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An Interview With… Metro Riots
Written by Vince Pettit | Tuesday, December 18, 2007 |
In our second Past, Present & Futureinterview we speak to Damo from London based Metro Riots. The Riots are a firm favourite in The Dish HQ and we urge you to go have a listen to them if you haven’t already!
Damo talks about how the band formed, Carl Barat, highlights of the year, hawaiian shirts, rubbing talc on each other and much more!
Past
Briefly, how and when did you form?
We formed from a hatred of 9 to 5 workdays and limp spirited bands in a newspaper warehouse were we stacked trucks with Japans finest business papers.I saw that Wikipedia has got the date of us forming and touring as 2001 but that’s bullshit it was about 2003 when the Riots got it together and even then we were wet behind the ears and too drunk to play and we didn’t start touring properly until 06 but since then its been non-stop. Carl Barat said to us when we played with him on his first tour “You got the thunder you just need the mileage” and recently he was DJing at one of our residency shows and he came up after we played the show and said “Now you got the mileage” I like his consistent wisecracks
Describe your style in 3 words
Honest, Foxy, Dirge
How was your 2007?
- Highlights
2007 was a good year man, Released our first album,We saw and played out some crazy shit in so many countries, Shot some guns in the Texas desert and then Partied with The Melvins, chased some lizards in Italy, Nearly bought some guns in Prague but then remembered about our work visas we fought so hard for so didnt.Played some of our best shows to 2000 people every night who totally got what we are all about so we really have opened up the floodgates in Europe
- Lowlights
You cant really list bad times because i hate it when bands moan about how tough it is like fuckin pussies, This band is all we live for and its the best feeling in the world just to make music with your adopted band brothers and laugh at the piss-ants around you moaning like prima donnas. The only thing we get pissed off with is if we have a day off from band-work
Who has been your favourite band of 2007?
Queens of the stone age are the best band out there both in musical ability and integrity. There volume of work is amazing and this year “Era Vulgaris” still made me think that this band still set a bar for us all to try and reach
Present
What are you up to at the moment?
We have been Writing and Demoing for the next album and we have so much material i don’t know where we are all going to fit it all, We built a home studio in Sams bedroom so we have constant access to unlock all our ideas. We all swallow acid wear Hawaiian shirts and then that gets us in the mood to record. At one point we had spent so long in there day in day out we grew beards, Looked like the fucking beach boys but the material has grown into something bigger bullish and ugly. Kind of like England really taking a look at its own reflection in the mirror.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Apart from Queens of the stone age We have been digging into a lot of the underground American rock bands from the late 80’s up to the late 90’s like The Melvins, Butthole surfers, Fugazi, Killing Joke, Dead Kennedys, Rage Against The Machine, Sonic Youth. That music has always been there for us in our collections but now as we are improving in our writing we feel like we are ready to incorporate that kind of diversity into our music and we can mix it up and really deliver something special. I liked the Klaxons album but didn’t think much of it as a live show the same goes for Amy Winehouse. I really liked her album but when i saw her live she might have been fucked because people had told me she was great live. The Horrors are good live too they really fuck with your personal space and Arctic Monkeys made a great second album,Nick Cave, White Stripes, Lupen crook, Babes in Toyland, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, 80’s Matchbox, Mark Lanegan, NWA, all good on my stereo
What do you do when you’re not playing out?
We meet up and drink, write or just hang out listen to Dokken and rub talc on each other
Where can people get your tunes?
All over i think, Album is in the stores and online and we are releasing big in Europe soon. Go steal it and then wait with baited breath for the follow up
Future
What do you have planned for 2008?
We have been lined up with a great deal in Germany and are going over to tour for a while and then hopefully get over to Asia and USA.
Record the next album, Maybe somewhere in the American woods this time. Tour like bastards, Get on some festival bills and get in peoples faces
Who do you think will be the next big thing in 2008?
It will be a group of under 14 nubile boys sponsored by Cadbury’s chocolate who use nintendo gameboys to make music and it will suck bad, but then we will release our album and send them skating on there neon rollerblades
What will be the next big thing in 2008 in terms of scene?
The word “scene” to me just means “fad” people who follow that kind of shit should just shoot their face off, They don’t let music breath they just put it in a capsule and consume it to death until there’s nothing left. Why cant you just love music? Something that’s really yours and not what you have been told to like? I’m not against scenes in general because that would be stupid but it seems that if a scene starts now its just a great business opportunity and not something you can fall in love with. But there are some good bands around so there is still some hope
Visit myspace.com/metroriots and have a listen to them!
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