Stereoboard Speak To The Computers Ahead Of Their Camden Barfly Show (Interview)
Tuesday, 03 May 2011
Written by Hayley Taylor
Hailing from Exeter with a solid punk rock background, The Computers are coming and are intent on taking over the world with their unique 'punk & roll' sound.
Alex and Nic from the band spoke to Stereoboard backstage before their support slot with Gay For Johnny Depp at Camden's Barfly. The four piece noisemakers met at school and after various other bands fell apart, Alex formed The Computers with Nic, Aidan and Sonny. They knew exactly how they wanted to sound and soon all fell into place, signing to influential label One Little Indian last year.
With just three songs they hit the live circuit, playing nine shows within the first month. A two track CD followed which sold out after receiving support from BBC Radio 1's Mike Davies and a session at Maida Vale.
From there, the band won support from legendary musician John Reis AKA Speedo. “He was in a load of bands that we're massive fans of like Rocket From the Crypt, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes…” In spring 2010, the band relocated to San Diego to record with Reis at his studios. Making it sound effortless, Alex recollects, “We played a show with his new band and asked if he'd be up for recording us. A few phone calls later and we were in his house recording.” In California they spent ten days in the studio, recording straight to tape to capture the raw live sound, “John wanted to do it this way and we chose him because we knew that's what he did”.
The Computers' sound is hard to pin down. Nic explained their influences as “A mixture between new wave-y rock and roll and anti-rock and roll like The Attractions. Also, hardcore punk, that's where the screaming thing comes from, but as time goes on we're sort of finding our own weirdo rock and roll genre, “garage style punk and roll”. That would be the aim.”
The band show their diversity with the tracks they choose for the B-sides. Playing homage to punk legends The Clash, they covered 'Train in Vain' on their 'Group Identity' release. Far removed from their unique screamer style of rock, they stayed true to the original, “We didn't want to 'punk it up', sometimes punk bands ruin good songs by doing that. We like covers as B-Sides, when bands do that it shows their influences and that they can do other things. We think it won't be such a shock to the system for fans if we want to try something less punky down the line.”
The video for recent single 'Group Identity' was quite a spectacle and gave an insight into their raucous live shows. Filmed in Aidan's (drummer) Nan's house in Devon, the band played a full gig in her living room - “It got trashed - there were a few casualties, china dogs heads fell off, but she (Nana Computer) didn't mind she had loads of them. She was drunk as well so didn't care!”
Before the video for new single 'Music Is Dead' was revealed, the band were keen not to divulge too much about it - “The next video will be different - all under wraps, but it's a green screen job, quite rock and roll.”
Live on stage is where the band really show what they're made of, “We like to rock out whatever the crowd, it's not fun unless it gets sweaty.” They went on tour with Alexisonfire before Christmas playing to 2000 people a night, “I (Alex) always managed to get completely off the stage and into the crowd up to the sound desk, whether the crowd wanted me to or not...and sometimes they really didn't want me to.” Crazy stage antics are the norm for The Computers, with Alex once splitting his guitar into three pieces at a gig in Europe after playing with the instrument hooked over a man in the crowd, “He was literally hugging him with the guitar, playing on his back until they both fell over, Alex was lying on him and dragging him around for the whole song!” Apparently the guy loved it! It's not just tolerant fans they're gaining, it seems that the band have already started getting obsessive fans, “Yeah, there's this weird girl who makes us cupcakes and brings them to the gigs. It's nice but kind of creepy!”
The band are back on the festival circuit this year. In recent years, they've played Camden Crawl as well as Download and Reading & Leeds. Front man Alex was a regular Reading Festival fan, going five times when he was growing up, “I then decided that I wasn't going back unless I was playing - I made good on my word. We played the Lock Up Tent on my birthday and the whole crowd was singing Happy Birthday!”
The band are receiving huge support from radio and press, as well as creating a massive buzz around their razor sharp, raucous sound; but they're ready to take it on. With the record just being released in the States, they're keen to get out there and play shows. Wasting no time, they're already thinking about more tracks, “We've started writing a new album already as we want to roll straight off the back of this one into another album, no down time!”
Catch them live - their gigs will make your ears bleed, make you want to get tattooed up and will leave you covered in sweat. They are a band not to be ignored!
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