The Blackout – I Don’t Care [This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things]
The Blackout began life in the Welsh town of Merthyr Tydfil in 2006. With just one EP release under their belt, the sextet were invited by Lostprophets to be the main support on the band’s UK tour. Since then the band have gone from strength to strength. Matthew Davies and Gavin Butler speak to MUZU.TV about what is going on at the moment for the The Blackout, the Welsh music scene and the need for hotdogs!
Hello Guys – it is great to meet you. What day did you get to the Download campsite?
Gavin: We had been touring for a week before so we had a few days off, so myself and my girlfriend came down and setup camp.
Matthew: Actually we all just headed down on the Thursday evening.
I know you will be busy over the weekend but what bands have you caught so far?
Gavin: We caught Killswitch Engage and then the amazing AC/DC which blew our minds. They are amazing and I don’t know how anyone is going to top that to be honest. You can’t get much better than those guys.
You have been on the road with such amazing bands such as Lostprophets to name one band you have supported – what unsigned bands would you like to tour with?
Matthew: I think Revoker who are playing on the Red Bull stage are really good. They are from Wales and they are amazing. I would really rate them. Also Ice Bash Strangers from Birmingham are good.
Gavin: I would have to say Save Your Breath, who are another Welsh band. Also another two that are great – Straight lines and Tiger Please.
You mentioned a few Welsh bands there – do you get support from the Welsh scene?
Gavin: I think in general all the Welsh bands are really good at helping each other out. Funeral help us out with lending us stuff to record with, like guitar amps and equipment that we need. As clique as it sounds, there is really good community between all the bands in Wales. Everyone gets on and pretty much practises in the same place.
Matthew: We rehearsed last week and Funeral were in one room, we were in another room, and then you had Lost Prophets, Attach Attack and Kids in Glass Houses all in other rooms around the building. Everyone just knows each other so it’s a really good scene.
What albums have you been listening to lately?
Matthew: I really like the last Kids in Glass Houses album. I have been listening to that a good bit lately. Also the last Biffy Clyro Album. I haven’t bought any new albums since Christmas though.
Gavin: – I keep going back to the bands that I love so much, like Faith No More. It doesn’t get timeless and I don’t get bored of listening to them.
You played the Camden Crawl this year – how was that?
Gavin: That was brilliant, and it was a lot of fun. It was weird because, we played the Roundhouse about a month before on the Kerrang tour, so getting to go back to play the venue was brilliant. We really like playing the Roundhouse as there is a great atmosphere in the place, and so many great bands have played there.
Career highlight for you so far?
Gavin: Oh that is a tough one but I am edging my bets on today. If today all pans out as we planned, then it will be a very good day.
Matthew: I think all the festivals are a hightlight for us. We managed to play Reading main stage, Download main stage, we have headlined tents at Download and at Reading so it’s always brilliant to play festivals we used to go to when we are younger.
Gavin: Last year we were on the same stage as Faith No More, Limp Bizkit and Korn which blows your mind. I kept thinking ‘what am I doing here!?’ It is a crazy feeling but we must of done something right.
Do you get major nerves?
Gavin: I think I will be nervous today. Our drummer gets nervous for every little thing we do.
Matthew: We get nervous over the stupid stuff, like today we had a meeting and I got nervous over what time to eat as I didn’t want to leave it too late. If I ate too late then I would be too full when we played and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it – that is all my minds on today. Eating!
Gavin: Matthew actually tweeted, asking if someone would bring him a hotdog to our signing.
Matthew: But no one did – what kind of fans have we got! Why didn’t someone bring me a hotdog? I wanted an over-priced festival hotdog.
You are starting to work on a new album at the moment – tell us about that?
Gavin: It is going to hopefully be recorded in the same place as we have recorded before, and with the producer Jason Perry, but we haven’t got too many details on it at the moment. With the last record it was the easiest going experience I have had with writing and recording a record. It was very strange but hopefully this record will be along the same lines.
Matthew: Every time we record we always mange to get the tracks down really quickly. We did the first album in 3 months, and then this album we came off tour at the beginning of October, and in December we were recording in America.
Gavin: If we just do our best, the only pressure we feel is from ourselves. We love doing this and we just want to make good albums and carry on working.
You guys are always on the road – do you have any crazy tour stories to share?
Gavin: The last tour with the Lostprophets was amazing because we did Australia, Japan and mainland Europe with them, and we were out for about a month with them so it was just like a bunch of guys going on holiday.
Matthew: The band are literally our best friends so it’s like hanging out with your best mates everyday, on a beach in Australia, playing football, going surfing and then you go back, and play a show and you do the same thing the next day, and it was like that everyday. They are our best friends so we have really good times with them.
Any last words:
(Gavin lets out a sneeze.)
Gavin: – It is not going to be a sneez!
Matthew: I’m HUNGRY!
Gavin: We will be back in Northern Ireland soon with Parmaore in Belfast, and hopefully we will be coming over again by the end of the year to try our new stuff. We always have a blast in Ireland.
