Robyn Writes

Interview: Fair Do’s

It’s hard to really describe Fair Do’s. But what can be said about them is that they’re ridiculously good fun. Kitteh caught up with the four piece skate-tech-punk-insertyourfavouredgenrehere band at a punk/hardcore all dayer in Grimsby to quiz them on their DIY spirit, exactly what they play and our all time favourite question – who would win a knife fight with a bear?

If I may paraphrase the great Cilla Black- what’s your name and where do you come from?

Josh: I’ll take this one if you don’t mind. We’re Fair Do’s and that and we’re from Manchester and Rosendale. They’re two places from the North. You might have heard of them.

Danny: I’m Danny and I play guitar and do lots of other little bits.

John: (deadpan) I’m John and I play drums.

And the enthusiasm clearly comes from you, John.

Josh: He’s the driving force of all fun times in the band.

Danny: We fall asleep and we wake up where we need to be. Then he stops being enthusiastic. He’s enthusiastic about things not slowing down on the motorway.

Fair Do’s is quite a chirpy name–

Josh: Chirpy? It is indeed-

Compared to a lot of bands that you often find yourself billed with; bands like Hang the Bastard-

Josh: We’re a fun time band for fun time people.

That sounds a little too much like a prostitution ring.

Josh: Nah, we’ve played in a lot of bands, but when it came down to Fair Do’s – Danny came up with the name – it does suit the band well. I mean you can come up with a name, then have to spend ten minutes explaining the meaning to them, then afterwards they just say ‘fair do’s’. Literally, that’s the craic.

Danny: The thing is though, when we named our band Fair Do’s, nobody said ‘fair do’s’, they just started asking what ‘Fair Do’s’ meant! It’s difficult to explain. You always have to give them a scenario, then end it with ‘fair do’s’. But you know what, it’s been on the Mighty Boosh, it’s been on Peep Show; it’ll be in the dictionary soon…WITH an apostrophe. Essentially, everyone knows what ‘fair do’s’ means, and i’m not saying it’s because of us… But we said it before it was cool. We were in a band that wore black shirts and red ties before it was cool. We’ve been doing it for ages.

You hardly play an identikit sound, so would you put yourself into a specific genre?

Josh: There isn’t really a genre, it’s just fast and aggressive!

John: Most people would call us skate punk first off, but we’re too technically able to be classed as that. We’re more melodic hardcore as opposed to a skate punk band who play five chords.

Josh: Aggressive disco.

Danny: The way I think about it, there are bands such as NOFX that have little Bill and Ted bits – bands like Almeida and Darko. You’ve got your standard punk, then you’ve got your ‘wibblywibblywoo’ bit. The thing with Fair Do’s is that we all listen to different shit, so it comes in from different areas.

Danny: We’ve all come from the same areas, you know, we were all listening to Strung Out, Death By Stereo- but then we got into a lot of metal. Take Strung Out, they have a lot of metal guitars, slightly lower tuning. They tune full D, we tune drop D, it’s just as low-

Josh: We also always have more aggressive singing. We go for a more intense singing. It’s not as though we don’t go for the more melodic singing-

Danny: We love melody, but to quote John, we don’t love poncery.

John: Poncery, poncery, we can’t do poncery.

Danny: Well if you’ve seen us with Sean (ex-vocalist), when he joined we re-did an old song to make it more melodic. But then we have friends who are in really fast, heavy hardcore bands and they saw it as us changing our entire sound, and started saying that they preferred us before. It’s just one song. We’re varied.

Do you think that saying that you’re influenced by metal is now a bit of a dirty word?

Josh: Not at all. When we say ‘metal’, it’s a gigantic fucking circle with so many bands in it. Take me and John for example. We like bands like Necrophagist, Black Dahlia Murder obviously – there a big influence for us. Take the Black Dahlia Murder; there a huge influence for us. I mean they’re well fast all the time – I mean they’ve got blasts and all that, but they’re still punk. It’s more like we’re not going to make songs about jumping around and going to shows, (terrible American accent) ‘yeah man, we’re at a show, everything’s so awesome’. We appreciate bands that do that, but it’s just not us.

Danny: This is an exclusive, but our songs aren’t really about anything. They just sound like they are! There’s one or two, but you’ve got to guess ‘em. They’re the sound that they are. There’s a song that I wrote in fifteen minutes as Bury College that was utterly ridiculous-

Josh: But at the same time, you can still get deepness from it. Because it’s up to you what you gain from it.

