Please can you tell us who is in the band and what you all do?
Kate: I am Kate. I play guitar and sing. Jak plays drums, Skippie plays guitar and Matt plays bass.
Paul: When did you start the band? How did you form and what line-up changes
have there been from day one to now?
Kate: We started the band in January 2000. We started like most bands, I guess. Jak one day just asked me if I wanted to start a band so we did. The line-up is different to day one because we have a different guitarist and bass player to what we originally started with.
Paul: How would you describe your sound to someone who is yet to hear you?
Kate: I always think it’s really hard to judge your own music. Blatently we are gonna be biased. I think it’s fair to say that we play melodic rock music with a bit of an edge.
Paul: Would you call yourself a ‘punk’ band? Does ‘the genre ‘punk’ restrict
bands from growing or do you think it’s more of a lifestyle than a music
thing?
Kate: I’ve never ever classed us as a punk band. A lot of people call us punk, which is fine – they can call us whatever they like. No matter what our music is called, it’s still gonna sound the same. I always thought that when punk first started, it was a way of life. It was people who were part of a movement making a stand. These days though, i think the word punk is thrown around lightly – hence why people call us punk.
Paul: You’re from Dudley, what is the local music scene like?
Kate: There isn’t really a scene in Dudley at all.. Usually we would just go to Birmingham where the scene is great.
Paul: You released Home Is Where the hate Is on Fat Wreck, how did that come
about?
Kate: We are extremely lucky and jammy.. Chad Gilbert sent our demo out to a bunch of different labels. Then one day I just got a call from Fat Mike and he said he wanted to put something out with us. We weren’t gonna say no.
Paul: The EP was better received in the US rather than the UK. Why do you
believe this happened?
Kate: I think too many people in England were pissed off at the fact we were on Fat. It was like, ‘who the Fuck are they and where did they come from’? In the U.S people give us more of a chance straight away, because we are English. There aren’t many English bands out here in the States, and the fact that we were pretty young when we released it stirred a lot of interest.
Paul: Do you think that if you were natives of Los Angeles rather than Dudley
you’d be a hell of a lot bigger? Does being British hinder your success?
Kate: Maybe yeah… I think that a lot of English kids love American bands right now… It’s wierd how American bands can be selling out tours on their second visits to the UK, yet all our own bands tour forever and never get much bigger.
Paul: Were you disappointed that MCA and Fat didn’t stick with you for more
than one EP?
Kate: Well, we signed a one record deal with Fat with the intention of our next record being on MCA. Then MCA died before we got chance to release anything on it.
Paul: How did you hook-up with Reposession Records?
Kate: Again Jammy. When MCA died, some of the people from there moved to repossesion. It was just a case of us and them still wanting to work together.
Paul: How did the recording experience differ between the new record and the EP?
Kate: Well, for the album we had a lot more time…It was really cool to get to do a month of pre-production too. Working with Neal is like a dream – the man’s a genius. Also, I had a really good time getting guitar sounds and stuff. We went and hired a bunch of vintage amps and guitars that have been used on a bunch of famous albums, and I got to spend hours messing around with different sounds and stuff. Also it was an extremely amazing added bonus to do the whole thing in Hollywood.
Paul: What are your plans for 2005?
Kate: Hopefully we can be on the road for most of it.. Also we start filming our movie next year, which will take a few months, but will be worth it.
Paul: What would you say has been the highlight of your careers so far?
Kate: There have been so many hightlights… but touring with Rancid is definatley one of the best!
We also had a few user submitted questions:
Paul: Some people obviously felt aggrieved that you had your EP released on fat
wreck and then did your first tour of Britain supporting rancid. With the likes of lightyear and king prawn splitting up because they didn’t appear to be going any further after years of relentless and thankless touring of the UK toilet scene, what would you say to those asking if you were actually good enough to warrant the breaks that you’ve had?
Kate: Well, whether we are good enough or not, we got a chance and took it. It’s not our fault that Fat Mike and Tim Armstrong like our band enough to put us out on a label and hook us up with a tour. And even though it sucks, people just like the look of our faces!!
Paul: Is K8: pissed off that Gazza (footballer Paul Gascoigne) has ripped you
off with his name change to G8?
Kate: Wait a minute isn’t g8 pronounced gate?? Nah it doesn’t piss me off, ‘cos it’s not like I’m original or anything. It’s not like I was the first to do it by far.
Paul: Do you think having a female member has any effect on your success?
Kate: Even though I hate to say it, I think it does help being a girl frontperson.
Submitted by Tom of ZeroPointSix: When is Scott coming over to Nick’s, I
wanna see the Germany footage…? and when will Jak finish our animation?
Kate: Dunno, call him… I wanna see the Germany footage! Jak is still working on the animation, but it looks rad so far…
Paul: What is it like for K8 being an Atticus model, and how did that come
about?
Kate: I’m not an Atticus model, but they use my picture to promote stuff. I was the first girl to be sponsored by Atticus. I feel good about it – it’s nice to get free clothes all the time. It came around because Dave from boxcar gave our C.D to Kari and she liked it..
Paul: Do you still keep in touch with Chad NFG, and is there any chance of a
future collaboration?
Kate: Yeah, although i don’t get to see him much.. It would be cool to collaborate with him, but I guess we won’t have the time to work on anything is the foreseeable future.
Paul: What is your favourite thing from Dudley, the black country museum, the
bus station or the amazing zoo?
Kate: My favourite thing from Dudley is JB’s…
Paul: Will anyone who’s not from Dudley ‘get’ JB’s?
Kate: Yeah, I think people will get it. I think everyone has a place like J.B’s… that one place where you always seem to end up.
Paul: Why is Mr C not on the cover of ‘Home is where the Hate’ is?
I don’t know really… we didn’t pick the photos but he was definitely on some of the photos we submitted…