No Made Sense - one to watch!

Mon, 22 Feb 2010

When No Made Sense popped into the green room where we had set up camp during Music Live & Hellfire Festival this past November, they warned us they’d be trouble – and they definitely were just that – in simply the best way possible. Giggle fits and innuendos aside the boys of No Made Sense made the LickLibrary team curious to see them live, although we had been pre-warned they’d possibly take a long time to set up – but they were definitely worth the wait.

The trio from Reading (England) who’s album 'The Epillanic Choragi' is out now (released on Basick Records in 2009) has had positive reviews from magazine’s such as Metal Hammer, Rock Sound, and Kerrang, and the incredible title track has had over 15,000 plays on the bands MySpace page. 

The impression we got from meeting with them and seeing them live is they’re definitely a dedicated and energetic band all about the music, they work hard and play hard, and they’re entertaining on stage and off. Simply put they’re a bunch of cute young cheeky boys with bags of talent.

Their progressive sound, musical talent and sheer stamina shine through in their performance as you watch on thinking ‘Surely they’re going to stop soon?’ yet... you don’t want them to stop, you want them to push harder – you want to see what they can do!

Here’s what happened when we sat down for a pre-show chat with Leo (guitar & vocals), Sam (drums) and Joe (bass).

LL: Apart from Leo, do you guys sing too?

Joe: No. I will be soon apparently... I've been told I've got to sing.

LL: Well there's always ways...miming? How about a bit of screaming?

Joe: We'll get the Black Eyed Peas in to sort out my vocals.

Any other tour dates coming up apart from Hellfire?

Leo: We've doing a few dates with Exit Ten and In Between The Screams, our label mates in December. We've done quite alot of shows and tours to support the album so we’re wrapping things up at the end of this year to concentrate on the next album.

Have you got any ideas for the next album yet?

Leo: Yeah we've got about 50% of it written.

Sam: So that’s about 70 minute’s worth.

>They all laugh<

Leo: So yeah it’s exciting and I'm looking forward to it

So, what's your writing process, how do you go about it?

Leo: Some of the writing is done at home on computers using guitar pro or something like that but more increasingly I've been jamming stuff out just to practice and see what happens. We've been playing together as a band for... (He pauses and looks to Joe)

Joe: 6 years...

Leo: Yeah so 6 years as this line up, and we've got a good working relationship, we can jam stuff and know where we want to take it.

LL: So you don’t want to kill each other?

Leo: No

Joe: No just alot of kissing.

Sam: There's alot more love.
Joe: Alot of touching

LL: Do you not feel you need more members or you happy as just the three of you?

Leo: More love?

<Laughs all-round>

LL(blushes slightly): ... more members of the band...?

More laughing.

Leo: We do have a live Synth’ man, who makes all manners of crazy noises to fill out the sounds and stuff.

Joe: We like being a three piece. It's a big challenge.

Sam; You get more respect if you're a three piece

Leo: If you've got lots of members you've got more cash to share aswell.

Joe: Couldn't get my swimming pool fitted then.

What's the craziest thing that's happened at one of your live shows?

Leo: Someone turned up.

Joe: Yeah that was a good show

Sam: That was my living room wasn't it?

Leo: We were at a bar in Maidenhead, and someone got knocked into the PA speaker with his pint glass which smashed in his hand, but then the big PA Speaker fell over and knocked the head off my amp, so I was playing and nothing was coming out.

Joe: There was also a hooker there.

Sam: We're not very exciting.

 

When you were growing up who were your influences, who did you look at and say, 'I want to do that!?

Joe: At the time, probably Papa Roach.  When the band formed, it was about ten years ago or so, and we got together and we were playing nu metal covers for about a year, we've gone from genre to genre, we've been a thrash band, a metal core band, and we just generally changed, and we've got to this far and we don't really want to sound like anyone.

Sam: My first gig was Gary Glitter when I was three, and I thought, 'Yeah I wanna be like Glitter', but obviously the music.

Leo:  Well, I started off as a bassist first and my brother started playing guitar and I said "I want to do that" and I couldn't do it, I couldn't press down on the strings hard enough and I got in a mood, and allegedly Bass was an easier instrument so I started playing bass and then got bored of that. I think Greg K from the Offspring was my initial influence, all I used to learn was Offspring songs. And he (points to Joe) used to be a drummer.

Joe: used to...  I wasn't very good.

Leo: He used up one space, and then I moved up one from bass to guitar.

Joe: ...and then he moved up one again to singer.

Leo: I'm at the top of the pile with these two helping me out. My boys.

Sam: Leo and the Senses.

Leo: we don't need the Senses in the title.

Where do you think you'll be in about 5 year’s time as a band?

Joe: Wembley Stadium, headlining.

Sam: The industry is so weird at the moment; nobody's really going to shows.... well maybe that's just our shows! I'm not sure, but everyone seems a bit more fickle these days and they'll only go see their mates band.

Leo: I've come to the conclusion that the only people that go to gigs, are people that are in bands and their mates that are in band and they won’t watch any other bands. The whole live scene is filled of people who just want to be famous and there’s no actual people who are interested in live music. Just people that are in bands thinking 'You're all rubbish'

And how would you recommend to someone who wants to learn to get into playing an instrument?

Joe: We're all self taught, and I think if you teach yourself you really know if you like it, if someone's trying to teach you it becomes a bit like school and you don't want to do your

homework, you don't want to practice and you feel like you'll get in trouble if you don't practice, I think.. Teach yourself first and then if you want to get lessons after that.
Sam: Get your own sound aswell and style are pretty important,
Joe: Yeah if you have your own little trademark- if you teach yourself you're going to have your own little quirks, even if they're bad habits they work for you.

Have you got any bad habits on stage?

Joe: I bend over too much and I get a bit dizzy, I’ve got a really weak neck.

Sam: That's a bit weird.  I pull rubbish faces! I can't help but do it, i try not to do it... It’s a drummer thing.

Licklibrary: You've got to find the right face, practice with a mirror maybe?

Sam: But then if you had the same face through the whole thing it'd be really weird. *Pulls face*

Leo: Like a robot

Sam: Yeah the whole time just looking out people would be like "eugh not watching that guy again"

Joe: You could just pick someone out of the crowd and stare.

Sam: Or wear a mask.

Joe: Yeah wear a mask

Sam: done there you go.

Leo: oh, we're pretty terrible at setting up, that’s a really bad habit, it takes us 20 to 30 minutes to set up, I don't know why

Sam: Mainly because he (Points to Leo) doesn't have a tuner.

Leo: ok I'll get a tuner!

Licklibrary: Well if you take that long to get ready we better let you go...Thanks for popping in and have a great show!

If you haven’t yet checked out No Made Sense before go do it, I can’t wait to catch them again soon and grab a copy of their album 'The Epillanic Choragi'.

Anyone in the UK can go check them out at Hammerfest next month!  They’ll also be playing an exclusive show in High Wycombe where they will play their incredible album 'The Epillanic Choragi' in its entirety from start to finish.  Details and tickets are available here.

Here's some photos from when we met No Made Sense... you can see more here.

Check out the No Made Sense boys on Myspace and Twitter