Up-Load UK, Gigs News & reviews Panic Cell Interview

Upload	You recently did a few dates with Fozzy – I caught their show the other week in Bradford and it just oozed love on the stage…. What was it like working with the WWE man Chris Jerico and the band, I ask because Chris got locked in Bradford Rios after the gig we went to and set off the alarms.
Panic Cell	Ha yeah - I ribbed him about that. I dropped him back to his hotel to catch his flight, so we talked in the car. We had a good laugh about it!! You’re never sure how a guy like that is going to be. This is a guy that has spent the last ten years performing in front of 50-60 thousand people in the wrestling arena city after city. You could assume that someone like Chris MAYBE or COULD BE up their arse – You would be wrong. Chris is a genuine guy. He loves rock music, he is not doing this for the money, it’s a genuine love for the music. He has properly put more money into Fozzy than he has got out of it. The two dates we did with them were excellent – Both sold out and great crowds – we had a blast with them...
Upload	You recently have been on the road with Stuck Mojo who mainly share the same line up as Fozzy – how was it and do you have any funny stories to tell?
Panic Cell	Stuck Mojo are what you would consider a working professional band that are driven to perform.. Stuck Mojo are driven by the music and to perform for the fans, it’s great to see their fans turning out.. This is all foundation for their release next year. Mojo needed to be reintroduced to the market and audience, they have not produced an album in six years and the best way to get them out there is to do these fun gigs. Their name gets seen, people are coming to the gigs – Yes, Panic Cell and Fourwaykill have fans and they have pulled a crowd but Stuck Mojo have their own fans. This was not like going on the road with American Head Charge; there was a world of difference. The Head charge boys are great mates and I love them to death, but they really are seriously insane guys. That is not to say American Head Charge or other bands are not professional. The only way I can describe it is that when American Head Charge are on stage they are a pro outfit and excellent at what they do, but off stage they are just as much driven by the after party and all it entails.
Upload	Its been a big year for Panic Cell – full of highs… lets start with Donington… you played to a packed out Napster stage at the Download festival this year – what was the Road to Donington like ?
Panic Cell	Yeah, Jeez - Donington…what can I say? (There is a long pause, a massive grin and a wistful faraway look in Lukes eyes..) It is every bands dream to play at Castle Donington. I have spent 20 years wondering what it would be like to stand on the stage and say “Hello Castle Donington” I have seen my favourite bands do it over the years and it is just legendary. I had a personal dream realised this year along with the band. As you know we had the biggest grins on our faces, you just can’t imagine what it felt like. Donington is something else. Calling the festival Download is fine, but to anyone that has been into music as long as us its still Donington – Monsters of Rock. Saying that though, Clear Channel have done a fabulous job of rebranding it Download, they have seriously done everyone a massive favour in bringing it back from the dead after its problems in the late 90’s. It is a great festival and one we were really proud to play – it was an intense experience. The road to Donington… ha ha … yes the road to Donington!! I am not going to say its easier to get on the bill these days in relation to The Monsters of Rock days – that was 8 bands and one day, the modern day Download festival is the best part of a 100+ bands and 3 stages over 3 days. We prided ourselves in the fact that we were 1 of probably only 8 UK bands that played this year at Donington. I am not going to take away from any of the bands that played that weekend, but we saw the Napster tent half full and semi full for different bands throughout the weekend and we seriously did not know what to expect when we walked out. We walked out to a totally full fucking tent it was absolutely rammed… we had done it! We packed the tent at Donington. It was standing room only outside! It was incredible, you just live for this. Nothing comes close to it, absolutely nothing. No drug or sex can eclipse that moment. Just amazing. Ahhh yes, Donington.(Wistful faraway look).
Upload	Off the back of Download you also went to Wacken the premier German Metal festival. – How do you feel the European fans received you?
Panic Cell	Yeah we did Wacken – ha ha. Yeah we went down well. It’s always tough, we had no presence in Germany, there was no promotion or press, and you’re really a total unknown band so you don’t expect anyone to turn up, but its Wacken and they do! They may not like the band on other stage so they come and check you out, that stage was set out for the more unknown bands which is what we were. Fair enough. But we had a 1000 people turn up and it was great, German fans are nuts, they just love their metal. A true Metal festival that has every part of metal there, power metal - classic metal you name it. The people at Wacken liked us and it was a great experience – They just love metal.
Upload	You have had two major support tours this year postponed – Staind til next year and Disturbed cancelled also til next year due to Dave Dramian having a throat infection – this was a huge knock back for you guys as you really were on a steam roller plan at this point.. Your thoughts on this?
Panic Cell	Oh yeah what can you do? Staind was a great tour they took us on at the start of it. Their agent did us a great favour, It was a full 22 day European tour with Staind and Sevendust. It is a great tour for any band. It was gutting having it postponed. It wasn’t the bands fault it was a bit of record company issues really.
Upload	And Disturbed?
Panic Cell	Yeah, absolutely great guys and again a great tour to be on. We got on well with them and there was no rock star persona in view, they came down on the first day while we were setting up our gear and soundchecking to introduce themselves. Dave was absolutely gutted, totally inconsolable after he saw the specialist about his throat, the whole band were. They spent months planning this tour – 10 days all sold out, most moved up to bigger venues. If I had been in Dave’s position I would have done the same thing, he has to look after his voice or he runs the risk of losing it.
Upload	You still had 2 dates with Disturbed. How was the Astoria gig?
