SPIT LIKE THIS (Eng.)
– Hello, thanks for answering to our questions. What’s the band currently up to?
Thanks for asking us! At the moment, everything is revolving around the UK release of «Normalityville Horror». Lots of interviews, lots of promotion and lots of shouting from the rooftops about the CD! We’re gearing up for some live shows – including one in Ibiza – and our agent is working on a tour of the UK and some shows in Europe. The video for the single «Zero To Sixty» will be released across Europe in June and then the album will follow later in the year.
We want to spread our influence a bit further this time and try and get the album out in Japan, China, USA, Canada, India, Australia and any other place that will have us!
– You are not a really well-known band in Spain so, first off, would you mind to share some history of the band?
It was started by me and bass player Vikki Spit originally as a studio-based project. We instantly got favourable reviews and even an early offer of a record deal so we put together the live band. The early live band wasn’t so hot and we went through a couple of line-up changes (although our drummer, Vile Gilez, is the only drummer we have ever had and is the second longest-serving member behind Vikki and I).
We had a UK Rock Chart Top 10 «hit» quite early on but bad management meant it all went crashing down around our ears. We picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off and recorded our debut album «We Won’t Hurt You (But We Won’t Go Away)».
We gigged that relentlessly, fired our old guitar player, got a new guitar player (Rob Riot), got producer Chris Tsangarides on board to record our second album «Normalityville Horror», played Wacken and a whole bunch of other cool stuff I’ve forgotten!
We signed to Chris’s brand new Dark Lord Records label in February 2012.
– And where does the name of “SPiT LiKE THiS” come from?
A spitting contest between me and Vikki when we first met. I showed her how to «spit like this». When we came to start the band and were looking for names, we looked at our adventures and that episode was mentioned. It seemed to sum up our punky spirit quite well and it sure does stick in people’s minds. It is now such a part of my identity, I cannot imagine life without it.
– You have just released your sophomore album, “Normalityville Horror”. How is its feedback being so far?
So far, so good. Although I liked our first album – and still do – I wasn’t completely confident in it. I knew it made sense to me but also knew it would confuse people. This album though I am 100% confident in. It is awesome and, frankly, if anyone doesn’t agree, I simply refuse to believe them. Anyone that doesn’t like this album needs to see a doctor because they have clearly been labotomised!
– If I’m not mistaken, you got the album done in 2010 so, why has taken you so long to finally release it?
As you know, we recorded the album with Chris Tsangarides – the legendary producer behind Judas Priest’s «Painkiller» album, among many others. We got on really well with CT and became great friends. Shortly after finishing the album, he mentioned that he was putting a label together and would we be interested in signing to it? Of course! We had a bad experience with aspects of the first album release so wanted to make sure on this album we worked with people we trusted. We trust CT 100%.
However, starting a record label takes time. Especially as Sony/ATV are involved. There were many meetings to be had then Vikki and I met with CT and his partner in this venture, Dave Cousins. Dave, himself, is a legend as founder and frontman of The Strawbs. We are in great hands!
Eventually, all the contracts and everything were finalised and we signed a mere 18 months after finishing recording the album!! It has been worth the wait though – so far, working with CT and Dave has been an absolute pleasure.
– I think this new record is heavier, more riff-based as well. Is this how you envisioned the album since the beginning?
Completely. It is actually how early SPiT LiKE THiS sounded, before we added the band! If you listen to our old EP’s, they are very rhythmic and riff-based. Our last guitar player though wasn’t so good at tight ryhthmic stuff, so we had to change our style and sound a bit.
However, when we came to write the material for «Normalityville Horror», I knew what it needed to sound like. I also new that our old guitar player wouldn’t work. Luckily, he tried to blackmail us giving me a really fucking good reason to fire him. Fortuitously, on the same day, Rob rang me out of the blue (for the first time in 10 years!) and I invited him for an audition, knowing he was a tight-as-fuck riff man.
We had already tuned down a couple of notes to better suit my voice and this album is EXACTLY how SPiT LiKE THiS should sound. I love it. It is the sound I always heard in my head. It is the sound of perfection.
– It’s also quite dynamic, I can notice influences from several music styles. Is this something important for you?
