I've often said despite not calling myself a "serious music journo", that the most pressure comes from writing about bands whose members I do know as opposed to the ones I don't know. That's true of London-based punks Scum, who I interviewed a couple of months back and that statement also applies to fellow Harrogate punks ERICBANA. They were one of the very first bands I wrote about on this blog, way back when I really had no idea what I was doing. Fast-forward five or so years and I felt it the right time to not only try and do some more interviews but also to contact the band again, in a bid to coincide some coverage with the release of their split cd with Scum. Here's what they had to say...
Who is in the band and where are you from?
Drums - James Astin
Vocals - Chris Cooper
Guitar - Toby Matthews
Guitar - Jamie Bramhall
Bass - Mike Gowland ( at the time of recording the split with Scum )
All pretty much from around Harrogate.
What is the history of ERICBANA? When and how did you form?
We started up maybe 8-9 years ago but its been that long we can’t remember. I think it came about from 3 of us ( Cooper, Mike and Jamie ) wanting to play in a heavier band as we all started out in a punk band called Old Youth. We then somehow convinced Toby ( from Fuck with Fire fame ) to join, then Astin joined and subsequently quit after two practises then came crawling back 6-7 years later after our old drummer Tom quit.
Have any of you played in previous bands and are you any other bands currently?
Chris played in two previous bands called General Waste and then Old Youth
Toby is currently in Fuck with Fire and Croakditch
Jamie is also in Croakditch and The Chris Bramhall Experience
Astin used to play in Toy Shelf, Shark Bait, the 7ups and probably 20 other bands like a
typical drummer!
Who write’s the lyrics/music? Is it collective?
It’s always a collective usually its music first then lyrics written over or existing lyrics made to fit.
Someone will usually come in with a riff or beat and we take it from there. Everyone brings their own style and piece of fun
What subjects do you cover in your lyrics?
Mainly horror influence lyrics but few are about ex girlfriends or mental health. Its can be tough writing angry lyrics when you haven’t had any bad shit happen to you!
Are there any bands that have influenced you?
Black Flag, Cancer Bats, The Bronx, Crowbar, Pantera, Sick of it All, Mastodon, Misfits,
Fucked Up, Ghost. Basically anything that has good riffs, beats or lyrics!
What are your favourite albums/EPs at the moment?
Scum - Null
Spelljammer - Ancient of Days
Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats - Blood Lust
Charlie Parr - Dog
Neil Young - Tonight's the Night
Bob Dylan - The Rolling Thunder
Martha - Courting Strong
Bridge Burner - Mantras of Self Loathing
PCP Eagles - I Hate the Mall
Beastwars - The Death of All things
The Bronx - V
Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes - Modern Ruin
Basement - Promise Everything
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run
Johnny Flynn - Sillion
Ghost -Prequelle
What is your favourite gig/tour story?
Never really had anything to crazy happen on tour although we did manage to sleep 12 people in the back of a Ford Transit with all the equipment which was interesting. Oh and our old drummer ended up snogging the male singer of another band for a bet ( The other bands bet ).
What is your local heavy/punk scene like and who should we check out (band-wise)?
There used to be a really good Punk/Hardcore scene in harrogate where we’d have lots of touring bands from all the world play like Fucked Up and Trash Talk which isn't too bad for a small posh town like Harrogate!
Nowadays it's a lot quieter, there are still bands going like Fuck with Fire, Croackditch, 7ups etc but the gigs are few and far between. There's a music night once a month called Regency Live at The Regency pub in Harrogate which is great, it’s a good mix of all genres of rock really.
Also every so often Mike ( the old bassist ) puts on gigs but again they're few and far between.
What is your favourite beer (if you drink)?
Jamie - Coors Light
Chris - Double Brown
Toby - Aldi Saint Etienne lager ( 2.79 for 4 cans )
Astin - Just had a kid so he’s not allowed to drink!
I will have a review up of their split cd with Scum in the near future, but for now you can stream and download it here:-
ERICBANA - https://www.facebook.com/ericbanahc/
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