Reuben is made up of:
Jamie Lenman (vocals and guitar)
Jon Pearce (bass)
Guy Davis (drums)
R13: Have you got any songs stuck in your head at the moment?
JP: The new Killers one, ooo weee ooo.
JL: I can't get Living the Dream by Million Dead out my head. If I ever hang out with a friend of mine who's in a band I'm always singing their songs, it's embarrassing. So I keep going [hums song] in front of Frank (Turner), my fault.
R13: What's been the centre of Reuben's world for the past week?
All: Going on tour, girls.
JL: Trying to get practises happening.
JP: Yeah we're like if we're going on tour we should probably practise but I'm going on tour I wanted to see my friends before I go and ended up not really any effort put into the Reuben tour. I do apologise to the people who paid money to see us, it's not intentionally being rude we're just rubbish, can't help it.
R13: What do you take with you when you go on tour?
JL: Instruments, always a good idea.
JP: Toothbrush, you can never have too many teeth.
JL: I take a book because it gets boring, although I have bought the special Dr. Who issue of SFX magazine. It was a toss up between Dr. Who and boobies. I went for Dr.Who
JP: I went to the Welsh shop and bought a postcard. Last time I went on tour I bought a book about The Clash. I've been reading most of it at home in my spare time, since I've been on tour sitting around doing nothing, haven't read it at all. Go figure.
R13: How did the party for Xtra Mile Recordings go?
JP: It was a bit wobbly.
JL: I thought we were rubbish to be honest. We were alright until we played new songs that we don't know as well and we were uuuuhhhh....
JP: No, I thought the new ones were a lot better than the old ones, we were playing the new ones constantly because we were recording them. So we were quite tight at them. But the old stuff we just kind of thought we'd know. We played a cover of Nirvana - Dive which was cool. I played that really, really badly because right our manager Barney has this friend Al and he said 'what song are you playing?', 'Nirvana, Dive', 'oh, that's in drop D isn't it?' and I went 'No, it's in E' and he said 'No, it's drop D'. So when I went to play it suddenly there was this doubt in my mind if I was in the right tuning, 'Jim, what we tuning to?'
JL: I wondered why you were asking me.
JP: I knew I was right deep down but there was just this hint of not knowing. It's always a worry.
[Guy (drummer) turns up]
GD: Hello, sorry.
R13: So what do you do?
GD: I hit things.
JP: Guy's in charge of hair and make up.
GD: Hair and drums. Well I was thinking of getting rid of it but apparently I shouldn't.
JL: I don't think you should.
JP: I think you should go bald on top and leave the back and sides as it is, properly bald so the tops all shiny.
R13: So moving on to the new album, first of all how's the reaction to the first release 'Blamethrower'?
JP: Pretty cool man, thought people wouldn't know it or sing along to it but...
GD:You know what got me, you know in the [makes drum noises] didn't you hear like lots of girls screaming on the first night...
JL:[sarcastic] Hahahaha yeah, I love those bits man, I can't believe you're talking so fast, loved that bit. Crazy town to me. Yeah, it's good.
R13: What were the main differences between recording this album to the previous?
JP: We had a kitchen, a toilet, a studio engineer and a studio.
GD: We had pro's working on the album this time. Our guitars didn't work this time though.
JL: They went out of tune all the time, we thought it was the guitars, blatently it was us. That's one of the questions on the Reuben quiz - What is Jamie's guitar playing nickname? a) lightening fingers b)boxing gloves or c) I can't remember but it was funny you can bet.
GD: We drunk seven hundred and fifty teas.
JL: Oh yeah, we haven't said that a lot.
GD I've got video footage of it and stills.
JP: On the last day we realised we had to drink forty cups of tea to make the seven hundred and fifty barrier.
JL: So we had to go on a tea binge, chain tea.
JP: Like eleven in a row. It was severe, afterwards we were all battered.
JL: It was like we'd all been living on smack for a week.
GD: I'm still shaking a little bit, it's called the tea trembles.
JP:There were points where we were having it without milk and a bit of lemon, no hot water, just to make it a bit different.
GD: We definitely don't take sugar either we're sweet enough as it is.
JP: If we had sugar we'd have no teeth after that. The studio assistant was a guy called Ryan.
GD: He's the funniest man you'll ever meet, he's a funny man yo.
