| Hot
on the heels of their awesome new covers EP ‘I Can’t Believe It’s
Not Metal’, we chat to FN guitarist George about cover songs, near
death experiences and Essex girls...
MM:
So how’s the tour going so far?
FNG: We’re three days in, the first gig in
Scarborough was shit, the second one was really good and tonight’s
sold out so it’s looking good so far.
MM:
What have you got planned for when it’s finished?
FNG: Erm,
Christmas! I honestly don’t know actually, this is the last thing we
had planned for this year. We’ve just the released the EP and the
video’s just come out so we’re going to let that do its thing and
see what happens after that but we’re always on the road as you know.
MM:
You mentioned the EP; what made you decide to do a covers EP?
FNG: Basically, it’s been a long time coming. When
were on tour in America over 4 years ago, we were listening to
Whitesnake’s greatest hits in the van and ‘Still of the Night’
came on and Renny just lost it! He couldn’t believe how cool it was
and the first thing on his mind was to cover it when we got home. The
first week we got back he demoed up a FN-ized version of the song so
that one actually got played live for a while about 3 years ago so when
we came to record the last album we also did that one and the Seal cover
and just put them to one side. As time went on we thought ‘oh that
song would make a good cover, and so would that one’ and it all just
fell into place from there.
MM:
Is it more financially viable to sell it at your own shows rather than
releasing it?
FNG: You won’t sell as many just selling them at
shows but you definitely get a larger cut. I don’t think we realised
how big it was going to be – the video was kind of an afterthought. We
were originally going to do a video for the Seal cover and the original
plan for that was to get loads of guest vocalists and do it as a charity
single but that’s not the way it ended up going.
MM:
The video for those who don’t know is for your cover of ‘You’re
the Voice’ by John Farnham; do you guys have a secret penchant for
power-ballads then?
FNG: Oh yeah definitely! We love all that – the big,
epic choruses and all that. We don’t really listen to that much metal
to be honest. In the van we’ve got all sorts on from Michael Jackson
and Phil Collins to a bit of Dizzee Rascal and R’n’B stuff.
MM:
Is the title of the EP somewhat of a cheeky dig at the metal elitists
who whinge at everything that isn’t played at double-speed? (NB. The artwork for the t-shirts includes a
miserable-looking black metal fan in corpse paint with his bottom lip
out below the album title)
FNG: Well now you mention it, we could
spin that angle but it wasn’t intentional. I came up with the title a
few months ago when it just sprang to mind over the summer. The t-shirt
was an afterthought too as we were all creasing up laughing at what the
artwork would be and then Jack and Renny went away and thought about it
and came up with the idea of the photo shoot where we’re all dressed
up looking like various characters from the 80’s and then having Sam
with his black-metal face paint on. We thought it would work well with
the title and he’s the one always going on about how he ‘can’t
believe it’s not metal’ – we always pick on Sam.
MM:
For those that don’t know, you guys had a lucky escape from a bus
crash a few years ago. What are your memories of it and how far did it
set you back as a band?
FNG: Amazingly, good things did come out of it. We
replaced the van with a much better one and even had some money left
from the insurance claim after getting the new van. The only thing that
really sucked is that our sound engineer at the time got seriously
injured. It didn’t seem like he had at first but months later it
turned out he’d sustained a delayed injury and ended up having to have
a hip replacement which really sucked. None of the gear got damaged and
although we didn’t go on the road again for a few months, it gave us
time to record the second album.
MM:
For any females reading this, who in the band is the easiest to pull or
are you all spoken for?
FNG: Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me! Haha! Well I
am single so that’s probably true!
MM:
And for the guys, do Essex girls really live up to the stereotype?
FNG: I think so but then again I’m a bit of a snob!
Haha!
MM:
Well the last question is after supporting a lot of bands over the
years, who has stood out as being the coolest to you when on the road?
FNG: We’ve had the privilege of touring with a lot
of cool bands. Skindred are really nice guys, we’ve known them for
ages anyway, Stuck Mojo and Fozzy were really down to earth and cool,
Mnemic, Breed 77, Panic Cell, they’ve all been great to us.
MM:
Cool, well thanks for chatting to us and good luck for the show.
FNG: No probs,
thanks a lot.
Interview
by: Adam Grindrod
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