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AN INTERVIEW WITH....
DAVE FROM ENGERICA.

SO WHO IS IN ENGERICA AND WHAT DOES EACH MEMBER DO?
dave plays guitar and sings, mike plays bass and does backing vocals and neil plays the drumkit.
HOW DID YOU ALL MEET AND COME TO FORM A BAND TOGETHER?
me and mike met in playschool i think we were in my first band together and after that split up we decided after a while to do something a little different together. we asked neil to join because i knew him from senior school and he was one of the few drummers who didnt have a massive ego and would give us a chance.
WHAT DID YOU GET EACH OTHER FOR CHRISTMAS?
ha ha nothing! we were all so skint this xmas so we all agreed no gifts were to be exchanged. although we do buy each other birthday presents.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE OF MUSIC?
ambitious and passionate and doing something different without trying to be different.
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
oh that can be anything it can be like one line in a song or just a beat and u'll go yeah something like that. i spose at the moment we are all really up on the eighties matchbox so that might colour what we're doing.
WHERE DID THE NAME ENGERICA COME FROM?
a pair of trainers. when i was in college a girl in my sociology class had a pair of the emerica trainers and i just thought england and america put together, engerica, sounded pretty like a girls name and i wanted engerica to be very anti macho so it seemed in keeping with that idea.
IF YOU WERE ALL CONTESTANTS ON THE SAME EDITION OF THE WEAKEST LINK WHICH OF YOU WOULD LAST LONGEST?
neils quite a sneaky bastard and always lucks out so i reckon he might win.
IF YOU HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN A LIFETIME OF FREE AND AVAILABLE SEX OR A LIFETIME OF FREE AND AVAILABLE BOOZE AND FAGS, WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE?
sex. next.
YOU�VE TOURED WITH LOTS OF DIFFERENT BANDS. WHO HAVE YOU MOST ENJOYED PLAYING WITH AND WHY?
i really enjoyed that 80s mbox tour cos i was pretty sceptical of them before that, just cos i didnt know enough about them, but i thought they were just brilliantly black and raunchy. but the first tour we did with jarcrew and thisGirl was fun just cos it was our first.
HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE YOUR SET?
you seen high fidelity? y'know at the end of it that he talks about the key to making the perfect compilation tape i think what he says there is pretty much our approach to our set list.
WHICH TRACK DO YOU MOST ENJOY PERFORMING?
at the moment its probably the smell, our next single OUT 26TH JANUARY!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO AFTER A GIG?
get off stage and graba drink and then just hang around talking to people usually.
IS IT DISHEARTENING ON THE NIGHTS FEW PEOPLE TURN UP TO SEE YOU?
i think most of the time we try and see the funny side. there have been times where u know you've travelled all day and turn up to play to a select few but thats not important if u play a good show, you've still enjoyed it which is the only important thing to us.
WILL YOU BE PLAYING ANY OF THE SUMMER FESTIVALS?
well if its offered to us we'll definitely take it. i think right now we're just gonna have to see how this single does and after thats done what its gonna do then we'll see.
DOES EATING CHEESE GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES?
i eat a lot of cheese and have a lot of nightmares so that would suggest so but i've never conducted scientific research on the subect.
MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY, WHICH OF THE SONGS YOU'VE WRITTEN IS YOUR FAVOURITE?
they're like my children i couldnt pick a favourite.
WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER DOING ANY COVERS?
i would consider doing one as a b-side maybe and its always nice to sing someone elses song in your room but i'd feel naff doing it in a set. we do play a cover in rehearsal from time to time.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT YOU COULD MAKE AS A BAND?
to be one of the great alternative bands who break through into the mainstream and change it for the better.
YOU HAVE A NEW SINGLE, �THE SMELL�. WHAT IS THE TRACK ABOUT?
its not really about any one thing, each line is about something different, but to be perfectly honest for the most part its all fairly non sensical.
DO YOU HAVE ANY PLANS TO RELEASE AN ALBUM ANYTIME SOON?
we dont have a deal yet so we've gotta wait til that happens before we can release one. we've recorded enought tracks for an album but i think we'd all rather go in and do it again all in one session so that the recordings sound more suited to one another.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD?
when i was small i liked thundercats a lot but i spose as a teenager i liked stuff like my so-called life and whatever teeny angst show just 17 said was cool at the time. i really liked pete and pete on nickelodeon too.
WHAT IS IT LIKE SEEING YOURSELVES IN MAGAZINES AND HEARING YOUR SONGS ON THE RADIO ETC?
exciting i guess, our first video gets played on mtv2 this weekend so thats gonna be another new thing for us. but i dont thik we'll be around to see the first showing cos we're gigging in coventry this weekend.
DO YOU FEEL FAMOUS?
no, because i'm not.
IS THE BAND NOW YOUR FULL TIME CAREER OR DO YOU STILL HAVE OTHER JOBS TOO?
yeah we all work. at the moment more money goes into the band than comes out of it. its not very glamorous for us but we have a lot of people who help us out for nothing.
WHICH DO YOU ENJOY DOING THE MOST� WRITING SONGS, RECORDING THEM OR PLAYING THEM LIVE?
i suppose the best thing for myself is writing them cos you are the only one who has heard so its like your walking around with something special that no one else knows about yet.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF TV SHOWS SUCH AS POP IDOL AND FAME ACADEMY?
y'know its good entertainment and good telly for ITV but as far as the product it spews out at the end of it is just lame. i would fart on michelle mcmanus if i saw her.
WHAT FIRST MADE YOU WANT TO PICK UP A GUITAR AND JOIN/FORM A BAND?
when i was a kid we used to vist a family in wolverhampton and the dad of the family played guitar and i thought it was cool so i asked my parents to buy my cousins one off of him for �15 i think it was. then when i hit my teens i started getting into music and really begain playing seriously and formed a band when i was 14.
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT STARTING UP A BAND?
do it and play whatever it is that u like. dont try and sound good or meaningful forget other peoples opinions of yourself and believe that you're cool enough in your own right and that u dont have to pretend to be cooler than you are blah blah blah.

ALL QUESTIONS BY SCREAMING TARTS.

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