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AN INTERVIEW WITH....
SEYMOUR FROM MISS BLACK AMERICA.

SO FOR THOSE WHO DON�T KNOW, WHO IS IN MISS BLACK AMERICA AND WHAT DOES EACH MEMBER DO?
My name�s Seymour, I play guitar with my fists and sing; Mat plays guitar sickeningly well and is Welsh; Cooper plays drums and ruins my songs; Jonny masturbates like a spider monkey and sometimes plays bass for a laugh.
THE BAND HAD A MAJOR LINE UP CHANGE LAST YEAR. WHAT EXACTLY HAPPENED BETWEEN YOU GUYS?
We�d gone round and round the country in a van for exactly one year, playing to the same empty rooms for the same lack of money. And we were shit. At the time I still wanted to believe we were the greatest band in the World etc, but really we were dreadful, there was no spark whatsoever. No-one was happy anymore, and one day Mike called everyone to the pub and just quit. Neil was always gonna go if Mike went, they�re best mates, they learnt to play at school together. And Gish wanted to move to Scotland, so he went too.
Thing is, we had 2 tours booked, Holland and the UK Kinesis tour, and we were contracted to do them, so I asked everyone what they thought I should do, and Mike offered to help me sort things out, and suggested Jonny. Everyone knows Jonny �cause he plays mad bass in a prog band called Alys In Wonderland and always offers everyone a bong. I saw Mat and Coop�s band Mo playing at the Grapes and they were awesome, just doing pub rock stuff and loving it. So I stole them from themselves. Mike and Neil were in Mo with Mat before they left for MBA, so it�s the 2nd time I�d stolen from Mat really. But at least this time he got something out of it. Mike and Neil formed My Hi-fi Sister, their website�s www.myhifisister.com, and they�re sending free demos to anyone who wants one. They�re making the kind of progressive laid-back stuff they love, and I get to write big rock choruses and have fun again. So it�s all worked our nicely.
ARE YOU STILL FRIENDS WITH ALL THE OLD MEMBERS OF THE BAND?
I still see Mike a lot. Me and Mike were the start of the band, I let him live at mine when he was in trouble and he did the same for me. We�ll always be mates. To be honest, me and Neil never really got to know each other � we�re from totally different worlds, we don�t really have anything to talk about. He was really nice to me the last time we had a bad NME review, told me I was a good singer, which was really nice. Gish hates me, but I think Gish always hated me. He wrote �TWAT� on pictures of my face and left them in my room. Then he sent a letter to my Mum telling her he didn�t want to talk to me, which really upset her. Gish is fucking weird.
WHERE DID THE NAME MISS BLACK AMERICA COME FROM?
There�s an Alec Empire album cover where he�s totally fucked up at the end of a tour, arms stiched up, eyeliner all over his face, with a T-shirt that says �Miss Black America�, looking like the coolest motherfucker in the World. I bought it the day we first practised. It seemed like a good omen.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE OF MUSIC?
It�s the mock cock rock apocalypse. Baby.
WHO ARE YOUR INFLUENCES?
Tori Amos, The Clash, Nine Inch Nails, U2, Carter USM, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, early Verve & Suede, Nirvana, Biohazard, Guns �n� Roses, Faith No More� A lot of my big heroes are writers, Julie Burchill is my journo hero, I�ve written loads of lyrics from reading her stuff. She�s my reason to get up on a Saturday. Julian Cope�s autobiography is amazing � it�s called �Head On�/�Repossessed�. They should make people read it at school.
YOU OFTEN GET COMPARED TO THE MANIC STREET PREACHERS. DOES THAT SOMETIMES ANNOY YOU OR ARE YOU OK ABOUT IT?
I�ve no problem with it really. Better them than 90% of the cooler-than-cool dogshite the NME drones on about week after week. The problem is, �Manics-inspired� usually means �pseudy glam rock drivel�, so it depends who�s making the comparison really.
