S] Talk us through the inspirations behind the track ‘Howl’? 

K] “Lyrically, it was inspired by a John Donne poem called ‘The Flea’, which is about the universal, ageless, timeless yearning and frustration of wanting it, and not getting it.”

S] What about ‘Orthodox’ on the whole; what inspirations went into that? 

K] “An unbelievable and almost dangerous amount of Earl Grey, loads of over-thinking, writing some songs here and there and about 10 days’ worth of anti-depressants.”

S] Do you have a favourite space or location to write in, or a time of day that inspires you most – if so, can you tell us more?  

K] ”It changes, and depends on where I live. In Santa Barbara, I used to write only during the afternoon, but then I moved into a small house in Eagle Rock by myself, and I found, I would only write early mornings or very late at night. I’d start at 9pm and go until 2am or 3am, wake up at 9am, and then write until the early afternoon. Another thing, is that I write collections of songs in creative bursts. I usually only write songs in clusters so they can fit into a collection. What happens is I’ll go a second without writing at all, and then before I know it I have 20 songs finished. Around four songs in, I title the collection. Some of the past titles have been ‘Bleak’, ‘Revelation Revelation’, and ’Moonfire Riot’. I’ve always been like that. So then what you end up with is a collection of songs that serve as a time stamp of who I was as a person, and what I was going through at that time.”

S] Did you find the truth that you were looking for through the new record? 

K] ”When all was said and done, the one I thought I was chasing changed. But as soon as I realised that, I found eight other kinds of truth to run after. There’s a beautiful and almost powerless discrepancy in how you plan life, and how life actually turns out. You always have to search and work with an open-mind, and never, ever try to control and choke your future.”

S] How are you looking forward to the Euro dates with The Pumpkins? 

K] ”I can’t fu**ing wait. It’s a dream to be playing shows with them, and it’s a dream to be able to see all those different parts of Europe. We are very lucky.”

S] How have you enjoyed playing some UK shows in the past? 

K] ”We’ve been to the UK once, and have met some of the kindest and most loyal fans there. The experience was unforgettable and brilliant, and we are unbelievably excited to come back.”

S] You’ve toured with a diverse range of acts, so are there any UK bands that you’re particularly enjoying right now?

K] ”Arctic Monkeys are one of my favorites, and I think their record ‘Humbug’ is great!”

S] As a signed band that tours regularly, what are the band’s biggest challenges at present? 

K] ”Trusting we are on the right path, getting as many people to hear the music as possible, and believing everything happens for a reason.”

S] What are your plans for the rest of the year, following summer? 

K] ”We will tour America in the fall, and work on the next record.”

S] If you could come up with a Frankenstien’s monster for the Beware Of Darkness sound, what would it be and why? For example, the head of Deftones, the arms of Jet and the legs of Bush, for example? 

K] “The head of Sylvia Plath. The eye of Bob Dylan. The nerve system of Fiona Apple. The cock of Kanye West. The legs of Bowie. The arms of White Stripes. The upper body of Led Zeppelin. The torso of Stevie Wonder. The tongue of Bill Withers.”

The Leeds trio – Paul Southern [guitars], Duncan Thorpe [bass], and M [vocals] – and their enviable rack of analogue and digital drum machines purvey a kind of emotionally-charged, oppressive sonic poetry examining the human condition in its most naked of states. Loosely connected with the burgeoning independent scene that sprang forth Lebanon Hanover – a brooding synth duo from Sunderland who have already made a name for themselves on the chilly dark-wave underground – The Anxiety Of Love are at once arcane and direct, archaic and timeless. Commanding the contrary, suffocating ambience of early 4AD artists and to a lesser degree, the Manchester contingent, theirs is a sound for very feeling carried dormant within each of us as we make our way across the day.

We caught up with singer and lyricist M shortly before the band’s first official gig last week. Featuring three well-versed individuals of the underground scene with ties to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Joan Of Arc Family, we were curious as to how the band came to fruition: “I think it was a long time brewing and was of vital personal importance to get off the ground. Both Paul [Southern; guitar] and I are inspired and driven by things that a lot of people don’t want to have to expose about their lives and their feelings about life, yet it’s not really an urge driven by choice necessarily more of overriding compulsion as was the case.” It is a telling mission statement. In the same way that Sarah Kane wrote starkly about her surroundings in near-brutal plays ‘Blasted’ and ‘Crave’, The Anxiety Of Love are something of a force of nature, a musique concrète for the disenfranchised city dweller. “[Our music] does in part reflect our surroundings, which aren’t particularly joyous or inspiring let’s say, but it is inward looking”. While it is no misnomer to consider their music bleak, M stresses a humanitarian empathy to what they do. “Misanthropy for the sake of itself is stupid; there is hope and humanity in it too. It’s not dismissive to consider what we do to be gloomy. It is. I don’t however think we choose to wallow in it, which is what separates us from others in some ways.”

