1. WHO AND WHAT ARE BLACK LINES ALL ABOUT THEN, PAUL? Erm, that's really hard. Probably because i don't think, collectively as a group we actually really know yet. We know that we all feel slightly aggrieved by the fact we were numbed to being creative, or at least only being allowed to be creative in very controlled conditions, for a long time, and Black Lines is our standpoint for saying "fuck you, we're not just gonna be cogs in the wheel, we wanna make records to bring some light into people's lives in a very fuckin dark world". But in terms of a musical context, i still think we've only just begun on that road - but i'm pleased with the start.
2. HOW DO U 4 GUYS INTEND TO CHANGE THE FACE OF ALTERNATIVE ROCK 'N' ROLL MUSIC? I don't intend to change the face of alternative rock n' roll. I just want us four guys to get onstage or record on record, us being ourselves, drawing on the experiences and feelings we've had in our lives, making music that we are proud of and enjoy playing. The more people that wanna join the ride the better. I want to be able to make these musical representations of all my emotions for as long as possible. It's true that a record deal is the best way to ensure that we'll be able to do that for as long as possible. However, we have our own plan to make 2 albums over the next 18 months funded out of our own pockets which we're gonna distribute for free so i think that proves we're not in this for reasons of finance or fame.
3. IS LONDON A GOOD PLACE TO BE FOR A BRILLIANTLY ORIGINAL AND TALENTED BAND IN YOUR POSITION? I don't think it's that important where you're based. I think a really good live band will shine through wherever you play. What i don't like about gigging in london, apart from the traffic, is that it's always about the money. Promoters find it hard to believe when i say, "we'll play anywhere in the night and we're not bothered about payment" - but it's fucked up - they just don't trust you if you say that. Where we're from, in frustrated sub-urban white middle-class surrey, there is almost no interest amongst people our age to go and see live music. People would rather get pissed off their face, go to a club, dance to soulless dollar-packaged rubbish, get in a fight and brag to their mates about it all the following day. It pains me that they're missing out on such a form of beauty in live music that is sat on their doorstep but still the only way they feel they can escape is to go out and get blind drunk. what a waste.
4. HAVE ANY OF YOU EVER CONSIDERED TAKING WHITE LINES ON DOUBLE YELLOWS? Yeah but so many fuckin films i watch or stories i read end up with people getting into Coke and everything just going wrong. I mean, it turns you into a wanker, and who wants to be a wanker? If you take coke, you must feel empty. Don't escape from that emptiness, deal with it - write a fuckin poem - it's great therapy.
5. YOUR UNCONVENTIONAL, UBER-SENSITIVE AND EPIC SONGS HAVE INCREDIBLE IMPACT. 'EVACUATE NOW' IN PARTICULAR STANDS OUT... BUT HOW THE HELL DO YOU GO ABOUT WRITING SONGS OF SUCH MIND AND EAR-BLOWING QUALITY? I think it's because of the main thing that makes this band stand out. The ability to make an aural representation of the meaning of the song really well. Each song in our set has a central emotion and i think that comes across in the song and when we play it. People were coming up to me after the Easter gigs and saying that they felt what was going on. One guy even said he thought he was going to have a heart attack it was so emotional. That's the best compliment ever - to know that people are relating to and feeling the songs. That's what it's all about. As far as Evacuate Now! goes, Will gave me the piano riff, and when i'd put it together into a whole song i thought "this is just another tune. i'll take it to the others and see what they reckon". But lookin back, i remember when we first played it everyone was like "fuckin hell, that's the best song we've ever done by a mile" and i think that's because it was the first time where we'd mathced the meaning to the music - i think the feelings of fragile frustration in the first half and then anger and defiance in the second really come through on that song and everyone else really felt it.
6. YOU ARE ONE OF THE BANDS IN 'THE COLLECTIVE.' FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T HEARD OF 'THE COLLECTIVE,' TELL US A BIT MORE ABOUT THE PART YOU HAVE TO PLAY IN THAT... Well it's Matt Searles' thing, and a wicked idea. It's only in its early stages i think, and i think it needs regular nights and stuff and i know there's plans to play up north which we're well up for. But anyone who is just in it for the music gets my fuckin support, and that's why we played with them twice over Easter and are lookin forward to playing with them in the future. Havin a dance at the end of their set at the Elephant Bar was the first time i've danced sober - i realised how much i dance like my dad.
7. HAVE YOU AS-YET HAD ANY RECORD LABEL INTEREST? Not really. But we've only actually been Black Lines for five months and three of those we were at Uni. The plan is to tighten everything up, get as strong a set as possible and, armed with a cracking demo in October or so, do our first gig in the capital and go from there. We have started getting calls from here and there asking us to play - for example, the Winchester gig and if all goes well at that we're gonna play at the Joiners in Southampton which has played host to virtually every band under the sun in their early days - U2, Muse, Oasis, Radiohead - even Toploader!
8. WHAT WAS THE ALL-ESSENTIAL CATYLYST THAT INTIALLY GOT YOU GUYS TOGETHER AS A BAND, WANTING TO CHANGE THE WORLD WITH YOUR MUSIC? For me it was one night when i was about 15 - just at the end of Britpop. I had no interest in music in the slightest and until then in my life, everything had been so controlled, so censored, so absurdly correct but creatively empty. Any feelings or emotions i had i didn't known how to deal with or what they meant or anything. Then we went to this band night at our school - i think it was because there were going to be a few girls there and that was the first night we'd ever been out with girls! Anyway, the first band came on, a four piece and they did this half hour set of rock n' roll tunes. I was spellbound. I thought, "fuck, he's just singing about whatever he wants". I had all these feelings brimming as i watched them play. I hadn't even known rock n' roll existed. I vividly remember going home saying to my mum and dad "that is what i am gonna do". Within a couple of days i'd borrowed Will's old classical guitar that he'd played when he was a kid, bought a couple of songbooks and went from there. It also signalled a massive change in relations (often for the worse) with my mum and dad as we battled to balance what they regarded as a crucial education with my discovery of guitars and rock n' roll which had become the first thing in my life to give me a real feeling of purpose. With regards to the unifying factor, I think it was also probably school. We all (bar nick) went to a grammar school which had major conformity issues. In our most significant adolescent years, we had a headmaster who wanted every pupil to look exactly the same (this included no hair gel and even the banning of quiffs - micky was heartbroken). At the time i remember we all really resented it but weren't quite sure why. I don't think we totally appreciated how fucked up the whole situation was but still felt something inside us say "this isn't right". So we formed the band with various other members and names, finally resulting in Black Lines.
9. THERE'S A TIME AND A PLACE FOR SHAMELESS BLACK LINES-AFFILIATED PLUGS... and it's here: The demo - the new demo 'A Happy Place EP'- out August 1st. I think it's going to be fantastic. We're already hard at work on it - sorting out synth layers and vocal harmonies. The three tracks we're provisionally doing are all really diverse and wicked and we love them. A Happy Place contains, in my opinion, the best lyrics i've ever written, Over Gliding Seas is our set opener which we all fuckin love - it's a song about beauty and i think it's a beautiful song, and Cold is a cool Massive Attack style malarchy which i reckon will be awesome on record. Cd copies are going to be available for free to anyone who wants them just email [email protected] for a copy around the time. We'll also be dishing them out at the August Greyhound Gig to everyone who comes down.
www.drunkskunk.com/blacklines