BEN – You’ve played the last few dates with Lightyear and you’re about to start touring with Capdown, how do you find touring with bands who have a higher profile than yourselves?
SEAN – You learn off them, without a doubt.
DAN – I’d say moreso about a year or so ago, touring with bands like them was a big influence on how to put on a show. These days as time goes on we’ve become more confident but it allowed us to play in front of big crowds which is also a good experience.
SEAN – And it’s also a bit of pressure, which is good for us.
DAN – Those two bands [Capdown and Lightyear] in particular are two of the best live bands in the country in my opinion so you can only feed off that.

BEN – Do you think that you guys have developed much as a band?
SEAN – In terms of writing, yeah, I guess…
DAN – I’d say performing we’re a lot more confident.
SEAN – We still seem to be playing to the same amount of people…
DAN – Yeah, but that’s out of our hands, and especially over the last year we’ve been writing a lot of stuff and we’ve matured and got out own sound a bit more.

BEN – Do you find that as you write new material you get a different approach to your older songs?
DAN – Yeah…a lot of times we get asked to play stuff from the first EP which came out like 4 years ago, so they’re old songs and it’s nice to leave them behind and move on.

BEN – When are you planning to record and release the new stuff?
DAN – Er…nothing’s definite, we’ve been talking about it a lot. I’d say early next year and hopefully have it out by mid-next year, maybe a bit earlier. But we still haven’t finished writing it all yet.

BEN – Will it be an album or an EP?
DAN – An album…we’d like to get our second album out. It’s been over a year since we released the last one, by the time we get the next one out it’ll be verging on two years so it’ll be nice to get another one out.

BEN – As a more general question – have you found that reactions to you guys have changed as alternative culture becomes more mainstream?
SEAN – I suppose so…because now being in a band, and being in a punk band…like before when we were at school no one was in a band.
DAN – It’s definitely a younger crowd, especially playing with Lightyear and Capdown who are playing to a couple of hundred a night, with a lot of them being younger kids.
BEN – Do you think that’s a good thing?
DAN – Oh definitely, it can’t be a bad thing.
SEAN – As long as bands have a positive message then it’s fine, they could do a lot worse than go see them. A lot of the time it’s just stuff that doesn’t mean anything.
DAN – When we went to school, and it’s not that long ago, I’m 21 now, when we were in secondary school we were the only ones…no one went to gigs. It’s all positive now.

BEN – Going back to what you said about bands having a message, the last time I saw you was with Anti-Flag in Norwich, what was it like playing with a band who are so forward about their message?
DAN – I thought it was very influential, I thought they put the message across really well and didn’t overdo it. When Justin spoke it was really accessible and everyone could relate to it.
SEAN – It wasn’t patronising at all.
DAN – Yeah, if you’re going to talk about stuff like that you want people to be able to relate to it. They did that very well and it tied in with the time as well.

BEN – Do you think that the current social and political climate will have an effect on your writing?
DAN – Yeah, it does, I’ve already started. We’ve got a load of new songs and it’s a bit more in depth than the last album. It’s a process, and I’ve matured over the years I think.

BEN – Are you feeling more positive about this album?
SEAN – Yeah, definitely. It’s more ease…we’re a bit more confident, the songs we write are a lot tighter. We’re all looking forward to getting your songs recorded because our sound and our style have matured a lot.
DAN – Yeah, it’s still a solid 5 Knuckle sort of thing.

BEN – How do you think Lightyear’s split will impact on the UK scene as a whole?
DAN – It is sad, especially watching them the last couple of nights. They just blow me away, they put on an amazing show every night. For the bands it’s been a bit of a reality check, from our close friends none of their bands have split up and then Lightyear do and it’s like…”shit…”
SEAN – ‘Can’t last forever’ kind of thing.
DAN – Yeah, and that there’s more to life than being in a band and driving around the country.

BEN – What do you reckon you’d be doing if you didn’t have 5 Knuckle?
DAN – I dunno…to be honest, it sounds sad, but a fucking shit 9-5, I didn’t go to uni but even if I did I’d be doing something shit like working in a call centre of a mall but that’s just the harsh realities of it all. We’ve got a lot of friends who ended up doing a job after uni that they could have walked into after school. Maybe that’s a bit negative, who knows what could have opened up?

BEN – Was starting 5 Knuckle an escape from what you didn’t want to end up in?
DAN – In a way…we did it because we enjoyed doing it…me and Sean have been in a band since we were 12…now it’s an escape because we’re so busy. It was never planned that way, it just ended up that way.

BEN – Is there anything about being in 5K that you’d like to change?
SEAN – Unfortunately, the ugly subject of living, and money…you can’t make a living.
DAN – This is just the reality of it. We don’t earn a penny, even on tour it’s about other people putting us up and feeding us. It is hard work, especially financially. We’re in a lot of debt and have earned no money. It would be nice to be self-sufficient.
SEAN – We support ourselves OK on tour, it’s just when we get back…

BEN – Even in the face of all that do you have any regrets at all?
DAN – No.
SEAN – Certainly not.
DAN – I think we’ve been very lucky, we get to see and meet so many people and that’s just amazing.
SEAN – We must have seen about 10 countries by the end of the year, just playing half an hour of sloppy music a night!
DAN – I’ll look back on this time and I’ve spent my youth doing something I love.

