Area

Area Interview

13/05/2009

The local music scene is definitely where it’s at. So let me introduce Area, an up and coming Indie/pop/punk band and Doncaster’s answer to a modern day ‘Buzzcocks’. They think of themselves as musical marmite, describe their sound as Yorkshire tribal and have a love of pigs…all will become clear later. They also have the potential to be great. It appears Myspace is once again responsible for launching the Indie prodigy’s career. Area’s page defines their musical inspirations as ‘life, love, tales from town, guitar pedals, females, quirky subway sarnies and imagination’ but I want to know the real Area. So on a cold Tuesday night in early April I find myself on my way to the Vintage Rock Bar in Doncaster ready to get some answers. 

The band is made up of long-term friends Jamie Shield (lead vocals, guitar) and Matti Brown (bass) and ‘brand new spankers’ Lee Cope (drums) and Steve Thornton (guitar). So who influenced them?

‘I’ll take the safe option and say the Beatles. I’m not going too far into why, yeah Beatles will do. You can win that with everyone, everyone seems to like them’ says lead vocalist Jamie.

‘I got inspired through my grandma, to play drums anyway. She’s all right, she gave us that pig’ Lee explains. ‘Babe’ references quickly follow as a look on bewildered which proves this is clearly an inside joke…one I never got to understand.

I ask if it’s important for a band to change to stay current.

‘Not if they’re good enough to start off with’ explains Jamie, which is a great answer in its simplest form.

However, the band discusses how Jamie and Matti are the only original members of Area. I ask if they found it easy to overcome the change (original drummer Liam Brode left to concentrate on a new project)

Jamie answers ‘yeah we’re definitely better off for the change of direction’.

They were previously known as Area 15 but now they’re just Area. Matti gave one reason for the name change ‘cos it was juvenile and we’re not juvenile people’. This is debatable!

Doncaster is not the most glamorous place, but with only a small, upcoming music scene it is astonishing how it managed to produce the most exciting band in a long while. This leads to the question do they prefer to play locally?

‘No!’ then they quickly add ‘Are you allowed to put that on?’ Although after seeing Area several times it is clear they enjoy playing for their local fans.

I’m intrigued after this answer to find out the worst venue they’ve ever played at?

Speaking about a local venue, drummer Lee explains ‘It was very poorly organized, the sound engineer was terrible’.

Steve adds ‘I don’t think that guy could organize a p*** up in a brewery’. It is clear that they have no mercy when it comes to playing at bad venues.

I’m also curious as to what genre they consider their music to be. Jamie bluntly says ‘good’.

‘Yeah it’s a good music genre. Yorkshire tribal music’ bassist Matti answers with a smile.

Jamie getting into the swing of things replies with ‘zooloo songs from the Middle East’. By this time I’m getting confused…yet again.

I then ask if they have had any comparisons to other bands.

Jamie is quick to respond ‘Careful boys. Don’t want to earn a wannabe tag’.

Lee jokingly replies ‘the band we sound the most like? Sex Pistols and Britney Spears’.

Jamie adds ‘Buzzcocks. The Buzzcocks as well’.

I also ask how hard it is to gain recognition?

‘Very! It’s getting easier and harder. Like with the Internet it’s easier but with the amount of bands that just go online to take pictures of themselves from above (referring to the world renown Myspace angles) They are only there to get picture comments. It’s like (does imitation) “Listen to my band, you might like it, but you have to comment on my picture”…I’d like to see them all when the server goes down’ says Jamie.

So what is the ultimate direction for Area?

‘(To) be a good touring band’ says Matti.

‘Yeah we just want to be a good touring band. Everyone wants to be the biggest band in the world but I’d be quite happy with just being in a good band, or musical marmite you either love us or you hate us. I quite like that one. It’s all quite intense’ Jamie adds.

After asking what advice they have for young people wanting to form their own band.

‘Only do it if you really want to’ replies Steve.

‘Only do it if you can be bothered. If your heart isn’t in it then you’ve already screwed it up before you begin’ adds Matti.

And that’s pretty much the end of the interview though I do regret asking them if they have any final words with a chorus of ‘save our trees’, ‘let’s all go straight edge’ and ‘don’t eat yellow snow’.

And that just about sums up the craziness that is Area. For all intents and purposes Area are not afraid to laugh at themselves thought it is clear they take their work very seriously.

‘We practice at least three times a week and that’s on a bad week’.

With new members, a new name, new songs such as ‘Magazine Dreamer’ and ‘She’s Not Sorry, She’s Just Upset’. Their Arctic Monkey sound is just dripping with indie enthused rhythms and pop/punk influenced beats. It is clear the boys are no longer just treating Area as a side project. Their stage presence is electrifying and easily beats that of much more experienced bands. They are definitely a band with no gimmicks, no posing, just brilliant music. They know it is time to get real and from what I have witnessed they are well on their way to becoming a world-class band. Don’t just take my word for it, go and see them and I’m sure you’ll agree.

By Natalee Rowett