When we first heard Champagne On Ice's 'Straight From Hell' it's fair to say that we were pretty impressed to say the least. On the strength of that alone we thought it time we did some digging and found out about one of Brighton's finest prospects. Guitarist Justin took the hot seat:
R13: First off who's in the band & how would you describe your music to anyone who hasn't heard you?
J: Storm Badishi, Justin Potter, Vicky Smith, Neil Caws, Hannah Smith are the members. The sound of COI is 'Party Rock', it's like a mix up of our separate influences....ACDC, Chilli's, Prince, Oasis. We see our gigs as parties really and if we're hosting the party then let's make sure our partygoers have a top night .
R13: Most of the band came out of the AKA Band, what happened with that and what made you decide to adopt a change of style rather than follow a similar path?
J: 4 of us were in AKA and we had gotten to a point where we had done what was being asked of us by our old management and our old singer but that's where the opinions started to divide. Our influences were similar to each others, rock bands that sell out stadiums and that differed from our singer in them days, we persevered for a while but eventually you go where your heart leads I suppose & that led to COI.
R13: How did you come to work with Storm Badishi (vocals)? Perhaps that would be better directed at him, given all his success in Israel (3 top 10 singles, authoring a number 1 single etc) why did he decide to throw it all in and hook up with the rest of COI?
J: Storm left Israel to find a band with the songs to give him the belief that he could find worldwide response to his vocal and front man qualities. We met him, he met us and so far we all still agree lol. It's a team thing being in a band and we love our team and believe our debut album is up there with the finest so let's play it to everyone and see what they make of what we do!!!
R13: Have you been able to use any of the momentum you built up with the AKA band to open a few doors for COI & give you a head start or does it feel like starting over?
J: It's like starting over. Our old management copy righted all our tunes so the day we left we had no singer, no songs and a plan to be on the major stages rather quickly. So we wrote loadsa songs, got the best up'n running and it feels like we had luck on our side cos they are better songs than some of the ones we'd spent weeks or months over and it feels like we are constantly writing the script to whatever 'Party Rock' really is.
R13: The taster songs on your Myspace page are pretty impressive, any plans for an official release? Any label interest yet?
J: Firstly Thank You!! We've had major management company interest and they continue to see us however many times they need to and we obviously hope that leads to a management/publishing deal in the near future. As for labels, we've had our best responses from American labels & that may just be better than British but we will wait and see. Looks like us playing and touring as a support in America next year is ever more likely though so watch this space & if we get to appoint any roadies then we'll advertise on our myspace!!!!
R13: Some bands jump in a van and will tour the country playing anywhere & everywhere whilst others tend to target their audience much more and carefully pick support tours, do COI have a plan for gigging further afield?
J: America, we could do the van round Britain thing but a van in hot weather with a crate of beers and a barby outside the van each night sounds better than the rain!!
R13: Storm also dabbles in a bit of acting & we understand he has been working on a film here in the UK, what can you tell us about that? Any chance of COI cropping up on the soundtrack?
J: COI would love to do the soundtrack, Storm has been filming a forthcoming movie with Sienna Miller and Rhys Ifans starring. What an opportunity hey!! And one the rest of us only hear about!! This man could probably do anything he put his mind to tho and its lovely having him at the helm of COI. When Aerosmith put a band together and Steve Tyler tried out fronting the band they probably knew there was something special and I think that's us right now. Love in an elevator anyone? Lol
R13: Brighton seems to have a very vibrant scene at the moment with a lot of bands starting to break through, is there much rivalry in that or is it more of a supportive collective mentality?
J: Bit of both really, some bands you know, some bands you love and some bands you either never meet, never see, meet once and have different ideas about music and so on and so on. The scene in Brighton is big and buzzing and it's probably that wide array of choice on offer that makes the bands striving to be at the top of the new crest having to keep upping the ante to stand out.
R13: How serious are you about COI and are you struggling to juggle day jobs with a commitment to the band or are you trying to do the band full time?
J: To be honest we live in one another's pockets most of the time, we get on like top mates and we are living for COI. We all work day jobs and we spend most of our time outside of that doing one thing or another for the band, even if its going out on the razz and by 5 in the morning stating our love for each another and the world of rock n roll lol. We ain't to dissimilar to most groups of mates but we have a common goal of doing the best we can and seeing if one day it gives us a wild story to remember.
R13: Amongst the sea of up and coming bands why should people bother to check you out?
J: We've been to tonnes of gigs and there is an introductory line that changes its words but is fundamentally the same and it's used by so many acts. It basically says this 'the next half hour is a reflection of my life thru the lows and the hard times and the struggles and when I felt suicidal' etc etc and some geezer wants you to spend half hour feeling how he did when he thought about ending his existence!!!! HELL NO, have you ever seen ACDC, Queen, The Darkness, Thin Lizzy, The Chillis, Kravitz, Oasis???? The Gig ethic was more like 'forget the world and its worries when we walk out and just party, drink, dance, kiss your mates bird in excitement lol, whatever, just be free and do it and when the gigs over remember it for that fun, energetic moment you just shared with thousands of other people'.....well that feeling is 100% alive, its over here in the COI world and if you're reading this and believe in people having good times and sharing memorable moments then we gotta meet each other. Anything you do in life should be an upper, something that makes you feel better than you did before you did it and we are just seeing how far we can spread that vibe...Brighton & London? Or England & America? We'll tell ya in a few years!!
R13: And finally, what question would you like to be asked?
J: The question we'd like to be asked is probably 'How did it feel when you headlined the Rock in Rio festival this summer and made a few hundred thousand mentally happy party goers jump round like pogo sticks for an hour, either that or 'would you like 4 or 5 albums written in the contract guys'?
R13: What's the answer?
J: Well, guess there's 2 answers to them questions, the first is 'it felt like it does when you've thrown up in public, then returned to the bar and finished your drink and your mates and the whole pub heralds you as the messiah of lager and shots and offers to buy a drink for a guy they simply now know as 'legend' lol and the 2nd answer is '4 albums please cos no one has a good 5th album and by then we've promised the priory that we will be taking residence and undergoing rehab so 4 will do' Thanks tho boss!!!
You can download the very rock and roll 'Straight From Hell' for free
here