YMC Backstage Interviews - Above Them

YMC :I'm backstage at the Cockpit with one of the members of Above Them, would you like to introduce yourself


Above Them: I'm Mark, I play bass in Above Them, there's also Tom and Oli but they nipped off for a shifty pint, I'm driving.


YMC: Did you enjoy the gig?


AT: Yes, it was good, its wasn't like the normal gigs we play, the venue is really big - we're more used to the back room of a pub, just DIY shows really, so we are a little bit out of our comfort zone but it was really good, I enjoyed it, good sound and people came out


YMC: How did you manage to get this gig then?


AT: Inala records who put our music out know Frank, who is promoting from Higher Rhythmn, and he got in touch and of course we agreed to play, nowt better to do on a Friday night.


YMC: Are you from Leeds?


AT: We're from Pontefract which is about 15 miles away from Leeds, so we are fairly local, its a place where we've always played a lot so we feel pretty much at home


YMC: and Wakefield I would imagine too


AT: Yes, we used to play at Escobar when it was still open, quite a lot actually when we first started going but now there's a new venue called the Hop One good venue has closed down but there's another really good one opened up, so its not a loss really, we've just kind of switched places.


YMC: Do you think its hard for bands to find places to play, especially when you're starting out?


AT: Yes, when your starting out, it depends really we're quite lucky coz a lot of our friends do DIY gigs, so it kind of just snowballed from there. The longer you go the easier it is because you have more contacts really.


YMC: How long have you been playing together?


AT: Since the winter of 2004, we were only going to do one gig, a Christmas all-dayer, and here we are 6 years later still doing it, its good fun.


YMC: Who writes the songs?


AT: All 3 of us really, Oli our guitarrist comes with an idea, maybe a lyric or something and we just build it from there. its sort of all three of us it would be a bit weird I think if was just one person coming with an idea, saying play this play that, no matter how good the songs are because we think all 3 of us should be involved


YMC: What other gigs have you got coming up?


AT: This year now we're going down to Dorking, thats about it for this year its been pretty hectic, we've been out in Europe in October.


YMC: Which countries did you go to?


AT: We went down through France, into Switzerland, we did a week in Germany and then we went to Holland, Belgium and came back home.


YMC: Was that a good experience? How was crowd reaction in the different countries?


AT: It wasn't that well attended because we're not a well known band but the people that attended liked it, its just pub gigs whereever really, if your into that you're into anything, we got well accepted everywhere and we got really well looked after I was quite surprised about that, the hospitality was unbelievable.


YMC: I've heard bands that say that before, that once you get out of the UK you're really looked after


AT: I just thought that was something everyone was just saying but it was really the case, I suppose it's like when I've put gigs on in the past and bands have been travelling and that you always try and look after them because its not much fun when you've been travelling and you don't get fed and you don't get any drinks. I'm not saying that's what we want all the time but it is nice and makes the whole experience a lot easier.


YMC: Have you got any recorded material?


AT: Yes, we did an EP in 2007 on Inhala records which are friends of ours and then we brought an album out last year also on Inhala records and then a friend in Manchester who runs a DIY label did one with us which was pressed on 12" vinyl too and we've had a couple of split 7" out with a band from Sheffield called The Amistad and another band from the States who we also did a couple of split 7" with. We are just writing a new album now and hopefully recording June time. It just depends when we can fit it in because working full time we eat our holidays up doing this so its just doing it when we can get it in.


YMC: If people want to find out more about you have myspace, facebook, etc


AT: Yes, www.myspace.com/abovethem, or just search for Above Them on facebook.


YMC: Thanks for talking to us.


AT: Thank you.