incoming: THESE WAVES!
If you’ve been following this blog thingy there is a very good chance you’d have read about/listened too These Waves. The electrifying five piece from Derby play quirky and intense alt. rock reminiscent of At The Drive In, Les Savvy Fav and The Mars Volta and have just released their second EP. And seriously, we can’t say one bad word about them - except maybe their lateness for soundchecks.. The band play The Tudor tonight with Last Lungs and It Often Takes A War. Guitarist Rob aka Barry Chuffpants caught up with us this afternoon for a chat before the show..
WMC: These Waves, hello again.. How are you?
Rob: Hello, we’re fine thanks, just making some dinner before our gig in Wigan later.
WMC:You’ve just started a mini tour, how it going?
Rob: Not so much a mini tour but a string of dates close together. We’re sleeping in our own beds in between gigs so we cant really call it a tour. So far it’s going really well. We played at the Bodega Social last night in Nottingham with Shapes and These Monsters. It was really fun, great sound, great bands!!
WMC: What happened last year with Dan and Tom leaving?
Rob: We hit a rough patch and Dan wasn’t really enjoying it anymore so he decided to leave, as for Tom, we’re a Derby based band and he lived in Manchester so getting to gigs and practice was really difficult for him. As soon as Dan left we decided it was time for a clean break. Matt and Paul Joined in December and gave us fresh drive and direction. We’re really happy with the new line up, they gave us the kick up the arse that we needed and we now feel like we’re in a really good position as These Waves.
WMC: The new demo is great, the new songs killer, any plans to record a full album?
Rob: Yes! But first we are going to record another 3 track EP and give it away for free again, hopefully early next year. As for an album, it’s something we’ve always wanted to do and we plan to start writing towards an album some time next year. We’re going to try and explore some more of our diverse influences to give us a different sound for the album. We’d really like to make an album that hangs together as a full product, something like ‘The Shape of Punk to Come’ would be nice!!
WMC: How do you get pumped up before a gig?
Rob: We do plenty of lifting exercises, for example when we lift our pint glass off the table and bring it towards our mouths repeatedly!! But in all seriousness we love playing anywhere and thats all the motivation we need.
WMC :Best/Worse show?
Rob: We’ve had many varied gigs from people loving the band to being threatened by skinheads!! Our worst show was in Doncaster as the old line up as These Waves. It was the second time we had played Doncaster and we decided to go back as the first time was really good. All the bands pulled out so we were the only band on the bill, there were 3 people (including the sound man) watching us, Dave was hammered and decided not to play any of the right notes on his guitar! And we had a pretty big arguement at the end, so yeah pretty crap night!! As for the best, we all have different favourites so i’m going to name two gigs.
Wigan earlier this year (not sucking up…..honest) as it was our first gig as the new line up, we had a great sound and after almost a year of not playing a gig it was such a good feeling to play again.
Derby at the big blue coffee shop, The gig was organised by our friend Marty, he had booked two Irish bands, A plastic Rose and Kasper Rosa. We played last, it was late, everyone was drunk and the atmosphere was brilliant.
WMC: There doesn’t seem to be many new bands coming up like yourselves now, do you think the whole post-hardcore/rock scene is dieing off?
Rob: Maybe it is but as long as you’re playing the music you love it shouldn’t matter whether it’s in the NME or Kerrang and deemed to be the next big thing. There are other bands who do it out there and probably deserve abit more exposure. But there obviously not getting it because it’s not cool right now!
WMC: What do you think of this new lo-fi explosion of bands that’s getting peoples attention right now?
Rob: It’s the same thing really, it’s cool if people want to make that kind of music as long as there is passion and people enjoy it. It’s just not for us.
WMC: If you were a country band what would you be called?
Rob: Perhaps, “I Kiss My Baby With My Fist” or “The Weeping Saddle Sores”
WMC: Ever thought about writing a christmas song?
Rob: No but we have actually covered a Christmas song at a gig. It was “Christmas is Awesome” by Reuben, great tune!! If we were to do one now people would probably think we were ripping off Blakfish anyway.
WMC :Metallica or Iron Maiden?
Rob: Manowar!!
WMC :Who should we be listening too right now?
Rob: There are actually alot of great bands coming from Derby right now. Everyone should check out Directions, Death of Thieves, Crash of Rhinos, Shakey Hands, LostAlone, You Animals, Fixitkid, Alright the Captain,You Slut. Alot of these bands would be bigger if they came from a “cooler” city like Leeds or Nottingham, but alas we’re from Derby and lets face it that’s never going to be cool!
We expect that you will hear great things from LostAlone in the near future, keep your eyes open!!
WMC: Most embarassing musical purchase?
Rob: Most of us were teenagers during the late 90’s when Nu-Metal was massive. So you can pick any one of those bands really.
Hoobastank or Linkin Park maybe??
I actually paid real English Pounds for “Infest” by Papa Roach…….sorry. In my defence I saw them live at Reading Festival 2001 and they sounded huge!!
WMC: Finally, what does next year hold for These Waves?
Rob: More free songs, Lots more gigs, hopefully some more exposure in magazines and on the radio. The only plan is to carry on writing songs and playing as many shows as we can, we just want as many people as possible to hear our music.
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These Waves play The Tudor tonight with support from Last Lungs and It Often Takes A War.
www.myspace.com/thesewavesuk
Download These Waves new Self Titled EP HERE
