 |
 |
 |
 |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
l-r Graeme, Steve, Iain, Blake.
Halo play The Bull and Gate, Kentish Town, London on Tuesday the 3rd of August 2004.
How has the tour been so far?
Iain: Yeah it's really really good. BEST tour ever. laughs
Steve: I've really enjoyed it actually.
Graeme: It's been the worst tour ever. Worst tour I've ever been involved in! No, no, joking! There's been a lot more people than I expected actually.
Steve: I have to keep reminding myself that we haven't played for ages as I was expecting there to be noone at the gigs! Obviously the turn out isn't the same as when we were signed and releasing stuff, but it's still been good. It's much better than before though. We're a better band, we've got better songs, better gigs.
Iain: We've had really good feedback.
Steve: Everyone's been really into it.
As most people probably know you've been away for a while and there's been line up changes, how does it feel to be back? Do you feel that there's any pressure for a big comeback?
Graeme: I don't think we could have come back any worse than we were before. No, not worse, I mean.... not as good as we were before. So we couldn't have gone down so we could only go up. That's definitely what we've done, we've gone up! We've defined ourselves, and we've made it better. We're darker now, we're a little bit heavier.
Steve: Before we were getting so much pressure from different angles about what we should sound like, about what was in the charts at the time and stuff, if it was Coldplay then you had to be Coldplay, if it was Limp Bizkit then they wanted something like them. It was like trying to hit a moving target all the time. Now it's a lot easier. This time around we know not to listen to all of that stuff and do what we wanted to do in the first place. Now we've got Blake as well and it's really come together.
You recently recorded 'All The Rain' and did a video for it as well, have you got any plans for a release.
Graeme: We want to release it somehow. We need to finish the recording, it's not completey finished yet.
Steve: We record everything live now as well, like all four of us playing the music and just recording the vocals afterward.
Iain: Put a bit of multitune on them, some pro-tools, get rid of the mistakes and it's fine! laughs
Steve: A few acoustic guitar loops underneath! I don't think so....
What has been your best gig?
Blake: Manchester was one of the best.
Graeme: The second Bristol gig was great.
Blake: Hastings was fun.
Steve: The crypt, that was cool!
There seems to have been an increase in the amount of british bands around at the moment, do you think there is a particular reason behind this, a backlash against american nu-metal bands for example?
Steve: Nu-metal is pretty much dead.
Blake: I don't think there's been a classic band for quite a few years. I think it was Kurt Cobain that said that every ten years or so there's a spate of really good bands that have integrity. There hasn't been a band that's done something really really good or interesting for a while.
What is your favourite song of yours?
Graeme: The Race
Steve: Same as Graeme, but also The Voice.
Blake: All The Rain, My Addiction, and Everything Fits. All of them!
Iain: Everyone's a winner! True Love is my favourite.
What new bands do you rate at the moment?
Graeme: I don't really know! I haven't a clue what's going on.
Iain: Serafin, I still like them.
What are your opinions on filesharing? Do you think it's a good thing or do you think it is damaging for bands?Would you consider putting your new tracks online?
Steve: I definitely would.
Blake: If you really love a band you'll go and buy the cd anyway, I always buy the cd's of the bands I love because you want to support them. It's not the same downloading it.
Steve: I want the artwork and everything.
Graeme: There's no way I can see of stopping people from getting music for free. Even if they buy the cd they're going to record it onto their pc.
What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have about you?
Blake: That we're a good band! laughs
Steve:I don't think anyone really trusted Halo before, I don't think the media really trusted in us. It was because of the label we were signed to and some of the publicity shots that were used didn't give the right image. I think people had a lot of preconceptions about us which have gone now, this tour has been really really good in that anyone who's still a little bit interested has come along to the gigs and have been blown away by how different we are now. We're really honest now. It's a cliche to say we're honest now. We're not untruthful.
Graeme: We don't sound anything like Muse!
What are your plans for this year then?
Steve: Definitely more touring! Write some more songs and get some stuff together we're happy with and send it out. We want to do Halo professionally again.
Graeme: We want to release something.
Iain: We want to get a deal again and release something. I want to be able to concentrate on the music. That's it, I want to concentrate on the music! I just want to be living the dream!laughs
Iain: Yeah it's really really good. BEST tour ever. laughs
Steve: I've really enjoyed it actually.
