My Extraordinary have been described by Kerrang as "huge choral hooks and 30 Seconds To Mars like - melodies fuse effortlessly with gentle electronics and rocky dance beats" and a sound that "blends mammoth hooks with classical string arrangements" by Rock Sound
Designer Magazine caught up with the band ahead of their 3rd show for Designer Magazine in Manchester
Which 3 bands do you always get compared to? Do you think they're valid comparisons?
Probably bad ones when we’re not there, but fortunately every time we get told we remind someone of a certain band, it seems to be very complimentary. We don’t get the same names too many times and we’ve heard quite a few, but the ones that spring to mind would be maybe Young Guns and 30 Seconds To Mars. Nothing we could complain about there at all.
If you had to choose one of your songs to represent the band which one would it be?
It’s tough narrowing it down to one, and certainly with music we’re working on now there’s a vast amount of diversity in there, but I suppose I’d have to say our most recent single ‘The World We Live In’ purely because It’s recent work.
Which band kickstarted your journey into music? Still a fan now?
I’d have to go with obvious on this one and say Blink 182. It’s just what was everyone was listening to back in the day. Although it did make us think we could get away with not learning how to play our instruments properly, I just played ‘Dammit’ 10 times a day for about 3 years.
What's the best record you have bought this year and why?
Tough questions right here, there’s a few I could go with, Dead Silence by Billy Talent is awesome and the guys in Don Broco did a pretty fine job on their release too. But since we’re talkin’ this year I’ll go with Sempiternal by Bring Me, that’s a banger... and a great word.
CDs or Downloads? EPs or Albums? Which you prefer?
Let’s go hard copy, it’s just better innit. Getting something physical that a band has put together physically feels more worth my money. Plus if I hate it I can’t Frisbee a download can I? I’ll also go EP. I think this is when you get to see band at its most creative, when they are trying to find their sound and haven’t committed to big album No.1. I think Twin Atlantic is a good example, that ‘Mini Album’ ‘Vivarium’ was super unique.
Designer Magazine are all about #supportthescene - what's the music scene like back in your hometown? What other bands should our readers check out and why?
We have a few pretty cool bands putting us to shame at the moment up here in the sunny north east. Boy Jumps Ship have been around doing it for a while and our super best friends in Alexander are really looking good.
Which of the local supports are you most looking forward to on tour?
We used to be bang in to our pop punk and still love watching it so I’m sure we’ll have plenty to watch this time round. We think it’s important to show support bands respect by watching as much as we possibly can so we tend to just watch most bands and see what we like then.
Manchester - what's the best thing about playing the city?
Honestly? Taco Bell. You guys have it good. The main reason we tour is for taco bell. But really we always seem to get an awesome reaction there , we even almost burned it to the ground with a fiery T shirt and still got a cheer. You guys always seem to have cool bands for us to watch too.
As a touring band whats the one big tip (promo / songwriting / biz) advice you can give to a band just starting out?
I’d have to say be your own band, don’t make the mistake of trying to sound like everyone else. Practice until your hands hurt and you want to fight each other, then practice more. Be mates, we hate each other loads which makes thing difficult, but really just have a good time with it, shows are supposed to be fun so make that priority 1.
Which essential book / film / CD do you have to take on the road when on tour?
We take a couple of future pads (Ipads) with us, that takes care of it all. We don’t tend to watch films as a group because last time we did that the film was Shutter Island and we argued about what was going on for a good few days after, pretty sure I was right. Also I think it’s important to have the right music for different times. I like to switch to stuff like City and Colour for the night time drives.
30 second sales pitch - why should our readers come out and see you?
We’ve got some nice new songs to showcase at these shows which is always fun, especially if we mess ‘em up. We’ll all do our hair super nice, brushed and everything, might even wash. Plus Roy finally gets to tour after being ran over by a taxi (He’s fine now so jokes are welcome) so a nice warm welcome back from some Manchester guys is in order. But mainly we’re gunna go mad and have an awesome night so it’s worth the trip.
Brand new song ‘Sweeter’ will be given away free at all shows on the tour as an exclusive download available from the merch stand.