Artist:  Corporation Blend 

Date:  2 September 2004 

MM - Tell us a little about your band and what makes each individual so unique?
Rob - For a start, there isn't any one band or person we collectively wank over

Dexy - It'd be so boring to be in a band where all 4 people were exactly the same, it's a dead end. We throw all our different influences together and what we end up with is far more exciting...

MM - What brought the members of Corporation: Blend together and how long has the band been together?
Rob - School, adverts in music stores and schizophrenic drunkard sound engineers. The textbook way to form a band.

MM - Where does the band’s name ‘Corporation: Blend’ originally come from and what does the name signify?
Rob - What's in a name? I know I'd sooner die than be in a band beginning with 'The'.

MM - For anyone who isn’t familiar with the band, how would you describe your music and who do you see it most appealing to?
Dexy - The music is driven by collective desire and frustration. We're on a mission that we won't allow to fail, to make music that genuinely moves us and other people and is totally vital...there seems to be so many unnecessary bands out there and that's something we will never be.

MM - Who or What inspired you to join a band in the first place? Was it the music, the lifestyle, the money, the groupies …?
Dexy - Always music first. Everything else after that is up to the individual...although some money would be nice ...

MM -The band are about to release their debut single ‘For All My Sins/Blew It’. In case your CD cannot be found in everyone's local CD store, can you recommend some online retailers who carry it in their catalogue? Also is there anywhere on the net people can listen to other songs by the band?
Dexy - We sorted out the distribution as a DIY job as the original distribution kept getting delayed and we just wanted the single out there...it's available online at www.sisterray.co.uk, in a few shops around London (Morphs New Cross, Sister Ray Soho, Rough Trade Covent Garden), Liverpool (Probe), Cardiff (Spillers), Edinburgh (Avalanche), Bristol (Replay), Bournemouth (Essential) and a few other places, plus we've got a mail order system via our website...there are a few mp3s of some demo tracks on www.grassrootsx.com .

MM - Naturally, the music comes first, but the visual performance should not be under estimated. What can one expect from a ‘Corporation: Blend’ live show?
Dexy - Energy. Blood. Emotion. Sweat. Big fuck off tunes.

MM - How do you like to differentiate yourselves from other bands currently hitting the underground? What would you say is the trademark of ‘Corporation: Blend’?
Rob - Musically, play whatever we want and never worry about formula or genre.

Dexy - Yeah, plus it seems that what we do never fits into a particular scene of the time. Which is great for us because we avoid all the 'next big thing' then 'yesterdays news' stuff that has a duration of a couple of months and kills bands before they really have a chance. Our trademark is probably that we don't really have one, there should never be any boundaries when you're making music...

MM - With all the changes that music has gone through over the years, what do you personally think of the current music scene?
Dexy - Pretty boring. Too many bands that say nothing and fit in nicely. I don't expect every band to cause a revolution but it just feels like the bar has dropped and people are getting famous simply because their jeans are ripped in all the right places and they take the right drugs.

MM - What are you listening to these days yourselves? Old classics or modern bands? What's your favourite tune right now (own material not accepted)?
Rob - My favourite tune right now is 'Leguman' by TTC, a hip-hop act from France. It's summery and makes me smile.

Dexy - The last record I bought was the new PJ Harvey album which is great. Other than that it's a steady diet of The Clash (pretty much every day), Outkast, QOTSA and the utterly beautiful genius that is Elliott Smith.

MM - OK, Now tell me which ‘Corporation: Blend’ song is your favourite and why?
Dexy - It changes from day to day. Today I reckon 'For All My Sins' or 'Too Rich For Water', but it really depends on my mood.

MM - Do you think it’s weird that without bands, music channels, magazines, labels and venues would not even exist but now they exert so much influence over bands that they almost control them?
Dexy - I think it's down to the individual band though. If you're willing to compromise everything about your band for some success then you'll get shown up for the chancers that you are in the long run. We've never been ones to shrug our shoulders and accept something we feel is wrong, we'll always stand up.

MM - Sex, Drugs, Rock ‘N’ Roll – Necessity or Myth?
Rob - All three are great in good measure and certainly open up and expand your mind. It's just sad that previous generations of rock legends fuck themselves up to the point of no return which is in turn mimicked by otherwise promising artists in search of some holy grail. There is no way you can justify wasting your talents.

Dexy - Sex and rock n roll are vital. Drugs are there if you want them.

MM - Do you feel that rock bands in general don’t have that genuine sense of hedonism we saw in the past?
Dexy - I think a lot of them lack the 'genuine hedonism', like Rob said they seem to do it to follow in the footsteps of their idols. That's a pretty sad reason to fuck up your body. The people who're really 'rock n roll' are the ones who do whatever they want whenever they want regardless of what anyone else might think, not someone who does it to look cool.

MM - On your website you invite fans to ask you questions, which they do frequently. If you could ask THEM one question what would it be?
Dexy - What do you want for Christmas?

MM - Are the band optimists or pessimists? Is the glass half full half empty?
Dexy - Again it changes on a day to day basis. Today? Half-empty...

MM - When you're not touring and living the high life of rock n roll rebels what do you do for a living?
Rob - I quit my job managing a clothes store for the band on the day of the single launch. Now I'm a man of leisure! only broke.

Dexy - I carry boxes, deliver post and make drinks for overpaid comedians that could very easily do it themselves.

MM - If you could have anyone locked in a room so that you could torment then for a day, who would you choose, and how would you torment them?
Dexy - There are so many...firstly I'd lock George Bush in a room and make him read a book above primary school level whilst listening to 'Hot Shit' by Quasi. Then batter him with his own shoes for being the most dangerously idiotic fool on the planet.

Otherwise I'd lock Liam Gallagher in a room and force him to watch their Glastonbury performance and make him try and justify the money they were paid for such a heartless show.

MM - Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to all our readers out there?
Dexy - Keep a good head and always carry a light bulb.

 

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