Interview: DOE

I wrote about London pop-punk scamps DOE for the NME, didn't want to repeat the same boring words on here, asked them some questions instead.




Who plays what instruments?

Nicola plays guitar and sings, Jake plays drums and sings, Alex plays guitar. We don’t have a bass because we can only just about bear each other.

Who writes the songs?

Nicola and Jake come up with the main ideas, then make each other’s ideas better, then we all get together and work on arrangement and finishing touches.




Which one band did you bond over most when the band was starting out?

Helium was the first band we chatted about when we started putting the band together; we properly bonded over a shared love of Weezer in those awkward early days though. (We’re still awkward and we still love Weezer).  

What's good about London?

There’s just so much going on all of the time, you can do whatever you want. The people we’ve come across on the DIY scene since starting out have been so lovely too, just great people who are all super supportive and passionate. It’s a great place to be in a band and make friends and have loads of fun.




What's bad about London?

People that walk slow. And pigeons.

Which three bands from London and beyond should people be listening to right now?

No Ditching are an excellent band from Durham, we played with a band called Cousin in the Summer too who were ace. Playlounge (no brainer).






Do any of you play in other bands or do stuff outside of music?

Jake plays in The Exhausts who we’re good friends with, we’ve played a shit ton of shows together and all love each other a disgusting amount... all the guys have seen each other’s balls far more than is necessary too. He also does a tiny wee label called Keroleen Records which we put our Summer tape out under. Nicola’s just started an all-girl punk band which is super exciting, so watch out for that. 

What stuff are you hoping to do in the next 12 months?

We've got some shows coming up in London and further afield over the next couple of months, we’re recording for a split 7" with Canadian band Taxa as well as for a tape/zine release on Keroleen, and we’re almost done booking a UK tour which is happening in April. I’m sure there will be loads more stuff later in the year too. We’re kind of incapable of not doing stuff constantly.

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Interview: Pinact

I wrote about Pinact in NME Radar because I like them. Instead of writing another short, boring bio on them for here I thought I might as well ask them some questions. I guess maybe I'll make this into a little regular thing.

Pinact are Corrie and Lewis from Glasgow. They write noisy pop songs that sound a little bit like Paws and a little bit like No Age but not that much like either really. They're about to feature on a split alongside Poledo, Radtsewart and Joey Fourr jointly through Reeks of Effort and Art is Hard. Questions below.



Who writes the songs?

I (Corrie) write the songs although they don't really become Pinact songs until we get in a room together and learn to play them. They usually end up changing quite a bit from me playing them on an acoustic guitar in my room. There's no set way we go about it though, sometimes the song comes about the complete opposite way. We might start jamming something in practice we think sounds cool and then I take it home and work out what to sing over it. They usually end up being our favourites.

Which one band did you bond over most when the band was starting out?

It's really hard to bring it back to one band but I guess at the time we were really into the Milk Music EP Beyond Living. I don't think we've ever particularly sounded like them but that EP was a big influence when we were first getting the band together. We were living together at the time and when we got drunk we would always blast that EP. It's safe to say our neighbours weren't as enthusiastic about it as we were.




What's good about Glasgow?

Glasgow is great, there's a lot of really good bands at the moment and a lot of good people supporting those bands. In comparison to somewhere like London it's pretty small although it still has the feeling of being in a big city. We've made a lot of friends in other bands from here we probably wouldn't of made unless we'd started the band and it really feels like everyone really supports each other and wants the best for everyone.

What's bad about Glasgow?

It rains a lot, although I guess in terms of being creative and making music being stuck indoors can make you quite productive.

Which three bands from Glasgow and beyond should people be listening to right now?

Tuff Love
Algernon Doll
Passion Pusher








Do either of you play in other bands or do stuff outside of music?

Not at the moment, we're both pretty busy balancing the band with jobs and a constant lack of money. Although I've been saying for ages I'm gonna start a monthly club night in Glasgow where we get a band we love to play that might not really get a chance to come up here very often. Over that past year or so we've met and discovered some really great bands form all over and from a purely selfish point of view I'd love to see them live! It's gonna be called Stand Still Until You Rot and I'm definitely gonna start it soon (Hopefully this year).



What stuff are you hoping to do in the next 12 months?

Well we're writing what we hope is gonna be our debut album right now. I guess the aim is to get that finished soon and once we're happy with it we'll look into how were gonna record and release it. I think we're pretty bored of doing EPs and we want to challenge ourselves with a full length. It feels like we're ready to do something a bit more substantial.

Apart from that we're gonna try and play as many shows as we can, wherever we can. Hopefully we'll venture over to Europe for the first time before the year is out. That definitely seems realistic!

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