Mark Twain once wrote that emotion is at its most sincere when involuntary, and with this mind we asked M about the evolution of the band’s direction and aesthetic. “I think the underlying notions were already fully formed yet the sound wasn’t. I think you shape a picture in your head of the people who blew you away first time round, people like Cocteau Twins, and it’s very hard to follow that, so we don’t.” After aborted rehearsal attempts, the trio entered the studio anew: “relatively blind and wrote and recorded on the spot, given a very limited and tight time frame, and yes, it worked against the odds. That’s how we’re pursuing it right now. To me personally, the writing process is the soundboard and yes, if it happens, what comes live will follow.”

December saw the band release their hand-numbered cassette-only debut ‘One’ through German distributor Aufnahme + Wiedergabe, a DIY mail order label fitting with the bands own sensibilities: “I really loved and indeed love their ethos: both super cool guys and with a real knack of playing the system which works. They fitted perfectly with my own views on how a body of work should be administered; this is rather oblique but, to me, pretty straightforward.” Recorded alongside a disinterested house engineer, it featured four vignettes of cerebral, drum-machined post-punk noise centred on M’s yearning and often impenetrable lyrics. It isn’t an easy listen and demands a lot from you, patience and persistence. If you are prepared to put the work in, those songs really can align themselves with you. Part of a wider “cottage industry” of labels and artists utilising new social media in the release of “old” platforms – cassette, vinyl and things that move and whir – the bands dedication to the aesthetic of their art and its merchandise is inspired.

The veritable feast of equipment at the band’s disposal – those wonderful things called drum-machines that would have every bed-bound teenager with a synthesizer salivating copiously – has already raised eyebrows amongst those in the know. Despite this, M is aware of the band’s physical and technological limitations both the arranging and performing of the material: “We’re subject to our own limitations. The drum machine is a tool, and it structures things tightly, maybe a bit too tightly at times. We use a duo of Roland 626s, which are very uncool, but if you tweak them sufficiently they can sound harsh as fists and not the soft jazz they were designed for.” Preparing for live performances in this manner of brought about its own obstacles, but after the band’s mostly triumphant set in Newcastle last Friday (in spite of power failures), The Anxiety Of Love continue as a forward-looking, uncompromising musical force. Theirs is a rather iPodded kind of world: a musical form that can synchronise itself with the listener, projecting something of himself in the face his immediate surroundings – an intersection between the warmth of humanity and the harsh “non-places” we find ourselves passing through.

With much of 2013 still in waiting, we parted company with a brief note on the bands future. With the arrival of second cassette ‘Nausea Libido’, more singles will follow in quick succession before they “start work on something more complex. Maybe some more performances and some in mainland Europe would be nice too”.

For information on the band and fellow labelmates, visit this address: http://aufnahmeundwiedergabe.bandcamp.com/

Preview the new single here: Deaf & Dumb

In our most recent spotlight interview, we have an entertaining chat on Skype to Hugh Donlon and Joe O’Connor of four-piece Irish indie band, Third Smoke. We talk to the guys about their upcoming UK tour, the band’s self-made music videos, and plans for the future.

To start we asked how the band got their name. Vocalist, Hugh explained how the idea came about. “We came up with Third Smoke because a couple years ago we were sitting in exams and I was doing a French comprehension about trench warfare oddly enough. Instead of dealing with the question at hand I was daydreaming about coming up with a band name. There’s a superstition that comes from trench warfare that it’s bad luck to take the third light of a cigarette if you’re in a group of people smoking socially. The reason that came about was if you’re in the trenches back in the day and getting the light of a smoke the first person to get theirs lit would catch the attention of an enemy sniper, the second light he’d take aim and then on the third one (Lead guitarist, Joe makes a popping noise), yeah he’d shoot. And that’s what I was thinking about during my exams instead of actually dealing with the exam at hand, and we ran with that. Also I think a third of the band members smoked at the time so we thought, ‘oh yeah, that’s really cool’.”

With very catchy and vocally dominant songs, we asked how the recording process for the vocals comes about. Joe explains, “We get a main vocal and we find that if there’s just one vocal and no harmony it lacks a fullness to the overall song so we usually start just messing around with one person coming in then another person.” Hugh adds, “I suppose in the recording process one of the things we’ve gotten fond of doing is getting all of us in around one microphone and singing at the same time to get a big crowd as opposed to putting one vocal down one after the other so to kind of make it more authentic. On our EP we got in maybe 20 of our friends to hang around the mic for a much bigger chorus. In the main vocals a lot of times we’re trying to get better at singing so we progressively write songs we can’t sing and then use that song to teach ourselves how to get better.”

