After an amazing 2014 where they released their 2nd EP ‘Smoke Signals’ that was recorded with Grammy nominated producer Matt Hyde (Bullet for my Valentine, Slipknot, Funeral For A Friend). The band also played Download Festival, this year, A Mouth Full Of Matches have spent their time releasing singles such as ‘Demon Days’ and latest track ‘White Flags’ alongside touring relentlessly and even supporting The Darkness on the main stage of Brownstock festival!
Gareth Rooke had a chat with the Alt-Rockers and here it is below:
How are you?
Tom – Fantastic
Helen (or it could be Jane as I can’t tell the twins apart, sorry!) – Great
Jane – Good
Laura – Good
Mark – Good
Tom – We are looking forward to it (the show).
So how has the tour been?
Tom – It’s been absolutely brilliant. We have had some great shows. In Brighton we didn’t expect so many people to show up and stick around to see us as they came to see City of Ashes (co-headliner on this tour). Their reaction was great and we got great crowd feedback.
Tonight is a home town gig for you guys. Is it special to play a home town gig?
Tom – Yeah, we have a few we know are coming and hopefully a few new faces. We always like to play a home gig.
Helen – It’s always nice to see friendly faces in the crowd.
Mike – Always nice to be in Manchester.
Recently you released the single for ‘White Flags‘. Demon Days (your last single) was really popular and got a great reaction. How has the reaction been to ‘White Flags‘?
Tom – I think it has been even better. People have really taken to it. The bands that we are currently on tour with (City of Ashes and Little Ghost) have played it like six times in their vans. It has been really insane because, we kind of released it and went instantly on tour so we didn’t get to see the reaction straight away…and then we found that so many people were talking about it, so that was great!
So with writing songs, what is the hardest part for you guys? The lyrics or is it the melody?
Laura – I would say the melody *laughs*
Jane – The amount of times we have gone over those choruses…
Tom – Yeah I think it is. We can write twenty thousand lyrics, but that can be for something different.
Jane – White Flags is so different from where it started…
Mike – All our songs start off complete differently from how they end up.
Since you two (Tom and Mike) are out numbered in the band, how do you feel about that? Or are you two just one of the girls?
*Everyone laughs*
Helen – I think Tom is the most feminine out of all of us.
*Everyone laughs*
Jane – He is always drinking the most feminine cocktails.
Mike – Like Cosmopolitans
Tom – Hay, if you don’t like the drink I won’t put it in my mouth. I don’t like beer.
*everyone laughs again*
Tom – It’s great, there like one of the guys really.
Jane – We are more like the guys than they are like girls.
Mike – They are not really ‘girly’ girls.
Tom, in a recent interview you said that bands can be really lazy with promoting themselves on social media. What did you really mean by that? You did really mean that their lazy?
Tom – No, I meant it easy to be lazy as a band. Say you have a gig, it’s easy to post on Facebook and say: “We have a gig.” And think that people will come. Where as twenty years ago you would have to flyer, put posters up, which is a more interment thing. But it is possible to be intimate online. You just need to push the boat out which we try to do all the time.
Just a few fun question now to finish. Which do you prefer? Crowd surfing, mosh pit, circle pit or wall of death?
Mike – I go for a wall of death.
Tom – Can I have all of those things at once?
Mike – Crowd surfing in a mosh pit would be actually be pretty awesome.
Tom – O god, I didn’t think that one though? I would say circle pit for me, its quite fun to watch.
Helen – I would say crowd surfing.
Jane – Crowd surfing to Marmozets.
Laura – I would say mosh pit.
Guitar solo or drum Solo?
Mike, Helen and Jane (in unison) – Guitar solo.
Laura – How did I know you were going to say that.
Tom – Vocal solo
Laura – drum solo
And last but not least. If you had to change instrument that you played in the band, what would you pick?
Tom – Tuba.
Jane – Well I use to play drums but, wasn’t very good so I switch to guitar. Probably bass.
Helen – Yeah, because I can doss on bass so everyone wants to be like me.
Tom – I used to play drums as well and switched to vocals.
Mike (very sheepishly) – I used to do vocals
*everyone laugh*
Helen – It’s weird how we all have change round. (Also Laura used to play guitar before picking up the drums.)
Mike – I would probably do drums so I could hammer it every night.