We first came across this band a few years ago in a back-street pub just around the corner from this very venue.  Even then they had that certain something where you knew they had the potential to go a long way.  Sure they were a bit rough around the edges but all that is now gone and finally they have emerged as the diamond in the rough to become Britain's brightest new hopefuls.  Today we catch up with The Minge and Amadeus shortly before their gig at the Newcastle Academy to find out more.

MM -  With the release of your new album 'Heartless', how are the band feeling right now and what feedback have you received from the fans and media?
The Minge - The European media has been absolutely amazing, we've gone down a lot better than we thought we would, particularly in Germany and Scandinavia.  We're really, really happy with that.  The UK has been mixed but overall it's been pretty good.  In the end all press is good press, whether it's good or bad, but overall we're pretty happy with it all.

Amadeus - I think one of the main things, particularly in the UK is that we're provoking a reaction.  Whether it's been really good or less good, no way has it been middle of the road.  We don't want to be a boring middle of the road band.  We really are invoking a passionate reaction, which is great.  It seems people either love us or hate us and that's good because I'd far rather someone hated us than not even notice us at all.

MM - How does this new album compare to your debut album 'Confessions ...' which you released back in 2006?  
The Minge - All I can say is listen to them.  With 'Confessions ...' it was like we'd wrote it on the road and it was all stumbled together.  We basically thought we'd better record something and we did everything ourselves.  At the time we had a label that was pretty shit.  With this new album we just felt so happy with the recording and Romesh did all the production, which was so amazing as he's worked with a lot of great bands.  It's the same with Demolition, it's just been stepped up so much with them.  We're really happy with Demolition, or DR2 as they're called.  We're really happy with the production as it's been such a huge step up for us.

Amadeus - It really was genuinely nice to go and work with a producer like that because you know you've wrote the songs, you've played the songs out on the road and you've had a chance to see what the fans reactions were.  Then you go into a studio like that where you can here everything and you've got a guy who's good and who's got the CD and is able to say to you, look that's a bit shit, or that works well.  It's really nice to work with someone who actually gets the album and as musicians, we've all learnt so much about our individual stylings, which we're now taking out on to the road.

The Minge - The thing is we don't want a yes man.  We've had a lot of yes men in our career so far and that doesn't work.  With 'Confessions ...' we had a lot of people say ... 'no you're not doing that, that's shit ...' and that's made us up our game.  We're really happy with the new album.  I wouldn't change 'Confessions ... ', but at the same time I'm happy that we've grown since then.

MM - I would say 'Confessions ...' was more of a taster of what was to come from the band.
The Minge - Yes I agree.  We were very young, it's very raw. It was more a case of fuck it let's record something and we were just happy to get someone to release it.  It wasn't really meant to be released but it was.

MM - I would say 'Heartless' has a much more meater sound and more power behind it.
The Minge -  That'ss down to the better production on this album.

MM - Your new album 'Heartless' is quite an eclectic mix of rock and metal.  Was this the road you wanted to go down from the beginning or was it something more organic that just developed along the way? Amadeus - It's everything that influences us.  Some people say we sound like this band or that band, but we've not tried to sound like someone else.  Obviously these bands have influenced us in some way because literally our entire lives are influenced by rock n' roll, but we never sit down and say we want to sound like this or that.  Even the song writing has been pretty organic.  Someone might bring a riff to the table, or Mick might bring a vocal melody to the table, mostly it's just the music.  It often amazes us what we come up with after putting together all the different ideas we have.

MM - When writing a new song, do you usually start with the lyrics, the riffs, or a melody?
The Minge - Definitely the riffs.  It's like we start off with a groove and work from there.

Amadeus - Sometimes Mick has an idea or concept for a song, even if it's just like a little piece of vocal, he'll say he's got this idea that he's been thinking about and we'll take it from there. 

The Minge - However, he would never come to the table and say he's got these lyrics.  What would happen is we'd write a song and then he'll probably think ... fucking hell I've written something that would sound pretty cool with this!  The songs basically all start off with a riff and then we build them up from there.