The band has put up several of their own self-made music videos on YouTube, all with a very light-hearted and comical feel. Hugh tells us what inspires the ideas behind their videos, particularly for their single ‘People Are Messy’ which thematically we are told, is “kind of an observation of how things happen throughout life, it’s like a patchwork quilt of everything that would be happening and it all effects who people are and how they make decisions. The chorus is an optimistic take on it anyway even with all that mad stuff happening, good stuff will happen.” Of the video, Hugh reflects: “It was maybe five months in the making. We finished writing it and then we decided it was going to be recorded and a single. And from that point we were trying to come up with the idea. That was many a drunken night’s shooting the banter and coming up with some stupid ideas. And we spent a lot of time coming up with a way to tie them all together that would make sense for anybody watching it. There was a good bit of thinking on it but then there were a lot of random ideas that came about out of nowhere. In doing the videos we got struck by the fact that in a lot of music videos there’s this idea of presenting people as super-cool and super-removed from everybody else because they’re so ‘edgy’, which I think is not very cool or real. So for us we tried to present it more like what we actually are like; kind of silly and we take the piss. There are serious undertones in the video in terms of content, but we just did it in the most light-hearted way possible, it’s how we deal with musical ideas generally. So we try to deal with things that are actually relevant to us but we don’t take ourselves massively seriously.’ Joe adds, “There’s a fine line between trying to be funny with a little bit of seriousness. We don’t try to be the funny band or try to be a ‘sunglasses and women on either side’ kind of band.” Hugh adds.

The guys explain the process of recording their EP ‘Tell A Friend’? Joe says, “We recorded most of it at the end of 2010, it took just a week. We did a week of recording and just got friends in.” Hugh adds, “It was about a week just slapping down tracks, then we got loads of people in and were experimenting and stuff with a crowd which we’d never done before. So there was a load of people management that we weren’t aware was going to be as difficult as it was. When you bring like 20 people into a room they get fairly distracted and you’re like “We’re paying on the hour, come on let’s just do this and get it done!”

Tofinish our conversation Hugh explains what we can expect from Third Smoke in the future. “We’re going to be in the UK the first week of April, I think we’re hitting Manchester, London, Liverpool, and a lot of places we haven’t been before so I’m looking forward to that. And then when we finish that we’re coming back to Ireland and launching a new single called ‘Peacock’ which should hopefully have a video out for end of April depending on how much we get our s**t together. And before we release the single we are releasing a big cover video that we’ve been working on behind the scenes. It’s Disney themed, there’s a Disney connection to the song we’re covering. And that should be out at the start of April if everything goes according to plan. That’s short term, I suppose long term we’re aiming to have an album out in 2014!”

S] You’ve said that there is a loose story based around all of your songs, where do you get the influence how do the stories come to you?

RI] “It’s just things that I see everyday. Beautiful simple things, really. I like writing songs about situations that are so common and specific, it’s the stuff that people take for granted and no-one tends to write about that inspires me.”

S] How does the process of putting to music to lyrics come about?

RI] “Recently, I’ve just been sitting with an acoustic and strumming a few chords out while I get lyrics here and there, but it just depends on where the inspiration comes from first.”

S] On your Facebook you post a lot of pictures of food that you make, would you consider food to be a passion? 

RI] “[Laughs] What can I say? I like to cook!

S] You have a blog, Twitter, and Facebook. Do you find social media to be helpful not only to promote your music, but to close the gap between celebrity and fan?

RI] “To me, that’s the more important of the two; bridging that gap, for your fans to feel like they genuinely know you first hand and are in tune with who you are as a person just as much as they are with your music.”

S] Your lyrics and beats can easily hold up on their own, what made you decide to learn the guitar to add an extra element to your music?

RI] “Ah thanks, that’s very kind of you to say! Well, I listen to rock and indie-based music probably more than I do hip-hop and grime, so I think it was a long time coming! It felt really natural for my to start playing live drums, bass and guitar, if you listen to the kind of music I was sampling during my “rapping only” days, I think you can really hear that I wasn’t into just your run of the mill hip hop and grime beats.”

S] Do you think that the combination of performing, writing, and producing for other artists has helped you get a wider collection of influences?