YOU RELEASED YOUR DEBUT ALBUM LAST YEAR. WHEN WILL YOU BE STARTING WORK ON ALBUM NUMBER TWO?
We�ve already got all the songs, and the artwork, and the title. It�s called �Terminal� � the beginning or end of a loop. The problem is, we�ve no record deal, so we�re trying to decide whether to wait a bit longer or just pay for it all ourselves.
MUSICALLY AND LYRICALLY, WHICH OF THE SONGS YOU'VE WRITTEN IS YOUR FAVOURITE?
Of the old stuff, �Montana� is probably my favourite � Gish called it my �big wank�, but I�m really proud of it. Mike wrote the guitar riff and I played along to Neil�s drums until I broke a string, then we added bits over the top. Of the new ones, �Dot Dot Dot� is the best one to play live, though a brand new one, �Freefall� is the most rockingest one, we�re all loving it. Lyrically� I don�t know. Everyone likes Talk Hard. I don�t think anything about my lyrics, except when I�m writing them.
WOULD YOU EVER CONSIDER DOING ANY COVERS?
We�re doing �Do They Know It�s Christmas� for a charity gig in our hometown. We�ll get all our mates from bands to dress up as various 80�s rock stars. I�m Bono. I get the best line.
YOU�VE TOURED WITH LOTS OF DIFFERENT BANDS IN THE PAST. WHO HAVE YOU MOST ENJOYED PLAYING WITH AND WHY?
Kinesis and Antihero. The Kinesis tour was the best fun ever, they�re lovely and they rock like bastards. When we tour with Antihero it�s like, �we�re the underdogs, everyone hates us, let�s get drunk and be naughty�.
DO YOU GET NERVOUS BEFORE GOING ON STAGE?
No. I get drunk.
HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE YOUR SET?
Pen and paper, habit.
WHICH TRACK DO YOU MOST ENJOY PERFORMING?
Dot Dot Dot. It means I can smash my guitar.
WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO AFTER A GIG?
Collapse.
DO YOU EVER GET HOMESICK WHILE ON TOUR?
Only in Aberdeen. But even people who live in Aberdeen look homesick when they�re in Aberdeen.
IS IT DISHEARTENING ON THE NIGHTS FEW PEOPLE TURN UP TO SEE YOU?
Yeah, but we still play as if there were loads of people there. Maybe one day there will be, I don�t know.
WHICH TOWNS/VENUES DO YOU MOST ENJOY PLAYING?
Brighton�s my favourite city in the World. They�ve got a giant metal donut on the seafront, with its own special little pier, and right next to it is a caf� with giant plastic M&Ms on sticks. Well, I think it�s a donut, but Mat thinks it looks more like a giant metal bumhole. He spent about half an hour falling out of it, going �I�m a poo! Plop!� We like Brighton.
IN JULY YOU WERE DUE TO TOUR WITH CULTURAL ICE AGE. IN THE END THEY WERE ABSENT FROM SAID TOUR. WHAT HAPPENED?
It was sad really. The main thing was, they�d organised this gig but they didn�t turn up to it or promote it and it all went wrong, we were stitched for a place to stay, slept in a car park� So us and Antihero agreed they should be kicked off the tour, mainly for their own safety, �cause otherwise 8 angry young men would have beat the shit out of them. It was one of those tour things that happen. I�d make up with Colin now, but my main thing was, they never phoned us, let alone turned up in person, to say sorry. Texts and e-mails are a shit way to communicate. If you mean something, you�ve gotta say it in person.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE DARKNESS?
The Darkness fucking RULE.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ALBUM OF ALL TIME?
