To celebrate the release of their excellent 'Welcome Back To Nibelheim' EP and their UK tour with Max Raptor this month, we spoke to Freeze The Atlantic and grilled them damn hard. Here's what those scamps had to say...
>This past June saw the release of your self-titled second album. It got all round positive reviews, which is cool, you've also hit a tour with Max Raptor and released a new E.P, so you're pretty busy. What are your plans past this hectic time and into the new year?
"The immediate plans for now is to start writing for a new album (keep the ball rolling) Also sadly Sean is leaving us to concentrate on his band (altEscape) We have one more show with him at Nightmare fest on the 1st November in London so we want to make it a good one for him."
>Yeah Buddy! woul d not give a band a bad review, if we don't like something we don't review it, we hate insult happy journalists giving shit to hardworking independent bands. That's us, how much notice do you guys take of your reviews whether they be positive or (if you've had any) negative?
"Obviously good reviews are better but everyone gets bad reviews at some point and the best thing is just take what they say with a pinch of salt. We are old enough to know that not everyone is going to like what your band does so why worry."
>Your much hyped debut 'Speakeasy' was released in 2012. Coming of the back of such established careers with Reuben and Hundred Reasons, do you embrace your mighty pasts or do you prefer to distance yourselves from this?
"We loved doing those bands but we always treated FTA as a different entity. The only conscious distancing we did was to not play any of those bands songs in our set. I feel our own songs stand up enough anyway."
>I suppose this is a sub-question, with a strong nucleus of fans behind you since your very inception, have you ever felt he pressure to keep them happy whilst also trying to forge a new fan base?
"When we first started we had a few people who just came to see if we just sound like a Reuben/HR mix. The good thing is when they realised we were different (though there is obviously similarities) The fair weather fans dropped off leaving people who took us for what we were and what we are trying to do. Now we are two albums in i feel that People see us as our own thing and we have added new fans who some didn't even know we were in those bands which is a win for me."
>With Hundred Reasons and Reuben spearheading the britrock scene way back and FTA holding their own place in a solid scene of heavy guitar bands, do you guys try to recognise trends or try to forge new trends.
"We just write what we want without thinking of trends. It's best not to pigeonhole yourself when thinking of ideas as it can stifle creativity. The best bands are the ones that grow on every album and are unafraid to try new things."
>With the music market being so saturated and with millions of ways in which to promote your music, how do you guys go about letting the people know about new developments and releases. Are there any particularly reliable sources that you use and would recommend to other bands?
"We try to have a good social media presence but some times being too in everyones face can push some people away. I still love the good old word of mouth approach."
>Your long term partnership with Alcopop records is something that we're sure a lot of bands would envy. What is it that makes FTA and Alcopop gel together so well?
"Jack who runs Alcopop is ace! He really cares about the bands he works with and it shows as they all love him back. The thing is even though he doesn't have tons of money to throw about he will push his releases as much as he can and he loves doing it. It really is a no brainer working with him."
>Something that we are particularly interested in is your songwriting process. Every band has their own methods, but with several line up changes we imagine that you have to adapt or new members have to adapt to you. How do you guys go about formulating a song?
"Everyone contributes. Sometimes someone brings in a whole song, sometimes just ideas. We then get in a room and flesh it out till we have something we all like."
>Two well received albums in 6 years seems like a sensible 'quality over quantity' approach. Do you slave over your songwriting or is it a matter of finding the spark when a song comes together quickly and just works?
"Somethimes you have to work on a song for a while till you get it right and sometimes a track just comes out of nowhere in 5 minutes. Either way we are quite hard on ourselves when it comes to quality but we now have two albums that i am really proud of so it works."
>In terms of your subject matter, song meanings and lyrics, what are the things that inspire you most, can you tell us one of your favourite FTA lyrics and explain the meaning behind it?
"Sometimes our lyrics are personal and sometimes they are about random stuff. I think you shouldn't be too obviously personal but make it clever and interesting. No one these days wants to hear about how your girlfriend dumped you. Find something more interesting to write about haha."
>And lastly, for Yeah Buddy! purposes, are there any unsigned, independent, D.I.Y bands, promoters or small venues that you would recommend to our readers?
"We as a band will always have a lot of love for the West end centre in Aldershot (and all the staff)
http://www3.hants.gov.uk/westendcentre
And a shout out to my brothers rehearsal place (The Jam Jars)
http://www.jam-jars.com/
Also Rose Colored are really good people for putting on gigs and promoting local bands in the Surrey area.
http://www.rosecoloured.com/
Lastly don't forget to check out Alcopop themselves.
http://www.ilovealcopop.co.uk/ "