Kenisia

BEN – Introductions, please!
TOM – I’m Tom and I play Drums.
STEVE – I’m Steve and I play guitar
JAMES – James…trumpet.
BEN – You’re on tour with Big D and The Kids Table – what’s it like touring with bands who have higher profiles or are perhaps more established than you guys?
TOM – This is kinda the first tour we’ve done with anyone that’s a bit more established. We haven’t found it intimidating in any way
STEVE – We get on really well with them, they’re a nice bunch of lads.
TOM – It does make a big difference…if they were arseholes then it could be difficult but because they’re really nice guys it’s cool.
STEVE – Obviously it helps because they’re bringing in loads of people to see them so we get more people seeing us who wouldn’t normally see us. It’s all good really, we’re having a great time.
BEN – What’s it like generally being on tour?
TOM – It depends really. We’ve been quite lucky so far, it’s been quite hitch-free. We had a bit of a bad night last night because we were late to the venue so we had to literally just run in, chuck our stuff onstage and play. As it goes it’s really cool. It’s really tiring and gets a bit intense at times but otherwise it’s really cool.
BEN – Do you prefer being on tour or recording?
[Chorus of “On tour, definitely”]
TOM – I think it’s fair that.
STEVE – Considering that when we record we don’t have any money so we stick it all into a week and try to get as much done as possible. It gets really stressful and we all get on each other’s nerves, moreso than on tour. I prefer doing live shows to being in the studio, just because there’s a crowd. You get to show off more to be honest!
TOM – But the outcome of recording is alright, it’s good to sit back and see what you’ve done. It’s worth it in the end.

BEN – The more shows you do, do you notice that there are more kids at the shows saying “I saw you playing with so and so, now I’m here for you guys…”?
TOM – Definitely. Obviously it varies from place to place, and there will be people walking in buying our shirts and stuff, and people coming up to you and saying “I saw you last time” as you said. The more you get out on the road the more you get back.
STEVE – We can’t get out on the road as much as other Household Name bands, we’re all stuck with jobs. We’d love to be able to be out on the road constantly but because we’re all in gainful employment it’s not possible. On days we don’t get days off we have to drive back to Bristol at like 3am, go to work for 9am, finish maybe an hour early then go up to fucking…Sheffield or something. It’s a bit of a nightmare but we manage to pull it off.
TOM – I feel a bit more regenerated today. Like some days are just awful and you feel like shit, but today’s good.
BEN – Are there any places you play that are your favourites, where you always seem to have a good show?
TOM – I guess so…Salisbury Arts Centre was really, really good…TJ’s in Newport was great too. This place [Camden Underworld] is also always good.
BEN – Are there any bands you’ve been on tour with that you’ve got on so well with that it’s been a really memorable tour?
TOM – This one more than anything. We hit it off with Big D so well, they kinda got the British sarcasm thing too which some of the other American bands maybe don’t have but we get on well with them and like to smoke pot and stuff!
BEN – You released ‘Nothing To Lose’ a few months ago…
TOM – It was about this time last year…
BEN – OK, I’m a bad journalist…
TOM – [Laughs]
BEN – Fair enough…
TOM – And it’s called ‘Nothing To Say’…
[Everyone laughs]
BEN – Shall I just go now?
TOM – Nah, he [points at James] forgets it all the time!
BEN – Have you got plans for another release?
STEVE – We have plans…
TOM – Yeah, plans…we’ve got about 5 new songs, we’re pretty slack at writing stuff at the moment. We’re hoping to get something down for the latter end of next year.
BEN – Will it be an EP or straight to the album?
TOM – I think straight to the album. We don’t have enough time for an EP.
STEVE – Because we need to record everything at once and take as little time as possible it’s not really feasible to do an EP.
TOM – To be honest, if we do do an EP it’s because we’ve recorded a bunch of stuff and only half of is it any good!

BEN – Do you find that the internet helps you a lot?
TOM – I wouldn’t say that downloading music is a problem with the level that we’re at, I’m into sharing music. At the same time it could get dangerously out of hand. I think the internet is only a good thing.
STEVE – Our website is always fairly busy on the message board, usually one member of the band is on the internet at any one time because most of us work in computers so we can keep in touch with our fans…
BEN – So even when you’re at work you’re not actually working?
TOM – Our website is run from Steve’s work server…
BEN – Do they know about this?
STEVE – Yeah, yeah. They know I do the internet site. Basically I spend a lot of my time programming our site instead of doing work…which is really bad! But we have a cool site.
TOM – Everyone slacks off at work.
BEN – You’ve been playing together for a number of years, can you see a change in the direction of punk rock, like with TV channels and the internet?
STEVE – I think p-rock’s pretty good, it’s not just a machine.
TOM – Yeah, it’s not just people fucking you in the ass and taking your money. P-rock’s good but it’s only really accentuated what’s already there. From what I gather it was started up to prove a point, that there is an interest in this kind of music. If you look back twenty years this would never happen. It’s good, because people do go out and buy the music, We’ve recorded a video for it…
BEN – Which one?
STEVE – Know Who I Am….and if we can sort out the continuity errors…
TOM – Fuck off! I changed my T shirt halfway though, one was fluorescent blue and the other was green…so it kinda screams it out!
STEVE – I didn’t even notice the first time I watched it.
TOM – Probably drunk or stoned…
BEN – Sounds normal from what I can gather!
STEVE – For the drummer, anyway!
TOM – What about you?! [points at James]
JAMES – Maybe…
TOM – Half past seven in Scotland this man’s fucking drinking beers!
STEVE – [pointing either side of him at James and Tom] You’ve got the two worst people here who are constantly pissed…

BEN – Have you got any plans to go overseas?
STEVE – We’d like to. It’s tight with money.
JAMES – I’d like to go to the States next year…
STEVE – Yeah, he knows people who can get us gigs over there.
TOM – We did two shows in Holland, around ’98. That was really good fun and I’d like to go through Europe. We’ll get there eventually.
BEN – Do you reckon there’ll be a time when Kenisia are up there with bands like Capdown or [spunge], bands people have heard of without actually hearing?
TOM – If we continue doing what we’re doing at the moment there’s no reason why not, and just keep chipping away at the old block. If nothing drastic happens then I don’t see why not.

Cheers to Kafren for sorting this out.