MUEN: WHEN WAS THE BAND FIRST FORMED? HOW DID YOU GUYS MEET? WHO WERE THE ORIGINAL MEMBERS? AND IS IT STILL THE ORIGINAL LINE-UP TODAY?

PHIL: The band started 7 years ago back in August 2000, we all knew each other from school (or high-school in the US) and started jamming when we were 15, Andy was 17. The line up has only changed once, back in 2005 our good friend Daniel Budden parted ways from the drums to continue his studies in University and has moved to London. Luckily for the band, Andy's brother Gaz was playing in a local Metal band (Sanguine) and they split up around the time Daniel left so it was a natural transition to get Gaz in. He was the first person to audition; he knew the songs and could play them straight off with style and power. We didn't need to audition anyone else and since then the music has had a lot of time to grow and progress naturally into our own sound.

ANDY: I have known Marc all my life as we lived across the road from each other in the small village of Tonna in the Neath valley. We used to spend our youth walking around the village with our boom box listening to Nirvana and old school bands like Pantera and Slayer dreaming of putting a band together someday.

MUEN: TELL US ABOUT YOUR HOMETOWN IN SOUTH WALES.. IS THERE MUCH OF A MUSIC SCENE THERE?

PHIL: Neath has always been a diverse area musically, there's not really a huge scene for any particular type of music because there's very few bands compared to other cities and we all have different styles, so gigging together in our hometown is cool as we all get something different from the night. One minute there's a Primus style band, a funk/reggae/punk band, a stoner band, an 80's cock rock band and there's us too!

ANDY: Neath is quite a small town where the majority of people in the surrounding villages all know each other. Economically there is not a great deal of opportunities, but it does have some breathtaking scenery in the valley which helps to inspire the music. Overall it's a great place to grow up.

MARC: South Wales is very often misconstrued as a bad place to live with much crime and a lack of financial opportunity. However South Wales as a whole is prospering at quite a fast rate and for a very long time has been home to many exceptional musical artists, athletes and world renowned poets and writers. There's quite a good vibe in the area for music with bands from very diverse genres helping each other out and watching each other when they play.

GAZ: I don't think there is much of an actual �scene� of one type of genre but there is definitely more bands around more than ever now and this number is increasing. It's great to see that so many people are picking up instruments and making the live scene around the area bigger and better.

MUEN: YOUR FIRST ALBUM "ROAD OUT OF NOWHERE" RECEIVED SOME NATIONAL ATTENTION... HOW DID IT DO FOR YOU? AND IS IT STILL AVAILABLE TODAY?

PHIL: After Andy followed up the press for about 6 months we got a reaction. All of a sudden we appeared in 3 National UK music magazines and had a song featured on one of the cover CDs so it was pretty exciting stuff and all our reviews were positive and certainly encouraging for the band. We've always been hungry for it and worked hard at what we do so to get any attention was great. It helped us get in touch with the right people and we've progressed from there. The Album 'Road Out Of Nowhere' was completely self-financed by the band and due to lack of funds we only pressed 1000 copies. A lot of those copies are owned locally, we sold quite a lot via the net to fans in the US, Europe, Japan etc. and the rest are in the hands of Magazines, Radio Stations and Record Companies.

ANDY: We re-recorded a handful of songs off �Road Out of Nowhere� which are on the new album Purification. We thought some of the songs off that album deserved to be heard by a wider audience which we could not have achieved the first time round with a self release. A few of them have been reworked too giving them a new lease of life.

MARC: Road out of nowhere is no longer available except for the copies in circulation. The album has served us very well in the time since it was released but it is time to move on from it towards a new future with a brand new album.

MUEN: EXPLAIN WHAT LETHARGY IS? HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THAT NAME?

ANDY: For us, Lethargy is an observation of the dark undercurrent of society. Although in the modern and technologically advanced times in which we live, there is still a state of mass unconsciousness, or lethargy if you will, that tends to neglect pure ideologies and morality.

