. Festivals all over the world are kinda similar though, we played Fuji Rock in Japan, that’s a huge thing set up with a bunch of tents and a bunch of Japanese people instead of Belgian people. I really like playing the festivals though, it’s usually a shorter set for us too, it’s usually forty minutes and we have to cram it in. We just start to get warmed up and then it’s over. You really have to give it your all for the whole thing. People are always excited to be there, they’re usually wasted and having a good time.”

S] What’s it like as a band if you’ve got a new release to promote during festival season when all the crowds want to hear the ‘hits’?

B] “We’ve always been a band that doesn’t really play all of our new songs anyway. We’ve been a band for twenty years so we have so many songs anyway, so we kinda get all of the records out and say ‘we’re going to pick a couple off of each of these.’ With a forty minute set though, you always piss somebody off. When you have as many records as we do there’s always someone saying “Why didn’t you play what I wanted to hear?” so you can’t make everybody happy. You do have to put at least one new song on there though if you’re trying to promote something.”

S] What’s happening in the world of Less Than Jake with regard to new material?

B] “We did a couple of EPs that then came out as one record, on Rude Records over here. That came out over the winter, January I think, but the songs are kinda old already. We’re in the process of writing now, as soon as we fly home in May we’re starting to record at Roger’s house and we’ll do a whole new record. We’ve got fifteen songs done right now, and a cover.”

S] What can fans expect from the new album?

B] “An explosion of fantasticness! I don’t know, they can expect what they expect from us every other time I guess. It’s the same three chords with some horn parts and some good vocal melodies in there.”

S] You’re not going to surprise everyone with an experimental jazz record then?

B] ”No, it’s still very Less Than Jake. What I like about it is, the last two things we did were just five song EPs that were put together, whereas this feels more like a record. We took more time cooking the songs, it wasn’t just a case of throw it together, record it and put it out. The last one was kind of an orgasm writing session whereas on this one we made love to the songs a little bit.”

S] Excellent. Will that take up quite a lot of the year then?

B] ”Nope. We’re recording for the whole of May, we’ll get it mixed and mastered in June and then hopefully it’ll be out by October on Fat Wreck Chords.”

S] Can we expect to see anything of you in the UK in the near future?

B] “There are tentative plans to come back next February. I don’t know if that’s booked yet so I don’t want to start promoting it already, but the rumour mill can get started that we’re coming over.”

Do you have any plans to take any smaller, unknown bands out on tour with you at an point?

B] ”Not at this point. Not really unknown bands anyway. We’re doing a week long run with Bad Fish in August. We’re doing a couple of bits in June but that’s just on our own, and in November we’re doing a Fat Wreck Chords tour. That’s going to be us, The Mad Caddies, Masked Intruder and possibly Smoke or Fire. We were talking to them earlier, so we’ll see how that goes.”

S] If someone has been living under a rock for the past fifteen to twenty years and aren’t familiar with Less Than Jake, which song from your back catalogue would you pick out as “the songs that defines the band’s sound”?

B] ”Probably ‘All My Best Friends Are Metalheads’. It has a little bit of everything that we do, it’s got some rock, it’s got some ska. We have so many different sounds but that kind of blends them all into one song, for sure.”

S] Can you imagine doing a show and not playing that song?

B] ”We have. There’s a few like that. People get pissed if we don’t play ‘Look What Happened’ too. If you don’t play it people yell and scream and bitch about it. We managed to do a whole tour without playing ‘Metalheads’ before, people weren’t happy.”

S] After 20 years of Less Than Jake, if you had to give one piece of advice to anyone wanting to start a band and “make it”, what would it be?

B] ”Go and get your degree in medicine and become a doctor instead. There’s too many bands, you’re not going to make it, and if you do make it you’re not going to make any money because nobody buys records anymore. Just hang it up now, the fantasy is over. Don’t be in a band. It’s too late, you missed your window. I used to have good advice, but now that is actually my advice for anyone who wants to be in a band. Go an do something useful.”

S] What would you be doing if you weren’t in a band?

B] ”I’d probably be in a band. I do have a degree in psychology, maybe I would have used that. I’m using that by being in a band. I try to keep the eight people I travel around with all the time sane.”

S] Finally, do you have anything else you’d like to add for anyone reading this?

B] “Stop reading about bands and do something useful! Quit wasting your lives!”

“To do a project with Jesse [Leach] was a really big deal for me” – Justin Foley

Justin first explains how well all the bands on this tour are getting on with each other, “Recently the guys on tour have been doing a drinking game during the last song where they drink every time Adam D squeals and they’ve been going through like three beers a song every night. It’s kind of ridiculous. Everyone’s been having fun with each other.”

As a drummer we wanted to know what was going through Justin’s mind when one of our favourite tracks off the new album, ‘You Don’t Bleed For Me’ was being put together. “I actually wrote most of the music for that one. I sat around at my house, and came up with the riffs and when I brought the song into practice Adam and Joe jazzed up one of the riffs. The song kind of stayed as it was. I think Jesse really likes that tune and he’s really into the hook that’s in it and I think he’s really proud of that one. Just as a whole we’re really proud of the record and excited to be playing new stuff for everyone.”

With ‘Disarm The Descent’ being the band’s sixth studio album, Justin tells about his favorite track off the album and how it relates to the band as a whole. “I think in general, start to finish I’m really excited and happy with the record but for me personally the one that I’m most excited to play live and that I’m really the most proud of is ‘New Awakening’. I think that song is a good definition of the album as a whole and the energy on the record; just the vibe that the band was feeling when we were finally tracking again, it’s kind of the way we feel when we go out on tour and play. When we play it live, we have a lot of good sing-a-longs and it seems to go over very well.”

