Last Updated on March 5, 2023
Originally published in Beat Motel issue 7
1. The Law of zines dictates that I have to ask you to identify yourselves before we continue.
Tom: I’m Tom (Huss) and I play the bass!
Joe: How do, I’m Joe & I sing.
Mark: I’m Mark & I play drums & sing the odd backing vocal on record!
Ben: Ben, Guitars.
2. I know you were formed from loads of different bands, would you see yourselves as the UKs first hardcore super group?
Tom: no, not in any way! Super groups are people who have serious powers and years of musical training! We’re just lucky enough to have been in bands in this scene before and have lots of friends that have helped us through the past year!
Joe: I wouldn’t go as far as saying we’re a super group! Yeah I guess we’ve all played in well respected bands involved in the hardcore scene, but to say we were a super group would mean our former bands were all really well know, in the grand scheme of things, we’re 4 nobody’s…shit you’ve only gotta look at the heritage of bands like The Horror…now they’re a hardcore super group! Plus “super group” makes me think of the band Velvet Revolver & that makes me cry.
Mark: Many bands are formed from members of other bands that are now defunct, so I’m not sure if that would qualify us as any kind of super group. Also, my previous band wasn’t hardcore so I’m definitely out of the running. Maybe the UK’s first Hardcore/Accessible Pop Rock super group?
Ben: Not really, Mark’s band was indie as hell. Also, there’s been a fair few super groups formed of different bands recently…. all of whome’s names escape me. I’ve seen one with dudes from the Legacy in anyhow.
3. What’s with all the injuries you lot seem to suffer?
Tom: We’re not spring chickens anymore! Well, I am!
Joe: Over the years I seem to be the most prone? Chipped teeth, nerve damage in my head cheers to bens guitar colliding with it, twisted ankles…and recently a broken hand! I dunno what’s up with that? I guess I’m 27 and I’m not as agile or indestructible as I’d like to think I am. Seriously though, any band that puts as much into playing as we do it bound to suffer on some level, some times I lay awake at night wondering what bodily trouble all this is gonna do me 20/30 years down the line…its not looking good!
Mark: Joe beats his hands on the stage like a primitive ape when he is getting involved, Ben bangs his head so gets whiplash and back problems (too much Andrew WK), I am old and increasingly frail so injuries are inevitable and Hussey doesn’t seem to get hurt much. That doesn’t seem fair.
Ben: Joey is clumsy, uncoordinated, and a girl.
4. There’s a strong Isis/ Hydra Head type feel to some of the tracks, is this something that you plan to expand on in the future?
Tom: We all like slow, heavy music so it made sense to incorporate this into the band! We’re all into many different musical genres so this is why we don’t have a running theme throughout our songs! It goes fast/slow/fast/slow/slow/fast generally! Keeps everyone happy.
Joe: Cool, I’m glad you’re feeling that! It seems the kind of music bands like Isis play is becoming more and more popular, personally I’m stoked they took a more melodic approach with their new album because it alienated me & I though it sounded shitty, so hopefully kids will emulate that? I guess we’re all into a lot of the Hydra Head back catalogue & it seemed natural to incorporate that into our sound, but purely to mix up the songs & keep them exciting for ourselves, I guess I was sick of poppier elements of Jets Vs Sharks so Ben and I discussed following what the two of us were happier playing & luckily Tom & Mark were on the same page. I wouldn’t like to say what the future holds musically as I wouldn’t want to restrict ourselves, however new material we’re working on is fast as fuck with some insane break downs, so we’re not gonna be re-writing any rules books!
Mark: We love those bands so I think there will always be an element of that style in the mix, but due to everyone in the band getting bored easily and having short attention spans those sections are never likely to exceed 4 bars! I guess you never know though. It provides me with much needed breaks. Plus it would get pretty boring if everything was one speed and style, it’s good to mix your influences in a melting pot.
