I came across Suicide Bid on My Space
and they´re made up of band members from other
bands I pretty much like. After listening to a
couple of their tunes and really enjoying what
I´d heard I collared them for an interview.
Here´s what Jon had to say on behalf the band.
Punk Globe: So Suicide Bid are billed as a Dub
Punk Supergroup. Who plays what and what other
bands you all involved with?
Haha, well "Supergroup" is obviously more than
a little tongue in cheek! Basically we have
two drummers, Nikki from Deathskulls and Al
from The Filaments, 6 singers so far...(!)
Andi from Ex-Cathedra, J from Inner
Terrestrials, Babar of King Prawn, Sandra from
Luck/Falk and then theres me who used to sing
with Filaments, and Phil from P.A.I.N.... plus
Pete who used to play sax with Filaments plays
bass and saxophone for us. Its more of a
collaboration of musicians, more of a
collective than a band.
Punk Globe: You´ve an EP coming out in
October so can you share any news on that with
our readers?
Yeah, well basically it started off as a short
E.P but its kind of come to life on its own
and now its gonna be 25 minutes, so I guess
thats verging on a full lengther now. Its
coming out on Household Name Records, and we
are also planning a European Vinyl release,
though that agreement has not been finalised
just yet... Im hoping it will be available
from October.
Punk Globe: Are any labels interested
and if so which ones?
Well like we said, I think we have come to an
agreement with Household Name Records now...
Im hoping Maloka will do the first European
release.. they deal with Inner Terrestrial´s
French releases and are essentially a
anarchist label. anyway, we are discussing
things with them right now so fingers crossed
we can come to an agreement.
Punk Globe: What made you guys get
together as a band?
Well me and Andi have been talking about doing
a band for a while now... We all share a love
of old school reggae and dub music, and have
talked about one day doing something but all
of a sudden it has just seemed to have
happened out of its own energy. For me, This
band was about getting the chance to be
creative with some people I really look up to
both as friends and as musicians, and I feel
it is a little like that for everyone
involved... there has been a real buzz about
the record as it has been coming together.
Punk Globe: Is this going to be a one
off project or are you planning to carry on
working together in the future?
Well, we have some plans for a few short
releases in 6 months. The confirmed one is
that we are going to be doing a split with
Scottish Folk/Punk band Junkmans Choir, who I
personally really like so I´m excited about
that... We are looking to expand our
membership even further for these next
releases, trying to pull together as much of
our community as we can to be part of this
project...
Punk Globe: So what are the lyrics
about on the new EP and will all the music be
dub influenced punk?
Well I have written some lyrics, Andi has
written some and Babar has written some.
Subject matter has included the July bomb
attacks on London and the great anti war
demonstration in London pre Iraq, and seems to
be quite a personal experience based
reflection on contemporary political issues.
So far... the music is mostly punk influenced
dub... there are no out and out punk songs on
this record, in fact half of the album is
distinctively mellow and relaxed! I think on
the next few releases we are gonna try some
punk perhaps... just to keep things
interesting!
Punk Globe: I notice one of your
influences is the old dub band Radical Dance
Faction so did you get to see them guys live?
Whatcha think?
Well I personally never saw this group live
which is a shame. I have a live recording form
when they played at the Harlow Square which is
a venue in essex, and I think that you can
hear quite a lot of them in our music.. the
heavy piano chops (also quite reminiscent of
P.A.I.N) and the spoken word vocals. They were
a great band who we definitely took some
influence from musically.
Punk Globe: So played many shows yet?
If so what has the response been?
Actually.. we havent played a single show
yet... the goup in the form that it is now has
only been about for a month or two now! I´m
moving to America for 6 months in 2 weeks, but
when I get back I think we are gonna do some
shows, probably in London and we have been
offered some in France which we will consider,
but things look very unpredictable and
spontaneous for this project!
Punk Globe: The scene is a bit dead in
the UK is a bit dead of late so do you hope to
kick it up the ass with your band?
Well, I think that we are taking things back
to a style that seems to be played quite
rarely at the moment... so hopefully we can
help kickstart some interest in the dub punk
thing again. You are right the UK scene on the
whole is dead at the moment... I wouldn´t like
to predict if we could have any influence on
that either way though!
Punk Globe: Anything you´d like to
add?
Thanks for the interview Steve, and hope
people keep an eye out for the record and
enjoy it when it arrives!
Thanks to Jon for getting this
interview back to me mega quickly. Suicide Bid
are a band to look out for in the future. Go
and have a listen to them on My Space.
