the WILD honey pie: For the readers out there that haven’t heard of you before, where are you guys from and how would you define your style of music.
Greg Robinson: We are based mainly in Darlington in North East England, We play pretty uncomplicated guitar based drum laden indie/rock. We have a very energetic live show, we basically play music that people want to hear and can dance to.
the WILD honey pie: Who are your musical inspirations that people would least expect? Why?
Greg Robinson: We all have, really different musical inspirations, one of the least expected ones would have to be Buzzcocks, a lot of people say we have that sound? Im not too sure, but no one in the band really stands up and says that they are an inspiration or even a band they are into, maybe it a subliminal thing who knows. Another least expected musical inspiration in so much that Dean likes them would be U2 because they are complete dross (junk). I would also say that Chris Martin (Coldplay) is an unexpected inspiration. I looked at him and thought if that knob (dick) can do it know I can and better, so I suppose he is an inspiration to me.
the WILD honey pie: If you could tell one musician that they’re complete shit, who would it be?
Greg Robinson: Well there are probably a few I could think of but top of the list would have to be Robbie Williams, he is just a proper knob (dick) who brings out shit music time after time. He should really give up but I suppose he’s not going to when people keep buying his turgid shite.
the WILD honey pie: Who were your favorite musicians of 2009?
Greg Robinson: I think there were a few bands that came to prominence in 2009, Kasabian really stepped up their game West Rider was a quality album. Again there was another solid effort from Arctic Monkeys, I think [Humbug is] possibly their best album so far. As for new musicians I like the look of The Drums they are pretty good I think they are going to be everywhere next year, Bombay Bicycle Club had a good first album and really produce live. The Cribs as well they did really well last year, bringing in Johnny Marr was a masterstroke and im loving the fact that the Americans are really digging them. Yeah yeah yeahs the new album by them was quality too. Lily Allen is always going to be in my favorite musicians of any year.
the WILD honey pie: What’s been the most gratifying experience for you guys as a band?
Greg Robinson: The most gratifying experience for us has to be seeing people at gigs going off it. It’s great to see people having as good a time as we do on stage. Its also great to see people singing the songs already nice to know that people are taking an interest. I suppose when we released the losing game as a one off single on a small label and toured it around the UK that was pretty gratifying, although it was only on a small level to be promoting your music around the country doing what bands should be doing was cool.
the WILD honey pie: If there was a movie being made about your band, who would play each member of your band?
Greg Robinson: I would have to say that it would be best as an animated movie. Not great animation, like Toy Story or anything, but something more ragged around the edges. We’d look pretty cool as South Park-esc characters, Matt and Trey could do the voices that would be a cool movie, yeah we could do it like Chef Aid and have a big old gig half way through the movie. We could have super powers and all sorts if it was animated. I would have to get a super power that turned me into Ram-Man and I could dance around the bad guys and head but them when they were least expecting it. Phil could play massive solos on a super guitar that would make peoples head explode, Rich could be a master at throwing his sticks in people eyes and could double up with Craig who, while the people couldn’t see would use his guitar as an axe. Dean would have to have some kind of gas that knocked people out.
the WILD honey pie: Is there a constant theme throughout all of your music?
Greg Robinson: In a way the only real theme is the guitar based music, apart from that a crafty simian set is pretty varied from song to song, there is a definite difference between our songs no one can say that the last song sounded the same as this. The real constant theme would have to be music that you can dance to, I keep banging on about this but for me its important to be able to go to a gig see a good band and be able to dance or move about in a possessed state, and we bring that that’s what we do.
the WILD honey pie: Is there a standard process you go through when making a song? Any strange traditions?
Greg Robinson: Not really, some of the songs have been born out of me doing a Ram-Man dance – musically that is, the music came from me dancing around the place and the lads playing along to my dancing. A bit of a strange way of doing it but it worked that day. We pretty much get a feel for it and go for it, normally someone has an idea and we build on it. Lyrically I normally like to write observation type stuff, something that has happened to me someone I know or something that has caught my eye, stuff that happens to everyone really stuff that everyone can relate to.
the WILD honey pie: What can we expect from you guys in the not too distant future?
Greg Robinson: Loads of shows up and down the country, we have a few new songs in the pipeline so hopefully we can get them bashed out and ready for live shows. We are ready to move up to the next level so hopefully you can expect to hear us everywhere soon we are going to fill a void that seems to be missing, you don’t hear many proper indie/rock guitar bands anymore.
