Combining the sonic attack of grunge with the heartfelt passion of emo, Eastbourne 3-piece Im.mune just may have created a genre. The guys have already played a fair few gigs around the South East supporting some national touring acts and plans for recording are in the pipeline. We emailed bassist and website designer (a man after our own hearts!), Laurie.

tp - First off, can you tell us a bit about Im.mune, who plays what and who your influences are?

IM - Ben plays guitar, James plays drums and I play bass and sing. When we started out I guess our main influences were bands like Incubus, Far and grunge bands like Alice in Chains and Cold. However, now I think our sound is more influenced by bands like Tool, Glassjaw and the present Post-Hardcore scene.

tp - I've heard you described as emo/grunge. What exactly is that? Is that the sort of sound you've tried to achieve?

IM - The description came about when I saw someone had described us as 'emo' on a long since deceased Yahoo Group. I thought it was quite a funny opinion of our sound seeing as at the time the only part of our set remotely 'emo' was an acoustic song called Seams. It seems that alot of bands get thrown into the whole 'emo' genre at the moment, but most of them sound nothing like eachother. I used the 'emo'grunge tag as more of a humourous way to describe the band on our website, it was never really a serious opinion of us musically. As to whether our music is influenced by the description we are given, I don't think im.mune, or most other bands, write with an intention to fit into a specific genre. We've always tried to create songs by bringing together all of our influences and ideas and seeing what happens naturally.

tp - You've already played a few gigs around Kent and Sussex, how hard was it to sort out gigs? Who have you played with that have most impressed you?

IM - It hasn't really been very hard to sort out gigs for im.mune as we have really put ourselves out to play wherever and whenever we can. We already knew alot of bands in Eastbourne and our local area and so playing support slots for those bands was an easy way to start out. We are also part of The Stable (an initiative run by the owners of The Forum in Tunbridge Wells to help out unsigned bands), which has helped us make alot of strong friendships with bands and promoters based in the Kent area. In the last few years we have played with alot of great bands and made a number of friends, so it wouldn't be fair to only site a few as bands that have impressed us. Instead I'll just mention some of the bands we have played with, in no particular order: Hiding With Girls, Half Inch Heroes, Inme, Undertow, Noon, Av-Out (r.i.p), Mr Drummond, Melaleuca, Actual Size, Mr Shiraz, Sickstitches (r.i.p), tasfuira, Anal Dave, Pergetory (r.i.p), One Above Nothing, Apex and so many others.

tp - Do you think so-called "emo" music is becoming mainstream these days and do you think that matters?

IM - Personally I don't think that 'emo' in it's general form is really becoming mainstream. To me being mainstream is reaching a point where the music has lost all the truth and honesty that made it good to listen to, which is definately not true of the majority of bands getting noticed at the moment. What I think is that the music industry and media alike are only now starting to take notice of the talent that has been brewing in the underground scenes, hence bands like Finch, The Used, Thursday, Hundred Reasons and many more are growing in their popularity. So if it all means more bands will get noticed then it can't be a bad thing.

tp - I've seen you guys live a couple of times but the only recorded stuff I've heard is the Mp3 on the website. Have you got plans to record more in the future?

IM - I would love to get back in the studio as soon as possible to record some of the newer songs we've finished, but we are just sorting out the money to do that. We currently have an EP available that features three recently recorded tracks and two older ones for £3. It's available from us at our shows. Also, as you mentioned we have an MP3 on the site which will soon be joined by another, but as soon as we are recording I'll let this site know first.

tp - Finally, any thanks, words of wisdom or shout-outs to people?

IM - Firstly a big thanks to you both for promoting our band further, the site is great. We would like to thank: Terri, our families and friends for all their support, Sharpey and the guys from Half Inch Heroes, all the bands we've played with, Jason, Lawrence and everyone at the Forum. A big load of respect to all of our friends from Hailsham who have been to nearly every gig we've played, you guys are the best. Thankyou to everyone that didn't get mentioned in name, but has helped us out in some way or shown us support, we haven't forgot you, so stay in touch.