Artist: Lost Weekend  

Date:  23 february 2009 

Flying the flag for British Rock high and proud we catch up with Lost Weekend to find out about their latest and strongest release to date 'Fear And Innocence'. 

MM - Firstly well done another great Lost Weekend album ‘Fear And Innocence’.
Paul - Well thank you very much it’s been a great album to write and record.

MM - This is definitely a true blue-blooded British Melodic Rock album, how has the album been received with your fans and the media?
Paul - So far the response as been fantastic, its always gratifying when you write something and someone somewhere get what your trying to say. I guess we really are not very different at all.

MM - How important was it to the band to stick to their roots when creating the album ‘Fear And Innocence’?
Paul - You have to be true to yourself. It would make no sense trying to write music you don’t believe in. we are and always will be rock music fans so its very natural to write in this genre of music.

MM - This is the bands fifth album, what effect has Martin Kronlund had on the bands overall sound on this new album?
Paul - Martin is one of the nicest and knowledgeable guys we have ever had the pleasure of working with. He brought a harder edge to the songs by laying multi guitar tracks to create that heavier sound, but more than that he as a fantastic ear for producing so he know when you are getting it just right in the studio, he really does inspire you to get the best out of the material.

MM - The band has been with a few labels in your career, what do you feel Escape Music have to offer that the others perhaps didn’t?
Paul - To be honest we have only been with 2 other labels, Now and Then/Frontiers and Z-Rock, in fact we had the chance to record forever moving on with Escape but made an error of judgment.  Luckily we had the chance to move over to Escape for 'Fear and Innocence' and well! The results speak for themselves. Yes, we so wish we had done this the first time of asking but we are here now and have no intention of going elsewhere. Khalil (A & R director) is very hands-on, who really tells it how it is and we respect that and as a result we are exactly the same in return, it works very well indeed.

MM - Is this a long-term deal with them or one album and see how things go deal?
Paul - I think it is fair to say like any other deal as long as the people like it and buy it we will be with Escape for the foreseeable future, so go out there and buy you guys ha ha.

MM - How long did the entire album take to create from its humble beginnings to the final product?
Paul - This as been the quickest album from inception to recording we have ever done. Myself and David i.e. Paul Uttley write all the material and I guess it took 6 months tops to write and a month to record so a very enjoyable experience all round.

MM - The whole Melodic Rock scene has largely been driven underground here in the UK, what keeps you guys going when your music is seen as old hat by the general public and the media?
Paul - Old hat! It’s only in England you get this. In Europe they love British rock music and to be fair I think this last year as seen a resurgence of rock music. Just look at Whitesnake, AC/DC, Iron Maiden, all have great albums out and journey selling a million. I think as is always the way we need to stop listening to the media and start listening with our ears again. Good music is good music regardless of genre.

MM - I’ve come across some fine talented Melodic/Hard Rock bands over the years that simply can’t get gigs and promotion, do you think there is an outlet here in Britain for this type of music we do you think the Euro market have more to offer bands these days?
Paul - We could not agree with you more, there is a tremendous girth of talent out there and when we have played in Europe the people are so thankful for you coming out to perform for them its really a wonderful scene in Europe. Also their does seem to be more places to play over there and that are geared to having a band perform.

MM - The album has been described as akin to Gary Barden MSG and even UFO in style, how do the band feel about this comparison?
Paul - What do you think, honoured to be mentioned in the same breath We love all those guys they have written some of the finest rock music full stop so very humbling to have our music mentioned up there with our heroes.

MM - What made you decide to become a twin guitar band rather than just stick with the one guitarist?
Paul - Quite funny really. We have over the years had 6 yes 6 keyboard players, they really are all mad as March hares, we decided after the last one jumped away to replace him with a second guitarist and that as given us a more earthy organic sound, that for one gave us a more modern style yet kept true to our British rock roots. Also when you have keys it can date you with that type of sound and you also feel a bit duty bound to write something with them in mind just so they are not twiddling there thumbs on stage.

MM - When working on a new album what comes first the lyrics or the music and who are the primary songwriters in the band?
Paul - As I said earlier David and myself write the songs. Regards writing sometimes I come up with a lyric that I may feel needs a particular tempo due to subject matter, or Dave will come along with a fantastic riff and say can you look at some words for this. The way songs come are from all kinds of places but predominantly from everyday life and experiences.

MM - This new album seem a lot more punchy than the bands four previous albums was this an intentional change?
Paul - Back to what we said earlier twin guitars and a fantastic production as helped there, I would love to re-record our entire album with martin that’s for sure.

MM - Finally what does 2009 have in store for Lost Weekend? Are there any live dates lined up or anything else your fans should look forward to? 
Paul - We have some great dates hopefully coming up this year in support of the album, and can announce now we will be playing at fire fest on the 23rd of October along with Bad Habit, Eclipse, Heat and Treat. Also Cambridge rock festival in August and others yet to be announced.

MM - Thanks for taking the time out to chat with us today we really appreciate it.
Paul - Thank you and hope to see you all at a lost weekend gig real soon.

MM - We wish the band the best of luck with the new album and with their forthcoming appearance at Firefest and the Cambridge Rock Festival.  If you're not familiar with the band's music yet then check it out, they're true British blue-bloods through and through.

 

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