"Start a band, play shows, work your ass hard, support your local bands, don’t let the thing you love die under the fists of fashion." Questions by: Jaka Čurlič Answers by: Michael Simeon (Vocals) 1) For the beginning can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your band and your music? Hey there, I’m Michael and I sing for Blame It On The Ocean. The band’s been around for over 4 years at the moment. We’ve released a demo, a couple of eps and our first full length “From The Depths” will be out next month. We had some line up changes throughout the years and we’ve been on tour around Europe a couple of times. Our music? I guess it’s not easy to label it, but we can say it’s a blend of dark heavy hardcore with black 2) Which artists/CDs got you into punk rock / hardcore? As I recall it’s been a domino effect: I saw the Ramones video for “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” on tv, gave a tape to a friend’s brother asking for their first two albums and getting a mix of The Exploited, Buzzcocks, Misfits, Screeching Weasel and Crass instead, and this is for the punk rock part. For the hardcore part I must say two albums: “Start Today” by Gorilla Biscuits and “Built To Last” by Sick Of It All. Oh and Slayer’s “Undisputed Attitude” has been good to discover old hardcore bands too. 3) What are the themes of your lyrics and where do you find inspiration for them? Well, I guess they’re pretty much divided in things that piss me off and things that somehow haunt me. Most of the time my lyrics are some sort of therapy in order to exorcise my own demons, puking it all out. 4) Do you remember which was your first song that you learned on guitar/drums/bass? I don't play any instrument, and I can't sing properly too, so there's been no learning. But I can tell the first proper song I sang was "I'm Gonna Be Your God" from Slayer's "Undisputed Attitude" with the band I had in high school. Since it's already a cover of The Stooges "I Wanna Be Your Dog", it was a cover of a cover, which sounds a bit lame now, but when you're 15/16 years old you don't give a damn about things like that ahahah. 5) If you could listen to only one cd for the next 2 years, which would it be and why? This question is unfair ahahaha, but I’d stick to “Background Music” by American Nightmare. It’s been 12 years since it first came out and it’s still surviving the times, giving shit to a big amount of hardcore bands out there. I guess I’ll never get used to it. 6) What is the strangest thing that happened to you on stage? This time when we played in Cluj, Romania, we started the last song of our set and I was suddenly grabbed and lifted by a really tiny guy and handed over for body surfing. I was surprised by his energy. Maybe it’s not strange and probably common, but it was very satisfying. 7) Which famous movie should have a punk rock soundtrack? Really don’t know, I would never change the soundtrack of a movie I love, it would probably take the magic out of it. 8) If you could play one song with any artist/band dead or alive who would that be and why? I’ve been able to singalong with some of my favourite bands over the years, and I feel lucky about it. I’d probably wish to go back in time and be a part of the gang vocals in “Background Music” by American Nightmare. Can’t you tell that’s one of my favourite records ever? 9) Is there any song you like so much that you wish that you have written it? I’ll go with “First Day Of My Life” by Bright Eyes, that song is a masterpiece in its entirety. Everything fits into place: melodies, lyrics, how it’s sung. I can’t think of a better song at the moment. 10) Best album artwork of all-time is…? This is a tricky question, let me think. Surely it’s not the best artwork ever, but I’ll go with “Making Friends” by No Use For A Name, I really love that cover, especially the burning scout who’s running while the other scouts are gathered around the fireplace singing songs. 11) Which is your favourite album of 2013? At the moment I’m listening a lot to two albums. The first one is “Jar” by Daylight: they started playing some sort of punk rock with harsh vocal melodies, now they added a cool grunge vibe to it and it sounds really good. The second one is “Selfhood”, the new full length from british punk outfit Sharks: melodic punk rock at its finest, really suitable for spring and summer. 12) What's the first album you ever bought? Ehm, I’m pretty sure it was the first Queen album on tape. If you refer to the punk rock/hardcore thing I’ll go with “About Time” by Pennywise on tape. 13) What do you like the most vinyl, cassette, CDs or mp3s? I play in a band, write reviews and interviews and I normally listen to a lot of albums for myself, so I must say that music has a huge impact on my daily life. Every support has its function: vinyl is obviously the best because of the sound quality and the bigger dimension of the artwork; tape is more a collectable item and a good reminder of old times; cds are good for their practicality and booklets have more artwork than the vinyl. And last but not least mp3s: they’re practical, they have good quality and are easy to be “carried” around. I’d rather have them all together than choosing one on another. 14) The strangest think you have ever eaten/drank? There’s a song by Brand New called “Soco Amaretto Lime”. I asked for it in a bar without knowing how it’s really done, so the turn out was totally weird, and I had a hard time finishing that drink. 15) What's your worst habit? Sometimes I’m really lazy and I don’t live up to my potentials. 16) What is your biggest wish right now? All the best wishes to the band, I mean gaining some visibility and keep playing around. And personally I wish myself to find a job and put myself at ease more often. 16) If you had to do a cocktail named Blame It On The Ocean what would you put in it and what effect would it have on people? Ahahaah oh well, the last time we went on tour, taking advantage of Prague's low prices, someone accidentally bought like ten non-alcoholic beers, but we realized it when we were already on the road and the damage was done. So, in an extreme attempt to make the best out of it a guy that was away with us decided to put the absinth he bought into the beer. The result wasn't that great ahahahah. So no matter how thirsty you are, pay attention to what you buy. We've learned the lesson. So in the end you see, we're bad at mixing alcoholics. 17) What are your plans with Blame It On The Ocean for the future? Well, the pre-orders for our first full length are up, so it will be out next month. We've also shoot a video for the song "Solitude" that will be out next month too. We've been recently added to the bill of the FFUD Fest in Slovakia on august 9th and the day after we'll be playing at the Day Of The Stones Fest at Mostovna, along with the mighty Integrity plus Hierophant, Grime and other bands yet to be confirmed. This summer will be fun. Plus, we're in the middle of booking a two weeks tour at the end of October, we'll reveal the dates when they're booked. 18) Some last words for our readers? Start a band, play shows, work your ass hard, support your local bands, don’t let the thing you love die under the fists of fashion. And if we play somewhere near where you live come to say hi and don’t be ashamed to talk to us, we don’t bite. For any info about our band just check http://www.facebook.com/blameitontheocean, it’s the best way to be connected to our world! And thanks to take your time in reading this interview! 19) Thank you for your time! ID
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
In cooperation with
GORIZIA HARDCORE we are bringing you interviews, reviews, band presentations and everything in between connected with punk & hardcore world! Archives
May 2016
Categories
All
|