HI THERE THANKS FOR ANSWERING SOME QUESTIONS FOR US.
You’re welcome, thank you for taking the time to interview us! We appreciate the exposure, thank you!
TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOUR NEW ALBUM
This album will be the debut album for Ugly Clinic. It consists of 11 Punk/Rock songs filled with hooky chorus’, raw guitars and attitude. We finished recording it about 2 months ago at Musical Vision, Aberdeen and it was produced by the brilliant Andy Philip. We’re slowly releasing the songs bit by bit, trying to let our audience enjoy the songs rather than overindulge them with the full album straight away. But we are very excited to have everyone hear them!
HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT THE SONGWRITING PROCESS?
For the album, our bassist Davie has fallen into the role of the main songwriter for the first album writing 9 out of the 11 songs. Davie is fortunate enough to have some recording equipment at home, and when we say recording equipment, we mean a computer, interface and software, as I said we’re a poor band! Davie usually delves himself into it very regularly. He’ll crack open a beer or two and put together a demo backing track of a song. 4-5 beers in and he’s in his bathroom laying down some vocals over the top of it and he sends them into us. When we hear something that we really like we all jump all over it and get working on it straight away at our practice. Although not every track has made it, there has been a few sent in that we tend to just stay silent about haha!
WHAT INSPIRED THE ALBUM? Given that Davie has written the majority of the songs we’ve let him answer this one. He writes, I’m a cynic, that’s why I'm in the clinic. I’m one of the two old fuckers in the band, not the oldest though, Pete (guitarist) wins that award. Everyday life was the inspiration for the album though. The way the checkout guy gives you a dirty look for buying beer every day, the way sand gets in your eyes when you're on the beach on a hot day, the feeling of standing in dogs shit just before you get on a bus, putting your recycling bin out too late, chips but no salt, stubbing your toe on the bottom of the door. A lot of day to day frustrations inspired the album.
WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE TRACK? Argh, trying to choose a favourite track is like trying to pick a favourite child haha. Although the songs were mostly written by Davie, we’ve all got our own attachments to the songs. But I think overall our favourite track from the album would be ‘Just So You Know’, which was the first song that we released and is available to stream and download on all major streaming platforms (cheeky plug). But it’s the song that seems to have the best connection with an audience and that’s the most important thing to us. Seeing a crowd react to our music is a buzz that can’t be described. WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INFLUENCES? Well, the band is multi-generational and with that comes a bunch of different influences. For Pete (old guitarist) and Davie (bassist) its bands like The Clash, Buzzcocks, Killing Joke. For Chloe (Vocals) and Jed (Drums) it's more of the hard rock bands, Slipknot, Motorhead etc. And for Richard (young guitarist) it’s the classic rock stuff, AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses etc. We mix all our influences together and pour them into each song. WHAT RECORD CHANGED YOUR LIFE? (Pete, old one) Machine Gun Etiquette by The Damned. Speed, ferocity, great tunes and amazing playing all in one perfect package. The Damned invented Goth and Thrash Metal simultaneously on the same record! (Jed) Appetite for Destruction – Guns N’ Roses. It was the first album that every song on it resonated with me. The attitude of the band at the time just spoke volumes to me. (Richard, young guitarist) Hybrid Theory by Linkin Park. When I first started listening to rock music, this album was the first that I had on repeat every day. It is probably the reason that I got into rock music and playing the guitar and it still remains one of my favourite all time albums. (Davie, old bassist, but not as old as Pete) Holiday in Cambodia – Dead Kennedys. I’d never heard anything like it before and still haven’t. I couldn’t afford albums at the time it came out and got the single. Played it constantly along with the b-side, the fantastically dark, Police Truck. (Chloe) I’m Not Dead – P!nk. P!nk as a whole has always written lyrics that speak to me, but this album, in particular, stands out the most for me. WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE MUSIC? We’re honestly not sure. Making Bob Ross paintings maybe? Music is such a huge part for everyone in the band. Our lives revolve around it. Without it, we’d have a lot more time on our hands because the majority of our time is spent with music one way or another. WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECORD ONE OF YOUR SONGS, AND WHICH ONE? We have a song on our album called ‘Somebody Save Me’. Would love to hear an AC/DC version of that one. Hit us up Angus, we’ll let you do it! HOW DID YOU FORM THE BAND? Word of mouth, mostly. Davie knew Pete from a previous band, Richard discovered Chloe from doing the sound at a gig of one of Chloe’s cover bands. Pete knew a guy who knew Jed. The band was started a little over a year ago, but over the coming months, we all came together, completing the final line up as it is now only 9 months ago. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO ANYONE STARTING OUT? Don’t just settle for being a bedroom musician. Get out there, write your own material, meet like-minded people and form a band. WHAT IS NEXT? Assuming that we are still all alive after the great pestilence – Album number 2. Which will be bigger, better and tastier than Album number 1! And more gigs. Keep an eye out on our facebook page www.facebook.com/UglyClinic to keep up with what's happening with us.