Text Interview

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Please introduce your band, the current line-up and what each of you do.

We have five members, yeah we know it makes no sense, Cooko is one of our lovely guitarists, so is Daff, Ceres plays Bass and Si hits Drums, Rick does most of the singing although Ceres, Si and Daff help out with that as well.

How would you describe the band’s sound?

We’re a little bit like Alexisonfire, Rise against and Failsafe. We’re not a Ska punk band, but we had a review once that said we were, they got that very wrong! We once told a sound guy we’re about half way between Blink 182 and Megadeth. Honestly we would rather people came along to our shows and decided for themselves that they think we sound like. If nothing else we hope we sound like we're having a damn good time!

How do you approach your song writing and what is your lyrical theme/content?

We tend to write and record demos at the same time, although we have also been known to just throw things together as we work at practice.
We have songs ranging in subject matter all the way from fighting Vampires in New York as Will Smith to being in a band, and even the odd song about the town we come from. There is no specific set formula for songs or lyrics. We haven’t got to the stage of wanting to write a concept album quite yet, we just go with what works for each song.

Who gets involved with writing of lyrics and melody? Is it down to specific individuals or a collaborative process?

Song writing is a fairly collaborative process, we all put ideas on the table and it’s all pretty democratic if there are disagreements then we just put it to a vote. The good thing about having five people is you can get a clear majority.

How often do you practice and have you any shows lined up?

We practice, on a good week, 3 times. It usually adds up to around 14 hours a week of actual practice, it seems like a lot especially with everyone trying to juggle jobs but we think it’s important to put the hours and the effort in. Aside from formal practice time we essentially live in our practice room. It’s our own little world. We spend a lot of time hanging out there watching films and having the occasional beer.

We have a lot of shows lined up and we are always looking for more, you can check out our gig list on our myspace, we always keep it up to date. I think we have around 12 Shows booked at the moment it's a okay number but it's nowhere near as many as we would like to have booked.

What has been your best gig so far, and why is it so memorable?

Pretty hard question to answer, there have been a lot of shows so far. And hopefully a lot more to come, I think our Album Launch back in 2008 was pretty good fun.

What was the last song you listened to, either on the radio, your mp3 player, at a gig...?

We were listening to a mix CD that had Young Cardinals by Alexisonfire, The Dirt Whispered by Rise Against Plus a whole bunch of other songs on it on the way back from a show in Oldham last night.

Is there anything about the metal scene today that you would like to change?

A few more people coming to shows would be nice, and a little more co-operation between bands, promoters and venues. We’re all supposed to be in it together. But sometimes it seems like everyone is pulling in different directions.

What do you think of the Preston/North West metal scene right now?

The music scene in Preston is okay, it’s nothing spectacular but it’s growing, could use a few more fans and a few less bands maybe. The general health of the music scene of the North West is harder to gauge, some places you go to are fantastic, and others are a total shambles, it’s just part of being in an unsigned band, the trick is to find the good places and go back, and avoid the bad places.

What do you consider are the benefits of initiatives like Rock On Preston and Get In The Ring?

It’s good to see promoters all working as a team to put together events.

What’s next for the band?

The Pub, and hopefully some success. We’re hitting the studio next week and we're about half way though putting together a new EP that we are planning to call “This Town Will Drag You Down”. We would like to do a new music video this year as well.

For those wishing to check out more, what is your myspace link?

You can Check us out at - www.myspace.com/populationfour we’re also on Facebook and You Tube and VOX just search for “Population Four” on Google.