With Killswitch Engage being such an influential band in the metal world, we asked Justin how he feels comparing where the band is now to the success they’ve had recently with ‘As Daylight Dies’. ‘I guess it still feels very present now because we play those songs live and we get a terrific response from them. If you really sit and think about it, that was a very long time ago, but everything still seems very fresh to us, and the energy is still really there with those songs. I don’t know how to look at us yet, since we’re still going we kind of go forward and we have songs from the past that we play but we also have a lot of stuff that we just wrote and we’re proud of. So far everything we’ve played live has gone over just as well as some of the popular old songs.”

Over the past 10 plus years playing music together the band have gone through six albums, countless tours, and several lineup changes including their most recent change in lead vocalists. Justin talks us through the evolution of the band and how well they work together. “As a group, we try to focus on what we do well as a band. We know what our sound is and what our strengths are and we play to our strengths and work on the weaknesses. In general when you’re a touring musician and you play so many shows over so many years and you’re playing every night you naturally develop a tightness with each other so it’s an impossible thing to simulate unless you’re touring out there all the time. Anyone that’s been out there touring for as many years as we have will feel the same way; that they can connect musically with people on stage a lot more easily than before.”

Continuing with the discussion of the band’s evolutions, Justin talks about the recent change in lead vocals they faced from their singer for the past nine years, Howard Jones, back to the band’s original vocalist, Jesse Leach. “At first it was very scary because we didn’t know what we were going to do and who was going to sing and after Jesse expressed interest and we did the whole audition process, he was obviously the guy for it. As soon as we started moving forward with him, he put his vocals over the demos we had written and just in general getting in a room and playing with him, it was immediately exciting and rejuvenating and it was a huge kick in the ass that we were all really happy to get. It’s been so much fun and it’s great having him on the road and playing shows with him, I’ve been a fan of him for forever and to actually do a project with him was a really big deal for me.”

Anyone that’s ever been to a Killswitch Engage show can see how close the band is, and how well they work together. Justin discusses a recent quote from an interview with Jesse that says the band is a more cohesive unit than 10 years ago. “We’re unbelievably close, it’s amazing how much time we spend together. It’s good that we like each other so much because it would be hell if we hated each other, a lot of bands do it without getting along personally, but we don’t have to worry about that, we all have a great time together on the road. We’re with each other constantly laughing. It doesn’t ever feel like it’s a job out here so it’s pretty sweet.”

Moving on, we asked Justin if inspirations for his other project, The Blood Has Been Shed are different from his inspirations used when playing with Killswitch Engage. “It’s definitely different, when I was doing that stuff, it was a much different sounding band [to Killswitch]. Kind of all over the place and crazy, a lot heavier. You kind of have to approach each band with what’s best for them but in general the more you listen to and the more people you play with makes you a better musician in different ways. Like the Killswitch thing, I know what the band needs but you can always get a different perspective, so it all comes from being any kind of musician and just opening up yourself to as much music and experience as you can and using it on your current focus.”

With all the success that Killswitch Engage has experienced since forming in 1999 we asked Justin what some of the biggest challenges were of being in the band in 2013. “I think we need to make sure that we play the right tours because now that the record’s out we have to tour a lot. I don’t want to play in front of the same people constantly, it’s so complicated and things move so quickly now. People could forget about us in six months and if it happen it happens, but we’ve been so lucky that we’ve been able to go on for so long. Right now we feel good about it and we need to keep the energy up in our shows. That’s all we can control right now, what we do when we’re on stage. Which is fine because I think that we’ve been pretty good at that over the years so I think it’s a strength of ours.”

Justin tells us about the band’s plans for the rest of 2013. “We’ve got a US tour right when we get home from this one with As I Lay Dying. We’re going to be back in Europe for festivals in August. It’ll be a short run for some of the later festivals and after that we were going to tour some more. No confirmed line up yet, but I’m sure it’s going to be good whatever it ends up being. We’re just going to be on the road all the time.” When we asked Justin what outside of music inspires him he explains his love of baseball to us. ‘I love going home and watching baseball, it’s my favorite thing to do. I go home and lay on the couch and watch baseball, so I’m looking forward to that.’ When we ask if any of the other guys in the band share Justin’s love of the game he explains the rivalry between him and guitarist, Adam Dutkiewicz. ‘Adam and I hate each other when it comes to sports but we love each other the same way. I’m a Yankees fan he’s a red sox fan. Sports brings out the most psychotic in everyone.”

We ask Justin how he feels about writing lyrics like he previously did for Red Tide and how he enjoyed contributing to the musical process outside of drumming. “I haven’t written lyrics in 12-15 years and I’m more than happy to let Jesse handle that job. As far as being able to contribute something with guitar and everything I like that very much. I understand I’m not nearly the player the other guys are but whatever little bit I can give is pretty satisfying.” He continues by explaining how the entire band has a voice in the creative process “By the time a song is done everybody’s added something or had their opinion, whether it’s just arrangement or a specific riff or note in a riff. It really is a reflection of all five of us when you hear the end product.”

After playing the drums for so many years with the same band and touring so frequently, we asked Justin what keeps him inspired and motivated as a musician. “The fan reaction absolutely. Playing in front of them and hearing everybody singing the songs in different parts of the world, it’s amazing. It never gets old. No matter what kind of day you’re having when you get up there and see people with smiles on their faces singing your songs you can’t help but feel incredible immediately so that’s what does it for me.”