BEN – You’ve played the last few dates with Lightyear and you’re about to start touring with Capdown, how do you find touring with bands who have a higher profile than yourselves?
SEAN – You learn off them, without a doubt.
DAN – I’d say moreso about a year or so ago, touring with bands like them was a big influence on how to put on a show. These days as time goes on we’ve become more confident but it allowed us to play in front of big crowds which is also a good experience.
SEAN – And it’s also a bit of pressure, which is good for us.
DAN – Those two bands [Capdown and Lightyear] in particular are two of the best live bands in the country in my opinion so you can only feed off that.

BEN – Do you think that you guys have developed much as a band?
SEAN – In terms of writing, yeah, I guess…
DAN – I’d say performing we’re a lot more confident.
SEAN – We still seem to be playing to the same amount of people…
DAN – Yeah, but that’s out of our hands, and especially over the last year we’ve been writing a lot of stuff and we’ve matured and got out own sound a bit more.

BEN – Do you find that as you write new material you get a different approach to your older songs?
DAN – Yeah…a lot of times we get asked to play stuff from the first EP which came out like 4 years ago, so they’re old songs and it’s nice to leave them behind and move on.

BEN – When are you planning to record and release the new stuff?
DAN – Er…nothing’s definite, we’ve been talking about it a lot. I’d say early next year and hopefully have it out by mid-next year, maybe a bit earlier. But we still haven’t finished writing it all yet.

BEN – Will it be an album or an EP?
DAN – An album…we’d like to get our second album out. It’s been over a year since we released the last one, by the time we get the next one out it’ll be verging on two years so it’ll be nice to get another one out.

BEN – As a more general question – have you found that reactions to you guys have changed as alternative culture becomes more mainstream?
SEAN – I suppose so…because now being in a band, and being in a punk band…like before when we were at school no one was in a band.
DAN – It’s definitely a younger crowd, especially playing with Lightyear and Capdown who are playing to a couple of hundred a night, with a lot of them being younger kids.
BEN – Do you think that’s a good thing?
DAN – Oh definitely, it can’t be a bad thing.
SEAN – As long as bands have a positive message then it’s fine, they could do a lot worse than go see them. A lot of the time it’s just stuff that doesn’t mean anything.
DAN – When we went to school, and it’s not that long ago, I’m 21 now, when we were in secondary school we were the only ones…no one went to gigs. It’s all positive now.

BEN – Going back to what you said about bands having a message, the last time I saw you was with Anti-Flag in Norwich, what was it like playing with a band who are so forward about their message?
DAN – I thought it was very influential, I thought they put the message across really well and didn’t overdo it. When Justin spoke it was really accessible and everyone could relate to it.
SEAN – It wasn’t patronising at all.
DAN – Yeah, if you’re going to talk about stuff like that you want people to be able to relate to it. They did that very well and it tied in with the time as well.

BEN – Do you think that the current social and political climate will have an effect on your writing?
DAN – Yeah, it does, I’ve already started. We’ve got a load of new songs and it’s a bit more in depth than the last album. It’s a process, and I’ve matured over the years I think.

BEN – Are you feeling more positive about this album?
SEAN – Yeah, definitely. It’s more ease…we’re a bit more confident, the songs we write are a lot tighter. We’re all looking forward to getting your songs recorded because our sound and our style have matured a lot.
DAN – Yeah, it’s still a solid 5 Knuckle sort of thing.

BEN – How do you think Lightyear’s split will impact on the UK scene as a whole?
DAN – It is sad, especially watching them the last couple of nights. They just blow me away, they put on an amazing show every night. For the bands it’s been a bit of a reality check, from our close friends none of their bands have split up and then Lightyear do and it’s like…”shit…”
SEAN – ‘Can’t last forever’ kind of thing.
DAN – Yeah, and that there’s more to life than being in a band and driving around the country.

BEN – What do you reckon you’d be doing if you didn’t have 5 Knuckle?
DAN – I dunno…to be honest, it sounds sad, but a fucking shit 9-5, I didn’t go to uni but even if I did I’d be doing something shit like working in a call centre of a mall but that’s just the harsh realities of it all. We’ve got a lot of friends who ended up doing a job after uni that they could have walked into after school. Maybe that’s a bit negative, who knows what could have opened up?

BEN – Was starting 5 Knuckle an escape from what you didn’t want to end up in?
DAN – In a way…we did it because we enjoyed doing it…me and Sean have been in a band since we were 12…now it’s an escape because we’re so busy. It was never planned that way, it just ended up that way.

