Midasuno have had it tough over the last couple of years, disengaging from an 'ill-fated' record deal was just the start of it. Many a violent and bloody gig later, Midasuno are starting to (and determined to) stand out from the 'welsh emo' that continues to flood the market. Perseverance has paid off and as the band now head forward on their three-leg headlining tour of the UK Scott Andrews [vocals] spares R13 some time to explain how this is the beginning...
R13:What does Midasuno actually mean?
SA:I could be perfectly honest with you or I could tell the biggest lie in the world.
R13:Lies are usually funnier.
SA:The word Midasuno is an appropriation of a welsh word that was given to a malevolent spirit that haunts the forest behind Castle Coch in Cardiff. The spirit was a begrudged musician who was exiled into the forest for playing music people didn't want to listen to. But really...our drummer liked the word 'midas' and I liked the word 'uno' being a Muse fan and we couldn't agree on a name. We woke up one morning after a massive night out, thought we had the best name in the world for the band and they were the only words we could remember so we stuck them together.
R13:Please give the readers a brief history of the band.
SA:Myself and Matt [drums] have known each other since nursery. We decided to form a band and jammed together for a year or two, then assembled the rest of the band from misfits from school. The bassist was a mate who moved to the area and didn't know anyone so we asked him to join. I met our guitarist on the tennis court because in games we were both wearing Manic's t-shirts. Our other guitarist was the sole friend of our bassist when he came to school, he was an odd one as well. Things evolved. We lost our guitarist, well...I asked our drummer to sack him. Then we changed our name from the previous incarnation. We managed to get our first single out in 2002 on a label called Cascade Records before signing our 'ill-fated' deal with Lockjaw. Last September Chris joined and we enrolled our website designer as keyboardist/ sampler/ effects. We're more of a gang when we go on tour and it's like a mini-mafia, a gang that's preciously guarded, no-one can break the circle. It's quite dangerous in that respect and we fight like brothers.
R13:There are a lot of welsh bands on the verge of 'making it' at the moment, how do you feel you stand out from them?
SA:I think the one thing we pride ourselves on is always slightly standing out on the side. When Mclusky broke through you had a lot of alt-rock, post Nirvana bands trying not to emulate but take advantage of that sound. Then Lost Prophets, the tail end of the nu metal scene and everyone wanted to be a Lost Prophet. Then Funeral For A Friend. South Wales is absolutely saturated with emo bands and only now are we starting to see the repercussions of Franz Ferdinand and the Bloc Party. But to be perfectly honest with you I think in three or four year's time they're going to be looking for their P45s. It's swings and roundabouts in the music industry. We've survived everything. Considering we've been Midasuno for five years, it's fair to say we haven't been an overnight success but the bands trajectory since we started has been a constant ascent. It's been a very gradual, sometimes unbearably so but we have never dipped. We don't really sound like anyone and we don't look like a lot of bands, we do get quite a lot of flack for being scruffy. We haven't really got a...for want of a better word...Goth scene and I definitely wouldn't label the band Goth at all but we do like wearing black and a bit of make up and we do like big stupid hair. If that makes us Goth then people aren't listening to the music. I can see the kids are spending more money on clothes and haircuts than rehearsal space. I've had a lot of bitter self-facing time to think about this, the bile it induces in us, we use it for good. We don't think 'let's give up', we want to be a pie in the face even more.
R13:You've just finished recording the new album 'Songs In The Key Of Fuck'. How has working in the studio been?
SA:It's been really good. Everyone brings up the album title and I don't know where it came from. Maybe the fact we're all Wildhearts fans and they released an album in 1995 called 'Phuq'. To come out on a major label and get away with that was pretty fucking good. But we're not that subtle. We haven't got much to lose and we're sitting on our thumbs counting our fucking pennies. It's not like calling the album fucking 'child rapist association appreciation club', it's just got the word 'fuck' in it. But I digress, everything's great in the studio. We started last summer with our producer Nick Lloyd, we demoed three tracks with him and he really liked the songs. Autumn passed and we said we'd get as much money together to fund the recording and then we started recording in March. Because of our jobs it's been on and off and Chris [guitar] is only 18 so he's been doing his A' levels.
R13:Has it cost a lot?
