PAUL: “Hey Lee, introduce Fletcher to the wonderful Punktastic readers!”
LEE: “Yeah sure, Chris sings and plays guitar, I play guitar and sing, Olly plays bass and Andy plays drums.”
PAUL:“You’ve been described as ALL meets Alkaline Trio. Do you think this is a fair comparison?”
LEE: “Those are two great bands so I don’t think anyone would be too upset by being compared to them. Whether it’s a fair comparison or not I don’t know – I think there is a similarity influence wise, but people seem to pick up on different things all the time.”
PAUL: “Fletcher have signed to up-and-coming UK label Deck Cheese, how are you finding life as a signed band?”
LEE: “There’s a lot more going on. We are getting to tour properly, we’ll probably be able to go and buy our record in HMV! Deck Cheese are really supportive, they’re doing it for the right reasons and that means a hell of a lot to us.”
PAUL: “The new EP is coming out soon (“Six Track Sound”) so why should we all go out and buy it?”
LEE: “Well we went over budget for a start…*laughs*”
PAUL: “Seriously, how did the recording go and what do you think of the end product?”
LEE: “It all went really well. We did the record at Premier with Iain Wetherell, he really knows what he’s doing and he’s a top bloke to boot! As far as the end result goes, at this point in time I don’t think we could have made a better record. We are all really proud of it.”
PAUL: “You are opening Deconstruction and there’s various rumours flying around about Decon organiser Dave Pollack scouting you. Any chance of setting the record straight?”
LEE: “Dave Pollack did see us open for Grade and apparently liked us. I think there are a few other factors involved too, but it’s a great opportunity and I don’t think anyone in their right minds would turn it down! We are gonna get up there and give it our best shot and hopefully not shit ourselves too much! *laughs* ”
PAUL: “It’s obviously the biggest gig of your careers, any surprises lined up that you can tell us about?”
LEE: “I think us being there in the first place is a big enough surprise. Being the only British band apart from the Lostprophets is adding to the pressure, but hopefully we’ll have a good one and enjoy it.”
PAUL: “What other bands are you looking forward to seeing that day?”
LEE: “Lagwagon rocked last year, so it’ll be cool to watch them. ALL obviously. I saw Midtown at the Underworld not too long ago and they were really good, so I’m looking forward to seeing them too. I’m gonna try and watch everyone, and hopefully the sun will be out as well.”
PAUL: “Whilst we are on the subject of touring, who have been the best band you’ve played with so far? Any memorable/outrageous/funny/embarrassing moments you want to share with us?”
LEE: “Vanilla Pod! We’d be happy to play shows with those guys every night. A memorable night for me was at the Crown in Worcester. The kids there are crazy! I was playing guitar on top of the crowd, that was an experience!”
PAUL: “The UK scene seems to be positively thriving at the moment. Capdown getting positive reviews, Jesse James and Not Katies on TV… how healthy do you think the punk scene is at the moment, and why?”
LEE: “I think the UK scene is pretty good right now, people are getting into supporting UK bands again.”
PAUL: “When I interviewed the Not Katies, Dave suggested I go out and listen to Brand New; I did and they rock! Which bands are currently rocking the Fletcher world?”
LEE: “I don’t know about the other guys but my cd player rotates between The Lawrence Arms ‘Apathy and Exhaustion’, Da Skywalkers ‘Smalltown Saviours’, Vanilla Pod ‘Third Time Lucky’ or the Rancid/Nofx split for the last couple of months, And there’s always The Morons and The Girlscouts too…”
PAUL: “Looking past Deconstruction and the EP release, what does the summer hold for the band? Touring? A full-length album?”
LEE: “We’ve got the Dirty Weekends tor going through until August. Full tour dates are up at www.fletcherpunkrock.com After that we might get a couple of weeks off, go to Reading or Leeds and depending how the EP does, maybe think about doing a full-length. We’ll have to see how it goes! Getting a suntan at some point would be nice!”
PAUL: “If you weren’t being punk rock stars, what would each member of the band be doing?”
LEE: “*Laughs* We’ve got a bit of a way to go to being punk rock stars! We are all holding down full-time jobs so if we weren’t playing in the band it’d just mean that we’d have a whole lot more free time on our hands!”
PAUL: “Completely not punk-related at all, but the new Star Wars movie is out next week, I’m a bit of a fan, are the Fletcher boys going to be watching Attack Of The Clones? Any member of the band fancy themselves as a bit of a Darth Maul?
LEE: “We’ll definitely be checking it out. The first one was such a disappointment I think this one will kick ass ‘cos they knew everyone would have such high hopes for it. I have been known to be very wrong about things though…”
PAUL: “Last question…you can invite any 3 people round your house for a meal. Which three would you invite and why, and what would be on the menu?”
LEE: “I’d invite the first three people to email a kickass vegetarian recipe to fletcher@winning.com because I can only cook two different meals and I’d learn to make the best one!”
PAUL: “Thanks a lot Lee, good luck with Deconstruction.”
LEE: “Thanks and thanks to all the friends we’ve ,ade around the country in the last year. You guys rule!!”
Link: www.fletcherpunkrock.com