To end the interview on a (slightly) darker note we asked Justin what his weapon of choice would be in the event of a zombie apocalypse. “It would be Adam’s stage clothes because they smell so awful. If we somehow had a shield of Adam’s stage clothes’ scent no zombie would understand that we were human and they wouldn’t bother us.”

“You’ve got to keep going, roll with the punches and move on”

It’s brilliant having you guys in our city and obviously, Fibbers isn’t a huge venue. How do you guys feel about the smaller venues? Any favourites? Jasen begins by revealing that not only is this his first tour with DP, but it’s his first time out of the United States – massive welcome, Jasen! The new kid in town says that this is going to be very special to him and that all the venues will be favourites.

Instead of feeling the pressure of having three pairs of previous singers’ shoes to fill, he states that he has a “healthy respect and a great love” for the history and previous line-ups of the band he now fronts. “The best I can do is all I can do. I just do it for the fans.” And as fans, we certainly agree with that.

Cautious about bringing up any sore spots, we ask if after original vocalist Dave [Williams] died, there were any doubt for the future of the band. Mike starts by commenting on how lucky they all are and have been since the band started. “You never think that you’ll one day have to play without him. Never crossed our minds that he would be taken from the earth how he was. To quell any rumours or false reports; hyper cardiomyopathy of the left ventricle – that’s what killed him. There was no drug overdose.” The drummer explains how “you’ve got to keep going, roll with the punches and move on”. Indeed.

Keeping up the theme of potentially raw issues, our next question is how did the band react to the misinterpretations surrounding their song ‘Bodies’. Jasen tells how he, as an outsider at the time, understood it all. Stating that everyone is different and will interpret songs differently, his reasoning is sound and well founded. “If you’re crazy, you’re crazy. In times of tragedy, people want scapegoats. All we know is that this song was written about a moshpit, not violence.” Mike chimes in, “You don’t write a song for that! It was never written for any of that. The whole interrogation thing in Guantanamo Bay? Yeah, we heard it was played there at intense high volume, but then so was the Barney the Dinosaur theme tune!” It’s agreed that the band will still stand behind the song widely regarded as their most famous. They play it at the end of their set though, “We don’t want to blow the load to early, ya’ know?”

We discuss how the members have progressed throughout the years. Mike decides to comment on how the tools available (Pro-Tools, digital software) in making music these days have progressed, and how they can create new things. “CJ has always been chock full of riffs and Stevie’s a great writer too.” He compares Jasen’s writing style to that of previous singers and has described his effect on the band as, “Morena-mania”.

Before leaving The Habit for the band’s souncheck, the consensus from the veteran drummer and new singer on favourite track from the new album is ‘Anytime Anyplace’, a choice with which we definitely agree.

Soundcheck done and fish and chips in hand, I catch up with Mike outside the venue for a few more questions. So, who is the best artist he has personally worked with? He says it’s a tough one. “We worked with Nikki Sixx, that was kind of surreal. When you grow up being such a huge fan and then you’re in the studio, banging ideas off each other, playing drums and he’s giving you the nod of approval – he’s arguably the best drummer in the world so that was pretty huge for me.”

The second part of the interview is rounded off with a discussion on their upcoming 20 year anniversary – any plans? Mike just says that after everything that has happened, if the band can bring out another album and tour, (by which time, 2016 would be at least very near) then that would be happy. “We deal in terms of album and tour cycle, so if we can do that, after everything we’ve been through, that’d be remarkable.”

A handshake isn’t had, as Mike still has the grease from his chippy dinner on them. Savour it, mate, they were the best in York!

“I still need to do something creative”

 Mick Foley, also known as Cactus Jack or Dude Love is on a comedy tour of the UK. On this visit, he’ll be hitting smaller venues such as York and Bath. Two dates in, it’s going very well.

This isn’t Santa Claus’ (another WWE-related pseudonym) debut run as a comic. At the Montreal Comedy festival he was with hundreds of comedians under one roof in one hotel. At the Edinburgh Fringe, there were thousands. “All these acts just trying to get some kind of name and face recognition; I’ve got what they’re looking for! But I was chasing away my own fan base…”

He tells of his routine and that the show always contained a bit of wrestling material. He has worked on making the show as accessible as possible. “The fans do enjoy themselves, they go out of their way to tell me they do. It’s such a crazy, surreal world. The stories are fun, I try to create an atmosphere that’s welcoming and comfortable for everyone.”

As a wrestler, Foley has visited many of Yorkshire’s bigger cities such as Sheffield. We asks how the prospect of playing the smaller venues, such as York, sits with him. “I’ve been to UK dozens of times but never hit York. As I’m taking a larger role in WWE this year, I probably won’t have any extensive comedy tours of my own.” Mick explains that this may be the one and only time to catch him on stage in York. Cue disappointment! “I hear York has a lot of history and friends have told me I should definitely check it out. And if there’s anyone in doubt; I would not come to your city to not be good.” What a promise.

Apparently, the statistics are like this: 95 per cent of people (at the shows) know Mick Foley as a wrestler. The other five per cent are along for the ride. Mick reveals that even some of his best friends haven’t seen him wrestle, and they don’t even like the sport. “They like me, and they like the stories. The cookie story with DDP and Steve Austin [from his autobiography]; you don’t need any wrestling knowledge to understand how it would be awkward for a fully-grown male to lie naked in bed surrounded by several chocolate chip cookies!”