Graeme: It's been the worst tour ever. Worst tour I've ever been involved in! No, no, joking! There's been a lot more people than I expected actually.
Steve: I have to keep reminding myself that we haven't played for ages as I was expecting there to be noone at the gigs! Obviously the turn out isn't the same as when we were signed and releasing stuff, but it's still been good. It's much better than before though. We're a better band, we've got better songs, better gigs.
Iain: We've had really good feedback.
Steve: Everyone's been really into it.
As most people probably know you've been away for a while and there's been line up changes, how does it feel to be back? Do you feel that there's any pressure for a big comeback?
Graeme: I don't think we could have come back any worse than we were before. No, not worse, I mean.... not as good as we were before. So we couldn't have gone down so we could only go up. That's definitely what we've done, we've gone up! We've defined ourselves, and we've made it better. We're darker now, we're a little bit heavier.
Steve: Before we were getting so much pressure from different angles about what we should sound like, about what was in the charts at the time and stuff, if it was Coldplay then you had to be Coldplay, if it was Limp Bizkit then they wanted something like them. It was like trying to hit a moving target all the time. Now it's a lot easier. This time around we know not to listen to all of that stuff and do what we wanted to do in the first place. Now we've got Blake as well and it's really come together.
You recently recorded 'All The Rain' and did a video for it as well, have you got any plans for a release.
Graeme: We want to release it somehow. We need to finish the recording, it's not completey finished yet.
Steve: We record everything live now as well, like all four of us playing the music and just recording the vocals afterward.
Iain: Put a bit of multitune on them, some pro-tools, get rid of the mistakes and it's fine! laughs
Steve: A few acoustic guitar loops underneath! I don't think so....
What has been your best gig?
Blake: Manchester was one of the best.
Graeme: The second Bristol gig was great.
Blake: Hastings was fun.
Steve: The crypt, that was cool!
There seems to have been an increase in the amount of british bands around at the moment, do you think there is a particular reason behind this, a backlash against american nu-metal bands for example?
Steve: Nu-metal is pretty much dead.
Blake: I don't think there's been a classic band for quite a few years. I think it was Kurt Cobain that said that every ten years or so there's a spate of really good bands that have integrity. There hasn't been a band that's done something really really good or interesting for a while.
What is your favourite song of yours?
Graeme: The Race
Steve: Same as Graeme, but also The Voice.
Blake: All The Rain, My Addiction, and Everything Fits. All of them!
Iain: Everyone's a winner! True Love is my favourite.
What new bands do you rate at the moment?
Graeme: I don't really know! I haven't a clue what's going on.
Iain: Serafin, I still like them.
What are your opinions on filesharing? Do you think it's a good thing or do you think it is damaging for bands?Would you consider putting your new tracks online?
Steve: I definitely would.
Blake: If you really love a band you'll go and buy the cd anyway, I always buy the cd's of the bands I love because you want to support them. It's not the same downloading it.
Steve: I want the artwork and everything.
Graeme: There's no way I can see of stopping people from getting music for free. Even if they buy the cd they're going to record it onto their pc.
What do you think is the biggest misconception that people have about you?
Blake: That we're a good band! laughs
Steve:I don't think anyone really trusted Halo before, I don't think the media really trusted in us. It was because of the label we were signed to and some of the publicity shots that were used didn't give the right image. I think people had a lot of preconceptions about us which have gone now, this tour has been really really good in that anyone who's still a little bit interested has come along to the gigs and have been blown away by how different we are now. We're really honest now. It's a cliche to say we're honest now. We're not untruthful.
Graeme: We don't sound anything like Muse!
What are your plans for this year then?
Steve: Definitely more touring! Write some more songs and get some stuff together we're happy with and send it out. We want to do Halo professionally again.
Graeme: We want to release something.
Iain: We want to get a deal again and release something. I want to be able to concentrate on the music. That's it, I want to concentrate on the music! I just want to be living the dream!laughs
© 2003 Jen Thomas
It is an offense to copy, reproduce or alter content (images & text) without explicit prior permission from the copyright holder (Jen Thomas). |