Panic Cell	The Astoria!! Well, it is one venue you always want to play. Its amazing . I have been in bands for many years and the Astoria is the place you must play. Again we went out not knowing what to expect. 2 songs in and the crowd was raging, they had oversold it and it was mental – pits going and raging. Astoria was just fantastic. Hopefully we will be lucky enough to get back on either tour…
Upload	I noticed on your website that you picked up quite a few new fans on those 2 dates you did with Disturbed
Panic Cell	Yeah we did – the crowd liked our music. Disturbed from a crowd and band point of view are good for us. Love their work, and we got a great response from their fans. The music is similar with grooves and riffs but Dave does have a purer voice than I and can hit higher notes than me – Bastard!
Upload	You’re out with Soil and American Head charge early next year – now this is your 3rd tour with American Head Charge over the past 15 months, your two bands I would not naturally put together but there is an obvious affinity between you and a good friendship – How did this all start and were do you see it going ??
Panic Cell	It started at the end of last year with the barfly tour. They had not been back in a while and they wanted to come over and do some dates prior to the album. We were lucky the agent gave us the dates. I knew of them, Bobby and Lee are big fans especially Bobby. It worked really well, everyone was easy and it was all fun. They came back in March/April, we had kept in touch with them so we asked and they were cool yeah – 8 days. It was mad! We got to know them very well, they are absolutely great people and they are all bloody insane. It is rare to find people that do the drink and drugs they do that and are as natural as they are.
Upload	We were at the last UK gig in Scotland and said good-bye to Bryan as they were flying back to the states the next day – it was just awful when we heard he had died when he returned to America.
Panic Cell	Yeah I clicked on the Internet in the morning and it was just unbelievable. I got on the phone straight away to them. I was just devastated, it was made it even worse knowing the guys and that Bryan was a great guy, a massive influence on the new album and a real driving force in the band. A few months into the tour and he dies before he saw it all realised. Before we all came up to Download to perform American Head Charge stayed at my house and I got to know Benji ( Bryans replacement ), he really is the perfect man for the job.
Upload	Its been reported in the media this week that record labels are starting to troll the Myspace community on the Internet to look for bands, you’re a band that really do use the online community to self promote - Do you think its long before we see a band take the number one slot with no label support and just using online community to support it?
Panic Cell	The potential Is there.. Yeah certainly.. I think we're a bit far off from a band taking the "number one" slot just through online backing though. At the end of the day you need to have all the right tools in order for a band to be properly promoted, the internet is part of this but the likes of having the media (press, TV and radio) behind you is more crucial than just having a good fan base on the internet. On the flip side, the likes of My Space allows a lot of bands to get exposure that otherwise wouldn't be there. For example the U.S has taken a strong liking to Panic Cell and all being well & we can secure a release with the right promotion behind it, we'll be touring the U.S in 2006 - most probably as a support to some of our friends over there. Don't get me wrong, the Internet is a fantastic channel for self-promotion and in time could well be how the business is based.
Upload	Earlier this year you went to America to play in the UK Metal showcases at the SXSW music festival – what was that experience like and do you plan on going back to tour the USA at any time soon. ?
Panic Cell	Yeah it was an incredible experience. SXSW has to be experienced by music fans all over. Austin is a fantastic place, its not a festival like we know it, its bands playing all over, there must have been about 50 different venues. When we played it was great, the venue next door had a jazz trio on, down the road a death metal band, and it was absolutely amazing, insane, just a real experience and we enjoyed it. Hey, did you know that Texas is one of the only states in the USA that does not adopt the ‘no touching rule’ in the strip clubs that obviously makes it more interesting! Yeah. We will be going back we have talked to mate’s bands and we are looking at doing something out there next year. Amazing place. Touring the USA? Yes we are confident things will happen for us there.
Upload	As for next year – what are your festival plans?
Panic Cell	As many as we can, the idea is to look at a good half a dozen decent main festivals. Download hopefully, we would love to be on the snickers stage early in the day, obviously the main stage would be a dream come true, but yes Download is one we would love to play again, Wacken again and a few others our there, France maybe. We are working on our distribution in Europe, we are fine in the UK and we sell hundreds of thousands albums here, not a problem but it’s a different story in Europe but we now have a great European agent, so we are looking at Europe being a good festival season for us with the inclusion of Download.
Upload	Are you planning to record a new album – if so how far down the road are you with that?
Panic Cell	We have played a few songs live now and they are going down well, we are really happy with what we are doing and what we have done so far, we are aiming to finish writing in the next few weeks, pick the tracks we want and we are expecting to release mid year, say May or June.. We have yet to speak with producers but we will be doing so soon. Like I say, we are really pleased, you’re going to love it.
Upload	Where would you like to see yourselves in a years time?
Panic Cell	One year from now. Ha. Is this after a great slot at Download, a reappearance at Wacken and a few French festivals…? Hmm… support Stone Sour, do our own headline tour. Disturbed and/or staind tour. A tour with American Head Charge, Soil and a USA tour?? Ha ha. Yes, next year I would like to see us as a full time touring band and having the absolute time of ours lives. Yeah, next year is going to kick ass and we are gonna rock every were we play and carry on loving what we do. It does not get any better than that, getting paid for what we love doing. So let’s aim for that.
Upload	So Hedgey and Bobby. The toxic twins! I hear they have been banned from STUCK MOJOS tour bus – what’s that all about??
Panic Cell	Yeah banned. (lots of laughing and a long pause) They are far to much like animals! Total animals! Bobby and Hedge running screaming through the tour bus! NO! As much as I love them to death, they’re my boys but they can totally rip the place up and Stucks tour bus.. hmm no, they like to relax and chill after gigs – NO they were not allowed on the bus, Stuck love em to death but not enough to share the bus with them. Ha ha.. NO.