In terms of topics that might be discussed in the tour, we ask if the star finds it easy to bring current affairs into his routine. This is where Foley mentions bringing about world peace through big breasts, a motion with which we wholeheartedly agree, by the way. Foley says that he will probably incorporate this type of older stuff from when he first started into his routine for the York gig, since the people in this area have most likely not seen it.

What about techniques then? As a published author of children’s books and numerous autobiographical works, do any of the techniques bleed into the comic routines? Mick laughs: “Not to the extent of the children’s stories. Well similarities between writing and wrestling are pretty simple; you create a character that people care about and put him in a precarious situation and then you write them out of it. So you can do the same thing be it children’s, novel or wrestling match.”

Continuing on to examine techniques and challenges as Mick takes on the comedy world, we ask what advice he would give to people starting out in stand-up? “I don’t believe there’s a textbook anymore than there is for pro-wrestling. The most important is to get out there and do it. Learn more from failures, sometimes I would think, ‘Why am I subjecting myself to this?’ It can be a really emotionally difficult experience. Having shows that don’t go well, you appreciate more those that do go well.”

Obviously, working as a professional wrestler in front of thousands is very different to working a room of a few hundred for comedy, but we ask Mick to give his thoughts on the transition.“Yeah, it’s just you and a microphone. The audience will be courteous for a few minutes, but after that you better be good!”

As one of the busiest men in sports entertainment, we ask Mick to take us through a day in his life. “It’s hectic, is the answer the larger-than-life performer replies,“I’m busier than any of the wrestlers.” With his various commitments, including the charity work, it seems there simply aren’t enough hours in the day.“Typically, I get up, drive to the next town, added responsibility of post show meet and greets,” As opposed to letting around 1,000 people in to them before, these events have now been capped at 350 people per meet & greet. He divulges that he will also try to see some of the country this time around. “When I first came to UK in 1993 I took the rail system, got off at all the points I’d heard of in songs and stuff. But there’s been no time recently. So this time I definitely hope to see some more.”

Foley confesses that once he finished wrestling, there was a big creative hole that needed a fill. This was filled through writing, and through doing these talks at colleges. “I still need to do something creative.” That creativity has taken many forms. Indeed, alongside his new obligations for WWE, his own tours and new writing, Mick is also a prolific do-gooder; he has been involved in several Make A Wish Foundation events and sponsors seven children through ChildFund International. But since meeting with Tori Amos in 1993, and the founding of her charity RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) he has been active within it. We wonder how his charity duties have developed over time? “I wish I could say I do as much as I used to, but it’s not true. I started off for two years as an online volunteer doing so much, I didn’t watch TV for about a year! Every free moment, I was online, helping. It can get to be pretty draining and I realised at a certain point that I had to work, I couldn’t spend all my time helping. My role now is to create awareness, raise money as I did with my Wrestlemania raffle and as I intend to do with my SummerSlam raffle. $60,000 was raised last year, and I’m shooting for $100,000 this year.

“The guys who won the contest, couldn’t believe what they got! One wrote a great blog with the constant theme of ‘This can’t possibly get any better… but it does!’ The only problem was it looked too good to be true. They have a vacation of a lifetime. We want to extend it to four people this year, it’s you and three friends, not just two.” It is at this point in the interview that Mick reveals his intention to donate some raised money to a York-based charity that supports sexual abuse victims. We love you, Mick!

After a phone call on the other end briefly interrupts the chat, we get onto the subject of wrestling. Dean Ambrose, Shield and CM Punk are listed as some of Mick’s current favourites. Here, we take the time to reference a favourite moment our own wrestling history as Mick’s dramatic winning of the WWE Championship title from The Rock for the first time in 1999. That one really struck a chord with us for various inspirational reasons. Will this moment go down as one of Mick’s favourites?

“That was definitely, awesome moment.” There are hundreds of moments that must stand out within a wrestling ring. He occasionally has them sometimes in comedy too; when something comes to fruition and gets the reaction you thought it would in conception. “All of us are capable of more than we initially believe. So, I am glad I can inspire people.” Thanks Mick, you’re a proper legend. Have a nice day, and we’ll be seeing you soon!

 “I think we are still discovering our sound”

S] How are you looking forward to the UK dates?

M] ”I’m really looking forward to coming back. We’re very excited about playing Leeds.”

S] You’re playing Live At Leeds – near us – how important is it for you guys to get up north to smaller cities rather than just focusing on the bigger cities like Manchester and London?

 M] “I think it’s totally important. I always feel like people in smaller cities are more excited to see bands. I grew up in a small town on the east coast and would go to every show that came near me. Most bands would only do DC and then skip Virginia to go to North Carolina. Some of our rowdiest shows we’ve played have been in the Midwest. Hopefully it’ll be the same for Leeds.”

S] Outside of music, what’s keeping the band passionate in 2013 – is there a special location, for example where you guys will write?

M] “Home is pretty sacred to us. Los Angeles is amazing right now. The weather is perfect. Coachella just happened so loads of friends are in town. We’ve been touring for most of this year so I’ve spent a lot of time reconnecting with old friends. It keeps the old mind sane!”

S] What are your plans post-festival season?

M] “Writing more for our new album. We’ve already got a lot of ideas floating around. Now we just the time to go in and experiment.”

S] How will any new material that you are working on, expand on what you did with ‘Mondo’? 

M] “I think we are still discovering our sound. The blueprint was laid down on ‘Mondo’ but I know we want it to grow. Most of the material from ‘Mondo’ was never played live before we recorded it. We may take that into consideration when writing new stuff. Making it not only feel special recorded but also live.”

S] Is there a song that you are working on currently that you feel like defines where the band is at musically right now? How much can you tell us?

