Hiatus are a Stockport band that have been around for several years now, and have made big noises performing in the capital of late. Fronting a heavy pop rock style; creating a fusion of metal and soft-rock singing to give them a distinctive sound that has earned them up to 30 gigs at The Roadhouse in Manchester. The guitar and bass of brothers Paul and Gaz Bowe provide a heavy melody to guide through talented vocalist Dom Stannage, and give drummer Danny Rigg an even more electrifying rhythm. Sitting in the band’s very own touring van, I decided to see what the guys were up to and what they had in stall for the next few weeks.

Tell me about Nailed Records.
Danny: Nailed Records is our own label. We manage ourselves.
Gaz: We brought out our own EP under this label in 2004, which was called ‘Who Is Responsible For This?’ and our self-titled album.
Dom: We’re bringing launching our new album with this label on 30th August at The Roadhouse in Manchester alongside a great band we know called Geniac who are an indy/glam rock band with a London accent.
 

How did you come about getting the Carling Academy gig in Islington?
Paul: We have a good relationship with promoters, and we try and base ourselves around the London area. They just saw us at a gig in New Cross and let us know that they wanted us to play.
 

Will it be the biggest venue you’ve ever played at?
Gaz: No, we took part in the ‘Emergenza’ competition in 2002, which is a battle of the bands from Canada and Europe.
Dom: Yeah, we won the ‘North England’ category and made it to the British finals at the London Astoria.
Paul: We’d just recruited Dom so he had to learn all of our songs in a mega 10 hour rehearsal before the competition.
 

Why the name?
Dom: I think it reflects the music, because there’s lots of hiatuses in our songs.
Paul: Yeah but that’s not the reason.
 

So what is the reason for the name?
Paul: It was originally made up by our ex-guitarist a few years ago, just as a random word he came up with.
 

Where and when did you form?
Gaz: Many moons ago.
Paul:  1997.
Gaz: Me and Paul grew up together playing 90s metal, that was around a lot at the time. We got Dom and Danny after many unsuccessful auditions for a drummer and vocalist, but finally got them in 2002.
Paul: We practice in the Greenhouse Rooms in Stockport.
 

Who would you say were your influences?
Gaz:  Like I said before, growing up around 90s metal got me heavily into Rage Against the Machine, although we all have a lot of very varied influences.
Dom: I just bought a Michael Jackson album!
 

What do you think of the current music scene in Manchester, and beyond?
Paul: The rock scene’s not up to anything.
Danny: It’s really just indy running the show right now.
Gaz: But I reckon indy’s on the way out; the conveyor belt effect has got to end at some point. It’s been around too long.
 

What are your hopes for the future of Hiatus?
Danny: We want to be heard in the US. The music industry isn’t as much ran by TV as it is in the UK.
Paul: In the UK people are just force-fed crap music, listening to music that Colin Murray tells them to listen to.
Gaz: There’s more choice and variety in the US.