Hi Andrew, I'm Megan, pleasure to meet you.
Hello Megan, lovely to meet you too.
So Andrew, how's the tour with Frank going so far?
It's going great, unfortunately we did not play last night, our singers voice is just gone so he's already been visiting the doctor this morning, but the one show we played in Bournemouth was great... actually no it wasn't, because we blew up the PA when we were playing so I guess it's kind of been sh*t luck so far.
Third time lucky though hey?
Third times a charm.
But no I mean, Frank's an absolute sweetheart and the whole crew and band are all just super nice.
He's actually said that you are one of his all time favourite bands, how does that feel?
Oh it's great, like he's a super nice guy. He was just in the states two months ago, something like that in a little university town called Gainesville, Florida and he played there and I went down to the show and-- I met him randomly in a bar in Texas, it's very random, 5 or 6 years ago. He was on tour with some friends of ours and it was like, "hey this is Frank, how's it going?" and that was about the extent of our conversation but in Gainesville we actually got to hang out a bit. He needed a shower so I just picked him up and took him to my house- I have a very responsible lady with me so there were clean towels.
Obviously your kind of music is generally a lot more heavy rock compared to some of Frank Turner's softer folk songs, whats your view on this?
For anyone who kind of explores the Against Me! blog we have like really aggressive stuff and then straight into like campfire sing-a-long, you know, the kind of same stuff Frank is doing. I think I just embrace every aspect of music like, if it's just hard and aggressive it just gets really old because who wants to be aggressive all the time? I was with Frank yesterday and we went to a radio station in Cardiff and he played this really good song, Sailors Boots, absolutely beautiful song. If the songs about the sea, you can't go wrong.
I've noticed for New Years Eve you've announced a show in Atlanta, do you have any big plans for the New Year?
Well Against Me! has had such a roller coaster two years, like starting our own record label, Tom [Gabel] built his own studio, he just recorded with a great band called 'Cheap Girls', it's spectacular, it just sounds amazing. So Against Me! now in the new year, we have our own record label and our own studio, so if stuff gets really messed up... it our fault, all the tools are there in our possession.
So before you go on stage do you have any techniques to get yourself ready?
Well we have a thing an hour before we play, we call it 'Prep Time', but Europe has kind of beaten me down so much with my 'Prep Time' you know? I live in Florida, the UK has actually been very nice this past week, we've been in Europe for almost a month- Germany, Austria and I swear to god I did not see the sun for like a week- I need my Vitamin D. Put it this way, we do have Prep Time but I feel like a zombie, until the minute someone hits the first chord or the first note of a song then all of a sudden it's like a jolt of lightning, "OK.. here I am, this is what I'm doing, I'm here for a reason. Let's go!"
You mentioned touring all over Europe, but where has been your ultimate favourite country of all time to tour in?
I'm very bias towards the Australians because it's absolute paradise, but I love England as well.
So you've obviously pointed out the obvious difference of weather between the UK and the US but what's the biggest difference for you between the two countries?
Ok well I'll leave you with a comical one. When you guys say it's like a far drive, you mean like 200 miles, for us it's like 1200 miles, but no I love it in England.
Haha, that's true. Thank you for your time Andrew, lovely to meet you and all the best for the show tonight.
You're very welcome, thank you very much.
article by: Megan Knight
photos by: Elle Rigby
published: 28/11/2011 12:05
FUTURE GIGS
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