Danny: But on top of that question, we do get compared to Wilhelm Scream a lot. I don’t mind that at all, although I think we’re a bit more metal and a lot less tight than Wilhelm Scream.

Josh: I know what you mean though, about metal being a dirty word. Scenes move. When Nu-Metal came about, when people heard the buzzword ‘metal’ they thought ‘oh yeah, like Papa Roach’, no, no. Nowadays if you ask people about metal, they’re more likely to have heard of the Black Dahlia Murder over Limp Bizkit.

Danny: But it can also be a problem. Nowadays, if some people hear a melody, they think ‘oh, that’s emo’.

Josh: One thing we don’t like is to mix screaming with singing. It’s not that we don’t like bands that do that, it’s just that we want to create a general aura.

Whatever you do, you’re going to get pigeon-holed as hardcore or punk…

Josh: Then when people come up to you, they’re all ‘I think you’re like this, I think you’re like that’, then they ask you what you think you are. I just think, I don’t know mate, I’m playing folk music. You can see it in lots of Dance Music. You hear something, ask what it is, then they tell you it’s ‘fidgity cracky house’.

Danny: Jungle-break-core!

You gig a hell of a lot nowadays, into Europe and whatnot, and you’re usually put onto bills with similar artists, so you’re aware of what much of the scene is like nowadays. Would you say there are any particular forerunners at the moment?

Danny: Almeida are number one. A Wilhelm Scream are the best band I’ve ever seen, but Almeida are one of the best bands in the fucking country.

Josh: One of the first gigs we played was in Bognor, and Almeida were on afterwards, and we just stood there thinking ‘ah, wait, that’s what we want to do’. But there are loads of other bands that’re doing well for themselves, like Darko. The Fear are absolutely smashing it.

John: Bells on Records are good friends of ours, so we’re always around their bands.

Josh: There’s not so much a scene around at the moment, just a huge group of friends.

Danny: We met Laughing In The Face Of on tour. They play fast shit, melodic, banging. You meet a band, you play with them- between 95/99% of the time, you can watch a band and know that they’ll be really nice lads.

Josh: There are no real bands we think are shit, but I will say one thing. If you’re playing music and someone’s come to watch you, give them the time of day. If you’re in a band, talk to everyone. When you’re waltzing ‘round, you might look sick with your ears and your tattoos and your vest, but none of that matters.

Danny: I just realised how much shit we’re talking. In answer to your question, The Human Project, The Fear, Almeida, and they’re not around anymore but Sick Trick, From The Tracks, Drones.

Aside from record labels and all of that, I’ve seen Fair Do’s a few times before and you’ve always been armed with a stack of CDs to sell for a quid. Do you think the DIY ethos is the only way to keep young bands alive today?

John: The problem is, there are just so many people doing the same thing you do at the same time. You need to make yourself accessible. Fair enough if you can give your stuff out for free, but just charging a quid for four or five songs isn’t much. It’s nice when people take an interest in you, but more often than not, you’re wandering ‘round a venue, trying to force your merch on people. It’s not nice to do, but you have to do it.

Danny: It’s not nice, but when you’re on tour and you need fuel in the tank, and you’re away for many more weeks, it’s hard. You plough money into merch, and you always end up coming home with loads of t-shirts.

Josh: We’ve got a stack of CDs, we’ve copied them, put a sticker on them, and that’s it. We’re just trying to sell you the music. Hopefully in the future, everything will look well sick with CD sleeves and everything, but we’re not there yet.

John: That’s the harsh reality of being in a band. It’s not easy to buy all the things you need; fuel, instruments, a van, it’s not cheap. We don’t sit on our arses, thinking of songs to write; we work 9-5 all week and put our own money into our own products so we can give them away cheaply.

Danny: Take our EP, we’ve been working on that for god knows how long-

John: That’s the thing, you can get stuck in a rut, while you’re still itching to get them out. Who will do it for you if you’re not doing it yourself?

Josh: You need to spend money to make money. You should never set out to make money, just to get more people into your band. People spend fifty quid on a night out, fuck that.

John: Just make sure, if there’s a gig in your local town, just go. Give a few quid to the bands, buy a sticker; anything. We could be going out at weekends, hunting foxes and killing badgers, but we don’t. Just support music.

At Crash Doubt, your then vocalist turned up in a Kelly Clarkson t-shirt, which was great, but he stood out like a sore thumb in amongst all the muscle shirts and all that goes with it. Especially in terms of image, do you think hardcore is taking itself too seriously nowadays?