MARC: Lethargy has also become somewhat of a contradiction of terms as our live set is anything but Lethargic and we give it our all on stage!

MUEN: WHAT IS THE MESSAGE YOU TRY TO GET ACROSS WITHIN THE MUSIC OF LETHARGY? IT SEEMS BOTH PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL, AND YET STILL HAS EVERY ELEMENT OF STRAIGHT ROCK AND ROLL..

MARC: As a band we try to achieve a sense of consciousness within our lyrical frame. Discussing topics that we feel are very important within the contemporary, ever changing world. We tend to take pride in our lyrics and think of them as a key element of the whole image of the band, enhancing the music and taking it to another level. There are a plethora of bands that use meaningless �party� lyrics, as well as derogative narratives (for example the glorification of gun and drug culture) to sell their music to an impressionable youth, without any thought for the outcomes they may cause.

MUEN: WHAT DO YOU HATE MOST ABOUT THE MUSIC BUSINESS IN GENERAL? AND WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT MAKE IT ALL WORTH WHILE?

PHIL: The Music Business these days is a pretty sorry state. It's more of a 'business' than it has ever been, it's about creating an act and squeezing every penny out of them for a year or 2 and let them fizzle out. There are very few people within the industry that strive to create the next Led Zeppelin or Aerosmith, and those who do aren't close enough to the top of the food chain to make a difference. Hopefully, one day soon that'll change. Reality TV is largely to blame but the bigger factor is money and greed. For me, the thing that makes it worth while is getting to work with the people we want to work with (which is very lucky), getting a record made, getting it out to the fans and touring it - I think that's what every band aspires to do and hopefully we'll get to do it again and again.

ANDY: With regards to the music business from a personal perspective, waiting for things to happen is a dislike of mine. Obviously it is part and parcel of the industry as soon as other people are on board, but we've been used to driving it hard on our own for a long time to make things happen. I think it's important to have a grasp of your own destiny. What makes it all worthwhile though comes back to the reason why the band started. There's nothing quite like making a glorious epic soundscape with your best mates and sharing it with your audience.

MARC: The down point seems to be that when a new genre arrives on the scene the industry seems to flood the market with copycat artists in order for each label to get a share of the hype. This process slows the process for newer, more interesting bands to emerge, and causes the scene to stagnate instead of allowing for fresher more exciting music.

GAZ: Personally, what makes it all worth while is after we've worked hard writing and recording songs then the greatest pleasure is for our fans to listen and enjoy our music. The music industry can definitely be annoying at times as there is a lot of waiting around for things to happen but I think it is definitely worth while.

MUEN: HOW DID YOU FIRST MEET A&R LEGENDS DEREK OLIVER AND DANTE BONUTTO? AND WHAT ALL CAME ABOUT FROM THAT CONNECTION?

PHIL: When we went to do our Classic Rock interview in London, it was with Geoff Barton; a legend in his field and one of the bigger U.K rock journalists, Geoff knew Derek Oliver quite well and told him about us over lunch. Derek rang me the next day and we talked for half an hour about Black Sabbath! From there on, we were all in regular touch with Derek and Dante via the phone and e-mails and within a few weeks we met them in London to discuss Grind That Axe, their record label. Later in mid 2006 we signed a one album deal with them.

MUEN: TELL US ABOUT THE NEW ALBUM, "PURIFICATION"... WHERE WAS IT RECORDED, AND HOW DID YOU GET DAVID PRATER (DREAM THEATER, FIREHOUSE) TO PRODUCE IT?

PHIL: David Prater was our first choice as producer but we never thought we'd get him from the US to make our first official album. We knew Derek Oliver and David Prater had worked together on two Dream Theater albums (Images & Words, A Change of Seasons), so at least the connection was there. We got in contact with several producers, some we couldn't get for this or that reason and some we didn't agree on with the label. Derek called us one day and said David Prater loved 'Road Out Of Nowhere' and wanted to come over to the UK to do our next album. So we were in regular contact with David from that point and he came to Wales in October 2006 and spent a month with us recording the CD in Mwnci Studios, West Wales. He later went back to mix it with Javier Bassino in in a studio in Chile that he was fond of. They finished in December 2006 and sent it back over.

