The follow up to their well received 2013 E.P Creepy, Reasons Not To Sleep sees Southampton’s Miss Vincent switching it from creepy to gloomy. Playing their self-styled ‘moody punk rock’, paying homage to the likes of Alkaline Trio and AFI, RNTS see them take their craft to the next level. “The songs we wrote for this record have a much darker, aggressive, and unhinged feel to them,” says Alex Marshall, lead vocalist and guitarist. Following the release on 11th May via Engineer Records, here they answer the A-Z interview…
A Song Which Made You Want To Make Music:
Misfits: Skulls. When I heard this for the first time I lost my shit. We used to cover it!
Best Album Ever Written:
Ramones: Rocket To Russia. All the classics, and surfin bird!!
Craziest Moment You’ve Experienced In The Band:
Most crazy things you can’t really repeat… We got drunk and shaved Owains head once though.
Deepest Lyrics One Of Your Songs Features:
“They’re as hollow and alone as I am numb”. There’s better ones but I’ll go with that.
Easiest Song You Wrote:
Shogun Queen. It took about 15 minutes to write.
Favourite Show You’ve Ever Played:
There’s so many! For the sake of naming one I’ll go with Islington Academy with As It Is. It was the last show of that tour and it was fun.
Guest You’d Most Like To Feature On Your Record:
Matt Skiba. Hands down.
Happiest Moment In You’ve Experienced In The Band:
It sounds cliche, but playing together is when we’re happiest.
Interesting Fact About One Of Your Members:
Lawrie does an impeccable Chewbacca impression.
Jokes You Have In The Band:
Before we start playing, we turn to each other and say ‘how many pumps?’ ‘Two pumps’. I can’t tell you why though…
Kicking Off Your Set Is Best With Which Song:
Hmm. We opened with Gradients of Grey for the first time the other day, and that was cool.
Longest Distance You’ve Travelled To Play A Show:
We went to Glasgow on tour. We drove there from Guildford. It was so long.
Most Inspiring Musician You’ve Ever Experienced:
Billie Joe Armstrong. Somehow he makes me feel like I’m 15 again whenever I see Green Day live.
New Band You’d Recommend:
Calabrese. They’re not so new, but they’re very new to the UK cos they just made their first trip over here, so I guess that still counts?
Opening For This Band Would Be Ideal:
Alkaline Trio. Bucket list no 1! Or Bayside. We’re all total fanboys.
Place You’d Most Like To Tour:
The USA. We’ve done the UK and Europe and I’d love to experience touring the States.
Quote That You’d Like To Pass On To Readers:
My favourite is from Macbeth: “[life] is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”.
Reason For The Title Of Your Recent Release:
Lawrie came up with Reasons Not To Sleep. The EP’s main themes are the sorts of things that keep you up at night – the sorts of things you lie awake at 3am in a cold sweat thinking about.
See Us Live At:
July/August tour with 4th Street and Best of Enemies
29th – Manchester – Sound Control
30th – Cardiff – Moon Club
31st – Southampton – Talking Heads
1st – Brighton – The Hope
2nd – London – Surya
The Old Days Of Music Were Better Than Those Current, do you agree:
I’m not really sure. I’d have loved to live through the CBGBs scene in the 70s and seen bands like the Ramones and Blondie play to 20 people. I do feel like the Internet and social media have diluted the impact of albums and stuff like that, so let’s go with yes!
Unusual Merchandise:
Rammstein Dildos. Doesn’t get weirder than that.
Variations You’d Like To Do On Any Of Your Songs:
I’d love to reimagine them with strings and all sorts like that. And acoustic versions.
What Bands Have You Seen Live and Regretted:
Macklemore at Reading Festival. Barely counts as a band, but they were playing before Blink and I had to sit through an hour of some dudes playing stuff off a laptop.
X-rays or any other treatments needed for band related injuries:
Fingers crossed none yet. Lawrie bleeds on his guitar pretty frequently though.
You could have written any song in history, which would you pick:
Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones. Everyone in the world knows that song!
Zoo animal that best describes the personality of your band:
Bats. Spooky and mostly come out at night!
Miss Vincent Released ‘Reasons Not To Sleep’ Via Engineer Records 11th May. Watch video single ‘How Much Further’ now:
Keep up to date with Miss Vincent here:
https://www.facebook.com/missvincentband