SOME OF US NEVER DIE
Questions asked by Jon Wilde, added to Rock Realms 17th February 2011.
Some Of Us Never Die - Xander Brice on vocals, Guy Smith on guitar and vocals, Olly Whillock on guitar, Harry Crawford on bass, Charlie Simmonds on drums - is a five piece Post-Hardcore/Powerpop band from Surrey. With an EP out in early 2010 and another on the way, it seemed like a good time to have a chat with 'em.
Take it away...
Thanks for taking a moment to answer these questions. Hope you are well?
Guy: We're great! Thanks for taking the time to speak to us.
What’s the history behind Some Of Us Never Die? How did the band form, and what’s the background of the various members?
Guy: We started as a band in secondary school, just for fun and to play gigs and stuff. Olly, Xander and myself all went to school together and met Harry through a mutual friend. Then as we got a bit older we started taking it a bit more seriously, before ending up going through about 6 drummers, it was a nightmare! Then some friends of ours introduced us to Charlie (current drummer) and we just clicked straight away. He's a massive part of our sound and he's been with us for just over a year now. Since finalising our line up, we've kept setting higher goals for ourselves, this is literally our dream and it's all we want to do with our lives!
Who were the early influences? Do you all have similar listening tastes?
Guy: We're influenced by bands such as Funeral For A Friend and Alexisonfire mainly. We all share the same interests but we also all have our own personal preferences and I think such a diversity of taste gives us our own unique approach to writing songs. We come up with a variety of ideas, I think it makes it a bit more interesting than limiting yourself to one type of sound.
Xander: Guy and Charlie probably listen to the heaviest music out of all of us, but my secret passion is 80's pop! i think we all just generally listen to anything, If it's good its worth hearing! we aren't music snobs, if we like something we like something!
Did you know what sort of sound Some Of Us Never Die was destined to have at the start, or has it developed a lot since you began?
Guy: It's definitely developed A LOT since we formed. When we were younger we just wanted to be the next Fall Out Boy to be honest. But as we've grown so have our tastes and we're into a lot more metal and heavier music now. We still have an eye for melody but everything sounds a lot more mature and harder hitting than it did a few years ago. To be honest I think our sound is still developing as we speak, I don't even know myself what could come out at a practice, but that's exciting.
How would you describe your sound to somebody who hadn’t heard you before? Are you all Post-Hardcore/Powerpop, or do you have other facets too?
Guy: I think if you had to label us we'd probably come under the 'Post-Hardcore' umbrella. But we don't feel that we have to stick to one specific sound, we're not scared to experiment! There's plenty of clean and screamed vocals on our songs, as well as big riffs and quieter clean parts. I like to think there's enough variety and diversity to keep people interested.
Xander: I'm not the first to say it and i wont be the last, everyone feels the need to put a label on music, we just write what we do, we don't aim for any particular sound.
How has your local music scene helped or hindered the band’s development? Are you able to play “local” shows, or have you always had to travel further afield?
Guy: There has always been a few local venues that we've played many times over the past few years and they've been great to us. Places like the Boileroom in Guildford are a particular favourite. Through playing at these places we've made friends with some great bands and we all help each other out with regards to free slots on shows etc, and through this we've been able to branch out a bit in terms of location. Generally though, we never turn a show opportunity down, we're prepared to play pretty much anywhere!
You released your debut EP early last year. How has it performed as far as sales, airplay and reviews are concerned?
Guy: It's done alright to be fair. We were a smaller band back then (not that we're big now) so we just had to graft and push it at shows etc. We never kept a record of what we've sold as organisational skills were never our strong point back then. We've managed to get it reviewed and looked at by a few different people and the response has been favourable. That EP was literally a culmination of everything we'd written fully at that point. There's a mix of ideas on there and it's really just the beginning of our musical journey, we were still figuring out our direction at that point - I think we have a much more focused sound at this point.
Looking back is there anything you would have done differently?
Guy: I think that with it being our first ever release, and us still being inexperienced in the way that the music industry works, we didn't build up enough hype about it. We kind of just made it and then proceeded to take it round with us. Looking back now I definitely would've tried to get it reviewed earlier and made sure it was available in every form possible to ensure it had the best chance of reaching people.
Xander: Yeah, it was a learning curve for us, were certainly heading into the release of our next record with a more intelligent approach.
You are now in the process of putting together your second release... Can you tell us a bit about it?
Guy: It's in the very final stages of writing, actually! I think it's going to end up being a 4-track EP that will really showcase us as a finished article. It's got a lot more focus and direction and the songwriting has matured as well. We've played a couple of the songs live at a few shows now and they seem to be going down great! They fit in the set with the old songs nicely but definitely show a progression in terms of quality of songs. We're actually trying to work out when we can go ahead and record it at the moment, it's just trying to find those times when we're not gigging already!
