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Interview by Rob Che

Above Them are a hard touring UK indie-rock/punk 3 piece from Pontefract, West Yorkshire. To date the band has released 3 eps, a handful of singles, and are currently touring on their well received debut full length, ‘Blueprint For a Better Time’ .

With 2 appearances at No Ideas Fest and a tour of the Mid West already under their belts the young band are no strangers to American shores, but with a couple of US split singles on the way Above Them will hopefully be winning over a few more fans within the American punk rock community very soon.

Rob Che recently caught up with one of AMP’s new favorite bands to discuss gambling addictions, the demise of the record industry and pre-gig drinking rituals.

Introduce the band . . .

Above Them is, Tom Rob (drums), Oli Wood (guitar/vocals) and I’m Mark Young (bass)

Where do you get your kicks, studio or stage?

We are very lucky to be able to play quite a bit, and since the album came out the shows have gotten really really good, so it is definitely playing live that keeps us going.  However, we don’t get to go into the studio very much, maybe once a year or even less, so we really look forward to that, its a completely different environment. It’s great hearing everything coming together.

I know that playing live is very important to you – Do you have any gig / tour rituals?

Mine? Probably be as organized as possible and not get stressed.  Tom and Oli’s is drink as much as possible! There is a road out of Pontefract to the motorway which is about 5 or 6 mile long and they have been known to play ‘let’s see how much beer we can drink along this road’.  If we haven’t played for a while we like to make sure we are well practiced beforehand. There is nothing worse than playing rubbish, we all beat ourselves up pretty bad when that happens.

The music industry as a whole is suffering - tell us about the UK live music scene – has it changed in recent years?

The UK DIY scene seems really strong, very dedicated.  Everyone from the bands to the promoters to the people coming along are all amazing, genuine people.  There isn’t anyone in that scene who we come across who is a dick, we all feel proud to be associated with that.  In the bigger picture though it seems to me that music in general has just got massive over here, not that it ever wasn’t, but I can remember when going to gigs was something that only die hard music fans did, now you have massive ‘chain’ venues, the festivals have exploded in terms of popularity and there are new festivals popping up everywhere. Going to a gig has become a social event as popular as going to the pub, the football match or the cinema.

Who do you cite as your musical heroes?

There are so many, but definitely the Foo Fighters, Small Brown Bike, Million Dead, Thin Lizzy, Green Day, Hundred Reasons, Against Me!, Hot Water Music, Hell Is For Heroes, The Bouncing Souls, this list could go on and on.

What song/s do you wish you had written?

Anything off of Foo Fighters ‘The Colour And The Shape’ album, that album is perfect, every song is genius.

Where is best for you to play and why?

The Fighting Cocks in Kingston Upon Thames is an amazing place, I think we have all played our best shows there.  Everything about it is great, the sound in there is spot on, the people down there are all mint, just all round brilliant.

We always look forward to playing in Swansea too, that is another place that is full of amazing people, got some great friends down there and the Uplands Diner there does banging breakfasts.

I hear you have a casino habit… any other vices we should be aware of?

When we go play in Swansea we always end up in one, that place just turns us into fucking idiots ha ha.  We drink too much, don’t get enough sleep, eat shit, generally don’t look after ourselves but  we are all still young so we can get away with it for a few more years yet.

In recent years music has changed from a precious wax disc into a collection of bytes on a hard-drive… Does that sadden you or is it all about getting the songs out there in whatever medium possible?

People want everything faster and at greater convenience so it doesn’t surprise me one bit that music has gone in the same direction.  If people want to buy our music digitally then we aint going to deny them that, that would be pretty dumb.  It is sad though that it has moved in that direction, not only because you loose having the artwork, inlay, limited edition pressings etc but it has had a knock on effect for the indie record shops and pressing plants.  Vinyl is still very much alive and kicking though in the underground and I think it will be forever and we will continue to support that wherever possible.

What I mentioned about making our stuff available digitally and then it is sad about the effect that has may make me sound like part of the problem and a hypocrite but it is just giving people another option, it allows everyone access.  Vinyl is expensive to ship so for someone say out in Japan, it may cost the same if not more than the record in shipping alone to get it, so having it digitally gives them a better option.  In a nutshell I think what I am trying to say is, if you are lucky enough to have a record shop locally, don’t be lazy and sit at home on iTunes, go support it, buy records from there, I can guarantee that the people working there are super cool, talk to them, they will let you listen to shit, recommend you stuff, just don’t take it for granted.  However, if you aint lucky enough to have that, can’t get to shows to pick stuff up or can’t afford shipping, then digital outlets are there as a back up, but people should only use them as that, as back up for when they can’t get the physical product.

What’s next for Above Them?

We are in the middle of writing and doing demos for album number 2, so we will be busy finding someone to release it then be going to record that early next year.  Our first venture over to Europe in October is fast approaching so we cannot wait for that, it’ll be the longest tour we have done yet so hopefully we won’t kill each other.  We’ll just be keeping going the same as ever; when we aint in work we’ll be trying to play.

Above Them’s album ‘Blueprint For a Better Time’ is out now on Inhaler Records, and is one the records we play the SHIT out of in the office. GET SOME!!!

www.inhalerrecords.co.uk