Room Thirteen: So, who exactly are Your Army?
Your Army: Your Army consist of Sam on Bass, Andy on Drums, Chris on Guitar and Lucy on the mic! we're a four piece rock band from Brighton who enjoy a lot of Weetabix (check out the vid at our myspace, it will explain all!)
R13:How would you describe your sound to those who haven't heard you before?
YA:Female-fronted, riff based rock fused with soul influenced vocals and catchy, upbeat choruses! We take a lot of our inspirations from bands like Skunk Anansie, Billy Talent and Rage Against The Machine.
R13:Being an unsigned band, what are your aims and aspirations for the next 12 months and further afield?
YA: In the near future we want to do more radio interviews, photoshoots and continue gigging in and around Brighton but further on towards summer we want to plan a UK tour for the end of this year, perhaps play some festivals during the summer and record an EP to promote and sell as we give away our demos at the moment... we're that nice! We keep on progressing though, so as long as we always have something new happening I think we'll be happy.
R13: Are there any plans for releasing material in the near future? If so, what format?
YA: Yeah, we want to put together an EP to release early next year. We couldn't really just put out a single as we've been giving away about three of our songs as a demo.... And then promote it as much as possible in the hope that people might buy it! We'd like to put it out as an mp3 download and an actual CD release. As popular as mp3s are, there is definitely something exciting about buying a new CD from a record store and as long as that demand is there we want to give our fans the opportunity to do it.
R13: Brighton is considered to be a hotbed of new talent at the moment. How has relocating to such a scene helped you develop?
YA: We come from Plymouth which doesn't have a sniff of a music scene! So being in Brighton has definitely given us so many more opportunities and helped us to develop and mature as a band quite quickly. We have played with some great bands recently and it's inspired us to up our game to bridge that gap from amateur band to serious new, unsigned band.
R13: What are the difficulties you face as an unsigned band, without the backing of a label?
YA: There's always going to be a shortage of funds for an unsigned band - we don't get paid a lot for gigs and we're students but in terms of finance, we haven't had that much of a problem. Although recording can become very costly, we're able to record our tracks ourselves in our top of the rangebedroom studio!! The biggest problem we find is promotion of our band and gigs because putting out shitty flyers that we made on the computer aren't going to attract much attention or give a great portrayal of the band!
R13: You all study at the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM) together. How has this helped or hindered your progression?
YA: Being at BIMM has definitely not done us any harm as a band. We have had intensive tuition on our chosen instruments and has made us individually stronger as musicians and a lot tighter as a band. There are some awesome teachers there who want nothing more than for us to achieve eveything that we want and the contacts and experience that they have has put us in a very strong position to do that.
R13: Myspace is a key tool in breaking new bands nowadays. What effect has this had on you, and how has it helped you directly?
YA: Myspace is a great tool for bands, promoters, and venues and the majority of our gigs have been organised through it. It is the best way for us to get our music to a lot of people (106 million at the last count) to hear our music and check out our pics and stuff. So if only half of them come down to our next gig that would be cool. It is a really good thing for bands and we plug it at every gig we do. We try to update our site with something new every week, it could be new pics, new songs, new videos. It's our way of generating interest and continuing to build a buzz about the band.
R13: Exciting live performance is crucial for any fledgling band to be noticed. How would you describe your live shows to potential gig-goers. Why should they come and see you?
YA: We are a band that take our influences from some of the greatest live bands such as Muse, Rage Against The Machine, and Skunk Anansie and we try to convey this in all of our live shows. We all give 100% at every gig and think of each gig as a show! Every gig will have some people that have never seen us play live before and we set ourselves the challenge of winning them over. We want to be the band that makes them go home and tell their mates about!
R13: Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?
YA: We are ambitious as a band. We want to play all the major festivals, the biggest venues across the globe and take our riffs to everyone who wants to hear them! However, maybe not in 5 years. It's hard to plan 5 years in advance and even harder to say what opportunities might come up in the next 5 years. We're going to carry on as we are hopefully getting more gigs and bigger audiences. We're going to do more tours, more recording. Pretty much everything we're doing now but bigger and better! We're not afraid of putting in the work but none of what we want can happen without the fans - they're the most important thing for any band.