Up-Load UK, Gigs News & reviews Forever Never Interview

Upload	You have achieved so much since we first interviewed you 2 years ago. What would you say have been your highlights ?
Renny	It has been pretty good I have to say! Touring wise, we’ve been privileged to tour with the likes of Stone Sour, Flyleaf and Madina Lake (amongst many others of course!), and we’ve recently had some awesome bits of press leading into 2008 from Rock Sound and Total Guitar. Rock Sound giving us a 10/10 live review, and naming us the KBY band of the year, AND putting us in their bands to watch for 2008! All in the same issue! That was fantastic. Good radio and video play and obviously the recent European tour was amazing too; but I guess the dates with Stone Sour still stick firmly in the memory. That first night of the tour at Birmingham Academy: incredible
Upload	You have toured with some absolutely fantastic bands in several different countries, what has been your favourite tour and what is your overall favourite venue and why.
Renny	I guess I just answered this one in the first question! Although the shows in France on the recent Madina Lake tour were also incredible. The Barby in Bordeaux is an awesome venue – can’t wait to go back there at some point! Out of the Stone Sour shows, I think Birmingham was my personal favourite – but it was also awesome to play the Astoria, where we’ve seen so many of our favourites play in the past. .
Upload	Mike Row, your drummer left the band in January, he is an awesome drummer and it must be a hard job finding a replacement for him, how are the auditions going and have you found anyone yet?
Renny	The auditioning is going pretty well. We’ve had a lot of interest in the position (as you might expect) and so we’ve tried to look at people in the south east primarily. However we’ve had some people so keen to show us what they can do from outside of the area that we’ve felt compelled to get them in and let them show us what they can do! Obviously it was a shame at the time to lose Mike, but we’re not worried about moving forward – there are a lot of drummers coming forward, and we’re sure that we’ll find the person we’re looking for soon! One guy is standing out head and shoulders above everyone else, but we’ll see – there’s a few more to come in yet!
Upload	You are on tour with Breed 77 and Panic Cell in March, are you looking forward to being on the road with them again?
Renny	Of course! The Breed and PC guys are all some of the nicest guys we’ve met on the road so far! Added with us, it’s going to be like the “Nice guy tour” or something! Haha. That’s not to say there won’t be any shenanigans because I’m sure there will be! Also seems like it’s been ages since we did some UK shows! Will be good to see some friends again on the road!
Upload	Your fans have been waiting for the special edition signed and numbered ‘Empty Promises’ EP for a while now, firstly where is my copy and secondly when do you think it will be available to the masses?
Renny	Oooh little dig there Kate? ;) haha. Well understandably so though to be fair! Yes they are LITERALLY in production at the moment, and we’re just waiting for them to be delivered now! The reason it’s taken so long is bad timing coupled with a bit of misfortune really. We wanted them done for the start of new year, but what with Xmas period etc, it didn’t happen… then we went to Europe… then we got back and I’m sorry to say my Grandmother passed, which delayed it more… but anyway… bottom line is. VERY VERY SHORTLY they will be available!
Upload	I promise not to ask you if you are playing the Download festival this year, but do you have any gigs planned for the weekend of 13th to 16th June 2008?
Renny	HAHA. I plan on being at the festival one way or another to be honest Kate! It’s always a good weekend – myself and the boys will be there again this year – whether we’re playing or not I reckon. Hoping for the former though obviously…
Upload	You have a rather controversial t-shirt called the ‘Think’ shirt, which pokes fun at Bring Me the Horizon (Although their name isn’t mentioned) Have you had any funny reactions from people when they have seen the shirt?
Renny	Well, we only did a couple of batches of those- and we’ve actually sold out of them now. Weren’t planning on doing any more but we have had quite a few people that were keen on getting their hands on one! Particularly Steve our bus driver on the Madina Lake tour! We’ve never actually said that it DOES poke the fun out of BMTH – it’s actually a slightly edited Young Ones quote from an episode called “Cash”! It’s a joke anyway at the end of the day – some people do think it’s a weird shirt though yes! .
Upload	Who were your main musical influences when you started the band and have these changed over the years as the band developed.
Renny	Our musical influences have always been a mixed bag – ranging from genre to genre. They haven’t necessarily changed since the beginning, but certainly on the new material lined up for album no.2 they are perhaps more apparent than they were on the 1st album (particularly the more “non metal” influences). We’ve never been a band that has set out to “BE METAL”, or not to be. It’s just how things come out. That’s why you can hear a song like “Better the Epic” come from us, just as likely as a song like “Thanks for Letting Me Know”, which you could argue was just a “Hard Rock” song. I think there’s elements of Metal, Pop, Soul, Blues and even some more ballady type stuff within our sound. Which is why we could be hard to categorise for some people – but people don’t like it sometimes when you can’t just label a band “x”. Ah well, they’ll get used to it! haha
Upload	Some of you have worked on other ‘Side Projects’ over the years, did you ever find that this caused any problems or conflicts with your work within Forever Never or do you think they compliment your band and help you to develop as individuals too.?
Renny	To be honest, there’s not been that many side projects that have actually taken any time up for any of us. Anything that we have done has pretty much been for a laugh and not to be taken too seriously. I write my own solo acoustic stuff, but that’s all done in my spare time. I have my first solo gig in May down one of my locals – but needless to say if there is a FN gig the same night that’s where I’ll be!
Upload	You have a very loyal fan base that follow you around, but do you have any obsessive or ‘stalker’ fans.
Renny	Haha. What a bizarre question! We have some of the most loyal fans in the world, and we are so so so grateful to them for being behind us and keep supporting the band by coming down and making some noise for us! We do have some obsessive fans yes, but no one has overstepped the mark in my book – whatever “the mark” is. We’re all totally approachable guys, so it’s cool. I guess it is kind of weird sometimes when people want to “get in your van with you” though haha. Or come to KFC with you… I mean… you WANT to watch me sticking greasy chicken in my gob??? You crazy fool! ;) haha. Oh and when they want to watch you having a shit… BO SELECTA!
Upload	Where do you get your inspiration from when writing new songs and how do you put them together, is it lyrics then music or music then lyrics.?
Renny	ALWAYS music then lyrics – I’ve never been able to do it the other way round. Writing lyrics without music could potentially mean better lyrics (because you don’t have to make it fit with anything), but it’s way harder to actually get them into a song and you’d only have to chop and change words anyway. I always get a melody line first for a song, and then write lyrics that fit with it. Obviously everyone works differently, but it’s certainly what works for me!
Upload	What would you like 2008 to hold in store for you?
Renny	I’ve said a lot so far so I’ll keep this one simple: Album No. 2, Download, Touring… and Jager. Hopefully a lot of the last 2! And not necessarily in that order!
Upload	If you could never play music again, what do you think you would do with your life?
Renny	If I could never PLAY music again, I would probably write for other people. It’s something that even now I’m interesting in doing – with more poppier stuff that I write. Every musician needs an outlet, even if it doesn’t mean you can perform it live yourself – it’d still be cool to hear it being done well by someone else. I don’t think I could live without music being in my life in some form or another. Even if it meant promoting shows or whatever – it’d still have something to do with it. My 2nd pipe dream however it to write my own TV comedy programme… So maybe I’d focus on that instead if I had to rule out Music altogether! Something creative anyway would be my answer! .