Page 15 - RockRevoltMagazine-Fall2016
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How did Death Koolaid start? What lead to the decision to be the first Punk band to play the Brighton
Siren - Roy was spending too much time alone his room listening to and Hove Pride festival in 2014?
Coldplay back then, so The Crossman intervened. Thank God. After a
few gnarly jamming sessions, they’d written most of the first album. Siren - I’ve always been a hard core Pride fan, as I used to live in
Brighton; the parade used to go straight past the front of my flat, so
What is the music scene like in London? when I saw that they were looking for bands to play, I submitted us
Roy - It’s pretty stale for bands at our level. It’s far too expensive to straight away. Didn’t even cross my mind that we would be that different
live here at the moment - mainly due to greedy landlords and the a genre to play there. I think now they have more alternative types of
government not having the balls to put a rent cap on property because bands playing.
all the politicians are landlords themselves. If you have no money, how
are you going to go and watch live music? What can we expect from your upcoming album?
The Crow - London could also do with a few more decent ‘underground’ The Crow - It’s a good step forward for us; we’ve put more time into the
venues, instead of a load of shit rock pubs and ‘promoters’. A good venue process and become better song writers for it. It’s much more groove-
with decent bands will tend to sell itself. So yeah, average at best. driven than the first album, and there are far more musical influences
edging their way in. It’s pretty relentless - don’t buy it if you have a heart
Is it important to be defined by a genre? If you had to define your sound, condition. Actually do: any Death Koolaid related aneurysms would be
what would you call it? great PR.
Roy - We definitely cross genres, not intentionally; it’s just our sound. If What goes into lyric writing? Do you have to be inspired before writing
you think too much about what you sound like then you start to erode a song, or can you just sit down and write one out of thin air? Do you
the artistic value of what you’re doing. To be fair, it would probably help have to be angry to write an angry song, happy to write a happy song, etc.
us a bit if we were totally one thing or the other; it just never ends up etc.?
that way whenever we write anything.
Siren - Most of the time I’m inspired by something when writing a song.
You recently released the “Kids” music video; can you tell us about the Then there are those moments when I’m on the tube or bus and some
process of choosing which song to make a video video for? words will enter my head, then they just snow ball into lyrics, so I get out
my phone and write them down.
Siren - “I like that one now, let’s make a video for that one now!” And yes, my emotions at the time of writing will definitely reflect the
Basically. mood of the song.
What was it like working with Brendan Cleaves and Heath McWalters? Can you tell us about what touring is like in the early years? Do you have
Roy - Brendan does all our videos, so we’ve worked with him for years. any stories?
All his ideas hit the spot with our songs. We didn’t work with Heath
much as we weren’t in the video this time, but he’s obviously a pro Roy - Although we’ve been gigging for almost three years, I think we
behind the camera. still consider this the early years. There are lots of stories. Of the top of
my head I’d say when we supported Ginger Wildheart last Halloween
The “Kids” video shows kids running from a church, representing your was pretty funny; we got stuck in traffic for like six hours and showed
philosophy on “ideology, fear, and control,” as you stated on your site; is up five minutes before we had to go on stage. We basically walked in the
the name Death Koolaid also a commentary on that? backstage area, got our gear out, got dressed, chugged a beer, did our
makeup, all in the space of 5 mins, and then walked on stage to a sold-
Siren - It is. I suppose at this point we should say “Google ‘Jonestown out crowd. Was all a bit blurry but we nailed it.
massacre’”.
Do you have any suggestions for new bands?
You’ve certainly been making progress in the past few years, from being Roy - Don’t fuck about. Don’t let people fuck you about. Be wise with
nominated for a music video award to being nominated for best new what you spend your money on. Don’t have an ego. And practice. A lot.
band at the Pure Rawk Awards. How has success affected the band?
What can we expect from Death Koolaid in the future?
Roy - It’s something to add to our music CV, and people definitely pay Siren - More chaos and more noise. We’re also looking to hire a booking
more attention to you if you have achieved some level of success. It’s up agent and get management so we can get on bigger tours, festivals, and
to them if they go with it. It also means that we are going in the right better support slots!
direction. There are definitely no egos in the band, so as far as that kinda
stuff goes we’re not affected. The more ears on our music, the better.
