|
The Isle Of Wight is well known for its coloured sands, its tendency to collapse into the sea in places, but not you might think for its music scene, not being the biggest of places. However, local ska act Embassy Row hope to change this and thanks to an increasing number of gigs on the mainland (despite the cost of those damn ferries) you may just be hearing a bit more of them . . .
tp - Right, first off, give us a brief introduction to each member of the band, what they play and how they style their hair?
Harry - Vox - Afro
Joe - Bass - Thug
Cooper - Guitar - Long Mess
Athey - Drums - Euromullet
Neil - Trombone - Sleaze
Tony - Trumpet - Smooth
Fish - Trumpet - Umm
Pillbean - Sax - Turk
tp - What kind of sound are you aiming for, is it more traditional ska or ska-punk/ska-core? Who are your main influences?
ER - Ummmm, I dont think we aim for a sound it just happens, and if we like something we'll do it. I guess you could call us ska-core but im not sure. Smacked up furry ninja roly-core death reggae?? We try to make things as interesting as possible. As for stuff that we like, its a broad range amongst the band. But SOME of the stuff we are into are things like - Mr bungle, Capdown, Aphex Twin, Dillinger Escape Plan, Gone To Pot, Faith No More, Link 80, Rage Against The Machine, The Clash, Bloodhound Gang, Weezer, UK hip hop, Drum + Bass(!), Dj Dan Hill, Mike Patton etc etc, just people who are making exiting music.
tp - I saw you play at a Southampton show once but I know you're from the Isle of Wight. What's the scene like on the island? What venues can you recommend?
ER - Ummm, a few months ago we would have denied a scene existed down here but a lot more stuff seems to be going on nowadays, there is pretty much only one venue that you can play if you're not a pub rock band and that is the Squadron in Ryde. The promoter is a sound Cuban gangster and more and more good acts are coming down here and playing and seeming to like it. We just got a brand new sound system put in and its pretty good. As for the people down here people seem to be getting into the music again, a new 'zine has started up too (big up to the box kru). So...um...all is well.
tp - Has it been easy getting gigs on the mainland, and getting *to* gigs on the mainland?
ER - Its been expensive thats for sure. Its not easy to get gigs off the Island, but we're scared of water so thats ok, did I ever tell you about the time a saw a bird with its head stuck in a plastic can holder thing?
tp - What's better, technic lego, space lego or pirate lego? (that one's from Tom)
ER - Definately not technic. Um. Space lego I guess.
tp - I know you've done quite a few gigs (did you support Spunge once?) already, what have you got in the way of recorded material that our readers can get hold of?
ER - /sadly/ (haha) we have never supported Spunge, although we have supported bands like Farse, 5 Knuckle, Tribute To Nothing, Species of Sound, Spankboy and Mustard Plug plus a bunch of other bands. We have a few recordings but most of them suck, we currently are throwing around copies of a 6 track demo recorded sometime last year. To get hold of a copy come to one of our shows and steal one from us. Or find an e-mail link at www.erow.vze.com and commit some kinda internet fraud to tax one from us.
tp - Okay finally do you have any parting shots, words of thanks or classic film quotes?
ER - Uhhh, 'Guns dont kill people, people kill people' 'TRRRRRRRIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!'
| 