Dinosaur Pile-up
Setting the scene, I was escorted to a back room at the Brudenell where not only the band were chilling out, but also their manager and quite a few PR girls from Miller Genuine Draft and obviously a fridge stacked full of the beer. Normally I am just used to the band and sometimes not even the full ensemble so, feeling a little put on the spot, I put out my questions and here's what happened...
Give me a little bit of information about you and the band.
Matt: As a band we're from here [Leeds] and we play loud, kind of like heavy pop songs, it's definitely catchy but it's definitely rooted in heavy guitars.
Mike: It's kind of hardcore but not hardcore, kind of happy but not happy hardcore.
Matt: Like, kind of sad, but not sad...
What have you been up to recently?
Matt: We released the first record in October last year and at the end of this year we were touring quite a lot, we did a couple of headline tours, a tour for Rock Sound magazine, went to Mexico, went to America for SXSW - loads of touring we were on the road for quite a while. Now we're kind of off the road obviously and we're working on the second record, spending time in studios and sometimes here [Leeds]. I'm spending a lot of time in London and we're seeing each other whenever.
Harry: Matt just shines like a dinosaur light and we all go running... like Ghostbusters all slide down the poles!
Why have you started to move down south and not stay in Leeds?
Matt: Leeds is a cool place to be and the scene in Leeds is amazing. It's kind of weird not being here because the band started here literally in this building. I met Harry at shows largely here and then Mike came, there's a lot of roots. I'm spending a lot of time in London meeting different producers, just because the second record for us has a lot of weight, it's just kind of important for us that we set it up right. The first record for us was just trying to be honest as I could, the band being totally obvious and in a straight forward way. The second record's coming out and it's more of a band than one guy.
Mike: It technically is like a second band.
Matt: I started [Dinosaur Pile-Up] and there were a couple of other bands and we toured and stuff but that wasn't 'the band' and then I went and did the record and then I met Mike through touring and knew Harry from the scene.
Harry: One night stand!
Matt: It's almost that was when the band started again.
What does it mean to play Brudenell especially as you have been away recently?
Matt: Strange in a good way.
Mike: We did our warm up here when we first started to tour the album and got together. This is the first time, back in these rooms sort of thing.
Harry: I think for all of us - except Mikey because he hasn't spent as much time in Leeds - some of our favourite concerts have been here.
Matt: Here in Leeds and here [The Brudenell], we've seen loads of bands together - or not together. The Brudenell is a big deal in Leeds, it's cool that the demos were done for the band here and then Mikey and Harry joined - we did our first shows here and we didn't tell anyone about them so we could just play. We did like five of them and it's kind of cool. We're going to have to come back for the second record now.
What advice would you give to new Leeds bands?
Matt: Get friends with Nathan, play the Brudenell loads. Be really nice and meet as many bands as you can and go on tour loads and talk to Nath as much as you can.
Mike: He [Nath] knows what he's talking about. He's like the all-knowing, a weird Yoda!
There is a question and answer set before you play, what are you expecting from the crowd?
Matt: Obviously this event is focused on us playing in Leeds, so I think a lot of it will focus around us and Leeds, what Leeds means to us as a band and obviously it's what we just said about the beginnings of the band. Also I think others will be about what we're doing.
Mike: I only lived here for a few months and before I lived here I thought Leeds was on the coast! [Ensues a lot of laughter from the whole room]
What are you listening to at the moment?
Matt: New White Denim record, 'D', new Dutch Uncles record, Bombay Bicycle Club - their new single is unreal. Also listening to Cults and stuff at the moment and still listen to Torch and stuff like that.
Harry: I really like Group Love from the tour.
Matt: We also saw Fair Ohs at 1234, really good at self promotion, really DIY. They do it themselves quite literally. My friend went to see them in Norwich and she was like 'why don't you ever come to Manchester?' and they said, 'well, if they paid us enough money we'll go'!
Where does your inspiration come from?
Harry: Sometimes Matt can look at a tree in a certain way for inspiration, just like Blakey [William Blake]. Our common ground is that we all listen to a lot of heavy metal and 90s guitar music, pop songs in general whether it's the Beatles or concerts that are like guitar driven pop.
Mike: Anything from Beatles music to 90s music.
Matt: Obviously in our opinion there's a lot that constitutes a pop song, you know, Slayer could have a pop-esque song, choruses and stuff. Basically anything that's kind of catchy whether it's heavy or light.
Harry: I like the idea of having equal amount of guys and girls in an audience, you know, a song comes on and the guys are like I love this and the girls are like I really like that.
Some people have compared you to the Foo fighters, what do you think about that?
Matt [sarcastically]: That's weird!
Mike: It's just like Matt has said once that he listened to the first two records and everyone has really clung onto that.
Matt: Because I did, I loved those first two records but there are a lot more records out there.
What is next for the band?
Matt: Just sort of writing for the next record, some dates in October. Touring with Cage the Elephant from the US so that will be fun. We're mostly doing writing and stuff for the next sessions whilst doing some regional festivals and then the Cage tour at the end of the year. Record the record and then start touring loads.
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