RI] “Oh, it definitely has. When you’re collaborating they’re always going to show you people they’re into, new people they’ve discovered and even just the way they’re used to working introduces you to new influences and ways of doing things.”

S] What keeps you inspired and motivated outside of music?

RI] “Believe it or not, it’s anime. I’m an extreme anime and manga fan, and I find the sheer creativity and rich character and plot developments that you find with a lot of the stories really  inspiring. What motivates me is just the desire to get the world to hear my work. Simple and plain!”

S] No sleep for winners. Do you really believe that?

RI] “I do. It’s what I live by. A 19-hour work day  is the norm in my world!”

S] After your launch party and headline show in London this month, what can we expect from Random Impulse in 2013?

RI] “My first proper single is dropping just after ‘Overload’ which I’m really excited about, then more singles, my debut album, festivals and my own tour at the end of the year!”

The ‘Overload’ EP will be released on February 25. Random Impulse will perform at London’s Cargo on February 28.

As a band based in York, Pantheon have mused long and hard on their position in the metal scene and the music industry at large. Matt says: “York is easy to brush off as a bit of a dead end in comparison to Leeds or Manchester, where people go for big gigs. But there have always been a lot of things going on in York, lots of budding metal bands. It may perhaps be lacking in venues, but York is just as good as London. There is just as much competition and it’s just as hard to get signed.” And would they consider moving away to somewhere more cosmopolitan? “Granted, it would be good to be in a bigger city – if you look at it from anybody else’s perspective, it’s quite a small area. In order to develop as a band you have to look outside of it sometimes.”

Is there a future for Pantheon in York? Perhaps, Simon adds, “There’s a ladder, and we believe that you should aim yourself up that ladder, whether that’s the best guitar player in York or the world. It’s always good to think big, get further than the local music scene, and look outside to where your audience really is.”

Over the years, Pantheon’s audience has been slowly growing and growing, and many have asked why they would want to change. The style hasn’t changed, Matt protests. “We didn’t want to lose what we have; it’s the structure that’s been honed in. We’ve gone for a more traditional structure, going back to what we love, the sounds of [Judas] Priest and [Black] Sabbath. We want to play what we as metal fans want.”

Their working hiatus then was almost an existential crisis. The pair asked themselves what it means to be a British metal band. The answer? The act of being honest. “We’ve spent our time writing, refining our ideas into something that comes from us. We’ve knocked down what we had, and built it up again from scratch. We’ve kept what is essentially Pantheon. “

Pantheon have used this time to discover who they really are, and what they want their music to do. “We’re a British metal band, but we’re trying to bring something new to the table. We’re tipping our hats to the old style, but we’re firmly in the 21^st century.”

Part of discovering their core as a metal band is figuring out where they stand in the music industry as a whole, Matt continues: “There’s not a lot of our type [metal acts] about; it’s a good time to be a heavy British band. In Europe, and Germany, this kind of music is really popular; it feels like there’s something missing here in the UK.” You can tell that both of these metal-heads are proud of their Yorkshire heritage, “Simon’s got a Yorkshire accent, you can’t cover that up.”

With a new producer, Pantheon have been pushed to think about their band as a business as well as a creative outlet. The producer is Zak Bajjon, who has worked with the likes of Cradle of Filth and Venom, so he knows what he’s doing. Matt comments, “Zak pushed us as musicians. He’s brought the best out of us and given us the tools to survive in the industry.”

It boils down to this: Pantheon know what they’ve got, within the band and out there in the world, they’re going to use it, and you are not going to know what’s hit you.

Over the past year, the four individual cogs of the machine that is Pantheon have been collectively investing more time and money into taking the brand to the next level than they ever have before. “I feel like we’re moving forward together. Speed isn’t everything, but the efficiency of the songs that we’re creating is a good sign that we’re working well together.”

Pantheon capture honesty and energy in their new EP. Though not a live recording, they have strived to channel the power of a live recording; “We’ve focussed what we wanted to do. We’ve tried to utilise all our skills, including our abilities in vocal work. We’ve been vocally challenged in the past, and melody is something we’ve always lacked; it gives us another dimension to our music.”

What are we to expect lyrically? The content is quite topical, reflects Matt. “The best lyrics that come out of us come from raw emotion. If there’s something we feel passionate about, we’ll write about it.” So what sort of thing does this consist of, love, sex, hate? They say it’s a reflection on politics. “We’re trying to express it in a different way from the one that you might expect.”

We know that the new EP will be called ‘Intervention’. So is Pantheon set on changing the landscape of UK music with evocative lyrics and heavy as hell sounds? “We’re not preaching, but giving our perspective. There’s room for people to take the meaning of the songs their own way too.”

