If you wanna like Blacklisters get a full time job, work as hard as you can and by the time you get to the gig it will be such a relief you are not at your job that you will really like it. Well that is what they told me when Room Thirteen spoke to Billy (vocals) and Dan (guitar) right after they had been let out of the zoo at Hevy festival 2012.

R13: You seem scary and imposing when you play live. Is that intentional?
Billy: I'm not going to say that it was totally intentional but I think...
Dan: That comes from not giving a fuck I reckon. Just turn up, play your tunes, look like you're having a good time...
Billy: Don't pander to anyone. I think we don't pander to anyone, we saw some red pandas in the zoo they were nice.

R13: If you could be any animal would it be a panda?
Dan: What did we see today?
Billy: The monkeys that did the swinging? They were cool. What were they?
Dan: I don't know what they were; they had tiny faces, but really big personalities.
Billy: what we would be an animal with a tiny face and a massive personality.
Dan: If we are going to answer this question seriously I would say a silver back gorilla because they look like they don't give a fuck.

R13: Your video for 'Trick Fuck' is pretty fucked up, who came up with the idea?
Billy: The dude who made it, Matt Green. He sent us a bunch of treatments for videos and we would say yes and no to stuff, but basically his idea was making just that. Which we thought is fucking brilliant.
R13: Does he get off on those really butch guys?
Billy: Those were just guys who go to his gym!
Dan: The video has a really weird crossover of it almost being normal, it's normal kind of stuff but slightly twisted which is why it works so well. It is not trying to freak you out with with weird effects. It doesn't feel weird, it almost feels quite normal but with that little twist to get to you.

R13: The images are quite striking is that something you try to bring to your artwork?
Billy: Well I think we always want to get across a certain vibe because we want it to be true to the band that we are. You want it to not be bullshit, to be exactly what we are trying to get across. A bit sarcastic, a bit serious, a bit heavy, a bit horrible. That's what we try and get across when we put stuff out.
Dan: We wanna be the two minutes before you puke!

R13: Dan you play some really horrible feedback on OK 47 how do you get that sound?
Dan: It does sound horrible but there is a certain kind of way I try to control the horrible thing and balance it. There is a point where it just goes RWWEEEAAHHH. But I try to get it just in between there and sit on top of it. You look at your amp with your hands off your guitar and see how it turns out, it will depend on where you are stood in relation to the amp. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't.

R13: Billy you gave hugs out after your set at Hevy, tell me what constitutes a good hug?
Billy: I say soft but strong. It's comforting yet sensitive. I don't want to get too into it because it depends what you want out of a hug.
Dan: I got a massage from a window cleaner the other day and it was really good.
Did you just open up a window and stand with your back up against it?
Billy: (laughs) did he do it with a squeegy?
Dan: "This is brilliant! Bit wet though."

R13: Looking to the future where can heavy music go?
Billy: I hope it stops sounding like it's the same band all the time. That really bothers me. I don't want us to be a cunt but a lot of the bands (we have seen at Hevy) sounded like we have just stepped in and out of seeing the same band. Coming from Leeds and playing up and down the country we see loads of brilliant bands all the time. You see bands that are not necessarily geared around "you only sound good if it sounds like THIS and people will like you" and they just want to do the things they want to do. That is something we take on board. When I see a band that stands out from everybody else it is because they are literally not paying attention to what they think should be happening. So I think the way that heavy music should go is the way it has always gone which is against the grain, but I don't know that it is going against the grain rather than along with it.

R13: What is the least heavy record in your collection?
Dan: I'll speak for Billy in this.
Billy: No you wont! Don't.
Dan: Massive Graceland fan!
Billy: Oh massive...
Dan: What were you doing two weekends ago? What did you go and see?
Billy: I went to see Paul Simon do Graceland.
Dan: How long were you there for?
Billy: Three and a half hours. I literally love Graceland, it is my favourite album ever. But I think it is quite heavy (Dan Laughs). I think Favourite non-heavy album is Ys by Joanna Newsom. It's her second album, unlike anything I had heard before, she plays harp. What about you?
Dan: There is a band I like at the moment they are new on the scene. It is actually the music of Ocean Colour Scene played in the style of the band Cream (Billy cracks up). So they are called Ocean Colour Cream. You wouldn't think it would work, but it just works. You know when you get that tingle down your back in River Song? Well when they do it...
Billy: ...it has got a 15 minute drum solo in the middle...
Dan: ...you get a tingle down your thighs it's really special.

R13: Who would be your ideal band to support?
Billy: Queen, but John Deacon's Queen.
Would that be the same for you Dan?
Dan: Well I'm going to give a sensible answer and I'll say, errrrr, I'll say Queen as well. 'Cos they are the best band that ever lived

R13: Blacklisters are from Leeds, what is your favourite local venue?
Billy: I literally live two streets away from the Brudenell Social Club and considering the bands they get to play there and the price of the beer I would say it's probably the best venue in the country by a country mile. Honestly if anybody has any ideas of better places to go I'm happy for people to write in and tell me where is better.

R13: So where is the best place for fans to get in contact with Blacklisters?
Billy: Go on our Facebook.
Dan: Our website (blacklisters.co.uk).

R13: What is the best way for fans to support Blacklisters?
Billy: Go to either our Twitter of Facebook and follow the links to whatever we are doing. I'm not necessarily trying to sell our album but if you wanna buy it you can get it via there.
Dan: You should definitely buy it.
Billy: You should definitely buy it 'cos it's got all the songs on it from 1-10.
R13: And that's all the numbers isn't it?
Dan: That's all of them. You can't actually have more numbers than that. You're just adding to it, you can add a 2 to it or a 1 to it but it's only ever going to be 1-10. That is why songs are best when there is never more.
Billy: In fact 1-9, I think it's just 1-9
R13: You have got to have a 0 as well.
Billy: Yeah.
Dan: We should have 0. Why don't we have a song 0?
R13: You can get secret tracks at the beginning of the album where you have to rewind to hear it.

R13: What is next for Blacklisters?
Billy: We are going on tour with Pig Destroyer. They found us on the internet, said "we are coming over to Britain and want to tour with this band". Their first dates in the country in 8 years and they want us to do it!
Dan: Totally out of the blue.

R13: Out of the blue you recently got tipped by Biffy Clyro, had you communicated with them at all before?
Dan: No not at all.
Billy: No we haven't but we could probably do a 6-degrees of Kevin Bacon between us and Biffy Clyro. Pig Destroyer is a lot weirder because there is literally nobody between us and Pig Destroyer.

R13: Any last words?
Dan: In the words of Echo and the Bunnymen "nothing ever lasts forever".

Blacklisters play:
Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, UK October 23rd Supporting Dope Body
The Cluny 2, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK October 26th Head-liners
The Haunt, Brighton, UK November 1st Supporting Pig Destroyer
The Garage, London, UK November 2nd Supporting Pig Destroyer
Damnation Festival 2012, Leeds University Students Union, Leeds, UK with Pig Destroyer +more