Currently in the middle of their headline UK/EU tour less than a year since the band’s inception, Counterfeit are an enigma in the UK rock scene. With only an EP and two singles out, Counterfeit have made earthquakes already, shattering barriers that would break other bands so early on – last December, they sold out O2 Academy Islington with only their EP Come Get Someunder their belts. It would be easy to dismiss their break-neck progress as the result of vocalist Jamie Bower‘s Hollywood fame, but their explosive riffs, slick bass and blistering live performances are a stead-fast recipe for success. We ventured to The Deaf Institute on Wednesday to get under the skin of the hottest upcoming band, Counterfeit.*
*Minus drummer Jimmy Craig.
Hi guys! First off, can you please introduce yourselves and the instruments you play?
Roland Johnson: I’m Roland, I play bass guitar and do a bit of singing.
Tristan Marmont: I’m Tristan, I do guitar and some shouting occasionally.
Jamie Bower: I’m Jamie, I sing and play guitar.
Sam Bower: I’m Sam, and I play guitar and do a little bit of singing.
Most bands could only dream of embarking on a headline European tour in venues such as these less than a year into their career. You only have one EP and two singles out, what do you think has made you guys so popular so early on?
Jamie: I think… I mean, it’s a sort of double edged sword. I think it’s the sort of elephant in the room… I think this band has had a sort of inbuilt online fan base from the word go, and that was really amazing and really supportive and fantastic. We’ve got a lot of dedicated people who come to a lot of shows. Europe, for us, is a huge market in terms of venue capacities that we play and how we’ve been received as opposed to the UK, because the UK is saturated with fantastic rock bands and we’re just at the bottom of that, do you know what I mean? We’re trying to get to the top of it. Our online presence has been pretty great it’s… for bands nowadays it’s sort of a necessity. It always has been, really. I remember when I was a kid – I say kid, I still am – but when I was like seventeen, you know, A&R guys at record labels would find bands on Myspace, it was all about Myspace.
All the emo bands?
Jamie: We love those emo bands!
Roland: We were all sat on Myspace all the time, listening on repeat, Panic! At The Disco!
Why do you think fans of The Darling Buds have still followed you although Counterfeit is obviously a lot heavier stylistically?
Jamie: Tristan Marmont, he is very beautiful. He’s a beautiful young boy, they’re very keen on him! They like to bring him gifts, and Roland as well… not me so much for some reason (!) They don’t seem to like me anymore!
Tristan: I think maybe the fans follow us because they like our energy I guess? It guess it’s obviously something to do with us ‘cause the music is very different.
Jamie: [laughs] I thought you were going to say ‘good’! [Puts on pompous accent] ‘The music is very good.’
Tristan: [laughs] Yeah, I mean the original stuff is pretty pop-y, quite upbeat punk and pop stuff and this is a lot darker actually, and the lyrics are much more truthful. They tackle a lot more serious topics that people don’t usually like to talk about. So maybe people are finding a bit of solace in the lyrics and the music itself.
This is the third date on your first ever headline tour, what have the last two nights been like? Have they been as you expected them to be or have they been completely different, or did you not even have any expectations?
Jamie: It’s an interesting one for us because like I said before, going out on the road in the UK, this is our home, this is our home country. It’s great to have recognition wherever you are in the world, no matter where you live, but we really want to win over the UK crowds because we love it here as well, it’s why we’ve chosen to stick around. We could have gone anywhere. The expectations… It’s a hard one because with tour it’s like, the first night is always ‘you’ve gotta bring it’ but you’ve also got these cobwebs that you haven’t really got rid of yet and it’s that sort of nervousness of playing in front of people again. Nottingham was a great show and we tore Glasgow a new one last night! We absolutely smashed it, it was wicked! It was madness from beginning to end and I loved it. I loved it from the word go.
Tristan: Rowdy, rowdy. The crowd were amazing as well.
Jamie: That’s the thing with the Scots as well isn’t it? I mean, maybe it’s not just the Scots. Maybe it’s what we’re finding out with the UK crowd, that they’re keen to have a go, they’re so keen. And when you start having a go at them, they’re gonna have a go back at you and that’s great – that’s how we vibe. But if we’re gonna get up on stage and I’m just gonna expect it, it ain’t gonna happen. So it’s all about just giving it our all, hence why I can barely talk.
Counterfeit feels like a big step up from The Darling Buds, like this time it’s for certain – you’re releasing more music, you’re touring a lot more– what made you decide to fully go for it as a band?
