Brigade Interview

Me with Brigade at The Duchess, York July 2008

Brigade are a band that have faced more then their fair share of struggles in the recent past. However as Will Simpson and co neared the end of only their second headline tour they appeared to be a band in very high spirits.

Presumably this may have something to do with the praise heaped on Brigade’s new album ‘Come Morning We Fight’; and despite the deteriorating condition of front man Will’s voice the band, completed by James Plant (guitar), Naoto Hori (Bass) and Andrew Kearton (drums) were in jubilant mood when I caught up with them moments before their gig in York.

James: “It’s been really good; we’ve been delighted with the response. It’s been fantastic and there’s been a marked improvement numbers wise from the February tour.”

Will: “February was the first time we solo headlined and got out and about on the back of beyond tour and we kind of thought with this one is there going to be more people, how’s it going to go down but it’s been really good.”

James: “We’ve been seeing some new faces that we’ve not seen before”

Will: “And there has been more people at the shows.”

Do you feel that appearing with Fightstar on their ‘Ride The Deathcar Tour’ has helped boost your fan base?

Will: “Maybe, maybe, I think more then anything we did the Aiden tour this year which really helped us. After those shows there was definitely a marked improvement but I think both tours definitely helped.”

Would you say that due to your links with Fightstar people have un-fair preconceived ideas about you?

Will: “Of course man, of course, that’s what we’ve constantly had to battle against. It still bugs me to this day. I was talking to a guy the other day and he went oh I was talking to my mate about you and he said you’re just the guys who sound like Fightstar. I just thought oh you ignorant twat.

James: “When they probably haven’t even listened to us”.

Will: “I think it is a shame because on the one hand we got the chance to play to more people then we might have done. But on the other hand a lot of people who potentially might have checked the band out have shied away and gone oh whatever. You know I really do think that’s a shame.

Has the song writing process for the new album allowed you to release some of the frustration you’ve been feeling?

Will: Some of the songs but not all of them. There have been moments; definitely ‘Pilot’ was the song that reflected on that. I think certainly it fuelled the fire but generally it’s more been with our frustrations on losing our label and our management.

We were out of the picture for a good year to eighteen months and we lost our drummer as well. Andy has now joined the fold which is great but at the time it was really hard and so that was kind of expected to go into the songs.”

In recent years you’ve toured with a reasonably eclectic mix of bands, how has that had an influence on you?

James: “Sometimes we are influenced by a band for example we went away and toured with Inme and you come back and start writing and you realise that what they’re doing has had an influence on the way you write.”

Will: “Then other bands you tour with and you don’t get anything from musically but other things like how they put on a stage show and the level of professionalism within the band. Aiden were consummate professionals every single night and their performances were amazing. I think you come away learning something from every tour.”

James: “I think a lot of American bands the way they tour and the way they put on shows is completely different to bands in this country. They’re a lot more professional, they’re a lot more, I don’t know…”

Will: “Theatrical”

James: “Yeah”.

Will: “Maybe that rubbed off on us a little bit.”

James: “I mean sometimes you do see the same thing, the same ‘crazy’ stuff”.

Will: “Totally, it is almost scripted what they say between songs”.

James: “It’s almost like they have a series of notes to follow”.

Will: “Although saying that I’ve been saying the same thing on this tour and I’ve got to stop doing that. But yeah you can name on the fingers of one hand the number of bands that have influenced our song writing and that’s obviously our favourite bands that we’ve been lucky to tour with.”

How was the writing process for ‘Come Morning We Fight’?

James: “It’s changed a bit actually since the first album with people predominantly bringing songs and sticking to that. Where as with the second record everyone was throwing ideas in and it was very much a group effort. Now it’s exciting going into the third one, especially with the addition of Andrew, and we can see what he’s going to come up with.”

Andrew: “I can’t wait”.

James: “I’m really looking forward to it.”

Will: “But yeah it has definitely changed.”

No pressure on Andrew then.

Andrew: “I’m revelling in it because I can’t wait for this to be something that we all do as the complete unit that we’ve become. I just can’t wait to put stuff in and get it chucked out, get it accepted or whatever. It’s really exciting.”

James: “Absolutely”.

With the amount of touring you’ve done and the release of the new record, do you feel like you’re starting to achieve a bit more success?

James: “I hope so. You always like to think that you’re climbing the ladder as apposed to going down it. I think we do feel that we’re making ground here.