M] “That’s a tough question to answer. I can only tell you where I am musically right now. This is going to sound crazy, but I have been obsessed with Leonard Bernstein for the past two months. I’ve spent every night watching YouTube videos of him, or reading interviews. I think he is one of the most important musical figures of the 20th century. His attitude and understanding of music is incredible and I could listen to him to talk about music for hours. He is really giving me new hope in music and making me excited to share ideas, especially in a live setting.”

S] How do you feel about a track like ‘This Head I Hold’ now, looking back?

M] “’This Head I Hold’ almost didn’t go on the album. We thought it was too Pop in comparison to the rest of the album. However we left it one and it’s a our single. I’m glad we kept it.”

S] In the event of a zombie outbreak, what weapon would you use to defend yourself, and why?

M] “Okay. I’d go for a chain with a ball of spikes on the end. No, that’s not gonna cut it. The zombies are gonna get close if you don’t swing right. Knife? No, the zombies are too close to you as well. I’m assuming I can’t use a gun because that’s ‘cheating’ but a shot gun is ideal. So, I guess I’d say sword. Just remember to aim for the brain.”

“Everyone thought our band was over”

Before playing a large US tour, In This Moment will be playing a handful of shows in the UK, kicking the tour off in Norwich with fellow world-conquering rockers, Halestorm. With a loyal following and a great response from UK fans, we ask Maria how she’s feeling about coming back to the UK and the cold weather. “I’m from New York so I’m used to the cold, but right now I live in Florida so it’s nice and warm here but I think I’ll be able to adapt pretty quick. I love it over there; I love the UK, I love England, I love Europe. We haven’t been there in a while, for some reason on our last album it didn’t happen a lot so we’re definitely looking forward to getting back over there and getting back into the scene over there. The crowds over there are always so awesome and great and enthusiastic, I love it. We’re definitely excited.”

One great testament to the band’s success in the UK is their confirmation to play the Download Festival at Donington Park this year with such legendary bands as Iron Maiden and Rammstein. Maria tells us how excited the band is to be back at Download this year. “We’ve done Download before and it’s been one of my favorite festivals that we’ve ever done, ever. Obviously there’s a million amazing bands and the crowds are absolutely insane and the amount of people that are there is completely mind blowing so we’re definitely excited. You see all your friends at the festivals and anyone that you’ve ever toured with is usually there and then there’s parties at the end of the night with all the bands, it’s so exciting and wonderful. We’re really excited to be part of that again and to be able to experience that.”

Along with their upcoming tour, the band also have the success of their most recent album ‘Blood’ as well as a new single, ‘Adrenalize’. Maria explains the process of filming the video for this hard hitting and emotive song and the main inspiration behind choosing the track as a single. “We’re so excited, we just shot the video last week [a couple of weeks now, from date of publication -ed]. We shot it in this cool haunted mental asylum which is condemned now but it was such an interesting experience. We were there for three days and when we first got there it was super creepy. My dressing room was literally in the morgue so there were little body things to slide into but we burned a bunch of sage and lit candles and shifted the energy in there. The song basically represents how everybody feels tied down and feels like we have life and sometimes the burdens of things that we kind of lose ourselves in and that fire inside of us that makes us feel alive. This song is really about letting go of everything and setting ourselves apart from those things that hold us down and breathe whatever it is that makes us feel alive and gives us adrenaline and makes our heart race, so whatever it is that makes you feel that intoxication of life. Some people it’s love or drugs or sex or fast cars. Whatever it is that makes you literally feel like you are alive, that’s what the song really represents.”

With recent changes made to the band’s lineup and management, we ask Maria if there is a song on ‘Blood’ that defines where the In This Moment are in 2013 and perfectly represents them as a band. “That’s so hard, this whole album is such an example of everything we’re doing, there’s so many different elements that are so important in the album and ‘Blood’ really put us on the map. We’ve been a band a long time and the song ‘Blood’ shifted everything for us between new band members, new management, new everything with the sound, the new visual that we brought so ‘Blood’ definitely was a transformation thing, but I love ‘Adrenalize’, I love the video. I do think our song ‘Whore’ is going to go number 1 in everything, it’s going to be our next single. I think ‘Adrenalize’ has a good possibility of going number 1, I know it will be top 5 here in the States. I feel like they’re all so special and there’s something different and unique to them.”

After separation from their long-time manager and a change in line-up, In This Moment have gone through a difficult road leading up to the release of ‘Blood’ so we ask Maria how it felt to look back on the process that led up to all of the success of the album. “I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude and relief, and this is our fourth album and everyone thought our band was over. Our manager dropped us, our band members quit at the end of the last album cycle so we were that band that everybody thought was done. And then on this album coming out it was a brand new beginning, it was a fresh start in every way and we are the strongest that we’ve ever been and it’s happening right now. Everything that we’ve ever wanted is literally happening right now. I guess I feel a relief that all that hard work, all those years, all that believing is finally happening and that’s such a rewarding beautiful feeling. Sometimes I’m in awe and I can’t believe it and other times I’m like, ‘hell yeah I can believe it, damn right we created this, we wouldn’t let go’ and that’s what happens when you’re relentless and passionate and committed. I did learn also that sometimes suffering and the pain is such a gift because it really took our old manager and our band members quitting on us. Sometimes it takes somebody else giving up on you to really shift a new believing in your self type thing. It was almost a blessing that they gave up on us because it gave me this new fire, it gave me this overwhelming fire to say, ‘I have to do this I have to fight’. It was actually a blessing and it helped me to be successful, so you never know. And then we got all these new people that we’re working into this new machine and it’s so wonderful. I like to tell people that no matter who you are or where you are you just gotta hold on and do what you love and what it is you’re passionate about.”

