A song that made you want to make music?
Martin: I was really taken in by the Nine Inch Nails song Head Like A Hole. It still is a favourite of mine, and I would like to write a song with a chorus as powerful as this.
Kevin: Perhaps the first Joy Division song I heard, New Dawn Fades, but there have been many others over the years that have been inspirational – I really like Black by The Jesus and Mary Chain, and they definitely influenced me and are part of the reason I write songs.
Best rider you’ve had?
Martin: We played the Zeche Carl in Essen, Germany, once, and the food and drink supplied was amazing. A top venue!
Kevin: Probably not a rider, but we did have an amazing meal in an Ethiopian restaurant in Philadelphia, at 1am, which they reopened to cater for the bands, so that was the best food experience we had at a gig.
Craziest moment you’ve had in the band?
Martin: We have had several stage invasions, and they are always a bit chaotic.
Kevin: Probably playing with an alternative circus in Philadelphia, that was a strange night.
Deepest lyric one of your songs features?
Martin: I like the lyrics for Existence from our latest album Reinvention. It explores our life and where we are. There must be a better existence than this.
Kevin: For me, Birthday Tapes, which is based on the Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, where you record yourself every year and listen back to see how you have changed. That is a wonderful idea for examining who you are and what you have become.
Easiest song you wrote?
Martin: Has It Got Soul, from the album Broken Down, came together quite quickly.
Kevin: Probably, Still, from the album Broken Down. There is a nice riff on that track.
Favourite song in your set?
Martin: Violence, and its energy and chaos, always stands out for me in our sets.
Kevin: Currently it is Crawl Back Inside, I enjoy playing this track.
Guest you’d most like to feature on your record?
Kevin: Trent Reznor perhaps, or Peter Hook.
Martin: Probably Justin Sullivan, NMA or Ian Mackaye from Fugazi.
Hardest thing about being in a band?
Kevin: Perhaps touring, travelling long distances, but we are not doing much of that now.
Martin: Just writing brilliant songs. It is easy to write songs, butmaking them exceptional is where the difficulties lie. There is no easy way to create a masterpiece, but we will keep trying.
Interesting fact about one of your members?
Kevin: I once won a Subbuteo competition, but it was at a junior level, and when I played at pro level, it was like a different game!
Martin: I’m a big Star Wars fan. Since the first film.
Jokes you have in the band?
Kevin: We probably joke about lookalikes and other things around us, not necessarily related to music.
Martin: Probably we get a kick from naff band names, or stupid things some bands do.. ordinary stuff. Some band names are designed to shock or get attention, while others are just plain stupid. I’ve heard there is a covers band called Shitty ShittyBand Band… a good name… it’s memorable!
Key to writing a song?
Kevin: Finish it, it is easy to come up with lots of jams and pieces of music, and lyrics, but putting it all together into a finished song is the hardest part. No point in having 25 pieces of music that don’t connect!
Martin: Yeah, for us songs need a rhythm, so drums and bass are very important to us. But lyrics and guitars need to gel, and synths add the creative spark and atmosphere to our songs. So, all those elements are important.
Longest distance you’ve travelled to play a show?
Kevin: We played in the USA and drove 1700 miles in 3 weeks.
Martin: We have played some shows in Germany and the Uk and covered long distances, but mostly we travelled to gigs in Ireland which are reasonable distances.
Most inspiring musician you’ve experienced?
Kevin: I’ve had a number of favourite shows but The Smiths in the National Stadium, Dublin, Ireland, or The Pixies in the Roundhouse, London stand out for me, but there were so many!
Martin: Nine Inch Nails in the SFX, Dublin.
New band you’d recommend?
Kevin: I listen to a lot of new music, all the time. My current favourite is Dan Sartain, but this changes all the time! I suppose he is an old band, so probably Vox Low, a French band.
Martin: I’m listening to Lord of the Lost, and I like Ghost too.
Opening for this band would be ideal?
Kevin: Back in the day, Fugazi, but an active touring band today, it would be Queens of the Stone Age.
Martin: Probably opening for Turnstile would be great… They’re awesome. Or Gojira.
Place you’d most like to tour?
Kevin: I’d like to play in Japan, I have been once.
Martin: I’d gladly play in the USA again, if the opportunity arose.
Quote you’d like to pass on to our readers?
Kevin: My current one is – The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself.
Martin: There is no great genius without a touch of madness.
Reason for the title of your recent/forthcoming release?
Martin: It just seemed to fit our thinking at the time, Reinvention, it was like a new approach to songwriting, and it felt like starting over.
Kevin: Yeah, we needed to reinvent ourselves after our last release, so this batch of songs felt new to us, and we are in a new creative period at the moment.
See us live at?
Martin: No gigs at the moment, but perhaps later in the year.
Kevin: Yeah, we are working on getting some dates together for later in 2024.
The old days of music were better than the current, do you agree?
Martin: Not really. Music is great today, but it was also good back in the day. I think music is just good, regardless of when it was made. I like current music and old days music.
Kevin: I quite like the equipment we use these days to record, I like the technology, and I like to combine it with guitar/bass, to get new sounds. It was much more difficult to create stuff back in the day, but possible. But if I like a song, I’m not interested in when it was made. Once it sounds good to me that’s ok.
Unusual merchandise?
Martin: We are looking into this. There are some good ideas for merch out there. Leave that with me.
Kevin: We mainly have the regular stuff, t-shirts, caps, mugs, etc. We have some coasters though. We must produce some new weird merch. That would work for me.
Variations you’d like to do on any of your songs?
Martin: We will approach album tracks differently when we play them live. What works well in the studio, might not work live. So, our live versions will definitely be different.
Kevin: I definitely think there is scope for new electro mixes of most of our songs. Who knows we might end up getting someone to do that. I always liked the 12” remixes of songs back in the day.
What do your fans mean to you?
Martin: If you listen to the songs we write, we greatly appreciate your time to do this. If you like what we create then we have a bond. Our fans mean as much to us as we mean to them.
Kevin: Anyone who likes our music and connects with it is important to us. So, if you like what we are doing that makes you a fan. As we are music fans ourselves, we understand what it is like to connect with music and songs. It is such an important aspect of our lives.
X-rays or any treatments needed for band related injuries?
Martin: No, we are quite resilient. No band related injuries of note.
Kevin: Nothing to report here, for now.
You’re late for a show, whose fault is it?
Martin: This is rare. I can’t recall being late, ever.
Kevin: We are usually on time, but anything could happen to make us late, so it could be out of our hands.
Zoo animal that next describes the personality of your band?
Martin: A bird, whose songs are heard from time to time, and once in a while, one of them really stands out.
Kevin: Well, I like animals, in general, perhaps a whale, under the sea, but surfaces from time to time and can be heard wailing beneath the waves!