Interview With 'The Species'
Firstly, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?
The Species are Gary, Dylan, Rob and Daniel. Gary, Rob and Dylan had always been childhood friends and went onto the same college together. Gary and Dylan started jamming together for a few years then decided they wanted to start a band. After a few years Rob came along. The band needed a bassist to finish the line up off so got in touch with Daniel and the rest is history.
What were you all up too prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?
We all currently work in full time jobs but music has always been a shared passion amongst us. Of course we have dreams of playing at huge festivals to thousands of people, but we're also realists and are just enjoying playing gigs and sharing our music with people.
Tell us about your latest EP and why our readers should check it out.
'Translucent Fears' is our little baby, it's taken a long time to get it finished but we're so proud of it. It takes many of our influences and compacts them into a neat little package that best describes what we're all about! From heavy stonking riffs, to complex drum beats, via some crazy psychedelic sounds.
Who would you say is the bands main song writer or is it a group effort and where do you draw your inspiration lyrically and musically from?
Gary is the main man music wise but we all have our input. He comes to the rest of us at band practice with some new material and we attack it. Chopping and changing verses, adding stuff in/taking away, altering timings, lyrics and tempo till we have the finished article we're all happy with.
As a band what do you believe is your greatest achievement to date?
Without doubt our EP. Some very long nights in the studio went into it as well as a lot of time and effort, it felt like the first chapter of the band had come to fruition. We've played some big shows too, a few Rock City performances that we'll never forget!
Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why?
We've seen a lot of our heroes in concert before; Josh Homme, Matt Bellamy etc. We were at a gig earlier this year and saw a local band called Heck perform, never seen anything like it. They owned the venue. Climbing all over the place, first time we'd ever feared for our own safety at a gig before! It was amazing.
If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?
A lot of heavy riffs, complex rhythms and beats. But we also like to own the stage in our own, chaotic way. We had a gig a while back where Gary ended up with huge bump on his head, he took a whack from the bass. Rob's finger exploded all over his guitar, Daniel knocking the drum kit over and being a general loon, Gary all over the floor. That stage belongs to us for them 30 minutes, it's our space and we treat it rather....roughly
If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?
We could give you all our influences here and the list could go on. But top of the pile would be Queens Of The Stone Age with Heck added to the bill for good measure. It'd be an insane tour, probably wouldn't make it back alive.
You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?
Daniel: Might be an obvious answer but it has to be Jimi Hendrix for me, he was a pioneer and did things his own way. He didn't care what anyone thought neither, from his persona on stage to what he wore.
And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?
Yes!