Jamie: I think we all of a sudden felt very comfortable in this, in this skin. And also having the belief from other people, like TDB had been around since I was like seventeen, eighteen? It was something that I would do, it had various different line-ups.
Tristan: Sometimes we wouldn’t play for like three months?
Jamie: Yeah, we wouldn’t play for like two years! I’d post an acoustic song online or whatever and it was just something that I would do occasionally – I’d just like stick a demo up online because I was on tour, doing a press tour for a movie somewhere. I’d just stick it up and see if people liked it, just to give people something extra, to show that I really could do something. This [Counterfeit] was born all of a sudden. Our management believed in us – our management is just some mates of mine, it’s not like we’re signed to some fucking, you know, huge management company. They’re just some mates of mine who believe in us, and they saw potential. It sort of just snowballed, that’s what happens. Also, I think we all grew up a bit. When we were younger, we were just like ‘yeah whatever, it’ll happen when it’s meant to happen,’ and we sort of felt like we deserved it in a way? I think that’s how you feel when you’re younger. It’s how I felt anyway – like I was due my prize in some sort of inflated ego sense, when in fact what we’ve done in the last year is just work our ass off from beginning to end. Only now is it starting to pay off and it’s great, that’s what we need to keep doing. We need to be tired.
You label yourselves as punk rock but there are so many genres that are interwoven with the main chunk of heavy rock that completes your sound, what genres besides punk rock influenced your writing and how difficult was it to fuse them together?
Tristan: I suppose we don’t really try? I mean, ‘punk rock’ is the most encompassing description for our music, but we never really tried for a specific genre. It just so happened that the sound that we’ve created is what we’re all very comfortable with and suits the speed, the angry, fast music, the lyrics and the topics that it tackles. It kind of was just the end product and I think ‘punk rock’ is the best way to describe that.
Jamie: It’s an unfortunate scenario that within our world nowadays that you have to label yourself as a specific genre. It’s not something that we ever consciously did, it wasn’t like we were like: we’re punk! It’s just that that’s what someone said once, and then it sort of just went, ‘oh we’re punk now, that’s cool, that’s fine.’ If that’s what people want to call it that’s fine. I mean, in terms of when we write, as long as it sounds like it’s gonna punch you in the face I’m cool with it [laughs].
Sam: I think everything’s in it, I hear literally so much of everything.
Jamie: A bit of Motley Crue, a bit of fucking Gallows, a bit of whatever you like.
Sam: Elton John.
Tristan: Biffy [Clyro].
Jamie: A lot of Biffy.
I hear a little bit of A Day To Remember sometimes.
Jamie: A bit of A Day To Remember! There’s a little bit, yeah.
Tristan: We love A Day To Remember!
Most of the songs you’ve released so far are packed with energy and fire and they seem made for a live audience, is that something you heavily took into account when writing or was it something that happened just because of the style of your music?
Jamie: Well… I’ve been playing since I was like fifteen… I’ve been gigging since I was seventeen, sixteen, and so I kind of always knew what works live and what doesn’t work live. So when it comes to writing now, it’s not like I’m thinking ‘okay, this has to work live’ – it just has to work to Counterfeit. I write all different styles of music all the time. I love writing country songs, I’m a huge one for writing country bangers! I’ve started so many various side projects, country bands – all-star line-ups that just never happens you know, we have one rehearsal and then that’s it, it never is born! Just as long as it sounds likeCounterfeit, it’s gonna work well live. We have to be able to play it as well, there’s no point in writing something that you can’t play. That’s why we have three guitars on stage. There’s this song that we’ve got called Addiction and it’s got this sick little breakdown line in it, but I can’t play that line… So I give it to Tristan. Because I’m lazy [laughs].
Letter to the Lost is toned down in comparison to other tracks that you’ve done but it’s still quite gritty. A lot of fans know The Darling Buds and how they were mellower, can we expect anything a little more chilled out on the new album or is it all fire?
Jamie: It’s all fire! [laughs]
Tristan: It will burn you.
Jamie: It’s gotta be uncomfortable to listen to at the end of the day, that’s how I want to sell this record! ‘It’s uncomfortable!’
You should put that on the posters!
Jamie: Yeah, exactly! ‘Zane Lowe has said that his ears actually bled!’ [laughs].
When you first started Counterfeit, did you have an overall goal or an aim that you wanted to accomplish, and if so has that changed as you’ve grown and had more experience of being a band and obviously added Sam and Jimmy?
