Writing Copy (Final)

WRITING COPY.

For all you teenage "garage-rehearsing" bands, we've got an exclusive interview about how to start your journey to fame. The Explosion are a local band, who just like you, used to spend hours and hours practicing in bedrooms, school, and wherever they could find room for equipment. Now they've landed a record deal, performing gigs, and are with me now giving advice for all you newbies.

Q: What interested you in joining a band?

Tom: I have been interested in music since I was little because all my older cousins listened to rock/Indie. Naturally, because of this, joining a band and singing this sort of music was something I got into around the age of 15. I’ve always enjoyed playing music with others and so I knew I wanted to join a band and get some gigging experience! I also wanted people like you to listen and enjoy our music (I hope!)

Q: We certainly do like your music. Did you form the band yourself?

Tom: No, our singer formed the band. We used to jam about in school with a bassist who was just doing it for fun and I wasn’t too serious until we started playing at gigs.

Q: So tell us a bit more about your gigs then.

Tom:We have been playing in pubs around the local area and have just started to play at some proper live venues supporting some signed acts. Most of them go well. And we get free booze, so overall...pretty damn good!
We’ve had 10 people turning up for one gig and another time we’ve had a sellout! When you receive a big audience, it makes you feel that you want to impress them as much as they can so they can come to your next gig. It makes you feel on top of the world. The best gig we have played yet is just at a local pub where we play about once a month. We had a full house and some serious mosh pits!

Q: That sounds immense. So I’m guessing your band is popular amongst teens?

Tom: We have developed a fan base so we mostly get a big following to the gigs we play at. It’s always pleasing when you have just finished a gig or when people listen to your music and say “ Hey, I like your sound! I’ll come to your next gig!” Although, you will always get people who won’t always like your music, but you just have to target an audience who DOES enjoy that particular genre of music.

Q: How do you produce your music and what goes into it?

Tom: Well, we always practice in a little studio at my house; this is where we come up with most of the ideas. We have many influences and elements in our music and I, in particular, have a lot of influence from early ska and punk music. We all have our input in the music we make. I guess we all normally have a few different ideas and we would develop those ideas as a band. When we are getting ready for a gig, we always make a check list to see if we haven’t forgotten anything; Equipment like leads, pedals, etc. Depending on where the gig is, we will sometimes need to bring our PA system, drum kit, amps, stuff like that.

Q: So how does your band go about making your singles?

Tom: Well usually we first make the bassline (ironic much?), this normally takes up between 3 to 6 hours from scratch; this includes us experimenting with different sounds and just generally editing and mixing different chords and tunes. Then we try to write to the beat or use lyrics we’ve already written and try to make them fit. After that we go down to a studio and record it.

Q: Wow that sounds like a lot of work! What inspires you to create your music?

Tom: There are many things that inspire us to make music from little things like the weather to big things, like what’s going in life. What often happens is we just come up with a catchy lyric or riff during the day and then add to it when we feel like. This is usually followed by loads of sitting back listening to music and watching TV to inspire me! Who says ‘Family Guy’ and ‘South Park’ can’t inspire to make music! (-laughs-) But joking aside, we tend to listen to a whole range of music such as Radiohead, Bloc party, even a bit of the Beatles! (-ha-)

Q: Haha well who doesn’t like the Beatles!? So what advice would you give to the next generation of bands and artists to help them?

Tom: Once you have a repertoire of songs, get out there! Give them to anyone and everybody you can! Get some live experience and share your music to other music fans. Working hard is the key but always enjoy it. Keep making songs, keep practicing and one day you might just make it. Good Luck. (Oh, and listen to our songs. -shakes fist-)

Watch out for The Explosions debut single “Breaking and Entry” released on the 8th March in stores. Or check out the preview on http://www.myspace.com/the_explosion