Yes, but it isn’t contrived, it is just how I hear and write music. How anyone can just write an album full of 10 identikit songs is beyond me – each song should have it’s own style, sound, soul… Music is an artform. Picasso didn’t draw identical paintings and bands shouldn’t write identical songs.
– For instance there are Punk, Glam, even Psychobilly or Death Rock/After Punk elements but; what are the band’s main musical influences?
There are no main influences, I don’t think. If it sounds good, it is good. We all like heavy, guitar-based music – and I guess that is at the SPiT LiKE THiS core – but, beyond that, we all deviate and enjoy different styles independently of eachother. We favour rhythm over melody and would never, ever, everever, follow any kind of musical fad or fashion.
– With this second record, do you think you have released the material you have always wanted to publish? I mean, have you shaped a bit more your own personality?
If you cut me in half, it would say «SPiT LiKE THiS» down my middle like some kind of gross stick of rock. Or should that be Rock? I know no other way to be and this album epitomises me. It is important, if you are the person singing the songs, that they mean something to you because, that way, you can sell the songs you are singing. If you are singing about meaningless things, that comes across in the delivery. I love spitting these tunes into the crowd!
– You have included “Dragged Kicking & Sceaming”, which was featured on an earlier EP. Why did you decide to put this song on your new opus?
Simply because it is a great song that was previously poorly recorded. It underachieved and it deserved better. We gave it a new personality though – detuning made the sound darker – and the lyrics have changed from being about partying to a Dexter-style serial killer. Trust me, it makes sense! Although it has appeared before, so many more people will get to hear it on this album. What was done before was basically a demo that got released.
– Lyric-wise I’ve noticed some changes, this time lyrics seem to be really well-cared. What could you say is the main reason behind this? What do lyrics on this CD deal with? As they seem quite real and personal.
I never used to pay much attention to the lyrics I wrote, making them flow more for a phonetic sound rather than trying to tell a story. Every now and again though, I would accidentally tell a story and those were the songs people related with the most.
When it came to writing the lyrics to this album, I wanted there to be some meat on the bones so I bought a book on lyric writing. Happily, I discovered that a lot of things I did naturally was «correct», but I also learnt a lot from the book and it brought out more depth, colour and style to the words I was writing.
Deliberately, I made an effort to properly finish lyrics. Often, in the past, I would get bored half way through and just put any old crap down to get them done. I didn’t do that this time though and every song tells a cohesive tale. Each story has a beginning, a middle and an end.
The themes tend to revolve around things that are important to me – most important are freedom and individuality; being able to think for oneself and express that. Some songs also deal with mental illness that I have and my journey through life with that. It’s a frustrating thing to try and live with.
I have promised myself that, from this album on, I will dig deep for the lyrics and make them far more open and personal than previous recordings and I think it shows. People will relate and people will find strength in them.
– All this being said; how could you describe “Normalityville Horror” in just 3 words?
SPiT LiKE THiS
– This has been your first effort with Dark Lord Records/SonyATV after publishing your debut album with GMR Records. How’s everything going so far with Dark Lord?
I love being with Dark Lord Records! Every now and again, I pinch myself when I realise that the heads of the label are two legendary professionals who have achieved things that most of us only dream of achieving.
Being a small label, we all work closely together so we have a great relationship with them. Also, because it is a small label, we can move fast. The problem with large labels or labels with large rosters is that a committee needs to decide on every small detail. We don’t have that problem.
Dark Lord also gives us 100% creative and artistic control which, for me, is completely vital.
I hope it will be an extremely long relationship – I suspect it will be as they have even offered me the opportunity to be a partner in the business, which is quite an accolade and honour and one I very happily accept!
– And finally, what are the near-future plans for you guys?
I am not looking further than the release of this album. I am so proud of it, it deserves to do as well as it can do. So I simply will not rest until I have told as many people about it as possible, and tried to make them buy the fucking thing so we can make another one!
– That has been everything from my side, thanks once more for your time. If you want to add some final words, feel free to do it.
Thank you. All I would like to add is that we would love people to connect with us online. So please stick these links up:
www.spitlikethis.com – Official Website
www.normalityvillehorror.com – Making-of Blogsite
www.facebook.com/spitlikethis – «Like» us on Facebook
www.twitter.com/spitlikethis – Follow us on Twitter
www.smellyourmum.com – Mine and Vikki’s slogan T-shirt company
Cheers!