Maria expands on how she feels the creative process through that difficult time strengthened her not just professionally, but personally as well. “Can you imagine, if I quit because all those people gave up on me? In that moment I could have chosen to given up on myself and this dream. Literally I would have given up on everything I’d every worked for. I would have given up and shifted my entire life probably working at a grocery store. All I’ve ever known is music and that type of world. I just really learned that it’s about self-worth and self-love and knowing what it is you’re going to achieve for yourself and for your self-love. You can’t place your value of who you are, what you are, what you’re going to do in other people’s hands. If somebody else doesn’t believe in you or doesn’t believe in what’s going on around you that’s their own task, that’s their own thing. Just learning about independence and self-worth and knowing what you create by yourself. If everyone else gives up on you, you just gotta keep trucking and pushing forward and other people will come into the path with you who do believe. I definitely learned that type of thing.”

While the band is focused on their new album and upcoming tour, Maria talks about their roots and how the band have changed and developed musically over the years. “It’s literally like night and day, it’s like from one side of the rainbow to the other. I think the most valuable thing I’ve learned is letting go of everyone else’s expectations; What we’re supposed to sound like, are we metal enough? Are we rock enough? Do we have a radio song? All of these things that we used to focus on I think they had chains on me. I feel like because it wasn’t real and I wasn’t being the artist I should have been, I was worrying about stupid things like, ‘oh is this song heavy metal enough to play in front of this crowd with these people’ or ‘is this gonna work over here?’. And I think when I let go of everything and I just said, ‘We’re gonna do our own thing, we’re gonna embrace this and we’re gonna make our own path’, and I think when I let go of that was the real beauty. I think people know when it’s contrived or when it’s not quite, what it’s supposed to be so I think letting go of what everyone else thinks and finding your own art is a real beauty.”

Maria explains what influenced the band’s visual approach to ‘Blood’ as a song (and video) and how the new album is breaking through stereotypes in the metal scene. “I grew up loving a lot of visual cool stuff. I loved theatre, like I loved Michael Jackson and Madonna, but I visually loved the hair blowing and the theatrical and I loved the circus and things like that. And I don’t know why until this last album I never thought I could bring that into this. And now I’m not afraid, I love the theatrical side of things. I want back up dancers and people are like ‘You’re a heavy metal band, you can’t have performers and dancers’ and I’m like ‘I can do whatever the f**k I want to do’ and I think that’s the beauty in it is being able to bring in all these theatrical elements. If I wanna dance I’m going to f**king dance, I’m not going to say to myself ‘that’s not heavy metal, that’s not rock n roll’. I’m going to say, ‘I am heavy metal I am rock ‘n’ roll, but I am me’. I’m going to do whatever the hell I want. I think that me loving this and embracing it and I really feel this and I’m passionate about it, people are excepting it because it’s not contrived or fake. We’re really embracing that side of it all.”

We ask Maria what inspires her at the moment, outside of music: “I want to be able to teach my son that he’s to follow his heart and follow his fire because we lead by example for our children, our people that we love. That’s probably my biggest inspiration. But definitely I love editorial fashion, I love how it kind of does what it wants, kind of f**k you to mainstream, I love kind of high-end editorial type fashion stuff. I love acting, art, poetry, paint I like candles. I’m into crystals and all that energy type of stuff, that definitely helps to soothe my soul. I’m definitely into film stuff, I want to create films. Whether or not it’s starting with a short movie or starting with whatever it is I gotta do but definitely I wanna get into producing films. After asking Maria when she would find time to get into the film industry with the band’s busy schedule, she continues ‘you just make time for things and a lot of times we have time off and I’m brainstorming and creating and writing and things like that, you just make time for things. You just got to make it all work.”

And to finish our conversation we ask Maria what fans can expect from In This Moment in the coming months. “I’m really excited for everyone to see the ‘Adrenalize’ music video, so everyone keep your eyes open. I’m so excited for people to see what we’ve created. We’re going to be on the road tonnes and we’re so excited to come over there to the UK and all of Europe and see everybody. We’ll see everyone at the festivals!”

“I just wanna make music. I want to be in the studio all the time”

At the end of March Celldweller makes a rare live appearance for 2013 in Sheffield for Resistanz Festival, and his enthusiasm shows, “I’m excited just to come to the UK!” He chirps. “I wanted to get over there and play for the longest time and I’m excited to actually be there.” Part of Celldweller’s love for the UK and Europe stems from our affinity for electronic music, compared to his homeland. Talking about the difference between American and European attitudes to EDM, he describes “I went overseas, it’s like the kids are there for the music. Almost everyone is sober and the music is the drug.”

With this in mind, Celldweller plans to bring the energy and unique style that his shows offer, but this time he’s straying away from big, full blown stages. “The show that I’ll be doing in Sheffield is a one man show. I’m now basically doing a mixture of a live performance and a DJ set combined.” The live band formula is something most fans may be used to, but it’s the fans he’s doing it for. “They want good sounding music, and it doesn’t always matter that there’s a full band up there.” This is a dude out to prove how memorable one-man shows can be, drawing on his past. “I remember seeing Aphex Twin in the 90s in new York, and it’s just one dude behind all these keyboards, and I was so blown away.”

Although 2013 has just begun, there’s still so much on for Klayton, who already has an overflowing plate of plans. First is the 10^th Anniversary of his debut album, which he is currently preparing a release for. “There will be a lot more content that people have not heard before as well as a collection of a lot of stuff that you can get in one place.”