All: Yes!

John: I mean, we like to have fun, and we’re not a hardcore band that’s going to stand there with X’s tattooed on our chests.

I saw Brotherhood of the Lake play earlier this year, and their vocalist turned up in a balaclava, looking very IRA.

John: I don’t see the point of making a statement with your image when you could be making it with your music.

Josh: We’ve turned up to Lordi and Crust Punk gigs in t-shirts and jeans, and they just look at us gone out. You need to be in tight black gear with tattoos on your neck to fit in nowadays. If something’s comfortable, I’ll wear it. People do look at us a bit strange, but once you break down those barriers with people, it’s fine.

John: You have to be respectful, but it’s a stale scene really. It’s all the same. In Europe, things are fine, no one distrusts you, but back in England, its so image based. We don’t give a shit what anyone looks like though, we don’t care if your jeans are skinny or baggy or if you’ve got tattoos on your face.

Josh: Years ago, everyone was into Bring Me the Horizon and Architects; they were growing fringes, dying their hair black and wearing girls jeans. But scenes change, and most people are done with that. It’s fine stretching your ears really, really big, but two years later, you might change your mind, and then you have to deal with that.

Perhaps then, if you don’t get caught up in a certain image, it can give you a greater chance for longevity.

Josh: Black Dahlia Murder, right. They played one of their first gigs alongside people that were playing in all black, then they turned up in shorts and Hawaiian shirts. That’s what I always think back to.

Have you had any particular musical highlights this year in terms of your own performances or other band’s activity?

Danny: The New Frenzal Rhomb album, from Brisbane Australia, is one of the cleanest, cleanest albums i’ve heard in a long time, it’s awesome. That was last year though. The Fear’s new album too – they supported Belvedere at their first reunion gig in Paris and that was one of the best shows i’ve ever been to. In terms of our performances, I think we played pretty well at Flatliners.

John: We played with A Wilhelm Scream a while back an it was one of the best gigs we played; not only because we played with them, but because we were with a crowd that supported the support bands as much as the headliner. The whole set was just hammered and the support was really great. A great crowd, stood in front of you, going mental for twenty minutes was just great. Great for us to see something like that.

Danny: It was by far one of the best reactions we’ve ever had when we’ve been a support. We played a gig in Italy last year too, and I still think that’s the best gig we’ve ever played.

John: Completely different to the UK/mainland response. People willingly buy your merch as opposed to scoffing at it. They enjoy things and are aware far more of how things work. They realise it costs nothing to be nice. It always comes down to that.

Danny: Our tour in Europe in November is half booked and it doesn’t feel as though we’ve even got started yet. You usually go out with a load of strangers, but this time, we’re going out to meet friends. It’s also about being grateful for everything you’ve got. Always keep your eye on something. Keep asking. If you don’t get the gig that you want, then gig more and ask again.

Is there anything in Fair Do’s foreseeable future that’s exciting?

Danny: Yes! We’re going on tour in November with Almeida. The best band the UK has ever seen; and I know they’re big words. That means they’re better than Capdown, everything. Yep, yep, yep.

Josh: We’ve got the tour, we’ve got this demo/EP thing coming, then in the next six or nine months, we’re hoping to get an album going. Essentially, we want to try more than what we’ve got at the moment.  We want to get CDs sorted, proper CDs instead of these stickered demos. We might charge more, but it’d be a far more substantial purchase. Something to hold on to, something to put on your shelf.

Finally, we ask this question to every band we interview. Out of everyone in Fair Do’s, who would win in a knife fight with a bear?

Danny: Josh! He has the experience.

John: There’s much better things to kill than bears. What about politicians?

Danny: I suppose. I mean, a bear’s not going to fuck you over for money.

No, it’d just claw your face.

Josh: It wouldn’t claw your face, it’d take your fucking face off; it’d palm you.

Danny: When I was in Romania, in these mountains, I met this guy; he was a skinhead and a bit mental. He told me this story about this person who got slashed across the chest by a bear. Big fucking bears, and they would fuck you up.

Josh: Can a bear hold a knife?

Potentially, but it’s more likely that someone gaffer taped a knife to his paws-

Josh: Who did this? It’s a bit fucking cruel.

Danny: Is that like some vegan hardcore thing-

Josh: People who do these things to bears shouldn’t be included in a zine.

We don’t know who did this to the bear, it’s just been released-

Josh: What the fuck?

Well, one of you has to fight it.

Josh: Oli fucking Sykes would. Like a twat.

