Interview With Death Of An Icon

Saturday 28 November 09 • Categorized as Interviews

VC: Does the band name have any particular meaning?
Mark: No, none at all.
Bob: I can give you a very long story about how it came about from my perspective. Originally I wanted to do something which was called the Death of John Lennon and a lot of people told me that wasn’t a good idea, so it ended up going into Death of an Icon. Basically it stands for everything that’s fake and trying to bring across something that’s a bit more real and tangible that people can actually relate to on an everyday basis and as apposed to singing and advertising for things that no one really cares about. That’s more or less what the name means and what it represents.

VC: How long have you been playing together as a band?
Mark: About two and a half years.

VC: And how did the band start?
Mark: Bob, the guitarist, he started off with the original bassist, and they joined up with me then, that was about two and a half years ago, and then Dan shortly joined.
Dan: I auditioned afterward, I had two auditions, they were good to me.
Mark: My audition lasted six months, and at the end of it I said “Am I in a band or what?”.
Bob: We were indecisive, it all happened by accident, but in a good way. Which is cool.

VC: Who are your biggest influences?
Dan: That’s the problem with our band there are far too many influences in some ways. Mine personally is kind of like late eighties, early nineties rock, I like a lot of indie music as well, a lot of dance music but going on what we’re playing, influences for me is Faith No More, Deftones, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains.
Bob: Milli Vanilli
Dan: I loves the Milli Vanilli
Mark: I think that anything that is good tangible music really, I think that’s the main thing really.
Bob: Anything we can draw an influence from, and it does have to be music, it can be anything, so to say that there is one specific influence is a bit difficult but I think that you nailed it with an early nineties kind of vibe. That whole kind of vibe and feeling about music and art in general is what we are trying to recreate, a freedom of expression type of thing, as apposed to doing what the suits tell you.
Dan: We never grew up from being slackers, so slacker music has got to be the way.

VC: What is the best gig you’ve ever played?
Dan: About two fight nights that we’ve done have been absolutely amazing, having the crowd, having a nice big stage, the crowd going nuts for what you’re doing, it brings the best out of you. So, yeah, probably the fight night we did in June last year and November last year.
Bob: I’d also say that we recently supported a band in London called Zico Chain in the Barfly and I though that that was also really good, it was just like a cool vibe, and the cool thing with that is that there were a lot of people there who are into what we’re doing.

VC: What would your dream gig be?
Jon: Wembley Stadium, to five people.
Dan: I would say the places I would have to play if I could ever play them would be Brixton Academy and also it’s got to be the Red Rocks in California, where it’s been carved out of the rock, absolutely amazing. Seeing footage of Chemical Brothers playing there, Incubus, U2 and stuff like that, it’s just the most amazing looking place. Supposedly hippies used to go up there and take acid and watch the Grateful Dead, an then hide in the caves and get very scared, so yeah, I’ve got to play that place.
Bob: Pink Floyd did a gig in Pompeii, and I think that would be an awesome place to play as well, in ruins would be really cool.
Dan: The Beastie Boys did that as well, they took all of Pink Floyds equipment and played exactly the same way.

VC: If you could play with any band or artist who would it be?
Mark: There’s so many, I would love to have played with Iron Maiden as one of the biggest bands around, but also I’d love to play with Deftones or any big touring band that we are influenced by.
Dan: Faith No More all the way, a support slot with Faith No More would make my life complete.
Bob: I’d have liked to have done something with Zeppelin in their hayday, I think that would have been really cool.
Jon: Soundgarden. Soundgarden all the way.
Bob: Yeah, anyone who’s done that kind of thing like Nirvana, Rage Against the Machine, Stone Temple Pilots, Alice In Chains, anything in that kind of line would be really cool to do.
Dan: Trying to actually go on tour with Zeppelin for a week and seeing how long you last. I don’t think you’d last that long.
Bob: That new thing Dave Grohl’s involved in “Them Crooked Vultures” I listened to the full album today and that was really awesome. I think that would be a cool one to gig with.

VC: Which of your own songs is your favourite?
Dan: I don’t know. I love playing “Fuck You And The Horse You Rode In On”, it’s not one we’ve got recorded yet but it’s just a 500 mph amazing song.
Bob: I’ll also say that from a playing point of view, maybe not my favourite but from the reaction that you get “Ho Monkey” is still a good one to play, I still enjoy it, so that’s fun.

VC: How do you write songs?
Mark: It’s mainly a one person thing, but then obviously the band gets involved and things change from there at the moment, but we’re still learning as a band and we are progressing differently as we go along through the year.
Bob: Each ones different really. I can’t tell you that there’s a set formula for doing stuff, but generally it starts as a guitar riff and then progresses from there into a song. I think that with songs it’s more important knowing when to stop, than it is actually getting the song in the first place, it should always be a purely organic thing. You should put in what’s necessary and not necessarily put in anything that doesn’t need to be there.

VC: What are your plans for the future of the band?
Mark: We are currently recording songs ready for a new EP for next year. So over the next three or four months we are going to be rewriting some of our older songs and writing new ones.
Bob: It’s coming out in a big way, basically we are going to be looking into doing that, looking into the music video side of stuff, just getting out nationwide as apposed to just in and around Wales and hopefully we’ll be booking some tours next year. So it’s not the last you’ve heard of us.

VC: What are you going to do immediately after this interview?
Mark: Watch the next band.
Jon: Have another beer.
Mark: Get a glass of water.
Bob: Go on say it, are you gonna have a poo?
Dan: What the fuck are you on about?

VC: And finally is there anything else you would like to say?
Mark: Thank you for this interview, it’s nice to get exposure and meet someone you actually likes our stuff, so it’s brilliant, thank you very much.
Dan: I liked that comment on the review, my voice is perfectly imperfect, I liked that man, I did, thank you. I know what you meant.
Bob: But otherwise, apart from that, if you want to check out anything that we are doing, probably MySpace is the best place to do it. We’ll be writing up some blogs at least on a weekly basis to keep everyone in touch with what’s happening, myspace.com/deathofaniconband

VC: Do you want to say something, you’ve been really quiet?
Jon: I just break stuff man, that’s my job.

Tagged as: Death of an Icon