Will: “It is still gradual, I think with every up there’s been a down. As a band I feel like we’ve always struggled, we’re always finding new challenges. It’s never been plain sailing. I think the biggest thing for us on this tour has been feeling that more people have been coming to the shows so then makes we feel like we are gradually growing as a band and that hasn’t always been the case so far. Even though we’re not expecting anything to revolutionarily change over night we’re getting there slowly but surely.”

James: “We always knew we would be a slow burn band from day one. We knew that we wouldn’t be hyped and that we would have to work at it a bit like biffy have done.”

Will: “We’re already thinking about our next album”.

Have there been any particular moments when you felt things were beginning to improve for you?

Will: “Download was a nice moment, playing at download and thinking wow there is actually a lot of people here to see us because when you’re not one of those hyped bands you kind of wonder how much people really care. I think with this album so far we’ve been proving that people do and that means you are turning the corner because you do have a place here, there is a place for you in the British rock scene.”

James: “It is still building very, very nicely.

The new record has received some very favourable reviews how has that felt for you?

James: “It’s been great. It’s ticked all the boxes. We were a little nervous when it came out because we got pretty decent reviews for the first album so obviously you want to beat that and I think we have. We’ve been pleased. We were nervous but the response has been really good.”

Andrew: “It’s been great to see copies in the shop disappearing and then you go back the next week and there’s more”.

James: “We’ve sold a lot more copies of the second one then we did on Lights already.”

You mentioned the influence touring with American bands has had on you; but would you say that that the number of U.S. bands touring here makes it harder for young British bands to find success?

Will: “I think when it comes to touring especially it’s hard to get the opportunity to play. New bands come over and a lot of the time they’ll bring equally hyped up American bands with them. It can be quite difficult to get on slots and I think the press still very much gravitate towards American bands. So more English bands that sound like American bands struggle rather then there being more English bands that sound different.”

James: “Where as no British bands go over there and sell out straight away.”

Will: “I think American bands must come over here and think this is so easy because it’s such a small country”.

Are there any songs from ‘Come Morning We Fight’ which you’re particularly proud of?

Will: “I think ‘Four Kids To A Glockenspiel’. It’s different, it’s not quintessentially us but it’s still a track that we’re really proud of. We tried to do a track without any distortion at all, a song to kind of echo ‘the hits and the scrapes’ from the first record and we’re very pleased with how it came out. In terms of songs we’re proud of I think there are quite a few.

Songs like ‘Sink Sink Swim’ and ‘Stunning’ and ‘Res Head’ are always what we wanted to do. Big riff rock songs but with massive melody. ‘Together Apart’ even though it’s more kind of a pop song we thought we would try something and we feel we’ve pulled it off.”

Where does the song title ‘Four Kids To A Glockenspiel’ come from?

Will: “I was having a chat with some friends of mine and we were talking about how, when you’re at school, when it came to the instruments I really wanted to try the cello. But I couldn’t because there weren’t enough instruments to go around so the tall people got given the cello and I got given a viola.”

(Rest of band laughs)

Andrew: “Your school actually had stringed instruments that’s something”.

Will: “Exactly it was amazing. But I was still like well this is doing nothing for me and he said oh it was the same at my school, it was four kids to a glockenspiel. I just thought that’s a great title. I think the way that it relates to the song is that you’re trying to make something work and you’re doing your best with what’s there but it’s just not happening.”

Andrew: “I remember my music teacher got sacked because he ordered in all this really nice equipment and we saw it all in the boxes and were like wow we’re actually going to be able to play music in lessons. Then it was all gone and apparently he’d nicked it (laughs).

Will: “It’s about battling against the odds and knowing that sometime you have succumb and start again.

Other then the line up change how else do you feel that you’ve changed as a band since the first record?

James: “We’re a lot wiser I think”.

Will: “Less naive”.

James: “I think we’re pretty good at touring now. We’ve learnt so much over the last couple of years.”

Will: “And I think we’ve made a lot of mistakes and learned from them. Our song writing is a lot stronger now; we’re concentrating a lot more on vocal melodies which is obviously what most people take away from a song. So yeah I think we’re just a lot better at what we do. But then we still have a long way to go which I think is a good thing I suppose rather then thinking you’re there.”

Finally why do you think music fans should come to a Brigade gig or buy your album?

Will: “It’s just a breath of fresh air from all the pop-punk shit that is dominating the airwaves and press coverage a lot of the time. If that’s what you’re into great but if it’s not and you want some more kind of straightforward British rock music then check us out and hopefully you’ll be delighted.”

‘Come Morning We Fight’ is available now on Caned and Able records.