ANDY: It was great to work with a producer such as David. It was our first experience of ever working with a producer and it was a real eye-opener. Much was learned in the month we spent with Prater and will put us in good stead when constructing future songs.

MARC: David Prater made several phone calls to us in Wales and seemed as excited as us to work on this project. David was a great help and a real inspiration in the studio and took the overall sound of the record far past our expectations of how it could sound, crafting all the aspects and dynamics we desired and then some!

GAZ: This album is the first one I have ever recorded whereas the other boys have had quite a few experiences in a recording studio. To have such a big producer as David for this album was great as I learnt a tremendous amount about actually recording an album and also how to approach drumming in many different ways as David is a drummer himself.

MUEN: WHEN DOES THE TOUR BEGIN, THAT WILL SUPPORT THE ALBUM "PURIFICATION?" AND WHERE ALL WILL YOU APPEAR? ARE YOU DOING U.S. SHOWS?

MARC: The tour is in the process of being arranged and it should not be soon before we're out on the road to promote 'Purification'. It's something we're all anticipating greatly and hope our fans and potential fans enjoy it too. We're going to begin with a tour of the U.K to start with and all being well we will organise a European and U.S tour in the very near future. We have had interest from promoters and fans alike for us to cross the water, any updates we have will definitely be on our myspace page.

MUEN: WHAT HAVE THE PAST COUPLE MONTHS BEEN LIKE FOR YOU? AND WHAT DO YOU GUYS DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT IN THE STUDIO OR ON THE ROAD?

PHIL: We write like crazy. We had too many songs for 'Purification' and had to drop 7 off the album. We're not one of those bands who party every night and live the iconic rock star images, only once in a while anyway. If we're not working in the studio or on the road, we're working on the next song - we do that for ourselves and the fans. We currently have enough material for album 2 and some for album 3!

ANDY: The last couple of months have been frustrating as the album release has been pushed back a few times for various reasons, but I'm pretty sure it will be worth the wait in the end. When I am not in the studio or on the road, I'm busy working on the next batch of songs and lyrics. Recently though we completed our first ever video. The song was 'A Lost Adoration' which is on 'Purification,' and the video will be posted up on our myspace any day now.

MARC: As the boys have said its been frustrating waiting to promote an album, especially when you're excited to see it out there, however on the positive it has helped us jam the album constantly to ensure it is tight enough for expecting fans and also to write new material for another album. It's also given me time to sit down and really analyse any new lyrics that I have written to make sure my point is made clearly.

MUEN: WHERE DO YOU HOPE OR EXPECT TO BE IN ONE YEAR FROM NOW?

PHIL: Either still touring "Purification" or making our next album. If I'm anywhere else I won't be happy.

ANDY: Touring�. hopefully the U.S or other parts of the world.

MARC: I think we have learnt not to expect anything from this business and I think we all hope to be lucky enough to be still performing the music we love for people, whether its next year or the next ten years.

GAZ: I hope to be touring the world and also to record a new album.

MUEN: WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SAY TO YOUR FANS WHO HAVE SUPPORTED YOU THUS FAR?

PHIL: Immense thanks to all our fans to the new ones and especially to the old ones who have helped us out in the past, they know who they are. We hope we'll still be making music that you love in 40 years time!

ANDY: For everyone who has come to the shows, bought the merch and supported us tirelessly so far, thank you - we really do appreciate it - without the fans�there is no band!!!

MARC: Thanks for sticking by us and supporting new music, and hope to see you at a gig venue near you very soon!!!

GAZ: Thanks to everyone who has given us their continued support over the years, we really appreciate it!

MUEN: WHAT IS LETHARGY'S WEBSITE ADDRESS?

You can find us @ www.lethargymusic.co.uk and the Official MySpace @ www.myspace.com/lethargymusic

Interview by G. Cataline