Aliases – Safer Than Reality – Interview With Pin & Leah
Having recently released their debut Mini-Album, Aliases took the time to have a chat with us about the release, their aspirations for the future and the inspiration behind making music to kick their own heads in! We chatted to Pin & Leah, here’s how it went…
How did the band form?
Evolving from the acrid swamps of Wigan……. nah,
Leah and I were working on various separate musical projects and it was all very spread out so most the work was being done via email and skype etc. Neither of us was really jamming with other musicians and it was all a bit sterile. We came to a point and just thought hang on we live together why don’t we just start a band and get playing. So we did… we found Darren and Joe who were playing in Manchester band Veils and they wanted to get involved. We had a jam and it just worked, with the instrumental side of things sorted we started looking for a singer, and although we had a shed load of auditions and demo tunes sent to us (and a rather unfortunate deportation) it was when Jay sent his work across something clicked again, we then found out he lived in Paris which we thought would be a right pain in the arse but turns out its all good having a singer in another country (so long as he comes over here often enough). It was a quick process really and we have been extremely lucky to find these talented and insane idiots that became Aliases.
How long did it take you to write your first mini-album ‘Safer Than Reality’?
Tarting up aside in reality it was written between April and September 2010 we then played Euroblast in October and after that started refining and developing it. The recording process was completed in April 2011 not a bad years turn around!!
What’s your starting point when you write new songs?
We literally have no set method, it could be a riff, a bunch of riffs, a vocal line, a drum beat, a bass line, or I could have a whole idea for a song in my head or just a chorus. It could be a subject or an image, in some cases it’s a musical concept that I want to get under control and incorporate into a song, for us the lack of boundaries is brilliant and I’m sure as we write more we will take all sorts of twists and turns but still the point is songs not a wank-fest!
What led to the decision to do a mini-album instead of a full length record?
Time! Aliases came together quickly and gathered momentum fast, we wanted to get a CD out into the world and hit it with intent. Another consideration is that as a newly formed group, how far we can push each other musically is still developing , Safer Than Reality really captures where we came from and I think it really gets the ball rolling!! Now we can set to work on the full length and take it up to the next levels.
What were the main things that influenced you in the writing process?
It’s all about the parts, every part, I’m not sure we consider anything to be an influence, it’s more a need to try and make every section memorable no matter how simple or fucked up it gets. We work hard and will never be satisfied till its mastered (I think we were still adding parts while the cd was being mastered). We just like going our own way and not being limited. So in hindsight the main influence was the awesome experience of writing as a band and knowing the end result was going to kick our own heads in.
How would you describe Aliases in 3 words?
Hard to describe.
What was it like playing your first gig at a festival?
If you exclude the 24 hours Sat in a VW Polo (minus Darren who decided to get out in Dover to sleep on a street only to nearly die waking up with icicles forming on his head) on the way to Cologne, it was awesome! We didn’t have our own back-line which was tricky and there were some technical issues, but we put on a show, got a killer reception in a foreign country with the audience only having had the opportunity to hear one song prior. We got absolutely ruined and partied with a load of cool fans and bands. We aren’t going to forget it that’s for sure. Oh and on the way home we found out Joe has crap sea legs, so it’s going to have to be ships between countries from now on.
Do you feel there is more pressure on you than most new bands?
No not really, we pile all the pressure on ourselves to create the best music we can and have a lot of fun doing that. The fact people are responding positively to what we are doing is inspiring. We are here to push music forward and bring kick arse songs with challenging music to peoples ears, I think they are ready for it.
What is the band currently listening to?
Mostly riots and accordions!
What’s next for Aliases?
We are already hard at work on the full length album, the long wait for the release has given us time to get things moving for that before things hopefully get crazy and busy on the live front. We want to tour the shit out of the world and anywhere else that would have us, party with all the awesome fans out there and keep bringing you more music without too long a gaps!!
Fancy a free track from the stunning Safer Than Reality? Of course you do and the lovely people at Basick Records are currently giving this bad boy away…
Free track download – http://basickrecords.com/free_aliases_track
The album is available here….
Release date worldwide – 15th August via Basick Records http://store.basickrecords.com/artist/aliases
