Andy Briggs
Georgina White
Alex Lane
Owen Charles
Matt Pearn
Below are the questions and responces are by Matt and Andy:
1. What inspired you guys to play music?
Matt:
I suppose it was a fairly musical household I was raised in. My mum played classical guitar and piano, my dad played folk guitar, plus they both sang in the church choir. I started figuring out melodies on their piano when I was about four, so my parents started me on piano lessons soon after. I took up the trumpet in middle school, then taught myself to play guitar in high school. Next came my first Atari ST and an early music sequencer program and thus the electronic music making started... Musically, the acid house/hardcore music scene of the early nineties first got me tuned into the idea of writing electronic music. I has always figured I would play in more traditional bands before then.
Andy:
I started to play the cello when I was little, but we always had a guitar lying around the house. I found the screeching noise of the cello quite hard to bear. It was the song "Streets of London" that first got me into popular music, but it was not untill the Teenager Ninja Turtles soundtrack that I got into rap music.
2. How has music changed your life?
Matt:
I am not sure. There was not really a time in my life that was 'before music', so I don't think it initiated any kind of major change. However, I think the ability to express yourself through any medium is important. Some people find they can best express themselves through words, others through pictures, and even movement. I am very fortunate to be one of those people that gets to do their emotional out pouring through writing and playing music.
Andy:
It is hard to say really. I have been doing nothing but music for so long. It is definitely made me poorer than I might have been! I think writing songs is a bit like writing a diary because it helps you to remember where you were and what was going on at the time you wrote it. It is so much hard work, but I love it J I would not want to do anything else!!!
3. What bands do you guys listen to and how have they shaped your music?
Matt:
Mostly I like to listen to things with a fairly chilled vibe. I like well structured and layered beats, interesting (but musical) chord progressions, and float vocals... The kinds of things I hope people like about some of our tracks. However, I also like more edgy stuff and there is a fairly large place in my heart for riff driven heavier guitar music. Also, soft spots for the nineties hardcore and the mid-nineties Bristol trip-hop scene. To name some individual bands, I am always revisiting the back catalogs of: Hybrid, Groove Armada, Counting Crows, System of a Down and Sufjan Stevens.
Andy:
I like the shuffle beats. Something you can nod your head to and a good harmonic progression, like the Beatles. I like songs that are about stuff, like "Streets of London" or the rap from Ninja Turtles. Many rap songs are terrible because they can't even stay on point for 16 bars, since they just fly off on massive tangents to keep it rhyming. I really liked early Eminem and The Streets. Chicanes are definitely my favorite dance act. Oh and Norah Jones because I Love Norah and Imogen Heap of course. UK wise I got to say Sway is my favorite but I like what I hear from Wretch 32 so far.
4. What advice do you guys have for others that want to pursue music as their career?
Matt:
Quit your whining!! Make sure you have positive people around you. Negative people will just drain your enthusiasm. Spend a bit longer writing your songs. You may have to play them several hundred million times, so make sure they are good. If you are writing something and you think "yeah, that'll do" it probably won't do (haha). There are many bands and artists now, the competition is very fierce.
Andy:
Patience! J Become as multi faced as you can early on (learn new instruments, new techniques, new software, etc). Never stop practicing!!! Remix, produce, DJ, play live on multiple instruments and be prepared to do all of the above for free. Never stop looking for the 'hook' that makes you unique, but don't try too hard to force one. Take every opportunity you get, no matter how small it seems at the time. Repeat until successfulJ.
5. Where did you guys get the idea for the name of your song?
Matt:
It just kind of grew because of our strange naming convention for songs in the early studio days. All our works in progress have unique names and one particular track was called the 'eat more cake mix'. It just kind of stuck. It is better than some of our other sillier working titles; some of our other tracks have had even more interesting names, like 'The Wondering Nameless Gobble Face'. Not sure that would have worked so well as a band name (haha).
Andy:
Once we came up with it, it was too funny to change it.
6. What do you guys want your fans to know about you that they might not know already?
Matt:
I have had my little toes removed, so I can wear winkle pickers more comfortably. I have a brother with the same first name as me. I own an acre of land on the moon and am negotiating with Domino's Pizza about selling them the deeds. Some or all of these facts may or may not be true (haha). It is your job to figure it out and so if you go to one of our shows then you will know what is false and not.
Andy:
Nothing! They already know too much (haha) J.
7. What do you guys think when you are on stage?
Matt:
Arrangements of our tracks change frequently and the live set up is pretty technically challenging, so my usual thoughts are 'whatever you do Matt, don't forget to push THAT button' or 'don't forget we are only doing 8 bars at the end of that track tonight'. That and 'don't make any MASSIVE and GLARING mistakes that make you look like a dick.' (haha)
Andy:
I'm usually pretty amped up before we go on stage. It allows me to be loud and obnoxious in a controlled environment.
Check out Eat More Cake!!!: The EP is amazing and if you guys are true music fans then you will not want to miss listening to their EP!!!!Eat More Cake - Smoke & Mirrors [Official Video]
By EatMoreCakeTV| 1 video
Here is a link to our new video "Smoke & Mirrors" from our forthcoming double EP release "Climb The Ladder, Live The Dream" out on September 19th.
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