IDEAS ABOVE THEIR STATION
In 2002, in the heyday of Brit-Rock, Hundred Reasons took the country by storm with their immaculate debut album. ‘Ideas Above Our Station’ topped many end of year polls and won the band a coveted Kerrang! Award for Best Album. After a tumultuous eight years the world is a very different place for Britain, for rock music and for Hundred Reasons. ANDREW TRENDELL caught up with HUNDRED REASONS singer Colin Doran and guitarist Ben Doyle to discuss emo, ambitions, and perseverance.
How’s the tour going so far?
C: Yeah it’s been wicked thanks very much – 8th show in a row tonight. It’s been really good every night.
Technically, you guys were the first live band I ever saw, supporting Muse at Doncaster Dome, November 2001. That was a while ago. How does it feel to still be Hundred Reasons?
C: It’s always just good fun to go and hang out with your mates. It’s not something that you get to do very often, so it’s great to have a valid excuse to do it.
B: I enjoy playing, just as Colin enjoys singing so it’s great to keep honing it in every tour. As it builds it just gets better and better.
In light of that, how would you say that the band has evolved in the last ten years?
C: We’re just always striving to be better all the time. We’ve always had this ethos that if people are coming to see you play then they’ve played to see you play. You’ve just got to put on a f*cking good show and play the best you can.
Has your approach to song writing or playing live changed much?
C: It changed on the last record. We usually get in a room together and play off the vibe. We weren’t really able to do that for the last record as we were only able to practice every couple of months.
What’s influencing the band at the moment?
C: I don’t really get inspired by anyone any more. We just listen to ourselves and do what we want. We don’t sit around listening to music and say “Oh that’s a good idea, let’s do it like that”.
B: It’s weird – when I was a kid I used to play guitar. When I was playing Metallica I’d pick up the tablature and properly learn the songs. But now I haven’t played anyone else’s riffs for about ten years. You’ve just got your own guitar and you enjoy it.
C: Yes, you always do your own thing. We always have done and always will.
B: We do get inspired by a lot of stuff but it doesn’t necessarily have a direct effect on our music. Even if you’re just listening to pop music and you hear a really good break in a song, you think ‘Ah that’s really cool’ and learn from that.
You guys rose to fame at the dawn of the decade alongside great British rock acts, who have since met their demise (e.g. Reuben, Yourcodenameis:milo, Million Dead, Hell Is For Heroes etc) Would you say that it’s a struggle to survive?
C: I suppose it just depends on how you look at it really and how you think you can carry on. We’ve always been very frugal with the band’s finances which is probably what’s allowed us to keep on doing this.
B: What really stops bands playing is the really boring stuff that people outside of the industry don’t necessarily understand. Just dull stuff like marketing, which get’s frustrating when people don’t know that you’re there.
C: There are a lot of things to consider but I think I’d mainly put it down to the record companies themselves not being able to perhaps do as good a job as they could. We’ve had label issues, as had Million Dead – everyone has. It’s really down to whether you let it grind you down and just say “That’s it, we’re done” or whether you say “F*ck you, we really enjoy playing these songs with these guys and we’re going to carry on doing it.” That’s been our attitude
It’s a good attitude. Would you say that the scene is still healthy then, but with technical issues holding it back?
C: I couldn’t really tell you to be fair as we don’t pay that much attention to new music. We’ve got no time for emo bands or things like that. A lot of it is pretty embarrassing.
Back in the early days, when you were riding the wave of success with all of those other aforementioned bands, there seemed to be a lot more energy and optimism in British rock music. Would you say that anything is missing?
C: Yes, I’d say that about 10% of the bands out there are really, really good, and the other 90% are just try-hard wannabes. There’s a lot of that about, and when I look at a scene and I just think ‘Oh, another emo band, another guy with a fringe whose singing the same as everyone else’. They all sing very similar notes and play very similar riffs and most of those bands just meld into each other. I don’t really care for it too much.
B: It’s a hard one because all music, to me, is good. There aren’t many bands where I can look at them and think ‘That’s actually shit’. I try to see the positives in things. It’s all cycles and borrowed ideas though. Every time a new scene emerges, you notice how it’s just a few elements fused together. Maybe hair metal will come back soon. I’m predicting the comeback of the perm – the one eye fringe is on its way out and everything will evolve again.
How have your ambitions altered in the last ten years and what do you still hope to achieve?
C: We never really had any ambitions in the first place. We just were just happy that we didn’t have to work day jobs.
B: When you guys started, from my perspective, it was just a good band in a rehearsal space with no manufactured elements. It was just really real.
C: Exactly. You always want to play well, and sell well because you want to keep doing it. We’ve only ever really cared about making music. We’ve never cared about being famous or glamorous or anything. We find that really boring in fact – we just enjoy playing music. That’s why we did it in the first place. If we didn’t enjoy playing music then we wouldn’t have gone through all the sh*t we have done. We don’t really have massive ambitions – we just enjoy playing music.