Erm� there�s no one album, but I can give you my top 20 (in no particular order): Tori Amos Under The Pink, The Clash The Clash (US Version), Faith No More Angel Dust, These Animal Men (Come On Join) The High Society, PJ Harvey Dry, Volunteers Doesn�t Make You Punk, Nine Inch Nails Broken, Soundgarden Badmotorfinger, Ooberman The Magic Treehouse, Jacob�s Mouse Rubber Room, Guns �n� Roses Appetite For Destruction, Manics The Holy Bible, Moloko Do You Like My Tight Sweater, Super Furry Animals Radiator, U2 Achtung Baby, The Teardrop Explodes Kilimanjaro, Michael Jackson Bad, Take That Greatest Hits.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT YOU COULD MAKE AS A BAND?
People have told me that songs like Talk Hard have helped them, which is as much as you could hope for.
IF YOU COULD INTERVIEW YOURSELVES, WHAT QUESTIONS WOULD YOU ASK?
We�d probably just buy ourselves a pint. And then talk shit for an hour or so.
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF TV SHOWS SUCH AS POP IDOL AND FAME ACADEMY?
I think people tend to be unfairly snobby about shows like that. Fact is, if I went on Pop Idol and sang for them, they�d laugh me out of the room. Everyone who goes on there knows what they�re getting themselves into, it takes balls the size of Belgium to do it. It doesn�t harm you in the long run; whether you�re fantastic or awful, you�ve had your 15 minutes, and millions of people know who you are. It�s not harming music or cheapening it any more than the likes of Boyzone have. It�s the way the music industry�s been working since the 60�s, it�s just a very public process of elimination. If you don�t like it, don�t watch it.
DO YOU EVER READ ANY OF THE MESSAGES YOUR FANS LEAVE ON YOUR WEBSITE?
Me and Mat are always posting on there. It�s a better way of communicating than e-mail, especially if you�re still working 9 to 5, like we are. I�m really proud of our guestbook, we�ve had loads of fantastic debates and discussions and made loads of friends through it. I prefer our kind of guestbook to a forum, like on Kinesis� site, though I�d quite like to have one of those too so people don�t feel excluded from whatever ridiculous conversation we�re having about using mice and church organs as anti-aircraft guns, or thereabouts.
YOU�RE INVOLVED WITH THE LOVE MUSIC HATE RACISM CAMPAIGN. TELL US ABOUT IT.
I think a lot of people see the Anti Nazi League as a political organisation, but there�s nothing political about objecting to racism. It�s as simple as, racism is bad, founded mainly in fear and ignorance and when you�ve got groups like the British National Party trying to turn race hate into a respectable political strategy, something has to be done. I�m not much good at making public speeches and the like, but I can string a sentence together and people listen to us, so we may as well hand out leaflets and post stuff on our website. I�ve written a big spiel about it on our website - http://www.missblackamerica.net/hatemail/42Fact_me_til_I_Fart_-_Seymour_Glass.php It�s a piece of piss getting involved in anything if you feel strongly about it. If you organise one gig, or a collection, or even just sign a petition, anything that doesn�t involve just lying there waiting for a boot to stamp on your face, you�re already well on the way to justifying your life.
WHAT FIRST MADE YOU WANT TO PICK UP A GUITAR AND JOIN/FORM A BAND?
Gish playing me Hendrix songs note perfect, aged 12. But I started writing songs after I saw a local band called Chevette at the Boat Race in Cambridge in 1997. I was, like, �Hang on, they come from Bury St Edmunds and they�re playing at the Boat Race and they�re so fucking cool�� I wrote a song the next day, Scarface, and formed a band a couple of weeks later called Billion Dollar Brain, after me and the guitarist Ben got ratted and hung from a tree screaming Nirvana songs at passing cars.
WHAT IS YOUR ADVICE FOR ANYONE THINKING ABOUT STARTING UP A BAND?
It�s fucking brilliant. I can still barely play guitar, but I�ve been on Radio One and MTV and in magazines and had an album out and been the reason loads of people have made loads of new friends, so if I can do it you can. It�ll probably ruin your life forever, but how else are you gonna get to be an alcoholic and get paid for it?

ALL QUESTIONS BY MR MARTYN.

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