Danny: I’d fight the cunt who taped the knives to his paws.

John: The more likely scenario is that we’d all talk shit to it until it passed out, then we’d just leave.

Summer Sesh All Day Skatepunk/HC Extravaganza – The Matrix Club, Grimsby, 18/8/12

My beloved hometown Grimsby, despite its impressive levels of knife crime and teenage pregnancy, doesn’t seem to have a lot going for it. Considering our greatest claims to fame include Ian Huntley and the battle scenes from Atonement, it’s safe to say that civilisation often seems to pass us by.

When I was a whippersnapper, the local music scene was positively crackling with excitement and innovation. Thanks to the Cleethorpes Winter Gardens (God rest her soul), local bands were given the chance to perform both at extensive showcases or alongside such established and dare I say it, legendary names as Hanoi Rocks, The Damned and even Marky Ramone. While the Winters met its untimely end at the hands of a wrecking ball, the Grimsby Matrix Club bubbled in the background. Hosting the odd gig here and there and seeing bands such as Bring Me The Horizon and Enter Shikari pass through its doors, the Matrix began to set itself up well. But as the gigs began to lessen in number, I got older and discovered city venues, leaving hometown music as far away as possible.

That was until a brightly coloured gig poster cropped up online and practically tore my eyes from my skull. A £5 all-dayer with great names, cheap booze and a BBQ? I was in.

First to the tiny stage (playing to an even tinier audience) were Ricochet (3/5), a new, local, 90’s-esque post-punk effort who were celebrating their first official gig. Despite their young ages and the unfamiliarity of a new band, they played incredibly well, with the young drummer drawing particular acclaim for his skill. Although they hardly pushed any boundaries, they showed themselves to be a solid group with the potential to create a very impressive sound should they stay together for the long haul. Next up were Hoof (3/5), a hard-to-place alt band combining the gang vocals of Sum 41 with the simplicity and upbeat pace and tone of bands such as The Headstart and NFG. Not fitting comfortably into the punk or hardcore camps, they were nonetheless a very fun support act who did well to bring up the tone and mood of the whole gig. East on Main (3/5) continued on the gang vocal theme, but used it to such a degree that it soon lost its appeal. While their set wasn’t particularly exciting or overly-memorable, their sound was something quite interesting. Imagine the bastard lovechild of Rise Against and Bullet for my Valentine was lightly washed in hardcore, and you’ve just about got it. If they stripped back their layers and rebuilt their sound, they could become something very interesting indeed. LITFO(2/5) and Darko (3/5) proved to have nailed the vocal problem that was prevalent in previous acts; great gang vocals used in bursts, but with enviable control throughout. Strong vocals and great riffs triumphed over the dodgy sound system and left themselves being the first memorable sets of the night. Despite this, there were two major flaws in LITFOs set. Firstly, the vocalist’s efforts at more guttural or screamy tones should really be confined to the practise room; the natural tone wasn’t there and drew away from his other abilities. Secondly, and this was what really tainted their set for me, their ill informed verbal attacks on more successful acts were frankly disgusting and infuriated me beyond belief. Jealously isn’t a pretty trait and malformed speeches with an ‘us against them’ attitude destroyed any lingering enjoyment of their sound. No Contest (2/5) were an odd band to place; with an atonal vocalist and no real direction to their sound, they were far from engaging. Despite this, I did find myself enjoying the basic instrumental parts of their songs. Each musician was certainly competent and sparks of innovation stopped me from wandering off back to the bar. Saying that, much more work is needed before their sound becomes something of real merit.

When Fair Do’s (4/5) came to the stage, my confidence in the evening was waning, but thank the punk lords, they brought a smile back to my face. Blasting out a solid, exciting and fun slab of post-hardcore inspired punk (like a heavier version of Set Your Goals but with less of an agenda), they earned both the attention and respect of the entire venue. With their usual vocalist stranded in some foreign land, guitarist Danny took over vocal duties and performed with such ease that a casual listener would be hard pressed to see why a separate vocalist was necessary. Almeida (4/5) followed suit with a gripping, if odd, set of prog-thrash with a smattering of synths for good measure. With their dynamism and innovation, they reminded me of a young Enter Shikari; a band made of pure energy, just waiting for a stage big enough to contain them. The Departed (3.5/5) brought the evening back down to a more familiar genre. Performing a very animated brand of melodic hardcore (similar to that of Comeback Kid) they showed themselves to be a powerful force that could really take off should they manage to get themselves a higher profile support tour with a TDON darling. Headliners and Lockjaw stalwarts The Fear (4.5/5) easily stole the evening with an incredibly engaging, impressive and professional set. Combining the power and raw passion of hardcore with a palpable upbeat energy, their very personal sound was so absorbing that I began hoping the night would be a few hours longer. Somewhere between and old Deaf Havana and MXPX, their moment of glory is no doubt just around the corner.