BEN – Is there anything about being in 5K that you’d like to change?
SEAN – Unfortunately, the ugly subject of living, and money…you can’t make a living.
DAN – This is just the reality of it. We don’t earn a penny, even on tour it’s about other people putting us up and feeding us. It is hard work, especially financially. We’re in a lot of debt and have earned no money. It would be nice to be self-sufficient.
SEAN – We support ourselves OK on tour, it’s just when we get back…

BEN – Even in the face of all that do you have any regrets at all?
DAN – No.
SEAN – Certainly not.
DAN – I think we’ve been very lucky, we get to see and meet so many people and that’s just amazing.
SEAN – We must have seen about 10 countries by the end of the year, just playing half an hour of sloppy music a night!
DAN – I’ll look back on this time and I’ve spent my youth doing something I love.

Add to that the idiot security people who refuse me entrance to the bar because ‘I don’t look 22‘ and the night doesn’t get off to the greatest start. And anyway, I only need to be 18 Mr Security Man to get into your precious bar and I’m slightly older than that (try 4 years older…). And I only want to buy a coke anyway – infact just get me away from those fucking kids. Aaargghhh…

So I think you get the point. Shitty venue, shitty turn out and shitty security. Doesn’t bode too well does it? Still, tonight The Foamers, Redlightsflash and Five Knuckle roll into town as part of the nationwide Household Name Records Tour, an adventurous tour that sees the label’s bands put on shows every day in different parts of the country. And having never seen any of the three bands before, I thought I’d pay my ¶œ6 and see what talent HHN have on their roster besides Capdown and Lightyear. But first we have to endure the envitable local support band – y’know, the usual college kids who formed a band because they were disillusioned with their peers who like hard house and r&b. The kids who smoke way too much weed in their parents garage instead of practising…

CONTROL FREAK are the local version of that stereotypical band, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that they won’t be going very far outside of Cleethorpes. Although technically good musicians, the ‘singer’, and I use that in the broadest sense, sounds as though he’s a cat being strangled. He cannot sing at all, and in choosing to attempt Thom Yorke style warbles, makes himself look like a fool. I don’t like to slag off bands unnecessarily, but Control Freak have no future whatsoever with their current vocalist. A cover of Radiohead’s ‘Just’ is played well enough until the singer opens his trap. From there everything goes downhill fast.

So it’s a good job THE FOAMERS finally hit the stage to bring forth their brand of Snuff-esque punk rock. Certainly cheeky chappies, the band deserve to be playing in venues with more than 40 people in them. Although the songs aren’t particularly memorable, the foursome carry it off in reasonably good style, holding good stage presence. Their pleas to get the audience off their arses and onto the dancefloor falls on deaf ears and they visibly become pissed off at playing to no-one. Which is a pity as the likes of ‘Popstars’ and ‘Titanic’ are reasonably good ska/punk songs in the vein of Capdown or Snuff. And with a metal pastiche towards the end of their set The Foamers have convinced me that this is a band on the up. Their parting shot, “fuck off Cleethorpes,” basically sums everything up. NOFX couldn’t have said it any better – ‘Fuck The Kids’.

The only reason I came tonight, other than trying to support the local scene, was to see REDLIGHTSFLASH, who instantly impressed me after their last album arrived on my doormat not so long ago. This Austrian foursome deliver some of the best political melodic hardcore that I’ve heard in a long time and with three vocalists there’s more than enough to keep you interested. Unless you’re at the Winter Gardens on a warm Saturday evening, because again no-one seems acutely aware that a band is playing. But that’s their loss because it has to be said Redlightsflash are nothing short of awesome. ‘The Stones Unturned’ is a ballistic opening, and the likes of ‘The Red Tape’ and various other songs from their first record sound fantastic. Despite the complete lack of energy from the crowd the band seem to create their own and dare I say it, enjoy themselves. Heaven forbid in this town… The highlight for me though was the fantastic double whammy of ‘No Reply’ being battered by ‘P(owerful) C(hoices)’ – a double barrage of politically charged hardcore. This Austrian quintet have enough melody to appeal to even your poppiest punk kid, without ever losing any of that hardcore charge. Well worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Which is more than I can say for FIVE KNUCKLE. Maybe they were having an off-night. I’d like to think they were, because there are words to describe a performance like this – and ‘shite’ is one such word. I’ll be honest and say that this is the first time I have come acros this Bristol mob, but how on earth they got signed, on the basis of this performance, is a mystery. More to the point, how on earth did they get to headline parts of this tour? Vocalist Dan certainly has more than a touch of Henry Rollins about him, but Five Knuckle‘s hardcore leanings are far too much for me. The guitars sound bad and the vocals are awful – shouting is fine if it’s in tune with the music, but this isn’t. Infact Five Knuckle are so bad that I left after 15 minutes of their set. Bear in mind that this year I have already sat through Jesse James and 311 for their entire sets, and you’ll know exactly how bad they were. As I said, maybe it was an off day, but tonight Five Knuckle are nothing short of terrible.

So, what did I learn. Well, Grimsby and Cleethorpes don’t deserve to have bands stop on nationwide tours if no-one will go and support the bands, and the promoters, for putting the show on. HHN have one fantastic band in Redlightsflash on their roster, and everyone should check them out. Oh, and kids, it’s not ‘cool’ to go to a gig and pretend it’s a youth club… it’s not, it’s a gig. At least watch and listen if nothing else…

Paul.