[kj] October File interview -- asked several questions about Killing Joke, excerpted below

[Alexander Smith]

Apologies to anyone who might be friends with Cocktober Vile, but  
fuck! How about getting your own identity and not being such  
consummate suck-ups? Get lives!


Alex in NYC



On Oct 2, 2007, at 8:31 AM, B. Oliver Sheppard wrote:


> I heard their two new tracks at their MySpace page (October File,  

> that is). Tracks from the upcoming album (but none w/ Jaz vox). I  

> don't like what I have heard. And I *so* wanted to like it! If I  

> buy the October File LP I'll probably only get it for the tracks  

> Jaz is on, and, man, do I hope he can rescue them..... -Oliver

>

>

>

> from: http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk/candleweb/redesign/ 

> candle_october_file_interview.html

>

> [...]

>

>

> Q: How do you feel about being compared to Killing Joke all the time?

>

> Steve: “We never wanted to sound like anyone else. The constant  

> comparisons to Killing Joke, because we toured with them and Jaz is  

> on the record, well, do we sound like them because we play dark  

> music? That’s like saying that every metal band sounds like  

> Metallica and that’s bullshit. Just because it’s in that realm  

> doesn’t mean that that’s what it is. You know, we all went to see  

> Killing Joke and they were fucking outstanding, and I said to the  

> others ‘We don’t just want to be as good as this, we want to be  

> better than this!’ and that’s the intention. We want to do our own  

> thing with that level of intensity.”

>

> Q: How did you persuade Jaz Coleman to take part on the album?

>

> Steve: “Jaz really likes the band and it was great when he turned  

> round and said that he’d like to do something with us. He offered  

> to produce the album for us, and we just thought that because he’s  

> barmy it might not be the best idea. We don’t really want to go to  

> Morocco to record the guitars, Jaz! (laughs) We’d rather do them in  

> Reading. So we thought we’d do our own thing, so he offered to do  

> some guest vocals instead. That bit on ‘High Octane Climate  

> Changer’ was written with him in mind. In the end what he did was  

> the exact opposite of what I wanted him to do, but it turned out  

> amazing! It was great, watching Jaz Coleman singing lyrics that I  

> wrote on one of our songs. He was sitting there, waxing lyrical  

> about the record and being honest, and I kept thinking ‘Wow, Jaz  

> Coleman likes my band!’”

>

> Q: You seem to have played shows with a wide variety of bands. Was  

> that a deliberate ploy to confront as many different audiences as  

> possible?

>

> Steve: “Well, we’ve toured with lots of different people, from  

> Killing Joke to Deathstars. We’re prepared to take any gigs. If  

> there’s an audience in front of us, we’re happy to let people make  

> their own minds up. We’ve picked up people along the way. We did a  

> gig in Swindon recently and there was a real mix of different  

> people there, people who’d seen us on this tour and that tour, and  

> there were really young girls dancing down the front and the 40- 

> year-old guys at the back wearing our tour t-shirts from two years  

> ago, and all of a sudden we could see that we’ve done a lot of  

> ground work for this, and we’ve delivered a great album at just the  

> right time.”

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