The group’s previous songs have drawn more on fiction than the harsh realities of life, ‘Blade Runner’ being the perfect example. Their hiatus has made them more politically aware, “Metal has always been rebellious in the sense that it gets people thinking. Metal brings up more intellectual subjects than just love or sex.” ‘Intervention’ has a much more interesting, cerebral approach to the subjects that provoke the mind of Pantheon. ‘Voice Of Hate’, one of Matt and Simon’s own favourites from the new EP, is loosely based upon the point of view of a suicide bomber. A very controversial subject, but neither of them shy away from explaining. Simon explains: “It’s interesting to write from that perspective. The extremist view of any ideology always affects the ‘average Joe’.”

It’s something we can all relate to. The extreme is always what makes the news, colouring the reality of the diplomatic, the pragmatic, the liberal and the normal person. Matt concludes, “For us ‘Voice Of Hate’ has the stand out riff. It’s a strong track lyrically and sonically, it sets the tone for what we’re trying to do.”

Good luck, boys. We look forward to hearing what you come out with! Horns up!

The underlying reason is pretty obvious when you think about it. Like in many interviews, the band was requested so many times to explain their name that, in time, they were bound to wonder if it meant anything at all.

To anyone who saw IFOO live, even a couple of times, the name simply meant a terrific band rather than an irritating acronym that left one clear reason to change the name. To the uninitiated it would more likely prompt a bout of head-scratching.

Welcome instead, Laurel Canyons – a name which is directly taken from the part of California which connects performers from Joni Mitchell to Jim Morrison, Carol King to Crosby, Stills And Nash. That sort of line-up says more about the band’s influences than any number of media interviews.

Catching them for the first time at Cottingham Springboard Festival a couple of years ago there was a resemblance in style and quality to earliest Dire Straits, from before the first album, the time of tour support to the Climax Blues Band and a stand-out slot at Sheffield University free festival.

But the Cottingham show was soon after the arrival of Arv Teeroovengadum, a drummer now fully-integrated, whose frenzied combination of power and precision has pushed the band’s style into an explosive new dimension creating a harder edge to the band’s recent material.

In their longer shows the band still play a bit of their quieter stuff, demonstrating the strong melodies within the stunning EPs ‘All We Can Do Is Wonder’ and ‘Saluting Magpies’, and showing the range of Jake Cope’s vocal capabilities.

Touring has been put on the back-burner recently as work has progressed on a single, ‘Youth Blood’, available in April as a CD and download from Wire Sound, with their debut album, ‘Laurel Canyons’, following in June. Dates are being arranged to promote the releases and the band are confident of generating interest around the UK on the strength of their work so far and in particular their well-received support slot on Magazine’s nationwide tour last year.

First up this Friday is Transmission at Toft’s in Hull, a new venue and a first for a band who have made East Yorkshire their second home. They’ve played a few of the Springboard venues as well as The Back Room, the Adelphi, last year’s Cornucopia Festival and The Sesh, whose promoter Mark Page, more familiar as DJ Mak, is taking them to Transmission.

“Hull has always been really good for us,’ said Jake. ‘We have a lot of friends there and we usually get a better turnout than in our hometown. I don’t know Tofts because it’s only been going for a few weeks but I’m hearing good reports and if Mak is involved then it’s bound to be great. You can’t overstate the importance of that. Mak really knows his stuff, he’s got a great reputation and he’s never let us down.”

Old fans can expect plenty of new material in a set of about an hour, including much or all of the new album and an innovative take on a couple of covers. Also expect more of Jake dueling guitars with premium player Paul J Burdett, and of bassist France Lahmar varying his stance from leaning on a speaker to pluck his way through the more laid-back numbers and then bursting into life, rocking with Arv as they punch out – hopefully – such killer tracks as ‘I’m Sure They’ll Fall’ and the awesome cover of the Johnny Cash classic ‘Folsom Prison Blues’.

Further evidence of a more energetic approach is provided by the booking of highly-rated rock producer Matt Ellis and his Axis Studio in Doncaster for the new album. Jake adds: “Matt does a lot of hard rock stuff and he’s really helped us pull the drum sound together. The new album is an amazing piece of work – incredibly strong.”

Laurel Canyons are life at Tofts, Newland Avenue, Hull, at 9pm on Friday, February 22. Free Admission with support from ET:73.

On Saturday February 23 they’re at the 100 Club in London. The only other confirmed date at the moment is a return to Springboard in Cottingham, with the King Billy on Saturday May 25.

Check out laurelcanyons.com for more dates.