Half his projects sound cryptic, wrapped in ambiguity and subtle hints. Other releases are more straight-forward, and will definitely get readers excited. “There is going to be a re-issue of the debut self-titled album, and some new tracks and that I think is slated for April or May.”

In terms of how his music is being made, big changes are occurring in his studio. “I’m actually in the process of moving over into a new [digital] environment, it’s a fairly big move but I’ve already started that transition.

“The second biggest thing that has really inspired my direction and some of my focus is not software, but actually hardware. I have been expanding significantly my modular synth set up which is all hardware based. Modular synthesis of all different styles from the extreme and crazy to the very warm and beautiful sounding type stuff.” With a new set-up for the new year, expect Celldweller’s sound to, once again, change the standards of EDM for 2013.

It is clear that there are a lot of projects in the works that Klayton is thrilled with, some he can say, some he can’t. One project he blurted has all the call-signs of a Celldweller classic. “There’s a track called ‘Re:memory’ and it actually ties to something I’ve not been able to announce yet.” At this point it is clear, even his secrets have secrets. Nevertheless, Klay tries to hint more. “I’m super excited about that piece, which is much more modular synth, almost the arpeggiated sounds of the seventies and eighties synthesiser era, that kind of vibe, and there’s a specific reason for that.” Like an episode of Lost, each answer begs for more questions.

One thing we can’t attribute to this man is an official title. Do we call him DJ? Producer? Artist? Entrepreneur? Over the past few years Klayton’s FiXT store has grown to be a huge presence in online retail, and it’s only getting bigger. “We’re still only at the beginning of what is happening, but we’re signing merchandise deals, we signed Bear to a merchandise deal, Nerdrage, BT, artists like that.” And it’s not just shirts they’re helping with. “We’re also doing PR for guys like BT, Static X.” It’s hard to go a few sentences without another huge name in industrial music being mentioned, and even harder to comprehend just how massive the site has become. “We are the world’s biggest EDM merch store, so if you’re looking for any EDM artist’s shirt or product you can find that.”

Although most of his work is still under wraps, a few hints are given to future works. “I’m working on a few completely different ideas, like tools to help producers. And I am expanding upon the ‘Wish Upon A Black Star’ album in a story-sense not even necessarily musically.” We also received hot-off-the-press info: “I’ve been working on a new album which I have not announced yet , as well as music for film and TV.”

One great thing about Celldweller is the diversity he creates with his music, as he explains, “I’ve never really considered myself industrial, I’ve never considered myself drum ‘n’ bass, I’ve never considered myself rock and I’ve never considered myself dubstep, I just consider myself, Celldweller” Although it can appear that Klayton’s attempting to transcend genre, what he’s actually trying to do is keep his sound fresh, new and evolving. “I’m pretty much doing a lot of everything, which allows me to be really flexible, keeps me entertained and, I don’t get bored doing just one thing.” So what kind of new noise can we expect in the future to keep us intrigued and entertained? “I’m taking things in a more sound design-oriented direction, and then also bigger orchestra, bigger guitar riffs, more experimental synths.”

Remixes are a big part of Celldweller’s sound, each one being as individual as his own music and something he treats with due respect, “I don’t treat remixes like some disposable, extra piece of music that I’m gonna cr*p out in a day or two, I treat them with just as much attention as I would if I were building my own track from scratch.”

So what else? With so much to do, you’d think the conversation would run dry. Instead he pours out more and more projects he’s working on. “I’m packaging new music with another new idea based around Celldweller that I can’t wait to offer to the world.

“I’m producing the new Blue Stahli album, we’ve already gone through all of his demos, he’s got ten solid songs and we’re already way onto production.” So he’s nearly finished a separate project altogether! Anything else? “I’m working on collaborations with Jim and James Dooley who I had featured on ‘The Wings Of Icarus’, which is a song which was in the ‘Real Steel’ movie.” Some fans may be wondering, “If he has time to do all these projects, then why can’t he tour?” Klayton explains: “I just wanna make music. I want to be in the studio, because once you get in the groove producing, it’s so much easier to produce more content, and stopping and leaving and getting sidetracked by other projects and things, it derails you.”

New sounds mean new inspirations, and for Celldweller computers have been a huge help. “Obviously with the advent of the internet and especially places like YouTube, I’m learning so much more, much more quickly now, by watching somebody else do it watching somebody else experiment with something.” But it’s not the just the how, it’s the what and why. “I’m constantly scouring the web for new visual things that I love, and that’s kind of like what shapes the worlds in my head that I’m basically scoring.” Technology is obviously a big part of Celldweller’s sound, but sometimes it’s the people behind the tech that really interest him. After reading the Steve Jobs biography, Klayton describes his reaction, “I was like ‘wow this guy I idolise was pretty much a d*ck’ but you can’t take away the fact that he also propelled apple forward, so I was inspired by that by going “you know what I would love to be part of something and build something that has a tremendous amount of clout, but I wouldn’t approach it the way that he did. Just take the d*ck element out of the equation.”

Celldweller has already built something huge, but by the sounds of it, things are only going to get bigger.

“‘With ‘Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow’, we found our sound”

S] What are the plans you’ve got for the rest of this year?

L] ”We’re going back to Europe. As many places as we’ve been before really. We really just want to keep as busy as possible. We were in America last year, and so we’d like to go back there. It’s an exciting time for us now. Also, we’ve got festivals coming up here in the UK, so that should be great. Obviously, we’re going to be looking ahead to recording another album too which is exciting.”

