Hi Jay, absolutely amazing set at Spannered Extreme Festival! How did you find the weekend?
Hi Matty,
Thanks! I had a great time, I arrived on friday afternoon, set up camp and kept the firepit burning till monday morning. Good people, good energy and good music
Do you think that DIY events like these are important for the punk scene?
Events like Spannered Extreme are essential for the punk scene. Smallscale non commercial events have all the heart that something like Reading Festival doesn’t. The bigger things get the more the authorities want to control them. I’m looking forward seeing lots more small DIY festivals, all it takes is people with the energy and enthusiasm to make it happen
Have you noticed the scene change a lot since the Inner Terrestrials started?
Certainly. Everything life is always changing. Some things for the better and some for the worse. we used to put on a lot more squat parties, with regular attendences of one or two thousand people, there were loads more protestors and travellers 18 years ago when the band first started. These things still go on now of course but much less than they used to. on the other hand you couldn’t play in half the towns in england that you can now, live music was completely eclipsed by DJ’s. The scene that did exist was loads more mental than nowadays, again that doesn’t mean better neccesarily, there used to be more fighting at gigs, racism and “fence sitting” were rife. By and large i think it’s a good thing that young people are helping the scene to evolve. I hope it keeps it’s rebel edge though and doesn’t become too americanised!
Your latest album ‘Tales of Terror’ has been on repeat in my van ;) what would you say the main influences have come from when writing this album?
Does it differ greatly to the themes/sound of your previous work? if so why?
You’re obviously a man of good taste :-) I’d have to say that the band itself is the influence if that makes sense. Inner Terrestrials is its own entity with its own style and sound that self propogates. Does it differ from our previous work? I suppose so, things evolve, mutate and survive. the whole process has been natural though, we’re very proud of “Tales of Terror”
Although the inner t’s sound is primarily punk/ska/dub, there is a lot of folk music influence and you also play as The Firepit Collective. How did the involvment of folk music come about within the band? what do you think of the modern ‘folk punk’ music?
I write a lot of the songs on my acoustic guitar and have always had a love affair with folk music, I cut my teeth on it when i was learning to play guitar along with blues to begin with. learning punk, metal and reggae styles came after. I’m all for folk punk, I can’t get enough of folk music and acoustic instruments. Bring it on!
What are the plans for the Inner t’s in the near future? Any advice for young bands starting up in the punk scene?
Basically we’re touring hard with our new album, festival season is pretty busy, we’ll be playing festies in Germany, UK, Croatia, Slovenia, Italy, and Japan before the year is out. My advice for young bands would be practice your instruments, learn how to jam ( that’s all about listening!) be single minded and commited and get out there on the road and make some noise!
Cheers Jay, hope it wasnt too tedious!
Much appreciated, hope you all had a safe journey back. Look forward to giggin with you guys again soon!
Matty – The Roughneck Riot
Cheers matty, my pleasure. good luck for the rest of 2012 – jay terrestrial