Many years of Hundred Reasons to come then?
C: Well I hope so. We’re always playing music in one form or another anyway. Andy, our bass player has another band going at the moment. Everyone has always got their fingers in pies.
A lot of bands that I’ve spoken to recently have complained that record companies have been focussing more on cracking down on file-sharing and punishing those who illegally download it, rather than trying to get people into new music. What’s your experience been with that?
C: I wouldn’t agree with that. I know they are trying to attack file-sharing because they are losing masses of money through it, but I wouldn’t say that they’re going out of their way to do so. They’re still making money from bands. What people don’t realise is that when you steal music it stops the record companies from being able to give income to the bands and be able to promote them and let the world know where they are.
B: What the record companies have been doing is just changing how they offer the deal. It used to be that they’d give you an advance to make the record, then they’d press and distribute it. But now they want a cut of your income from touring, merchandise and PRS.
C: They’ve just opened up different revenue streams.
B: So opposed to just earning from earning from record sales, now they went their fingers in all of the band’s pies.
C: Which, I suppose, isn’t technically a bad thing. They do pay for a band to go on tour, and in your early days they’ll give you tour support. So that way, they’re investing in your live shows, so when you start making money from your live shows they are going to want to recuperate some of that.
B: I’d say if you are in a new and emerging band that the brightest thing you could do is keep it entirely to yourself, find a friend of a friend who can actually produce records, keep it all in house, make a decent record then find someone to distribute it. There are loads of big indie labels that will do that for you now.
C: The other thing about being in the record industry these days, is that, if you’re a new band, then there are times that you won’t recuperate all of your money from songs, so you should keep the rights to your songs rather than signing them over to someone else. You need to keep as much control a possible.
Have you had much experience of giving music away for free?
B: Yes, not long ago actually.
C: We’ve had free downloads available for Guitar Hero, and we’ve often done this thing called ‘Singles Club’, where the fans can sign up to receive free songs of us and the other bands that we’re on tour with. We’ve never been in it for the money so it’s just one of those things you should do really.
Would you say you’ve suffered from illegal downloading or would you say that having your music out there is beneficial either way?
C: We’ve definitely suffered from downloading. Regardless of how you look at it, it is stealing and there is no way around it. It’s a matter or educating people to realise that they’re stealing.
B: Imagine if you live in a small village in England, and you’ve heard something that your mates haven’t. Back in the day you’d make them a mixtape, put it onto a C-90 and give them a cassette. Now it’s just easier, you just put whatever onto a computer and it’s gone.
C: Your point is totally valid, because it all adds up to a devaluation of what you’re doing. When you were younger and albums were coming out that you were looking forward to, you’d save up then go down to the shop. It was a bit of a ritual. Now you’ll just find it on a blog or whatever and download it for free and then ignore it. You’re never going to get into it in the right way.
B: You also lose the mystery of an album. Back in the day you’d hear a single by a band like, let’s say Alice In Chains, and you’d think “Man, I’ve got to buy that album”, and you’d have no idea of what was going to be on that record. Nowadays, it’s on iTunes a month before it comes out, you listen to all of the songs, decide what you do and don’t like then download two or three tracks – completely losing the mystery of what you could have grown to like from that album. People just don’t listen to albums any more, only individual tracks.
C: Of course, it can be good to hear whatever before you buy it, but of course there are pros and cons all of the time. It is stealing. People are stealing films, games, music and whatever. If you’re caught stealing music then they should at least suspend your internet account, just like you’d be suspended from driving if you were caught speeding or whatever.
C: Of course, we’re not in this to make a tonne of money. But it doesn’t help you to make another record. If you don’t have enough income from record sales or if you don’t make enough money touring then it gets hard to fund the time and effort that it takes to make another record. You can’t go into the studio with no money, and that’s where it cripples you.
B: Try booking three months in a rehearsal room without any money – it can be quite awkward.
Any bands that you would recommend at the moment?
C: Yes, I’ve just bought the new Mew record, which I really like. I quite like Passion Pit at the moment. I listen to loads of different stuff – I mean I even like Lady Gaga.
Does she have a cock?
C: No. She is a woman.
B: She is a real woman.
C: Not one of those. But yeah, I listen to all sort of music. We still love rock music obviously. But there’s not a lot of new rock music that we listen to. It’s mostly old stuff we listen to now, which is why I’m listening to a bit more pop.
So what are your plans following the tour?
C: Chill out for a bit I think.
B: Cut out a big chunk of our lives to write a record.
New Years Resolutions?
C: I don’t really do New Years resolutions. The New Year is such a depressing time, because everybody has spent all of their money during Christmas and you don’t get paid ‘til the end of January. It’s all really depressing and cold. You don’t want to knock any of your comfort foods on the head in the middle of January. Like on New Years Day, you know you’re going to be having another roast and a stodgy pudding aren’t you? New Years Resolutions are b*llocks.
Interview by Andrew Trendell
Tags: hundred reasons