One thing that is truly humbling is talking to a band, that have quickly gained so much positive attention, and still remain so down to earth. This is definitely the case with Damo, and quickly the interview melted away into a chilled out conversation. It’s both relaxing and reassuring to put such a positive, easy going mind behind such a thriving, dynamic band. But chilled out cannot be used to describe the group’s mentality when at work, and the guys recently completed a six month tour, spanning from last July to December, and are now readying themselves for another tour early this year.

So question one. Are they as excited as we are, for 2013? “Very. It feels like we’re not long got back from our previous tour, and that was a big one. We were talking the other day and someone mention something about 2011, and it seems like fu**ing years ago. Time flies [well, it was two years, Damo! -ed].”

It certainly does when your travelling from gig to gig over the space of just a few months, that’s for sure. The band are dedicated to the cause, and have had a lot of positive media attention, not only because of their amazing and inimitable style, but because of their dedication to live performance. “We all love touring, we know we’ve got a lot of big dates ahead of us. We hate turning down shows. Unfortunately we do miss a few venues so we try to go back out on our next big tour.”

The band have a lot to be psyched about. 2013 is year of the Antlered Man, with more shows, more releases, and a more finely tuned, distinct style. “We had even more offers, more places to play, but we made the conscious decision to work on the album next, to add a bit more to the repertoire. Its the power of having a new album. You can see the bigger bands, with more material, they have a bigger palate to choose from.”

On top of that, the guys have a match made in heaven (or heck?) with Cooking Vinyl, who apparently give the band a tremendous level of support. “When you start a deal, you realise this is where the work starts. As a small band, if you fu** up, it’s on you and it comes out of your pocket. When you get signed, there’s a lot more pressure, a lot more people concerned.” Luckily, the band have found a comfortable collaboration with Cooking Vinyl, and say there is no conflict when it comes to the band’s output. “We are really lucky because it’s a great fit, and they’ve been really supportive of our style.” It seems that everyone is in agreement about the importance of being allowed creative independence, and Antlered Man are some of the most creative out there. “We need to just do our own thing, and we’re really glad to get support to do what we want.”

Earlier this year, one Facebook post from Antlered Man read “Dear 2013, Antlered Man would like to own you. Please respond within 12 hours or prepared to be boarded and taken by force with musketoon.” True dat, because already the band have huge plans for the year, including the recording of their upcoming album. Damo speculates on going to Belfast to record. “We’re going to be working with Rocky O’Riley, we love his production, we’ve talked quite a bit and we are definitely on the same wavelength, we propose something and he literally finishes our sentences. He picks up on really interesting aspects of our music. Plus, there is a great music community in Belfast and it will be nice to get involved in that.” With an intense and spectacular range of songs already at their disposable, we are incredibly excited to see what direction the bands new material will be. “Our early stuff was a collection of loads of crazy ideas we all contributed, and that was a bit chaotic. This one is a lot more focused and detailed. We are playing with a lot of new things, and trying to solidify our sound, and we mix a lot of melody with a lot of big heavy stuff.”

Sounds literally, and we don’t like to overuse this word [but we do, don't we, James...really? -ed], epic. So what song from the upcoming album does the band themselves feel defines them best? Is there another huge ‘Platoon Uno’, a fundamental track that epitomises the band’s new sound? “Yeah, one we recorded before, called ‘The Ballad Of Porno Falseleaf’. It’s really big. It’s one of our opening tracks, it defines us, and gets good feedback. We sort of open up with a track like that live, and if people like that, then they will definitely like our other stuff.” Have the band really been  experimented with new elements? “We have mixed in touches of hip-hop in the new stuff. I mean, it’s not Limp Bizkit, we don’t take it too far. We’re subtle with aspects of everything, like we’ve been defined as political, at times, and I agree, but were not like quoting Karl Marx or anything, we introduce aspects of everything.”

Listen to the lyrics, the Mike-Patton-esque vocals, the bass that is nearly comparable to legend Les Claypool, and it becomes clear: there is method to the madness. We wanted to know the meaning behind a couple of the band’s finest efforts. First of all, the punk and whistling-infused ‘Buddhist Soup’. What inspired the tune? “To put it nicely, it’s about how everyone are fu***ng ar***oles a lot of the time, there is not much love going round. It’s one of those tracks, we’re slagging ourselves and everyone off. Yeah we know were cu**s, let’s just enjoy it.” And we were also curious about the irreverent and powerful Mr Runner-up Teenage Bloomfield? “That song is all about being second best; it’s a track for the underdog, and we wanted to get that point of view across, about a lot of people who miss out by being judged as second best. It’s actually taken from an episode of ‘The Sopranos’, which was a cool in joke.”

