When I was a kid, growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond, and Simon and Garfunkel, the first time I ever heard Kiss's "Detroit Rock City," it was a moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphanies since then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and revolutionary to your ears.
What have been your musical epiphany moments?
That's actually really funny because Detroit Rock City was actually my first musical epiphany too. My dad would always play rock stuff at home anyway (Zeppelin, Rory Gallagher, Rush etc) but when I was about 6 years old the brother of my best friend showed me a picture of Gene in full makeup with the blood on his face and I was mesmerised. He then gave me a tape of Alive 2 which I listened to til the tape literally wore out. The other notable moment, music wise, would be the first time I heard Public Enemy. I never knew you could have that same power and intensity in a non-rock genre and it led to a lifelong fascination of how to get that from different styles of music.
Talk to us about the song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics? How does it all fall into place?
The riff always comes first. For the most part I’ll start writing at home, get a rough idea of the structure then take it to Dave (guitarist) and we figure out his parts. Then when we get Keith (drums) into the practice space we fine tune the structure and then Dave comes up with lyrics.
Who has influenced you the most?
As a band we all bring different tastes and influences to the party. Personally I’d say Smashing Pumpkins due to the variety of styles they were able to straddle but then there’s also things like Black Flag, QOTSA, PJ Harvey, Faith No More in there too.
Where do you look for continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
Just the desire to make good music and play great shows. It’s just that simple really.
We're all a product of our environment. Tell us about the band's hometown and how that reflects in the music?
Well, Bristol is an industrious town but it’s also very much a party town and I think there’s a bit of both in what we do. It’s loud and heavy but you can have a good time with it. You can bang yr head or have a dance.
Where'd the band name come from?
Its kinda like being the king of shit mountain, like ‘oh well done Captain fuckin Zero!’
You have one chance, what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?
If George Miller did another Mad Max movie I think we’d be pretty good for that!
You now write for a music publication (The Ripple Effect?). You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be and why?
I could probably wax lyrical about The Greatest Man That Ever Lived by Weezer for hours. There’s just so many parts to it and every part is done with such precision. It really shouldn’t work as a song cos the parts are so disparate but they made it work and it’s a masterpiece.
Come on, share with us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
We haven’t really had any yet, I’m sure it’s just round the corner but for now we have been pretty lucky.
Tell us about playing live and the live experience for you and for your fans?
Playing live is everything. It’s the reason for being in a band in the first place and whether you play to one person, ten people or a thousand it’s on you as a member of a band to give it your all. And I think audiences can totally feel that. If you half arse it then you might as well go home.
What makes a great song?
Heart, passion and some BIG FUCKING RIFFS!
What one single album do you wish that you'd written or performed on, and why?
I'm sure the others have a different answer but mine would be Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. When it rocks it really rocks, when it’s smooth it’s really smooth, when it’s delicate and emotional it reeeeally delicate and emotional. It ticks a whole load of boxes on my checklist of ‘best album’.
What piece of your music are particularly proud of?
We just put out our first single Bullseye and I’m super proud of both the tracks on it. The way the songs came together from the original demos to being fleshed out to sound like they do is unbelievably gratifying.
Who today, writes great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
I've recently been obsessed with Otoboke Beaver. They are a Japanese punk rock outfit and they fuckin rule. So many style changes, so many dynamics going on in every song. They have absolute thrashers, they have jangly pop types and everything in between.
Vinyl, CD, or digital? What's your format of choice?
These days I’d say digital. I used to be a total vinyl junkie but the convenience of being able to just stick on a whole list of songs from different albums and artists at the click of a mouse is very appealing.
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice
We, at the Ripple Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your hometown, and when we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?
We are from Bristol and depending on what you're looking for there’s some great record stores. We have a Rough Trade which is nice but we have a lot of specialist places too. Idle Hands is for the dance types, Wanted records is amazing for psych and soul and jazz, and Longwell records is great too.
What's next for the band?
We are currently working on an album. It's pretty much all written so we are just getting ready to record that. Other than that just trying to get more gigs.
Any final comments or thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
Thanks for reading, hopefully you’ll dig what we are doing and let’s all try and support our local scenes.
https://linktr.ee/czbullseye?fbclid=IwAR3PbpcBnUzJZCykObirCEOoyILBvGuYk--pk279fuo_tM9kv6on8RYW7I0
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