So, Plastic seem to be going from success to success, what is the genesis story of the band? How did you guys meet, and when did you decide to start making tunes together?
Well, me and Elliot used to be in a band called Bohica, who have now changed their name to Leatherneck, so I met him through that band. Due to personal reasons I didn’t want to be in that band anymore – I think I had a lot of learning about life to do in some senses. So I left and made a band with Matt and Dom which ended up becoming Plastic. It took a few months for us to kind of get to grips with it. Elliot joined a few months later and we recorded an EP called ‘Drop’.
Your sound manages to be both retro and modern. There’s lots of grunge sounds in there, yet it still sounds refreshing and urgent. That would point to a very eclectic musical taste. What did you listen to growing up?
I went through a few phases; I was really into metal as a kid and then kind of got into stuff like Radiohead and Boards of Canada in my last year of High School. The nineties obsession for me kind of started when I was about 19. The others all grew up listening to Green Day and Foo Fighters.
And now?
Well my favourite band are a band from America called Failure, I relentlessly study their music you can hear a lot of them in some of our stuff. I am also listening to a lot of The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes & Oasis at the moment, too!
What Plastic have achieved so far is astonishing, but knowing rock stars that won’t be enough for you. Do you have any projects coming up?
We are releasing a single next January, which in my opinion is the best song I have ever written. Then, a few months later, our debut record ‘Here, There Is No Gravity’ is coming out – we’ll tour on the back of that for a good year or two.
And when will you achieve world domination?
Who knows? Haha! I think our music is good enough, and we are all really trying hard to get as far as we can. As long as I get to the point I can quit my retail job I will be happy, but if Dave Grohl wants to be upstaged he can always give us a message!
Aside from Plastic you also have a solo project, The Wolf Howls When I Scream Your Name, is that something you’ve long been eyeing?
Well, I’m just always writing songs. As long as Plastic is around that will be my most dominant project, but I will tour with The Wold Howls When I Scream Your Name and I will put a record out, but I prefer playing loud music. To answer your question, have I been eyeing it? A bit, it just lets me open myself up in a different way than Plastic does.
The sound is a lot more acoustic, softer, and more personal than Plastic’s trademark guitar driven rock. Is that a style you’ve personally experimented with?
I would say Plastic is as personal as my solo stuff. Plastic very often deals with the topic of my self-destructive relationship with alcohol; there’s a much more sinister vibe with it. I am always coming up with different coping mechanisms with that, I always have to watch myself, but I kind of accept it is part of me and that I will always have to think about it to get through the day in which ever way I choose, sober or not. The solo stuff deals with more broad topics. I kind of talk about everything, my perception of human relationships, my own relationships, and some of it’s kind of about nothing!
It’s come from listening to Julien Baker & The National.
I write all of Plastics songs in my room on an acoustic guitar so naturally I guess that was going to happen, I’m not an angry bastard all the time – my friends may tell you different – so I guess that’s why it’s there.
How different is the experience of being a solo artist compared to the more collaborative artistic process of being in a band?
Not too different really, I have to spend longer on my songs because I don’t have the others changing up what I bring to them. My solo effort has just begun so I don’t know – six months down the line I could probably answer this question better.
There’s something very intimate about your solo sound that demands seeing it performed live. Do you have any dates announced where our readers could experience that?
I have one show under my belt with it, but there will be tours next year and festival appearances, all will be revealed in early 2018
Finally, what are you hoping for in your stocking this year?
Asahi Beer, Punk IPA, Baileys, Estrella, Guinness, Staropramen and some sun glasses. I don’t play guitar in the band anymore so I don’t need pedals.
Thanks, all the best in your upcoming endeavours from the team at Urbanista.
Thank you, likewise!