Roland: I think this band, we want to make it as big as possible. The Darling Buds, like we said, was put to bed and the management came on board, and we all thought if we’re gonna do it then we want to do it properly. We want to take this band to arenas, we want to do albums and albums, and really be touring the world. Whether it happens or not, you never know – but you’ve gotta be in it to win it, and we’re all here to give it 110%. We’re all giving it everything we’ve got you know? We’ve all given up so much time and put so much effort into this, this is what we wanna do.
Where do you want the band to be five years from now?
Jamie: I think one of us will have been arrested… for murdering the other [laughs]. I mean, where do I want it to be? I want it to be the biggest thing that’s ever happened. Our aspiration is to be-
Tristan: Wembley?
Jamie: Yeah, what? Living in Wembley?
Tristan: Yeah, literally living in Wembley! Just in the surrounding area.
Roland: Because we play the arena so much?
Tristan: Yeah, it’s our dormitory!
Jamie: I think in five years’ time we’d like this band to be the biggest thing that’s ever existed and to have made a really significant impact in the international rock scene. It’s gonna be a hard slug for us you know, it’s not the world’s most accessible music by any stretch of imagination, but I think with hard work and persistence, and as long as we stay true, and as long as we stay honest, I can’t really see it not working in some way, shape or form. But we’d be stoked if we weren’t the biggest band in the world. I mean, in five years’ time we’d be stoked to be playing in front of ten people you know? Just as long as it meant that we we’re playing music.
You’re writing your debut album right now, has the process of the album been any different from how you wrote the EP?
Jamie: It hasn’t. The process is really similar. I mean, it’s gonna be interesting because now we’ve got Jimmy and Sam on board. Sam was involved actually since we started the record which was like, nine months ago? The record has evolved a lot and that’s why it’s not out yet, because it’s still evolving and it’s still becoming this monster that it needs to be. It needs to just be this absolute monster, and there are already three tracks that I’m not putting on that we recorded at the very, very beginning. It’s just not gonna happen. So, the process is very much the same. I think with having Sam on board it’s gonna be interesting now to see what he comes up with because generally what happens is I write pretty much everything and then everyone puts their own flavours in it. In Come Get Some there’s this really sick like [imitates bass guitar] that Roland does on his bass. That came from him. I was just like ‘this is the structure, do what you like, it’s yours now.’ I think that with Sam being on board now as well it’s gonna be really interesting because he’s more technical in terms of what he writes and how he listens, whereas I’m just like, pick it up – if it sounds like it’s gonna die, it’s probably good! So yeah, I’m interested to see what will happen with that but the process is still the same: at home, demoing it, sending it off to the producer, him going, ‘work on that, don’t work on that, pick that up, don’t pick that up’, taking it back, writing the lyrics for it, going into the studio, getting it done.
Whereas a lot of bands fall into the trap of trying to make their songs profound and romanticised, on tracks like Enough, which you’ve said was a backlash to the Paris attacks last November, it seems that you prefer to be raw and brutally honest, why did you decide to take that approach and has there been a reaction to it?
Jamie: Has there been a reaction to it? My mind instantly goes ‘has there been a negative reaction?!’ It’s my catastrophic mind there! Has there been a reaction? I think the reaction speaks for itself in the sense that people are coming to the shows and buying the record. I think that’s the reaction in all honesty, there hasn’t been a negative reaction to it at all. I’m not preaching hate in any way, shape or form in anything that I’ve ever said. If you sit down and read the lyrics it’s a lot more about acceptance and love as well as the darker side. It’s just the honest truth of what it’s like to be alive, rather than to sing about cupcakes and chocolate.
It seems to encompass a broader range of frustrations, and with the marching drum beat and gang vocals it seems to appeal more to younger audiences. Was it simply a release of inner frustrations or was it more of a call to action, raising awareness thing?
Jamie: Both, I think. I mean, it wasn’t a conscious decision that I made to write a song that was gonna be a call to arms. We were in the studio, this song was about something else, these attacks happened and I just thought ‘fuck, I can’t just not say anything. Surely there has to be other people out there who feel like me.’ If there are, this is what it is. If they wanna dig it, they can dig it, if they don’t, they don’t. It was just born out of a need to vent some serious frustrations. And also not frustrations alone… confusion. I’m confused at how people can be so horrific to each other, I don’t understand it. It boggles the mind, the mind just churns when you think about it.
Are there more tracks on the album that make more general comments about society or is it an isolated song in that aspect?