Ben: Probably, at the moment any riff / song we come up with has to be a compromise between my attempts to merge melody and aggression, and Mark’s refusal to play anything that isn’t at least a bit technical. Which is refreshingly challenging!
5. Would you feel at home on a label like Hydra Head, or even a Major?
Tom: It would be great to sign to a major, not have to work and do something you love, but what would ground you in reality then? The reason I love this band is because we will drive 5 hours to a show, play, and then drive back when it’s finished and be up for work/university in the morning. That’s reality! And I would like to keep it that way!
Joe: After playing in DIY bands for 5 or 6 years & seeing people who give a shit about our various bands come and go, I sometimes wonder how it would feel to turn to the dark side and be in a big alternative band who don’t have to worry about food, money, a place to stay or where they’re gonna find money for t-shirts & rent. It’s a very interesting point Tom mentioned above though, if we didn’t have anything to get mad about, what would fuel the band? You see some many bands like Good Charlotte on MTV2/Kerrang TV crooning about how much their life sucks & how their bro’s stabbed them in the back over some illegal dogfight gambling death match, but the truth is these people are rich & they flash that shit all over Cribs! So how can they be angry? They aren’t! You can spot fake insincerity a mile off & it just reeks of middle age dudes getting hand jobs off 15 year old girls in the back of tour buses…so yeah count me in! Only kidding, I think you can mix the two, be a DIY band but still play bigger shows & keep your feet on the ground, I mean its hardly huge but playing at the Underworld with The Hope Conspiracy was the biggest thing we’ve done & it ruled…then two days later we were playing a show in someone’s front room…which probably ruled that bit more, if you can have it both…fuck it.
Mark: I think we would feel at home with any label who appreciated music for more than just monetary gain. Personally, I don’t think I would be happy to be with a label who expected us to deliver x amount of albums in x amount of years, and be on the road 10 months of the year. When it gets like that, music is no longer fun and becomes a job. However, if it was our choice to do those things then that would be different. Rat Patrol are providing a really good home for us at the moment.
Ben: I wouldn’t rule anything out. If Hydrahead wanted to do something with us, I’d be stoked. I guess I’d consider talking to some of the Majors, but my gut reaction would be to stay away from that.
6. How come a village hall in Overton appears to be the centre of the hardcore universe?
Tom: For many years there were great shows that Jets vs. Sharks used to frequent and the kids loved that shit! The organiser Daz had some great bands play too! But now we don’t hear from Daz and I don’t believe there are still shows in Overton. Is weird how some things work out.
Joe: Unfortunately things died out there a few years back. Daz who ran Cat N Cakey records used to put on shows there, Jesus Christ, they were some of the best times of my life…then one day he either couldn’t be bothered with it all or something else occurred that I don’t know about & it all stopped. We were close friends, now he won’t answer the phone or anything…I feel kind of weird talking about it, its pretty upsetting. I’d like to think that time spurred on a lot of younger kids to start bands/put on shows…I know it had a profound effect on me. It’s cool though because now we’re finding new places to play 7 new people to be-friend.
Mark: It seems to have gone a bit quiet there recently, and personally I was never that involved with the scene there, but I think that isolated places are healthy for music because in big towns and cities there is so much to do that people there are just a bit “so what?” (I can be guilty of this myself). In places like Overton though, folks are just excited to have something to call there own which creates a real community.
Ben: Because our friend Daz had a captive audience of around 100 kids who would pay to see shows there (and then stand outside smoking). Think he’s kind of dropped off the radar recently though.
7. How come?
Tom: the above paragraph
Joe: I’m not sure what that’s in relation too…pffft!
Mark: See above.
Ben: I always thought that because it was in the middle of nowhere and EVERYone had to travel to get there, people put more effort into participating in the shows.
8. Is Attack! Vipers! A long tern prospect?
Tom: I think we will continue to make music that we enjoy! After that we’ll be bitter and evolve into a covers band, Iron Maiden or The Beastie Boys as possibilities!