S] How do you look back on the success of ‘Maybe Today, Maybe Tomorrow’ last year and what that did for your career?

L] ”I think we just feel very proud. I think that this album has been our most successful to-date, and I think now, that we have “cracked” our sound, and from here on out, we know where we want to go.”

T] ”Yeah, I think that we will definitely look back on the album as the one where we found the sound that we have been aiming for. We worked on it for about three years, constantly re-writing stuff, so it’s nice to know that it’s all worth it!”

As a successful band in 2013, what would you say that your biggest challenges are?

L] “I think that our biggest challenge, really, because we’ve been lucky enough to gain a decent following in a number of places, is to maintain that. The UK and Europe is easy enough, we think, but with America, we need to be smart about when we go back there. It’s expensive to tour America, so when we do it again, we’ve got to do it right!”

And now, for some video…yeah!

In our latest interview we were able to chat on the phone with Rory Loveless from Sheffield indie duo, Drenge. The pair of brothers are about to embark on a UK tour with female rock duo, Deap Vally and have recently been recognized for making their own music videos for some of their songs, including ‘Dogmeat’ and ‘People In Love Make Me Feel Yuck’. Rory talked to us about their future plans, their musical upbringing, and some of their own favourite upcoming bands.

“We just play drums and guitar and sing”

We asked Rory how the guys were feeling about their upcoming UK tour with Deap Valley. “I don’t know, a little nervous I guess ’cause we haven’t met them yet, but from what I’ve heard, they’re pretty hardcore and we’re just two kids from the country who just you know do nothing apart from play guitar and drums and they seem pretty all out rock ‘n’ roll.”

Drenge seems to use a combination of different sounds to achieve a successful and awesome result so we asked Rory if he thought any of their influences came through in their music. “We listen to all kinds of stuff really and I don’t know what comes through and what doesn’t. Like, I listen to a lot of jazz and I don’t know how much of that comes through and people tell me the drums sound a bit jazzy, but then we get people saying, ‘Oh you sound like Fugazi but I’ve never listened to any Fugazi, and I don’t know, my brother listens to more soothing music so yeah I guess it does for him, but for me I don’t think it does.”

Rory describes the inspiration and thought-process behind the band’s self-made video for ‘Dogmeat’. ‘There’s a lyric in there that goes, “West Street girlies dance like this”. West Street is this street in Sheffield that’s got all the clubs and bars and it’s just full of drunk people. So we just thought, we’re going to go out and film that for our music video and we did. We went out and it was a bit too early so there were either people who were really drunk and most people were just sober so we got about two minutes of footage which is about the length of the song. We managed to stretch it out.”

Rory explains his and Eoin’s upbringing and how they got into playing music together. “Our dad plays sax and listens to a lot of jazz so I stole a couple of his records, our mum not so much. We used to go to piano lessons together when we were four and five years old and just kind of played music ever since then, so it kind of grew up from there. Eoin went onto guitar and I went on to drums. And just continued playing music together really and we’re still doing it now.”

Although Drenge only have a few songs out at the moment, we asked what influences the writing process for the brothers. “I think Eoin usually gets in a bad mood and goes ‘I’ll just take this riff that I come up with now and put some bad mood lyrics to it and just be in a bad mood’, and sometimes we’ll come up with like a really happy song. There’s no real formula for writing songs I don’t think. They just seem to happen in different ways.”

Rory explains the differences and similarities in the boys’ musical tastes. ‘We mostly agree on what’s good and what’s bad, but now and then I’ll play something to Eoin and he’ll just leave the room and I’m the same for Eoin as well. There’s some pretty bad things that we listen to, that we just can’t agree on. There’s this song by Drake called ‘Say Something’ that Eoin just harps on about and I just, I’m not into that.

We asked if, being brothers, the guys have any hobbies that they like to do when they’re not playing music together. “Yeah we make a zine, which hopefully we’ll be making a few copies for the tour. I don’t know, I mean watching like box-sets is pretty awesome, I guess but it’s not really a hobby is it? We’re just boring people and it’s all we do. We just play drums and guitar and sing and watch box-sets and make zines and do nothing else. I do a bit of drawing but it’s not really serious.”

We mentioned that we weren’t going to ask any questions about the Gallagher brothers (Oasis) and Rory seemed relieved. “Oh no, that’s such an awful question,” he says. However we asked if they had a favourite famous duo, related or not. “A famous duo? I was gonna say The Chuckle Brothers but they’re not actually that good are they? That’s just like a quirky answer, they’re actually pretty awful. The Two Ronnies. Laurel and Hardy; we’ll settle with that, Laurel and Hardy.”

Drenge just finished two weeks of recording so Rory explains to us when we might be able to hear the result. “I think the end of may or early June, something like that but that is like a really flexible answer. We actually have no idea but hopefully they’ll be out before summer is in it’s full swing.”

We asked if there were any up-and-coming bands that they guys are into and would want to share with us. “There’s a couple from Sheffield; Blood Sports they’re like a three-piece like African vibes punk noise band who are pretty cool doing their own thing. Flaming Skulls who are a bit metal and are just rock and roll as hell. Desert Motel Club are what Eoin recommends. I haven’t seen them but from what I’ve heard they’re pretty good. That’ll do for now.”

Finally, Rory explains what’s next for Drenge. “Hopefully we’ll be playing a few festivals but I don’t know which ones I can say we’re doing. We’re doing Bestival but we haven’t been announced for any others I don’t think like Great Escape in Brighton, and Beacons. Yeah just playing a couple more gigs and then who knows? Hopefully there will be a new album out!”