OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE INTERVIEW AT HARD ROCK HELL 02/12/11

Manchester’s finest were grabbed and corralled into a side room at this years Hard Rock Hell festival to talk about their latest tour, album and all things musical.

SO, YOUR GETTING READY FOR YOUR SET HERE AT HARD ROCK HELL A BIT LATER, LOOKING FORWARD TO IT?

Very much so, we’re on tour with Wolfsbane at the moment as well so we’ve still got our road legs on.

THAT’S SOMETHING I’VE NOTICED ABOUT OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE IS THAT YOUR FANBASE IS PRETTY DIVERSE.

True, young and old, metalheads, punks and Goths all from 17 to 60.

WHAT DO YOU THINK THE CROSSOVER APPEAL IS?

It’s just the big mix of tunes going on in the band, there’s such a diverse mix that there’s something for everybody in there.

NOW THE LAST TIME I SAW YOU PLAY LIVE WAS AT ANOTHER FESTIVAL NAMELY BLOODSTOCK WHERE YOUR SET WAS DEFINITELY NOT THE USUAL OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE SET WAS IT?

We called it Obsessive Compulsive Light! Although we think we pulled it off alright.

ANY MORE PLANS FOR ‘UNPLUGGED’ TYPE STUFF?

Not really but we did enjoy doing it so if something does come up we’ll definitely go for it again as it’s another string to our bow.

SINCE THE BANDS FORMATION IN 2003 YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE THINGS YOUR OWN WAY AND REFUSED TO BE SWALLOWED UP BY THE MUSIC INDUSTRY BUT AS YOU BECOME MORE ESTABLISHED DOES THAT BECOME HARDER TO AVOID?

It’s not really that we’re avoiding anything, they’re avoiding us! We just wanted to get things done we wanted to get out there and play. We wanted to put our cds out and didn’t want to wait around , so we just put it all out there. If the right situation comes along maybe we will work with someone label wise. We put our own album out on our own label last year and it was quite an expensive thing to do, so maybe for the second album we will have to take a step and somehow fund it a different way but whatever happens we’ll always do things our own way and choose who we work with very carefully.

THE COVER OF THE ALBUM ‘DREAMS OF DEATH AND DEATH OF DREAMS’ DEPICTS A MAN IN A SUIT TUCKING INTO A HEART, IS THAT AGAIN A REFERENCE TO THE INDUSTRY?

Certain aspects of the record industry but just life in general, everyone can say they’ve a man in a suit tucking into their heart and souls so it’s not exclusive to the music world.

YOUR LATEST SINGLE ’MAN VS MACHINE’ YOU PUT OUT AS A 79p DOWNLOAD BUT YOU ALSO PUT TOGETHER A VIDEO AS WELL, WHERE WAS IT SHOT AND WAS IT FUN TO DO?
It was amazing fun to do, we decided to build a room ourselves and paint it, get Carp who did all the artwork for the album and our shirts to paint it up and it was great, really good fun. It was quite an ambitious project for anyone really but it was the only way we could do it because we couldn’t find a room the right size or shape so we said we’ll build one from scratch. We filmed it in Rochdale but the outdoor shots were all local.

MANCHESTER IN GENERAL HAS ALWAYS HAD A HEALTHY MUSIC SCENE, IS THAT STILL THE CASE?

There’s several gigs to go to every night of the week, it’s a pretty cool city to live in, the Apollo and O2 academy’s but also smaller venues who are very supportive of local bands.

GOING BACK TO THE ALBUM, IT WAS PRODUCED BY RUSS RUSSELL WHO’S PREVIOUSLY WORKED WITH NAPALM DEATH AMONGST OTHERS. WAS HE SOMEONE YOU HAD IN MIND ?

He was one of a few people we thought of. We watched a video of him online talking about his studio and he seemed a complete nutcase, so we got in touch and he really liked what we did. He has worked with other bands such as Therapy? and Wildhearts so that was more the kind of angle we went in at although we do love Napalm, he also did the Evile album which sounds immense. The main thing was finding someone that got what we did and didn’t want to over produce it and keep that punky gritty vibe.

HOW MUCH INPUT DOES THE PRODUCER HAVE, DOES HE TRY AND GET YOU TO CHANGE CERTAIN THINGS?

We had a few arguments, sometimes we took his advice and other times we put our foot down but you’ve got to be open to take advice from people, we wouldn’t ever let anyone tell us how to write our songs but he’s the expert at the end of the day and he shaped it in a way we wouldn’t have if we’d gone in and done it ourselves. It felt like he was the fifth member of the band, he came down to a rehearsal room and listened to us live and then we went and had a few beers with him at a Therapy? gig , we made sure we all knew each other and it just clicked, we felt like we were best mates from the off.

NOW THE ALBUMS OUT DO YOU START TO THINK ABOUT WRITING NEW MATERIAL OR IS THAT SOMEWAY OFF?

We’re working on new stuff already but as we’ve had a really busy year it’s just a case of fitting it all in but we’ll be knuckling down over the next few months, we like writing in the dark months the big Goths that we are at heart. Hopefully next year we’ll get in the studio again as we’re dying to record again.

WILL THAT BE AN E.P.?

Hopefully an album.

WHAT ARE YOUR MAIN INFLUENCES WHEN WRITING?

Anything and everything, it gets thrown in the mixing pot and comes out sounding like us.

AS THE YEAR DRAWS TO A CLOSE WHAT WOULD YOU SAY THE HIGHLIGHTS FOR THE BAND HAVE BEEN?

Loads, making videos, getting on Scuzz and Kerrang TV, Download, Bloodstock, the Wolfsbane tour. It’s a great achievement for a band with no label backing, we’ve got a claw in now and we’re just clinging on for dear life!

FINALLY, AMBITIONS FOR 2012?

More of the same, bigger, faster, harder, animaler!

OBSESSIVE COMPULSIVE ARE…….

Kelii – Vocals.
Giz – Guitars.
Pete – Bass.
DanI – Drums.

Photo’s by kind permission of Anthony May.

About Simon Bower

Rock/Metal junkie living in beautiful Anglesey.Love live music and have a musical taste which can go from Cannibal Corpse to Kate Bush in the blink of an eye.