Amadeus - We actually spend that much time together that we all start to think alike and have similar ideas on how we want things to sound.  We all mesh quite well.

MM - How long did it take from the initial stages of writing the new album to it's completion?  
The Minge - Well we started to write the songs almost 18 months ago.  Although the album was released on the 20th October, we actually finished recording it in January / February 2008.

Amadeus- A lot of the songs off the album we've already toured before.  We went on to record them, although some have changed slightly along the way.  When we went back into the studio after recording it for a month and practiced the new versions because we really wanted the songs to have that great album sound to them.  I think now they're even better because they're louder and sound more alive.  A stereo can only go up so high but in the live environment, you can really crank the dials up.  We've got that visual thing too where we go absolutely ape-shit on stage, so yeh we love it.

The Minge - I think it's important to road-test the songs first because it's all about the reaction and you soon know from the crowds reaction if the song you're playing isn't that fucking great.  We do what we want and we never think ... 'oh is this what other people want to hear? ...' but at the same time, if we road-test songs and people don't like what we're doing, they're the fans, so at the end of the day it is a business so sometimes it could mean we think, ...'oh perhaps that song would be better as a "B" side'. 

Amadeus - It just makes us think perhaps that song maybe wasn't actually as strong as we thought it was and so perhaps we could make it better.

MM - What were some of the high points of making the new album and how does the finished article compare with your initial intentions? The Minge - By the high points, do you actually mean 'HIGH POINTS'? (laughs). No seriously, we went down and spent a couple of months in Cardiff and we made loads of new friends and met loads of bands down there.  We met a really nice guy in Romesh.  We loved every second of recording the album.  One of our biggest high points was when we first listened to the finished album being played back to us and we said ...'fuck yeh!' ... this is a properly produced really good album.  When we first listened back to it we said ... 'Is this really us?' ...  The low points, I don't really remember those.  We're the sort of personalities that when we all get together in the

studio, it's just such fun.  We got hammered a few nights and then maybe felt low the next day, but then we'd remember that we were actually getting paid to do our most favourite thing in our entire lives.  We drank a lot, we went out a lot and we basically just had a lot of fun.  We watched a lot of 80's films in between waiting for each other to do their bits. Amadeus - Well you're talking to the bassist and the drummer here and we get on extremely well, so partying is our thing.

MM - When you're in the studio recording your own bits, do any of the others say to you, oh come on you can do better than that?
The Minge - Well to be honest when we recorded the first album we were in each others faces a bit.  We didn't have a producer and we basically had a sound engineer and that was it.  He was really great guy but at the end of the day he wasn't a producer.  This time we didn't need to say to each other, oh you can do better than that, because Romesh would tell us.  There were times we thought we'd really done our best, but then he would turn around and say, no guys, that's fucking shit!  We were like ... "WHAT!" ... but he was completely honest with us.  We did leave each other to it and we did put our trust in Romesh and it paid off.  We're really happy with the end result.   

Amadeus - There were times when we sat in on someone else's session and stuff like that, but that was fine because we're all really confident in what we do.  Other times one of us would tell the others to fuck off and go get a drink so we could sit down with Romesh and work through something.   

MM - Along the road of life there are many people who influence us.  Is there anyone in particular that you've found inspirational, either musically or personally?
The Minge - I think there's a lot of people who inspire us without really realising, but we're all obviously inspired by a lot of the 80's bands we grew up with, right from Guns N' Roses to ZZ Top.

Amadeus - Whitesnake, Motley Crue, KISS.  I'm a huge KISS fan myself and I just like anyone who's not afraid to make fun rock n' roll.  It doesn't have to be taken so seriously, it can just be fun rock n' roll.

The Minge - We're on tour with Hanoi Rocks right now and they're a big inspiration for us, coming out on tour with them has really opened our eyes even more.  They're just so professional about what they do.  Andy McCoy is a FUCKING LEGEND, he really is and he's such a nice guy.  He's spent so much time just chatting and having a drink with us.  He's such a wicked guy, he really is.  It's nice to see someone like that who you revere as something of a rock legend and who really respects what we're doing.  He said to us that he doesn't understand bands that aren't nice to the support bands because the people you meet on the way up are the same people you'll meet on the way down, particularly if you're a band on the way back down.  We're all here to work so let's be nice about it.

