How long have you been together as a band for?
Chris: We've been together for a very long time.
Burch: How long is that?
Chris: In some capacity we've been going since about 1995. Basically, me and Robert, who is the guitarist now and the old singer, all went to primary school and grew up together in South London and we basically all got into liking rock music. Our parents liked Jimi Hendrix, The Beatles and stuff like that so we got into guitar music. So we started making music then and we played our first gig in 1996 with that line-up. Ever since then we've changed line-up's a few times but overall, we have been going for a long time.
Burch: This incarnation of the band has been going since 2005.
Chris: Yeah, 2005 is when the new Mouthwash was formed.
Do you have a genre that you would class your music as?
Chris: It's ska music really. We like to say we do other stuff. If you think of a ska band, you're not going to think of them as being diverse. So if someone asks, we kind of hesitate before we say ska but really it is because every song has got a ska vibe to it.
Burch: It's kind of urban as well but it is ska at the end of the day.
Chris: We've got some punk and rock in there as well and a bit of indie too really.
Burch: It's a nice mixture.
Chris: We've got a new song that we're just working on, which is exactly like Paul Simon, 'Graceland'.
Burch: Yeah, it's got a nice bit of afrobeats going on.
What artists musically influence you?
Burch: We all like different things ourselves but we like The Clash and I love Pantera - we love metal as well.
Chris: Burch has brought something new in because he likes a lot of metal compared to the kind of music that the rest of us are into. We were a lot looser with the way that we played but he's brought in some regimented stuff and it translates well to a different genre of music. For example, with us our bass drum and the bass are always together -he's picked up that tightness from another genre; it just works. I've liked all different kinds of bands throughout my life from all different genres - The Clash, Oasis, The Beatles; Radiohead are an amazing band. We like all kinds of music though - a lot of folk music too like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell.
Burch: I love playing Nick Drake when I want to relax but as a whole band, you just want to make a massive racket.
Some people think that ska music is dated. What's your opinion on that?
Chris: I would say that we are trying to be the future of ska. It's a very traditional kind of music. If you hear a ska band, you expect the music to be a certain way. We are trying to do it in a modern style.
Burch: We try to bring in as many contemporary elements as possible.
Chris: I'd like to think that we are the pioneers of the new wave of ska.... hopefully... there are probably a lot of people who would contest that but I'd like to think so.
At a recent gig, I noticed a few older faces in the crowd. Why do you think that is?
Burch: Older people seem to like us. If we are playing in a pub that they're in and they've never heard us before, they tend to really like it.
Chris: We supported a band called Spear of Destiny, who used to be on Top of the Pops in the eighties and we did so well. We thought it was such a mismatch...
Burch: The gig was full of all their hardcore fans in their forties... Chris: ...and we went down so well. They really liked us and we sold so many CDs there. It's quite good really because they're not really part of the download generation so if they like you, they'll just buy your CD - as simple as that.
Burch: It's weird selling forty year olds your CD- people who are just a bit younger than your dad.
Chris: They appreciate the new twists we put on it too.
What do you want to achieve in the next year as a band?
Burch: We want to play some nice, big places and get in some good support slots.
Chris: In general we just want to spread our name about - makes sure as many people as possible have heard of Mouthwash, by hook or by crook - whether it means booking our own tour like our gigs we've been doing recently, which has kind of randomly been put together or sneaking on to a bill like on The King Blues tour that we've been doing. Just trying to get our name out there and getting more people liking us.
Burch: It's starting to happen already.
Chris: We are noticing it now because we're playing at more shows and more and more people seem to have noticed our new album. It's quite good because we played in Nottingham a while after it came out and the whole crowd knew the words. It's weird because some towns just pick up on it.
Burch: Hull was like that too.
Chris: Yeah, it's weird how it gets out there in certain places.
Are you playing any festivals this summer?
Chris: Unfortunately we haven't got a booking agent at the moment - we're between booking agents. We're getting one sorted out at the moment.
Burch: We've got an independent label looking after us so next year we'll be ready.
Chris: We've got a single coming out in July but we don't know exactly which one yet but we're going to do a tour to promote that and that's what we're going to be doing over the summer.
Burch: Then we'll start working on a new album at some point.
Thanks very much to Mouthwash for taking time out to have a chat with eGigs.
article by: Fiona Madden
published: 08/06/2009 15:06
FUTURE GIGS
sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.