KIDS WITH MACHETES
Featured Artist

 

Introduce yourselves and tell us what you've been up to recently?
We're Kids With Machetes, genre's a bit hard to describe but some combination of electro/rock/metal/dubstep, think somewhere between Enter Shikari and Hadouken! and you're about right. Recently we've been slaving in front of the computer writing songs which is less fun than it seems at times and preparing for what's going to be an incredible busy year ahead for us.

And how did you get together? The name?
Joe and Chris formed the band at uni after they met living in the same student accommodation, Liam and formerly Gaz were in Chris's old band and got recruited from that and I (Dan) used to live with Chris and went to uni with him so I was drafted in for guitar duties. The name is stolen from a BBC documentary but keep quiet about that one.

Who are your biggest influences?
Given that there's not too many bands doing what we do we find influences in weird places, we certainly take a lot of inspiration from dubstep artists like Skrillex and Nero as well as older post hardcore bands like The Bled and even hip-hop artists like Kanye West. We were lucky enough to play with Hadouken! last year which was incredible as they are a massive influence of ours and gave us some great advice about everything. Myself and Liam listen to a lot of tech metal as well which you wouldn't always assume from the music.

Here at Designer Magazine we're all about supporting the scene.. which are your fave local bands and why should we check them out?
We've been lucky enough to play with some great bands in the past year, definitely like to give a shout out to Paperplane from Yorkshire, brilliant songwriting and really nice guys. We're friends with a band called The Minx from Manchester too, indie/ska sorta stuff, definitely worth a listen.

What's your biggest promo tips you can give to other local bands? How do you push your band forward?
Be nice to everyone, we've always made an effort to really connect with the fans and speak to them one to one and it really makes them appreciate you more and spread your name about. Put them first and think about you'd like to see as a fan and it'll really help you in the long run. Also being professional and friendly to promoters and sound techs really helps, no-one likes an ego and it'll help you get more shows in the future.

Where do you go for pre gig food and where do you go post gig clubs in Manchester?
Before gigs we mostly live on a diet of energy drinks and Strongbow which probably isn't too sensible, Joe's mum makes a pretty fantastic full cooked breakfast though. Joe's aunt is the landlady at a pub called Briton's Protection where we'll have a few quiet drinks beforehand. After gigs we'll usually hit up a club night at Rockbox, Satan's or 5th Avenue or something after drinking the venue dry.

What do you like most about Manchester?
As someone who isn't local to Manchester, I'm always amazed by the sense of community, whenever I come here it's really obvious everyone is from Manchester and proud of it, I've never really noticed that anywhere else so it's pretty special. Our Wythenshawe resident Joe has piped in to say "I love everything about Manchester, the people, the history , the pubs and clubs, and most of all its where i am from!", so that certainly narrows it down haha.

Best gig you've been to of all time (and why?)
Personally speaking, either Bright Eyes at O2 Academy Leeds or Darkest Hour at Camden Barfly, both for completely different reasons. Bright Eyes being a huge sounding set by an incredible songwriter I'd wanted to see for years, and Darkest Hour being an all out moshfest with stage diving, naked drummers and broken noses. Special mention to Joe who went to see Justin Bieber once, the less said about that the better.

Fave movie or TV show of all time?
That's a tough one to narrow down, I'm currently going through a massive Arrested Development phase which has just started showing on FX, it's hilarious so you all should watch it. Joe's favourite movies are The Goonies and Hook, because he's a kid at heart really, personally I don't think you can really beat Fight Club.

Which football team do you support?
Haha, this is a bit of a dividing point, being a true Manchester lad Joe is a massive Man Utd fan, whereas being a southern fairy I'm a big Arsenal supporter, so as you can imagine the 8-2 match at Old Trafford earlier this season made for an interesting rehearsal afterwards. Chris is more a rugby guy and Liam doesn't seem to care about sports at all.

Favourite players between us would have to be Dennis Bergkamp, Wojciech Szczesny, Eric Cantona and Wayne Rooney. Favourite matches we've been to are the 1-0 Man Utd FA Cup final win against Liverpool in 96 and Arsenal 4 Wigan 0 from last season where I was lucky enough to present Thomas Vermaelen with a POTM award and meet a load of the players.

And finally we're all about the live sweaty gigs - final chance to say why we should check you out live?
Because we always try our hardest to put on a manic stage show overflowing with energy and get the whole crowd moving and the pits started. You haven't played a gig right unless you feel like passing out from exhaustion afterwards and I've broken at least one thing on my guitar. Plus seeing a pit open up to a dubstep drop is something everyone should experience once in their life right?

And if we want to know more whats your facebook / twitter addresses?

You can find the band on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kidswithmachetes where we have a free EP to download, we're all individually on Twitter as well, at:

@kidswithmachete
@danielsgclark
@joe_kwm
@chris_kwm
@peanucklejive

Feel free to say hello, we'd be hypocrites if we didn't talk back after I made that big point about connecting with the fans earlier.

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AT THE TIME OF GOING TO PRESS...

Kids With Machetes next gig is at Dry Bar Manchester for Metal On Metal on 17th March
Tickets available soon via See Tickets / We Got Tickets / Skiddle
Search Metal On Metal or Kids With Machetes


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