Xander: They are certainly bigger and more thought out than the tracks on our first EP, i think they just show a more composed sound.
How do you go about writing your songs? Talk us through the construction of a typical track...
Guy: Sometimes it can be one of us bringing a riff to a practice and we start building a song up that way. Sometimes either me or Olly will work on a whole load of ideas at home and have a rough song structure completed before anyone else starts to work on it. But it's also great to write as a band, building songs up together from the offset is very rewarding and a great feeling when you complete something that is worth keeping!
Where do you look for your lyrical and musical writing ideas?
Guy: Xander writes a lot in his free time and generally most of the lyrics are his but we all pitch in occasionally, for example I wrote the first verse in Tales (from As The City Burns EP). Once we have the music down, we'll play it over a few times and Xander will figure out melodies and the different dynamics that he can use. Then we'll go about putting lyrics to those melodies.
Is there a story/theme running through your songs, or do you generally aim for standalone tracks?
Xander: I do have a few running themes, and I think I tend to write about the extremes of life, people connect with strong feelings and whilst I only really write what I want to hear, I think it kinda works.
I would say that I write stand alone tracks that come together as a whole, I want people to recognise us when they hear us.
Do you do anything special or unusual in the studio to get your sound?
Guy: I don't know about anything unusual or doing things that other bands don't. When we last recorded we just made sure to double and triple track things to give it that fuller sound. When we go back to the studio for our next EP I'd like to layer in a few more parts and licks etc just to help beef it up even more. I'd love to have those little parts that people don't even notice until the 4th or 5th listen.
What pieces of equipment (or recording gizmos) couldn’t you live without?
Guy: it's gotta be my Orange amp, I love that thing! It's got so much power and it looks awesome as well!
Are there any particular tracks you’ve recorded so far you rate highly, or is it all brilliant?
Guy: I'm completely stoked to get our new EP out there but none of that's recorded yet! From the tracks we've recorded I think that 'So Alive' is probably my favourite. It seems to be the most popular to other people who listen to our EP as well. I think it has the biggest instant connection, it's got great drums, really good vocals, some riffs, a nice bridge and breakdown and lots of energy. I'm really proud of everything we've recorded though, whether anyone else likes it or not, I think the fact that us 5 have played our part in creating something new is really cool.
Xander: I think when I stand on stage and I can see people singing back to me, that's when I feel proud of what I've written.
Do you enjoy the whole studio/creative experience, or do you prefer getting up on the live stage?
Guy: I love all of it to be honest! Creating new songs and sounds with 4 of your best friends is so much fun and I love being in the studio hearing those ideas come to life. Playing live however, is one of the greatest feelings in the world! We definitely write our songs with the view of playing them live in mind.
Xander: Yer, we definitely write our songs with playing them live in mind, its all about the energy, if we can't act recklessly to it on stage then it isn't ready to be played!
What is one of your live shows like? What should fans expect from one of your performances?
Xander: Us getting messy! they tend to be us throwing ourselves about, climbing anything we can, rolling round on the floor, having water fights...actually just having fights in general.
Guy: If something isn't hurting by the time we come off stage we haven't put enough effort in!
Talk us through your existing touring/gigging plans...
Xander: We are supporting Polar. later this month and we have a support slot with Glamour of the Kill on March 20th at the boilerooms in Guildford which should be a huge show!
Guy: Were focusing more on writing at the moment, we plan to tour after recording.
What have been the highlights and lowlights of your musical lives so far?
Xander: Headlining the Advertiser stage at Guilfest was pretty awesome! it wasn't just the set, the whole festival is great, full of weird and wonderful people! actually another great time was playing in Wimbledon to nobody and putting on the show of our lives! it was a little wasted if we're honest!
Guy: Yeh i wish people had been there to see us! the owner loved it, he just kept pouring Jager down my throat, i ended the set lying on the floor covered in it! The lowlights are anytime there's a technical problem, I hate the thought of our set having less of an impact because of something that's out of our control, but that's just part of playing live I guess.
What are you up to once you’ve finished answering these questions?
Guy: Probably finishing off the writing for the EP and then preparing for our upcoming shows. This is gonna be a big year!
Anything else you would like to mention?
Guy: Yes! We're in the Redbull Bedroom Jam competition this year and could use all the support we can get! A number of things can affect the chart, such as tweeting us (@soundtheband) frequently, playing our tracks on Myspace and voting for our video on the Redbull site too! You can vote everyday and it literally takes 2 seconds. Just go to this link - http://redbullbedroomjam.com/band/videos/some-us-never-die-wolves-live-backline-0 and click 5 stars!
Thanks again to the Guy and Xander for their time.
http://www.myspace.com/someofusneverdie
