quinta-feira, 28 de agosto de 2014

From Birmingham, with pride: STV interviews The Exploding Sound Machine




Tell us how The Exploding Sound Machine got started.
Joey: The band got together really by chance, I was working in a vintage store in Birmingham and I'd just moved here looking to get a something together when a friend told me about this guy who digged the same music and style as me and that he was a drummer looking for a band, we met and we just clicked. Then about a month later we were at a club that played 60s psych and garage when we met Sarah who had come up to Birmingham by chance. The three of us tried out loads of people but nothing seemed to work and it got to the point when we were thinking of packing it in until Lewis contacted me on Facebook and came down to jam and it was like we'd found the missing piece of the puzzle, though at the time we were a far more garagey sounding band. It really wasn't until Ed joined on guitar that we really found the sound and style that we are today.

"You can definitely feel there's a scene starting to form in Birmingham"



Which bands has influenced you?
Joey: Good Lord, that's a tough one because it can really change from day to day. I think the band hasn't really got one set of bands that have influenced us because we all dig the same sounds, but we can all be into really different things at any one time, for me personally it's always been the British psychedelic bands like Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things, The Soft Machine, The Open Mind, the Moody Blues, and Donovan, and some of the west coast bands like Love and Jefferson Airplane mixed with the early prog and kraut rock bands like Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Yes, Black Widow, Black Sabbath, and Brain Ticket. 

"Some of the highlights for me have been playing at Lunar Festival with the likes of Donovan, Arthur Brown, and Temples"


Why “Lady Medusa” was chosen to be the first digital single?
Joey: "Lady Medusa" wasn't really picked by us as a single, it just seemed that was the track out of the three that people really loved. But we weren't happy with the mix so we went back into the studio and tweaked it. When the first twist in the tale E.P comes out in early September on CD all three tracks have been remixed so they sound so much bigger.

How has the current tour been?
Joey: It's always great to be on the road and we are all genuinely close friends so there's never a dull moment. There's been highs and lows but every band has that and I think with what we're trying to do people either get it or they don't. Personally, some of the highlights for me have been playing at Lunar Festival with the likes of Donovan, Arthur Brown, and Temples. And our most recent gig in Brighton where we played to a sell out crowd and people were singing along with the songs which just blew my mind... I would love to tell you about something big happening next month but I've been sworn to secrecy...

"Birmingham always gets overlooked for London, Liverpool and Manchester, but there's been some amazing bands" 


Would you say that there is a neo-psych scene in Birmingham?
Joey: You can definitely feel there's a scene starting to form in Birmingham and it's great that it's coming from two different ends of the spectrum with the 60s psych thing, and the shoegaze revival coming together. I used to run an event in Birmingham called The Exploding Bubble Club and when I started out I wasn't expecting much I just wanted somewhere me and the band could go, but it ended up being this massive night that people would travel from all over Europe to come to, and loads of cool guys from Birmingham that I'd never met appeared. Birmingham always gets a bum deal really and gets overlooked for London, Liverpool and Manchester, but there's been some amazing bands like Black Sabbath, The Idle Race, and Roy Woods bands (The Move and ELO) and some amazing venues like Mothers Club that get forgotten.

Tell us about the next releases. What do the audience can wait? 
Joey: Well, we're working with a great label called HeviSike, so we're about to put out the first twist in the tale as a hard copy hopefully with a 7" release and then in early October we shall be releasing our new four track 7" EP and Double A-Side single which you will be able to purchase from either our Facebook or from HeviSike's website.

The Exploding Sound Machine is composed of:

Joey - Guitar/Vocals
Ed - Guitar/Backing Vocals
Sarah - Organ/Backing Vocals
Lewis - Bass
Simon - Drums

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