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While Siôn got ready to photograph Allusondrugs on the main stage of Hit The Deck Festival, Katie was at the Fleece, catching Zoax. After an incredible set, to a packed venue, Katie grabbed a few words with Adam and Doug…
How’s it going guys?!
Adam “GREEEEAT!”
Doug “Terrible….. No I’m grand!!”
Adam “That was a fun show!”
You’ve literally just come off stage…
Doug “I can’t believe how many people were there to be perfectly honest. It’s hard for a band of our size to pull a crowd at a festival, so to have the room pretty much full was unbelievable.”
Adam “It was amazing!”
Doug “There were people wearing our merch, and people singing the words, so our hard work feels like its paying off!”
Adam “Yeah it definitely has. When we were just going on stage I was thinking ‘oh there might be a few people there’ but it actually got REALLY busy so I was delighted. Plus there were some REALLY nice stripper poles that I could show off my skills on!”
Doug “You need to work on your moves bit though!”
Adam “Give us a chance! I did a full spin around on it!”
… And, of course, you’ve just come off your headline tour with DEAD! How was that?
Adam “It was pretty nerve-wracking stuff, but it was great. It was nice to have such nice guys on the road with us.”
Doug “Yeah, they’re great guys, and they’re gonna do really well. I can’t say enough good things about them.”
And what was your favourite night of the tour?
Adam “Probably London Barfly. It’s because we all live around that area, so we have a history between us all. With a really good turnout of family and friends.”
Doug “It was a bit of an emotional evening, actually. Adam met someone that introduced him to us in that venue. It was our first ever London headliner, and we didn’t know what to expect, and we almost sold it out, which is unbelievable. None of us expected it, so when Adam was on stage getting emotional it was completely genuine, and he was speaking for all of us.”
Adam “It was super-nice. But today’s show had that same vibe to it. People were turning up in Zoax shirts, and they’re singing the songs. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted and I’ve being doing music for 15 years, and so has everyone else. Good times!”
How do you deal with the comparison to Letlive?
Adam “It has been compared a lot and we’re cool with it…. So this Letlive thing gets brought up, and straight off the bat, we do think Letlive are an amazing band, but we haven’t truly listened to them. When we started we hadn’t even heard of them. The influence doesn’t exist within Zoax, but a lot of people have said that we’re a carbon copy of them – and that’s fine, but when people say that we’re a rip off of them, that’s a bunch of bullshit!”
Doug “The thing for me is that I really like Letlive. I think they’re a great band, and I don’t say anything bad about them, because they’re doing something really different, and its really exciting, and I get we’re in a comparable scene of music. Getting compared to them is a big compliment, because they ARE a great band but like Adam said, none of our collective influences are Letlive, but because we do have such a wide variety of collective influences, I’d like to think that we’re not that easily pigeonholed, but maybe because Adam’s got a beard and Jason’s got a beard that’s the pigeonhole?”
Adam “Well the two of us are completely different. I think I met Jason once before and he’s a super nice dude and I really respect what he does, but we’re totally two different extremes, but people do look at me, with the beard and my antics and say ‘oh they’re just like Letlive’ but we don’t sound like Letlive. At the end of it, I’m cool with people saying we’re like them as long as they’re not calling us a rip off – ‘cause that’s horse shit!”
Being so energetic, have you had any accidents on stage?
Adam “Not me! I nearly broke my ankle once from jumping a lot, but our bass player, Joe, nearly ended up completely busting open his hand! There was a lot of blood, but it was nothing extreme. We don’t ever put ourselves in danger. I would never climb anything!”
Doug “It’s a performance and you lose yourself in it. My onstage antics aren’t anything like Joe or Adam, but we’re all, even when we’re into it, very aware of everyone else and what everyone else is doing, and obviously Adam is a very good mate of mine, and I do worry about him sometimes when he’s out in the crowd. There might be someone that takes something the wrong way, so I’m always gonna keep an eye out for him, and the rest of the guys are too. I know Adam’s always checking us too, and I don’t know if the audience notice, but there are always a lot of quick glances to each other to make sure everything is okay so we don’t hurt each other, although Joe has absolutely clobbered me with his bass once before!”
Adam “Its all about being aware!”
So you have 2 EPs out there… Any plans for an album?
Adam “Yeah we do! I think ever since we started as a band, we decided to go and write straight for an album. I mean, I’d say we’ve probably written two full albums, but then we scrap it and go over it again and that’s what we do, y’know. Every band is striving for their debut album on day one, but we’re just taking our time with it and making sure its gonna be great.”
Doug “Yeah we want to release the right thing, that feels right musically, and feels right for the time, and you’re always gonna be your biggest critic, and you’re always gonna criticise your music, and there’s an element that needs to just be put out. But now, the last 3 years, the journey we have travelled, not only as people, but as a unit, and I think now the position that the music we’re writing is what we want to produce the album with. When a band releases their debut album, their EPs aren’t forgotten but are completely overlooked, unless you’re a really big fan. For example I am a big fan of Funeral For A friend, and I loved them from their first EPs and when they released their first album everyone loved that, and wanted it, but completely overlooked their EPs. We don’t want to release something that overshadows our EPs, you’ve got to get the balance right.”
Who is your dream band to tour with?
Adam “I think all of us will say Deftones, as an agreement, Incubus is another one.”
Doug “If you don’t say Thrice next, I’m gonna have an issue!”
Adam “And Thrice!… But we could go on for days choosing, but deep down they are the bands we’d truly love to have a opportunity to tour with. The whole band would be feeling the exact same way.”
Doug “They’re probably three of the few bands that we all agree on, in terms of how incredible they are. They’re bands who have worked hard for doing something completely original and they’ve probably worked harder than a lot of bands out there, and I have so much respect for those three bands.”
Interview by Katie Dansie
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