Joe: Shit I’d like to think so. We’ve put a lot o ourselves into this band, not only physically, but I feel like the lyrics & music are really coming together & I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved. I’d hate to see it fizzle out like previous bands, where we’d also put a lot of blood sweat and tears into it. As long as I’m pissed off enough to write lyrics & having fun playing with three of my best friends then yeah…I can see this ride lasting a good while!
Mark: I don’t think any of us have any plans to go anywhere, I think this will be a band as long as the four of us are happy making music together. Does that make it long term? We certainly haven’t put a maximum shelf life on A! V!, so I guess it does.
Ben: No plans to stop anytime soon.
9. How come nobody thought to press the stop button once you’d put your guitars down at the end of the album?
Tom: I like to think people will wait for something special to happen at the end. And when it doesn’t, all hell breaks loose!
Joe: that’s what happens when Ben is given full use of the studio without me & Tom around hahah. All joking aside, I love how that last song came out & those finally minutes of feedback & noise were Ben’s artistic death rattle…I think he’s needed to do that for a long, long time & hopefully he’s satisfied (until the next record).
Mark: We were busy drowning in rock!
Ben: We pushed stop when it was over. That track was my interpretation of what “The Mirror and The Destroyer” means. Joe has a different interpretation that he may tell you about, but I always liked the title because to me it describes the sea in her most beautiful and powerful aspects, and I’ve always felt a strong connection to the sea. The general story of the song is of a ship sailing at sea, being caught in a storm and sinking. The feedback represents the chaos of a sinking ship being torn apart by pressure in unexpected places as it is immersed, being dashed on rocks as it passes into the depths, and eventually, the creaking of the hull as it comes to rest teetering on the edge of the abyss.
10. Which would you rather eat, a human baby or a spoonful of your own shit?
Tom: I guess a spoonful of shit is going to be less traumatic than a human baby. You’ve already eaten the shit once, technically!
Joe: kids probably taste like chicken & the fact I don’t eat meat means I’d probably go with my own shit (I’d be sure to eat plenty of sweetcorn & nuts for maximum pleasure), purely from a selfish angle though, part of me would like to cause someone some severe distress by eating THEIR child.
Mark: That is disgusting. Babies are too salty, and shit is too……shitty.
Ben: I would happily eat a human baby. If I had to dip a human baby in my own shit to eat it, I’d probably try that too. I HATE babies.
11. How shite are these questions?
Tom: the last one made me a little bit sick!
Joe: About as shitty as my pants after a show, its fun, then you realise you’ve gotta deal with what you’ve done, in this case what I may have said or not said?
Mark: I think we could’ve done without that last on ;-). Generally I find answering any questions pretty hard to do without being either monosyllabic or waffling along as if someone gave a shit what I thought. Maybe the latter here.
Ben: I’m pretty sure we’ve all been asked worse.
12. What’s next?
Tom: I have no idea, and it’s terribly exciting!
Joe: I think we’re gonna roll out a split or two, there’s definitely a split in the works with Tim Holehouse (ex-Soon The Darkness/Among The Missing fame) which will be something of a collaboration. There’s a couple of bands out there we’d like to do something with, so watch this space. We’re off to Europe with The Mercury league next Sunday for 10 days, but no doubt that would’ve been and gone by the time you read this…I can’t wait. I guess We’ll just be playing as many shows as humanly possible…come on, hook us up!
Mark: European Meltdown!
Ben: We’ve started writing for the next record (which could be a split with Tim Holehouse). I’m worrying a little about how I’m going to up the ante for the next batch of songs, but I think I’m getting better at playing guitar, so who knows!
You can have your bollocks blown off by Attack! Vipers! by buying thier album, I seriously recomend doing just that, as MySpace compresses the fuck out of this hooge toons! I realise how daft it is for me to now give you thier MySpaff address, but you should know by now we’re not the most logical zine on earth!
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