And finally, we get creative, asking Damo the Frankenstein’s Monster question: if your band was made up of parts of other bands, what would make up your style and influences. In short, we got one of the best answers we have received EVER here as Soundsphere HQ. “Right, I think we’d have the head of Mike Patton, for the melody, I think we would have the left arm…of Mastodon. And the right arm and torso of The Melvins. Then I reckon the groin and the arse cheeks of Dillinger Escape Plan. Erm…one leg Mr Bungle, even though I already covered Mike Patton, and….one leg Pink Floyd.”

S] What, or who are your great musical inspirations?

A] “We both really like strong women singers and its always a big plus if they play an instrument too. I love when a woman can growl and scream and sing while rocking out on guitar or destroying a piano. Aside from women, in the car we listen to a lot of Queens Of The Stone Age. Their precision of playing makes me want to go practice piano hardcore, which is kind of funny since most people would associate going to practice playing rock guitar. Jesse [Arcado, drums] mainly likes metal like Cannibal Corpse but then he also loves Alicia Keys. I have a lot of guilty pop pleasures that I can’t reveal. I think it’s good to have a well-rounded list of musicians you appreciate. We play kind of ‘dark’ music, so I can’t listen to dark music all the time. I need a dance beat in there every now and then!”

A] “I always sound like a whiner, but honestly most of them are about fighting demons, or them getting the best of me. I think that’s what a lot of bands and artists write about. These days, I don’t write much about a love life, or describing the people I see, or how much I hate someone. I’m really self centered right now, just trying to keep going every day.”

A] “Since we just released a new EP called ‘Overflow’, those recent songs are still very much playing in our heads and apply to our everyday lives. A lot of it is melodic, maybe a little morose but also breaks that mold by getting fast with a driving rock drum beat, specifically ‘Pass The Time’.  Then on the flip-side, the song ‘Overflow’ is more laid back and a completely different emotion. It’s pretty much the ‘super-sensitive’ song on the album. As for defining our music in one song, it’s really hard to pinpoint. We can be kind of all over the place. Maybe we haven’t written that song that sums everything up yet.”

A] “There’s a few fans, specifically in the UK, that I’m very grateful for and I know they have told many friend of theirs about us. We are going to keep working and playing music forever so we can travel to England, as well as other countries. That would be amazing. We have a couple friends that live there. I think a trip there is on the to-do list.”

A] “People can expect a lot of attitude, some chaos, and a splash of humor. Probably some bad jokes in-between songs. A guy after a show told me I was a mix of ‘Mae West, Ozzy Osbourne, and Amy Winehouse’.  I really don’t know how accurate that it is, but I think it’s awesome.”

A] “Pretty much everyone I know is having bad issues with the same things revolving around that little thing called ‘money’. No one seems to have much of it. That gets in the way of say, making merch and putting out music. But more importantly, it gets in the way of supporting charities to bring back the wooly mammoth. We can’t let these things hold us back though.”

A] “We’re working on a music video right now for ‘Pass The Time’. Then we’re planning on making another one for a song from the ‘Overflow’ EP. We’re aiming to start some small tours. We want to record another EP this year. The typical band goals. I’d love to see some good live music, find out about more bands/artists. Its one thing to make music, but to enjoy others’ music as well keeps me motivated.”

S] What are your plans for this year?

SX] ”We’re doing a new EP, working on some new videos, playing SXSW, and booking more shows!”

S] Are you looking forward to a return to the UK soon?

SX] ”Yeah baby!”

S] Did you enjoy visiting any places particular when you last came?

CW] ”Manchester had a really great vibe, and I loved meeting people out at the Birthdays gig we played there!”

S] Can you define doom grunge for us? When did that term come to you?

SX] “I think it’s more like an attitude than a genre!”

CW] ”I guess, it’s kind of like that Velvet Underground  song ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’, the idea of “doom grunge” is to reflect existence in an intimate and transgressive way.”

S] It’s been said that the idea for ‘Black Camaro’ came up in a cheap motel in California – can you talk more about that inspiration?

CW] ”We were mixing a few demos in San Francisco and staying in a motel across the bay in Berkeley. One afternoon while we were laying around jamming, we started talking about black Camaros. How they’re kind of like this symbol of freedom and delinquency for the guys we knew in high school that drove them.  That image just stuck…and the main riff came to me later in a dream.”

S] Is there a song that you’re working on at the moment, that you feel best defines where the band is at right now?

SX] ”One of the new songs that I personally love was written on July 4, and recording it now brings back all the wild emotions from that night!”

