The Punk Archive: So are you excited to be playing here today?
Ben: Really excited. We can't really believe we're here, we don't feel legitimate enough yet! It's cool! Good vibes, nice weather…
The Punk Archive: You do stand out on the bill, with it mainly being rock and metal bands, then there's you, a good bit of ska-punk…
Ben: Yeah, we thought that!
Maz: We noticed that, but you know, we play party music! People always want to party, so hopefully it'll be alright!
Ben: You can still move around to it, sing along and stuff…
The Punk Archive: Does it put added pressure on you, though? Do you feel the pressure more, or less?
Chon: I feel pressure anyway, it doesn't matter! It'll be fine, I think, I think we'll be OK!
The Punk Archive: Talk to us a bit more about the ska-punk scene. People are saying it's in decline, but then there's almost a third wave coming through now…?
Ben: It's a weird scene. People that are within the scene are real cool. For us, we've got our own brand of ska-punk so you can call it ska-punk, but you don't have to call it that. We kinda get accepted by people who wouldn't necessarily see as as ska-punk. There's plenty of bands out there doing it, like Imperial Leisure. There's plenty of bands who are influenced by it as well. It's definitely not a dying scene like some people think it is. It's as much alive as anything else is.
The Punk Archive: At the end of the day, it’s fun music, isn't it! People like to move around, dance…
Ben: Exactly. It's just music at the end of the day.
Maz: We've always been a bit hesitant about branding ourselves ‘ska-punk’, really, because we're not that traditional ska band. I've got a history in ska and stuff like that…
The Punk Archive: I thought you were going to say “I've got history”!
Maz: Dangerous, mate! We sort of branched a little bit more into the punk side of things. Bands like Riverjumpers are really doing some great things with punk at the moment…
Ben: That scene is very much alive. I think we try and tag along with that, but the thing is that I hope people just don't get too caught up in “scenes”. There's so many people that “belong to a scene”. In our band, we could “belong” to a lot of them, and we could probably be rejected from a lot of them! I just hope that nobody pigeonholes us, or looks past us because they see us as belonging to a certain scene.
Maz: It's a party, isn't it!
The Punk Archive: So the album is out 4th April. How did the Pledges go?
Chon: It went really well, better than any of us had ever expected.
Ben: It was crazy to think that we did it, and got as much as we did, and as much support as we did. We can't thank anybody who did it enough. I feel like we owe them so much. They've all got the album now [the pledgers] and we've got some real positive feedback. Hopefully they appreciate it.
The Punk Archive: It must feel amazing playing a gig and getting people singing back at you.
Maz: Every time that happens, our minds are blown.
Ben: Yeah, anyone that knows the words, or comes up to us and tells us they've got our album…
Maz: The official launch of the album is 4th April, and we're having a big party in Camden. It's free entry and we've got a load of mates' bands coming down. There's already about 200 people coming, and it's only a small room so it's going to be sweaty as fuck! Should be a good night!
The Punk Archive: So what are you doing for the rest of the year?
Ben: This year's very much about the festivals we're doing. We've managed somehow, especially me because I don't do any booking…somehow got on some good festivals. Maz handles all the booking and stuff… so yeah, playing as many festivals, gigging, and just trying to get the album out to as many as might appreciate it! We appreciate any press and stuff we've been getting because we haven't really had any!
Maz: Every so often, we get a little bit here and there!
Ben: Anyone that can help us promote it and get it out there, it's proper cool.
The Punk Archive: So what festivals are you playing?
Maz: There's a few that we can't announce yet…
Ben: It's really funny that we're at a level where we can't talk about some!
Maz: The ones we can announce, obviously today [Takedown], Hit The Deck, we're doing Secret Garden Party…
The Punk Archive: That's a big, big festival…
Ben: Yeah, we've somehow wormed our way onto that one…
The Punk Archive: Again, Hit The Deck, is that not going to be another one like this one where you're a bit…stand-out?
Maz: There's some pop-punk bands on there, I think…
Ben: Imperial Leisure played it one year…
Maz: There's not any ska bands on it this year really, but there are Gnarwolves, and Neck Deep…
Ben: There's a lot of similarities to a lot of the acts on there.
Maz: The headliners, Saves The Day, that's about as pop-punk as possible…
Ben: We got a retweet off Saves The Day! I freaked out when that came up on my phone!
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