MM - Have you had a chance to think about how you'll approach the follow-up album or is it too early to say?
The Minge - To be honest we're been touring for nearly 18 months now and even though we love it, we're itching to write some more new songs because we've got so many new ideas.

Amadeus - We're not sure yet where we'll be going with the next album, maybe a little heavier.  

The Minge - However, we still have a lot of touring to do with 'Heartless'.  We've got to go out throughout Europe with 'Heartless' and we've still got a lot of the UK also to rape with 'Heartless', so let's get raping.   

MM - Stepping back slightly, you're currently signed to DR2, how did that come about?  Did they find you or did you find them?
The Minge - It's fair to say we discovered them.  We kind of bullied ourselves into an interview with them.  What happened was we were supposed to have an interview with them in London but then we couldn't make it, so we went back to them because we really wanted to do this thing with them.  

Amadeus - When we were in the studio we did have a some time to kill in between doing our parts and we'd put together this list of potential labels to contact with it and genuinely Demolition were at the top of that list.  We just felt it would definitely be the right label for us.  We looked at the bands they had on their roster and they were all bands that we genuinely love and respect.  In the music industry you hear so much about these labels who don't give a shit about their artists and it was nice to come across a label that were actually doing something for their artists, instead of just being a label taking money off you, which is what a lot of labels tend to do.  

The Minge - We've got nothing but the utmost respect for them and all they've done so far is help us.  I think for an artist it's very easy to slag off your label, but I have nothing bad to say about Demolition, well it's DR2, but is all part of the same family.  We're more than happy with everything they've done for us and I think we've got a great relationship with them.     

Amadeus - WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!! (laughs)
MM - Well they must love you too because they signed you!

MM - What sort of deal do you have with DR2, is it just for the one album or does it go further than that?
The Minge - I think for both parties it's very much a case of one album and let's see how it goes.  But like I said before, we have a great relationship with them.  DR2 are the kind of label who very much want to work alongside the artist rather than control them.  They want us to go forward and try and take over the world and just do what we want to do.  We want a good working relationship and a good friendship with them, it's very open and everybody's happy with how it's going.   If it comes to a second album and we're not happy, then even if they had us under contract, I don't think they'd want release the album, because they are a proper British indie label that actually do give a fuck.  They don't try and take the piss like a lot of the indie labels do.  They've done so much for us without even asking for anything in return.  There again we've worked so hard, not just for ourselves but also for them, so at the end of the day we've got a deal where we work our arses off, they work their arses off and then eventually we'll all be fucking wadded.   

Amadeus - If DR2 weren't happy with us then they wouldn't want to release us.  I honestly don't think they'd sign or release anything that they genuinely weren't happy with.  As far as I know I think there's only ever been one band that's left Demolition and that was by mutual consent.  If you look at other labels which take up and drop bands all the time, Demolition aren't like that.  They take a band and work with them to reach their full potential.  They seem to be like the way record labels used to be a long long time ago.

MM - At what age did you first become interested in becoming an musician?  
The Minge - I was about 4 or 5 when I first picked up my first set of drum sticks.  Believe it or not I was quite religious and when I first when to church and saw a drumkit and I thought I could probably do that.  Since then my mother bought me a drumkit about 2 months after that and I've drove her crazy with them ever since then.  I played my first gig when I was about 12.  I'm inspired by everyone though.  When I was about 5 or 6 I had a record player in my room and I had 2 records, Queen's Greatest Hits and Bob Marley's Legend.  I used to sit on my bed holding hands with my girlfriend and listening to these records, it was wicked.  I'm massively inspired by Queen, Motley Crue, Guns N' Roses, Bob Marley.  Bob Dylan is a major song writing inspiration and when I was growing up my mum used to play him all the time so even to this day I have a massive soft spot for him.  But even if it's a modern band I'm not afraid to say I'm inspired by a band.  I think perhaps too many people are trying to go back to the classics.  New bands that I'm inspired by include Bullet For My Valentine, Atreyu, I like a lot of live bands.

