One of Wales' hottest rock acts of 2006 released their debut mini-album in October. We talked to vocalist Gavin Butler about their manic year.
Last updated: 23 January 2009
How would you characterise the last year? You've had Lostprophets tours, Kerrang features, and nominations for awards...
Unbelievable! If some guy said to me 12 months ago that we'd be supporting bands like Thrice, Funeral For A Friend and Avenged Sevenfold, playing to just under 30,000 people in two days at Give It A Name, touring with the band that inspired us to start playing music - Lostprophets - and nominated for best British newcomer, I would have said this guy is smoking rocks!
It's ridiculous how well the last 12 months has been. But hopefully it's just the beginning.
Tell us about hooking up with Fierce Panda - how did they become involved?
They saw how much we were touring and listened to our stuff on the net and asked if they could come see us, which they did and it went from there really.
We talked to a few friends who have been around the industry longer than us and everyone had good things to say about them. And from our first meeting with Simon [Williams, the head of Fierce Panda] at a pub in Islington, we got a really good feeling from him and what Fierce Panda are all about.
They were all for letting us get on with the music and choose who we wanted to work with. It seemed the perfect option for us at the time and we're glad we did it. Plus Guy, their A&R guy has great hair!
What are your expectations for your mini-album?
We just wanted to get our music out there and we look at it as more of a taste of things to come, the beginnings of something new and exciting.
Do you think of yourselves as 'famous' yet? What constitutes 'fame' for a punk band these days?
I heard you're not famous until you're going out with a TV presenter; plus you can't really be famous when you work in a bingo hall or Argos.
Who have you been influenced by?
Musically there are so many different bands that we all love: Lostprophets, Metallica, Every Time I Die, Queen, Pantera, Bon Jovi -the list is as long as it is diverse, which I think can be nothing but a good thing.