JP: He says 'yo' after everything as well yo. He talks about his cats in Bristol and I thought he meant little cats but he's talking about his mates. He's just like another world, he's awesome. But he's one of a couple of main reasons why we chose to work at that studio.
GD: The album, just to give a real answer. First album, two of us drumming, doing guitars and then bass and then vocals, got a bit rude and a bit boring so second album we did it live. Played together and then went back and touched things up and then four weeks into recording we realised the guitars and bass were out of tune with each other.
JL: So we had to do the guitars and bass all over again.
GD: Completely avoiding the concept of doing an album live.
JP: But there was a TV and Guy was in Vice City most of the time. What happened today, like Guy's been playing too much of Vice City and he's driving along and saw an airport and thought about escape, then he saw a posh car and was going to get out the van and get in the car. It's taken over. Too much gaming. Normal people don't play their PS2's as much as you.
GD: This is true.
JL: You are special.
R13: Karl Middleton (Earthtone9) makes a guest appearance on the new album, how did that come about?
JL: Well I called him up and said 'Karl, do you want to come and sing on my album' and he went 'alright'. He came in the studio and then he sang and it sounds pretty cool.
JP: The thing is we were massive Earthtone9 fans when we were like just knee high to a grasshoppers. We met Karl in Nottingham and he came to a few shows and we got to be mates with him.
R13:Predicted track listings for the new album by fans on the website, could you confirm or deny these rumours...
KEEP IT TO YOURSELF
JL: Yes, sounds like Nirvana.
BLITZKREIG
JL: Yes.
JP: No.
GD: Maybe.
All: Controversial.
JL: It's a bit poppy.
BLAMETHROWER?
JL: Yep.
ALPHA SIGNAL THREE
JL: Yeah, it's got Karl on it.
SOME MOTHERS DO 'AVE 'EM
JL: Yes, it's the second track.
GD: He's not wrong.
JP: No, he's not.
IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTROL
JL: Yes, it's poppy and has a big riff at the end that sounds like sumo wrestlers.
BEST ENEMIES
JP: In town.
JL: Yes.
LIGHTS OUT
JL: Yes it's on the album, bit fast, bit prog, sounds a bit like grandstand.
GD: Sound low, I wanna know how far can this go.
EVERYTIME A TEENAGER...
JL: Say the whole thing...
EVERYTIME A TEENAGER LISTENS TO DRUM 'N' BASS A ROCKSTAR DIES
JP: Very well researched there.
JL: Actually we're not going to put this on the album, it's going to be a single release like Sgt. Pepper. Penny Lane should have been on Sgt. Pepper but it wasn't it was a single. We're just going to put it out there, on it's own.
JP: What you don't see are his pants on fire.
GD: Here here.
DON'T DIE
JL: No. Bollocks.
JP: No, it's not I'm afraid.
KICK IN THE MOUTH
JL: Hells yeah! Sounds like the fifties.
JP: Opens the album.
RETURN OF THE JEDI
JL: Yeah that'll be on it.
JP: You've missed some.
R13:King Kong, Madonna or George Bush: who is the scariest dancer?
JP: King Kong, he's fucking massive!
JL: I've seen Madonna videos, it's fucking Madonna.
JP: Those bap things could take your eye out.
JL: She looks like, if someone takes your gran and pumps her full of water so all the wrinkles are pumped out and you don't notice them anymore. Not your gran, I haven't seen your gran.
R13: Clear Channel have given you the power to organise some of Download, who would you choose for your line-up?
JP: Have they? Can we play?
JL: I think we'd have us on everyday.
R13: Who would you have to warm up the crowd before you headline?
JP: Rammstein, they've got fires!
R13: Who would open?
JP: I'd put Metallica on first, no one would expect that
GD: Or Slayer.
R13: Filling in the final line up?
JL: Probably have Biffy Clyro and My Chemical Romance. Nirvana I reckon somewhere in the middle.
JP: Maybe At The Drive In, but they might want bagels or something.
JL: Glassjaw.
R13:Thank you very much for your time, anything else you would like to say to all your fans?
JL:Thanks.
To view live photos from the Cardiff gig click here.
For more information on the release of 'Blamethrower' and other exciting Reuben news hit their website http://www.wordsfromreuben.com.