Jamie: I think there’s a few, I mean, Addiction is pretty similar in the sense that if anybody’s experienced what the song is talking about they’ll get it. There’s a few… but again, it’s never a conscious call to arms. That’s not what this band is about, it’s not about a gimmick. We could make it gimmicky, we could be like, ‘oh, that’s done well, let’s just make a whole album around being all ‘aren’t we all together in this!’’ We are all together in this, but let’s talk about shit that’s really fucking real and shit that happens on a daily basis. Having your heart broken is one of the worst things that could ever happen to you and if anybody’s ever been through that they’ll get it. I’m not addressing it in a way that’s like ‘oh my god, I’m so sad!’ It’s addressing it in a way that’s like, ‘you fucked me up! You really fucked me up!’ It’s just being honest about it rather than having some pop singer talk about it in a way that’s just not honest.
What are other bands that you’d like to tour with in the grand scheme of things? I know you’re touring with Billy Talent…
Jamie: We’ve got Billy yeah, we’d love to do Biffy I think, in the long run-
Tristan: Marmozets is another one.
Jamie: They are proper Leeds boys and girls, Marmozets would be great. I’d love to go on the road with Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes, I think that would be great fun for us. Um… I’m trying to think who it would fit with. I think Biffy andMarmozets would probably be our top at the moment for sure. I just think it would be cool and it would fit well.
Biffy are playing Leeds Festival and you’re playing 2000 Trees, can we expect you at any other UK festivals this summer?
Jamie: Not in the UK. Sorry UK, we love you! The 2000 Trees line-up is ridiculous though! I think someone told me the capacity is like five thousand for this festival right?
Roland: I think it is, I think it’s five thousand cap.
Jamie: It’s madness, right? I saw Neck Deep headline at The Forum in Kentish Town which is a 2500 cap venue and they sold it out. And then I saw Twin Atlantic headline at Roundhouse which is, I think, more? Is it three?
Tristan: Yeah, I think it’s three.
Jamie: Those two bands alone will bring over capacity crowds!
You’ve recently become ambassadors of the charity CALM – Campaign Against Living Miserably – which is also supported by the likes of Young Guns and Professor Green. Can you explain what it is and why you decided to take on the role of ambassadors, and what you plan to do as a result of your involvement with it?
Jamie: CALM helps raise awareness for the horrendous issue within our country, which is that the most probable cause of death for men under forty-five years old is suicide… which is a mental statistic. I personally started working with them when my friend took his own life almost a year ago. You know, you always get approached by charities, in whatever you do in your daily life, whether it’s people asking you for money in the streets or whatever. You try and do as much as you possibly can do but it’s not until something affects you so greatly, and is so personal to you, that you can really, really understand the benefits that a charity like this can have on people. They didn’t seek me out, I went and found them. It was through my friend Sinead and I was instantly like, ‘I want to work with these people’. I think they’re great, I think their message is fantastic. Our plan? What is our plan to do with it? Our plan is to raise awareness. I talk about them at every show, I will always talk about them in interviews, I’ll do interviews for them. They’ve got the CALMzine which is available in Topshop if anybody wants to pick it up, it talks about mental health issues. Mental health issues within our country are still somewhat taboo – it’s seen to be a sign of weakness to be emotional as a man. I’m an incredibly emotional man, I’m very emotionally aware of myself as well. Whether that’s a blessing or a curse is yet to be determined.
Will there be any charity events that you’ll be participating in?
Jamie: Yeah, I think we’d love to do something maybe with [Young] Guns and with Pro Green as well. We could do something and try and get it together. You know, when you choose to work with a charity it has to be about the long-term. It’s all very exciting in that beginning when you’re like, ‘right we can go on tour!’ and this kind of stuff, but we have to plan it in the right way in order for it to have the most positive effect and for it have the largest outreach – to be able to get the most amount of people involved and spread the message as best we can. But yeah, a charity gig would be cool. I mean, CALM are wicked as well because CALM do so much stuff apart from bringing out the fanzine. They had a poetry slam on the other day in London which was so cool. They do so much wicked stuff and it’s just a way for young people to connect as well, you know, to be aware.
What would your advice be to fans that are struggling with personal issues?
Jamie: I mean, there is always help, that’s the main thing, you know? There is always help.
Tristan: Just talk to people. Don’t sit with your thoughts on your own – just talk to people.
Would you see Counterfeit as a space where fans can come and release those issues?
Jamie: At a live show? Yeah, I think that any record that you ever put on or any gig you ever go to should make you… You should come out feeling ruined, or just exorcised, in a way. I’ve got so many records that I put on if I’m ever feeling a certain way and it just makes me run around my apartment and go fucking mental. My girlfriend’s seen it and she’s seen me do that and she’s confused by it and a little bit weirded out by it, but it’s a good thing! If people can connect with our lyrics then that’s amazing.