Crash Doubt Festival – The Showroom Lincoln, 2/6/12 [pt 1]

After a very successful first year, Crash Doubt returned to the deepest and darkest depths of the North (well… at least on the very rainy Sunday) for another go. Hosted in The Showroom in Lincoln, the punk and hardcore fest was a beautiful interruption to the Jubilee weekend.

Before I get into the bands, I have to stress how well organised the whole weekend was. Bands rarely overran or came on late, the stages were laid out well, the merchandise section was fantastically managed and the bar wasn’t too overpriced. The venue, a conference centre combined with a youth centre, was a great space to host in. If only half of the festival-goers spent more time in the venue checking out the bands than out in the car park.

Saturday started out strong. We got to the venue just in time for Climates (3.5/5), whose particular variety of melodic hardcore was good fun. The vocalist, who looked a little bit like Parkway Drive’s Winston McCall, had a great tone to his voice and the band as a whole sounded brilliant for one of the first on. Following them up on the Time Will Tell stage were Fair Do’s (3/5), a local Lincoln pop-punk band. Tinged with posicore, they were fun and bouncy but they wore all their influences on their sleeves. Nevertheless, with their sense of fun and a little more development, they should be going places. Up on the Punktastic stage, Tim Van Tol (3.5/5) regaled us all with his solo folk punk. Reminiscent of sea shanties at times, some gruff and soulful acoustic fare did everyone some good (and Kitteh thought he looked a bit like Varg from Burzum).

Watch Commander (2/5) were fairly boring melodic punk rock – their songs had promise but failed to hit the mark. However, Attack! Vipers! (5/5) were nothing short of incredible. One of the most impressive hardcore bands coming out of the UK right now, their performance was intense, exciting and completely involving. If Attack! Vipers! play near you, don’t ever miss them. Moral Dilemma (2.5/5) weren’t really to my taste – abrasive punk rock that sounded all the same. It’s difficult to write good punk in the old style these days and while their overall performance was reasonably solid, I still found their set dull. Bangers (4/5) are proof that musical evolution often wins out and their gruff punk anthems rang out loud and clear on the Punktastic stage. There were awesome singalongs, sweet hooks and some actually very cleverly written instrumental sections. You can still be a musician in a punk band; Bangers will show you how.

Back downstairs on the Big Cheese stage, The Smoking Hearts (4/5), along with a guy who was either so wasted or on some variety of pills, showed us all how to party. Admittedly, they played fairly standard hardcore stuff – nothing new, but it was tight and they were batshit insane. Lots of jumping, some rolling around and potentially broken elbows – that’s how it should be done. Demoraliser (1/5) clearly didn’t observe how The Smoking Hearts did it and were truly the first of a few identikit hardcore bands we managed to stumble upon. They may have been local heroes but their breakdowns were so subpar, the vocals had no tone to them whatsoever and they sounded like a Terror ripoff without any of the brutality. Hang The Bastard (4/5) are how you should do hardcore, in comparison – terrifyingly. There are no other words. And yet the man in the khaki balaclava wasn’t the most intimidating thing all weekend. That accolade belongs to Woody from POLAR (4.5/5). While POLAR’s set was impressive, it was distracting to see a guy who looks like he has rabies push a crowd around because “if [you] don’t move, [I’ll] fucking move you”. Highly counter-productive to crowd involvement, but nonetheless, a stellar performance from one of the UK’s most exciting new bands. Heights (3.5/5) struggled to follow suit but their crowd involvement was certainly better. Their sound was less intense and more dirgey – the doom influences in their music rang loud and clear but still remained full of desperation.

And we finished off the night with No Trigger (3/5). I’ve been waiting to see No Trigger for a while, ever since I was bowled over by Canyoneer. To this day, it’s one of my favourite records. But I found No Trigger to be a bit… well, flat. There was plenty of enthusiasm but it just felt like there was something lacking. Might have been a levels thing, might have been an end of tour fatigue, but it just didn’t ring true. It didn’t end my night on a total downer though because they played Owner Operator and that put a fairly big smile on my face.

So, Saturday was pretty damn sweet. Sunday’s writeup to follow!