Amadeus - As a kid my mum was one of those girls who used to get obsessed with bands.  My mum was just like one of those girls who fainted when she saw the Beatles.  Even though I was born in the 80's, I grew up with a lot of 60's rock and I became very interested in that music.  I think probably AC/DC was the first band to actually get me interested in rock music.  I was one of those kids that danced around in front of his dad's video camera and wanted to be an astronaut and a singer and a guitarist.  I was probably about 16 when I first started playing in bands in pubs and stuff, before I could legally actually go into pubs because I'd always wanted to entertain people ever since I was a tiny tiny child. MM - What are your plans for the band at the moment, do you have a set schedule or things you want to achieve or are you just riding the waves at the moment? Amadeus - A little bit of both.   Obviously there's a lot of things that we'd like to do and there's a lot of things we think about.  We take

things a couple of months at a time generally.  The albums getting a lot of good feedback, especially from Western Europe and Scandinavia, so we're certainly looking to go out there and meet all those people out there that like us in Germany, Scandinavia and all across Europe.  We'll probably end up doing some more UK tours next year, which is always great.   We'd also really really like to hit America because it's a worldwide release and we've had good feedback from the fans over there.

MM - We're often told there's a big problem with people illegally copying and downloading music, as a new up and coming band does this trend worry you at all and if you had a chance to speak to a room full of young people who'd illegally downloaded your music, what would you say to them.
The Minge - Do it, but if you do like it then buy the album or merchandise and come along to our shows.  Buy the real thing!  If you don't like it then fuck it.  But if you are listening to it and no matter how you got it, that's what's important to me.  The music is important to us, but we still need to live.
   
Amadeus - I think most people who listen to music, whether they've illegally downloaded the music initially or not, if you really really like a band and respect them, then you'll either go out and watch them live or else you'll go out and buy the album properly.  At the end of the day there's nothing you can say that's going to stop it, but we do the most fun in the job and we have a great time.  We are doing this as a career and do want to continue to do this as a career for a very long time.  However, if people don't pay for what we do, then we won't be able to do it for as long as we'd like to.  If you love us then buy the album properly, come out and watch us and buy our stuff.  Come to the bar and have a drink with us because we like meeting new friends.  

MM - I'd like to probe your conscious now and ask have you ever illegally downloaded any music?
The Minge - I have yes, as a younger guy, but now funnily enough I have a policy with myself that if you're going to download it, download it properly from iTunes and pay for it.  It's not expensive and I do not own a copied album any more.  The only time I'll ever download an album for free is if I've already bought them and lost them.  When we're traveling about a lot sometimes I lose them, but otherwise I'd never illegally download an album.  Even if I've never listened to a band I'd never download it just to listen to them, because a lot of bands have songs on sites like MySpace so you don't need to do that just to listen to them.  Check it out there and if you like it go to somewhere like iTunes and download it properly.  

MM - Finally do you have any closing words for out readers?
The Minge - Yes, all I want to say is you are what you eat and Jesus loves you! (laughs)

Amadeus - I'd like to say to anyone who likes to party proper, very soon there's going to be a really ugly big red van coming to your town and if you see it come on over and knock on the window.  We'd love to meet you.  Oh and bring a bag of beer with you ... and anything else you think we might like but what we can't say in this interview! (laughs and gives a cheeky wink at the idea of what else could be brought along).

MM - We'd like the thank for lads taking the time out to chat with us this afternoon and look forward to seeing them back in the 'Toon' in the near future.  A review of the bands evening performance can be found elsewhere on the site, together with a review of their storming new album 'Heartless', which is available to purchase from all good record shops and to download legally from a wide variety of sites.  Be sure to check out these cheeky chaps and their wickedly delicious rock music.