S] Talk to us, as much as you can about the new material that you’re working on right now for an album – does it have any specific themes?

CW] ”All of our EPs end up as mini-concept albums, and the process of getting there is strange and volatile. Let’s talk again when it’s done.”

S] You reference Placebo, as well as a lot of 90s alt-rock and industrial sounds as influences in interviews – do you have any specific songs that would be able to soundtrack each of your lives that you can tell us?

S] What, or who are your great musical inspirations?

BOJ] “That’s quite hard to say we all listen to different stuff. As cliché as it may sound music is our inspiration, sounds of the swinging sixties, Beethoven, Quentin Tarantino movie soundtracks…the man has a good ear. If we had to name bands we are all really into at the moment it would be The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, Every time I Die, Converge, Animals As Leaders and many more! If we’re talking classics, then we are all fans of many different influential bands, from The Beatles to Black Flag. We’re even partial to some motown…have you heard ‘September’ by Earth, Wind and Fire? Such a tune.”

S] What about personally, what kinds of themes and ideas can inspire your songs?

BOJ] “Anything! We’re open minded; anything that takes our fancy. It’s true that inspiration can strike at anytime, so you gotta be prepared. Kaya [vocals] wrote one of the songs for ‘Hamartia’ on his phone whilst walking through a supermarket. I think it was ‘Father Cult’. ‘Hamartia’ itself is a concept album, which tells the story of a lonely man trying to change his life by joining a cult. The story of the album is fictitious, but a lot of the songs are inspired by our own life experiences. Some deep stuff, that would probably depress anyone reading right now…but I digress.”

S] What song that you are working on right now best defines your sound, and why? 

BOJ] “The songs we’re working on now aren’t part of a concept like our first album, so we’re not sticking to a certain mood this time round. Expect something a little different. As for defining our sound it’s hard to say because we’re experimenting with lots of different sounds at the moment like bossa nova and blues; it’s very interesting to see how we can incorporate different styles into our music. We just sprinkle a little BOJ lovin’ on it and it’s our own brand of heavy. We’re trying to perfect the art, it’s like chasing the dragon though, you’ll never catch it, but we’ll keep trying.”

S] What have been some of the defining moments of your career?

BOJ] “Recording our debut album on top of a mountain in Italy is definitely a highlight, we’re small town guys, that was a pretty surreal experience for us! Also playing to some thousand people at the Harrogate International Centre as part of the AMP awards in 2009 was brilliant. We were all 16 and 17-years-old at the time and we had never played to an audience like that before. Our normal type of gig was small pubs and living rooms. Headlining Leeds o2 Academy in 2011 was pretty epic too, as soon as we started playing the whole place descended into hell. There was an epic circle pit!”

S] How has the reception to your debut album ‘Hamartia’ been?

BOJ] “We are very pleased with how it’s gone down so far! Quite a few reviewers have been raving about it so that’s definitely a good start! We were pleased with that, but it looks like we still need to write the all-important masterpiece. A masterpiece to pay the rent. It’s an album that is very important to us and every track is different from the last, but they all come together to form a story. Some people have even been messaging us saying that they can really relate to what the album is saying. We’ve never had anything like that before, so that’s pretty awesome.”

S] Do you have a message for any fans? 

BOJ] ”Thank you for the awesome support and a big thank you to The Clipper Bar in Camborne, who let us sleep on the floor of their bar when we were on tour. Also, please try the fish there!”

S] What can people expect from your live show?

BOJ] “A lot of energy and a lot of sweat. We pride ourselves in our live show, we always want to give the crowd a show they wont forget. We are just four unsuspecting Yorkshire men, who love playing metal. The live show is when you have to step up and give it your all, that’s what everybody expects and that’s what we aim for. Sorry, I just realised I’m starting to sound like a ‘Rocky’ film.”

S] What are some of your biggest challenges right now? 

BOJ] “Keeping up with the internet! It’s how everyone is listening to music these days, so we have to make sure that our music is always available! Which it is, on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. Soon people will be going to live shows through their computer and we will be playing to a room of webcams, we gotta prepare for that! Also, as a band we always make sure that we are on top of our game in every aspect, writing, recording and the live show. It has to be 100 per cent.”

S] What’re your plans as we move into 2013? 

BOJ] “We want to get our music out to as many people as possible, thats the main objective. We played in a lot of new places last year, especially in the south of England and now that we have released our first album, we gotta come back even stronger with the second. So we’ve got to stay focused. We will hopefully be releasing our first music video sometime soon as well, there have been a few delays in getting it out, but we got our fingers crossed it will be out for your viewing pleasure very soon!”

Photo: Rick Parsons