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General Fiasco Interview
With their debut album Buildings just out in New Zealand, it’s time to get the lowdown on North Ireland hotties General Fiasco. Sarah has a chat to guitarist Enda about the band’s journey so far.
Buildings has just come out in New Zealand! Have you had a good response elsewhere?
Yeah, everything we’ve done so far, it’s been great. This year was really the first time we’d been to mainland Europe and things like that, [and] they just seemed to really grasp onto it. In terms of the UK, the shows have all been great, and now we’re doing some of the festivals and stuff this year, which we’re really looking forward to.
What’ve the last few years been like for you guys, leading up to the album?
There’s been a lot of touring done really, there’s been a lot of gigs - a lot of gigs. Pretty much for the last two years or so we’ve been pretty constant, out on the road, but it’s been progressively getting easier. At the start we were all in a work van, and we had no hotels. We were sleeping in the van every night, there was like six guys sleeping in a van, on top of the gear and stuff. Going to the swimming pool to get showered and all that kind of thing. But since then we’ve got signed and we’ve got publishing and stuff in place, so we’ve managed to upgrade the van and we’ve got hotels as well. So we’re livin’ the good life now!
Were there any points when you were like, ‘maybe it’s time to give up’?
[Laughs] The original van that was mentioned, there was times that we were sleeping in it, and it was like, there was snow lying on the ground outside, and everybody was freezing cold, and we were just kinda like, ‘Maybe we should just go home and get into bed!’ But we stuck it out.
Can you tell me a bit about the other guys in the band?
Yeah, well Owen [lead vocals, bass] and I are brothers actually, and we met Stephen [drums] in this local pub. We all lived within five miles of each other, really, and there was this one bar that everybody went to, so we met Stephen there when we were probably too young to be there kind of thing. And just sort of got on really well with him, and then we ended up moving to his school. And we started General Fiasco, actually with another guy who was in it at the start, and [Stephen] was on guitar, but the other guy, he left and then Stephen decided he wanted to be our drummer. So that’s what happened.
You’re nominated for Best British Newcomer at this year’s Kerrang! Awards.
Yeah, it’s great. It’s something we weren’t really expecting actually, so, yeah, it would be amazing to get it.
Owen’s said a lot of the songs on Buildings are about the frustration you felt seeing other people not live up to their potential. Where did that come from for you guys? That drive to be something more?
I think it’s probably derived from that, from looking around at other people and what they’re doing. We spent a year living with our friends, who were just going to university and stuff. Everybody was kinda going out every night, and getting wasted and sleeping in, and missing class and just really doing nothing. So it just kind of pushed us to really try and make this work, and kind of pushed us to [take] that first step to get out of Northern Ireland and start touring the UK. Which initially we had to do off our own backs you know, we didn’t have any support from anywhere, it was all our own money and stuff. It just sort of really gave us the drive to do it.
How long ago was it that you got signed?
It was about a year ago now, to Infectious Records, it was amazing. The day we got signed we were in London, and then we had a gig in a place called Hull. Which is a massive, massive drive - well maybe not massive, but it is like five or six hours. So we signed a record deal and then went up to Hull to play this show, and there was like, six people there. And it was kinda like, ‘Yay - we’ve made it! We’ve got a record deal.’ And then we got to the show, and we were kinda like, ‘Oh.. we haven’t made it. Just six people here.’
Ah well…
Yeah, it’s got better since!
And check out the video for their single ‘Ever So Shy’ (from Buildings) below…
Enda was interviewed by Sarah Illingworth. Who is Sarah? Find out here and meet the rest of the 24/7 Girl team too. And don’t forget to check out Sarah’s blog here!
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i love this band Posted by iceream "on" 04/25 "at"09:10 PM |
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i just love the how style of them .. Posted by Lexilove "on" 02/17 "at"07:02 PM |
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They came to new Zealand and i heard them have an interview with The Edge in a spa. Posted by sweet_pea "on" 08/15 "at"02:17 PM |
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I LOOOVE THEM!!!!! Posted by sweet_pea "on" 08/15 "at"02:16 PM |
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These guys are awesome, hopefully they come to NZ to tour! Posted by POWERBALLIN25 "on" 08/11 "at"05:37 PM |
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Love their single Ever so Shy! Posted by Louiee "on" 08/07 "at"08:17 PM |