Okay now the serious bit is over, usually we ask bands stupid questions at the end of an interview. I’ve made some ‘would you rather’ questions. When I was writing them there was one about sex that I wasn’t really sure whether to ask or not?
Jamie: Why? You can ask us anything about sex!
Roland: What was it?
Would you rather only be able to have sex when listening to the High School Musical Soundtrack, or have your mum instantly know whenever you’re having sex, every single time?
Jamie: I fucking love High School Musical!
Tristan: High School Musical! It has to be High School Musical!
Jamie: [sings] We’re all in this together!
Roland: There are some bangers on there!
Was that a pun?
Roland: …Yes.
Tristan: He’ll take credit!
Jamie: [laughs] Is it? I don’t know. What’s a pun? [laughs].
Roland: I’m a punny guy…
Would you rather be a Stark in Game of Thrones or participate The Hunger Games, and why?
Roland: I don’t watch Game of Thrones, so I’ll leave that to you guys.
Tristan: Yeah, I’d be in Game of Thrones.
Jamie: Um… I would rather participate in The Hunger Games, because some of my mates are in Game of Thrones and it would be weird.
Sam: Hunger Games, easily! I love that, you know… being in the wilderness, fighting for your own, I think.
There’s a lot of that in Game of Thrones, have you seen Arya?
Sam: Yeah but, you know it’s not like a game in that way-
Tristan: She is a tough cookie! She’s a great character. In the next series she’ll end up coming out very powerful.
Would you rather be stranded on a desert island for a year or accidentally pee yourself at random times every day for the rest of your life?
Roland: Stranded on a desert island for a year, you know, you’ve got a lot of time to reflect and improve.
But there are wild animals in there!
Roland: It’s fine, you just live off them! Chickens, eggs and stuff I don’t know, whatever! You could make good out of living on a desert island for a year, you could learn things and go to places you’ve never been! But peeing yourself every day, randomly, no!
Jamie: Look at him properly thinking about it! Yeah, I would definitely choose desert island.
Tristan: You could just wear nappies!
Roland: Would you rather pee yourself?
I don’t know what’s on the island! If I had some forewarning of what was gonna happen…
Roland: I was expecting a mansion and a helipad on the island! [laughs].
What about a Lord of the Flies kind of island?
Sam: I think I’d do the island.
Jamie: I think I’d do the island because if you wee yourself every day, you could be having the most important meeting of your life and wee yourself – and that’s it. You could be on stage, you could be meeting a record label-
Tristan: But you could wear nappies!
Jamie: You could be meeting your next girlfriend and you wee yourself, and then things are getting frisky and it’s like a whole new Bridget Jones scenario!
Tristan: Well it’s gonna be acceptance isn’t it?
At least she won’t leave you when you’re old and you pee yourself anyway?
Roland: Does that… does that happen?!
Tristan: Yes [laughs]. Sorry to break the news to you!
Would you rather never again be able to go to a gig that isn’t yours, or never again perform at a gig?
[Unanimous groan]
Tristan: That’s not cool!
Jamie: I’m trying to figure out the question?
Sam: Only play at your own gig, or only ever be able to go to other people’s gigs but not be able to play yourself?
Roland: Play!
Jamie: Oh, play! Play, play, play, play!
Roland: Play, play, fuck everyone else!
Jamie: We’d just get whoever we wanted to see live to be our support.
Roland: Or we’d be their support.
Would you rather live in a really haunted house and never be able to move out or be in a zombie apocalypse?
All: Zombie apocalypse!
Roland: Big fan of The Walking Dead, yeah! I know all the moves!
Jamie: I’ve already started building a bunker.
Tristan: I’m just going to the cellar.
Jamie: Tristan’s got a strong cellar game.
Tristan: No one will find you there.
SB: Yeah, but the sea!
The sea?! Is that how you’re going to get to the desert island?
Sam: Yeah, pretty much! You’re on a desert island, you’ve got food-
Jamie: I’ll see you on the desert island mate ‘cause that’s where I’ll be living. I won’t be peeing myself there.
Tristan: I’d join the navy, then you’re on a boat.
Sam: No, cause if you’re in the navy then you’ll be called in to port during the apocalypse? You want to get out!
So there you have it! Tristan really likes nappies and Jamie‘s going to live on a desert island! Make sure you check out the band at 2000 Trees this summer! You can keep up to date with the band’s touring schedule here:
No comments:
Post a Comment