SA:We as a band have paid a grand. Nick costs £250 a day and we have done about forty days in the studio and that clearly doesn't work out. Nick's had to come in with blind faith. Fortunately I am absolutely over the moon with it considering this album seemed like it was just not meant to be made. It just sounds fantastic and we're really proud of it. Just can't wait for people to hear it.
R13:When was the last time you listened to 'Art of Fear' (first release)?
SA:I actually listened to it the other day and it was nice to listen to it as it didn't sound like a lot at the time. We deviated towards the easy route I think and it really did me a favour because it set me back off on another angle again. I'm really proud of the song and really proud we got to be James Mclaren's first release for Cascade. If I hear it in a club I'm very proud and quite nostalgic but everyone's got to move on.
R13:Why did you choose to release a free download only single?
SA:We did actually do costing and to be honest with you I can't afford another packet of strings at the moment. Yet we needed to get the release out. It doesn't take much to go on the site and rip the song off. We've got an acoustic version of it which is probably the funniest recording I will ever put my name to.
R13:What's been the funniest occurrence on the first leg of the tour?
SA:This is really hard. On the way home last night with Pete's Sake we did a 'prick of the tour' and 'man of the tour'. We did it everyday at 12.00 and it was a really good bonding session because nobody goes to bed without being told they're a prick.
R13:Anybody get more votes than others?
SA:Lyndon [keyboards] must have some sort of prick gene in him. Nothing you can do about it really. We played at a night called Rebellion in Wrexham, an under-18s night. It was very well attended, the gig went down really well and then there was a rock disco. I do not dance but we thought ahhh fuck it and it ended up being like the Run DMC vs Jason Nevins video. Loads of people said most bands disappear into the dressing room and don't come out, but we united the whole room.
R13:How about the worst night?
SA:We haven't really had a bad night.
R13:So you haven't had any technical difficulties?
SA:Every night. I've written off four leads, broken my guitar twice. I've had to borrow a spare guitar because my two guitars have gone down. I think my guitar head's bust after the last gig but I'm not going to look at it till tomorrow night. Our drummer's mutilated his drum kit. We ripped the venue's PA apart but the sound guy didn't seem too bothered. Van's broken down twice, flat tyre in Blackpool.
R13:Is that the famous Black Betty?
SA:She's not very happy with us this time.
R13:All I've heard about you from the local 'scene' is that you're an incredibly nice person, would you like to change this image of you?
SA:Well it's one of those things like, my attitude is don't burn any bridges really. I think we're trying to bring back the whole rock star thing, like just the presence thing which doesn't mean you can be a cunt to people because I will give anyone the time of day. When I come off stage I will talk to everyone especially if it's anyone that's helped out. Some of the most humble people are the ones that have had to struggle and as soon as they get their arses wiped for them they forget how to treat people as human beings. It's been such a vital thing to this band, not having any money means you have to rely on contacts.
R13:Who's the best out of your support bands Pete's Sake, Along Came Man or The Next Nine Years?
SA:For the tour, our agent offered us £50 plus more for our fee a night if we didn't take supports. We thought why not split the tour into three legs and we give three bands that we have contacts with a chance. Pete's Sake we've known for years, absolutely gutted the leg of the tour is over and can't wait for the single dates we've got. I'll go on record saying this: Along Came Man. My mate Cerys [Jones] who was the drummer, unfortunately she recently had to leave the band due to the fact she heard that someone else had been auditioning in her place. For pride's sake she left the band to avoid it looking like she'd been kicked out. She's an amazing drummer, shockingly good and it's a travesty as she's had pretty bad luck in other bands and this looked like a pretty good break for her. So on the back of that I don't know the new drummer and I wish him all the best but as far as ties with the band they are slightly broken and we are looking forward to giving them hell. At the stage the band are at now they need to establish a network of strong contacts so if you fall you've got a net and they're just climbing a very high building and dropping matches as they go. The Next Nine Years however are a fantastic bunch of boys, another band who have been struck with a lot of bad luck which we can totally empathise with. They've got a release on Lifetaker Records called 'Forever Endeavour' that's fantastic, they really have evolved into a cracking studio band as well as a live band.
Check out Midasuno on their Summer/ Autumn tour, you can find the dates here