British rock four piece Tin Soldiers have been playing showcases and making music and have got even more shows, and music underway for this year and many more to come! The band took discussed their music and plans!
1. What type of band are you?
Matt J: Rock with a sprinkle of pop.
Chris: rock and pop littered with sexy hooks and awesome drums.
2. Tell us the brief history of your band and how you got your name?
Rich: We formed at the end of 2007 out of the bits of other bands, spent 2008/9 gigging and writing songs and then recorded our debut album at the end of 2009 and released it May 2010! We released 3 singles and made music videos, including our first music video for the song Word's Got Out, in which the band pick up a hitch-hiker...and there's only one way that ends... We then started writing and recording our second album in 2012 and released an EP at the end of 2012 and now we're just finishing the recording and mixing of album two!
Matt W: The band name came from the lyircs in the Neil Young track Ohio, "Tin soldiers and Nixon coming".
3. What are your songs about? (What specific themes do they cover?)
Rich: The first album was a collection of songs that were principally about the desire for change and moving on. I think most of the songs on the album reflect that from 24 Hours through to Just What I Needed.
When we started writing the songs for the second album we had a few ideas and were working on them and they were being influenced by the general mood of society brought about by the fallout from the 2011 riots coupled with the Arab Spring uprisings. For the Arab Spring the time for change had come and revolutionary momentum was sweeping through. Then I read a copy of 2011's Time magazine, the Person of the Year edition, which named 2011's Person of the Year as 'The Protester'. The article and the photos culminated in writing a number of the songs on the second album, like 'Army Of One', 'Take Back The Streets' and 'The Protester'. There's also been some influence from various books like Z for Zachariah, On The Beach and Starship Troopers. From then on the songs started to take a shared idea and formed a concept that has become the common thread of this album.
We then thought why not try to take this a step further, let's use the music videos to help tell the albums story and so I started sketching out ideas for the music videos. Always Tomorrow was the first music video to be shot - in mid 2012 (you can see it on our YouTube channel) and it tells the story of an empty, abandoned London and a person in a gas mask making his way around. Around the shooting of this the ideas for two other videos came about, which would tell the story of how what you see in Always Tomorrow came to pass, and we thought why not make a trilogy. A set of three videos that can be watched back to back as a short movie that compliments the album's concept. I don't think anyone's ever done this before with music videos, so it might actually be a first! We’ve just finished filming part two, which is the video for the song Take Back The Streets. You'll be able to see it on our YouTube channel soon.
4. Do you write your own songs? (Discuss the songwriting process in detail.)
Matt J: Rich and Wade bring ideas to the table and we form songs together.
Rich: Yea, we'll start out by bringing the sketch of a song into rehearsal and then playing around with it. The process varies with each song. I sat down and wrote most of the bones of Take Back The Streets and then sat down with Matt (Wade) who started playing a riff over the top and we knew it was going to work. With Army Of One, I was really stuck with how I wanted the vocal melody until Matt (Jennings) started pumping out this bass line and it suddenly made sense.
6. Who are your musical influences?
Matt J: Nirvana and Carly Rae Jepson.
Rich: Foo Fighters, Biffy, Feeder, Bruce Dickenson, Skin, NIN.
Matt W: Queen, The Beatles and Led Zep.
7. How do you promote your band and shows?
We use twitter and facebook and email. They seem to be the best way of getting the message out.
8. Describe your show, visual and musically.
Matt J: Hard, powerful, catchy, singalong, wet.
Rich: We’re intense, powerful and sweaty!! We get told we sound live like we do on the recordings, which is great.
9. What inspires you to do what you do?
Matt J: I just love playing live music.
Chris: The enjoyment of it. without that there isn't a point.
10. What advice would you give to fellow bands?
Chris: Make sure you are doing it for the right reasons.
Matt J: Give up. Too much competition already. ;)
Rich: Work out who's doing what. Divide all the tasks so no-one gets too laden down. The internet is amazing for getting your stuff out there, but it's also hugely distracting and time consuming. Updating Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram can easily take up loads of time and stop you from actually writing songs.
11. How does music affect you and the world around you?
Matt J: I bump into stuff a lot with my headphones on.
12. What are the biggest obstacles for bands?
Matt J: Drummers
Rich: Time - to get everything done!
Chris: Getting noticed
13. What's new in the recording of your music?
Rich: Well we've used piano for the first time on a recording! We've got more of a mixture of songs on the second album than the first.
14. What plans do you have for the near future as a band?Matt J: Album number 2!
Rich: Yea, right now we’re in the studio laying down the last 4 songs for our second album. We’re currently motoring through the bass and guitar parts for our new song The Protester. The we'll be playing a load of gigs and festivals over the rest of 2013. We can't wait to get the new songs out there!
15. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
You can listen and watch on YouTube at www.youtube.com/tinsoldiersband. Our music is downloadable via iTunes or you buy physical copies at www.tinsoldiers.co.uk. We’re also on facebook www.facebook.com/tinsoldiersband, at tumblr www.tinsoldiersband.tumblr.com and on twitter at www.twitter.com/tinsoldiersband
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