The VueThe Vue are the latest American sensation to break the UK. The band have just completed a tour with The Trail Of The Dead and throughout the past few years have played with everyone from the Strokes to the White Stripes and The Faint. Together these bands share one common goal and that is to free the world from the jock rock of Limp Bizkit and Puddle Of Mudd. We caught up with drummer Raphael to discuss the masterplan.
Q: You're just in the middle of the Trail Of The Dead tour. Two bands at almost opposite ends of the scale joining up for a tour. How's it going?
A: Its an interesting combination Trail of the Dead and us. If you listen to the records its doesn't sound very similar. Its kind of indicative of the whole thing which is going on right now, these bands coming from the same place that have met each other over the years from Touring in the US a lot. There's a common thread between all of them - The Faint, At The Drive In - they're all band who through the past few years of touring we've played with and become friends with. Its a small world in America with all these bands starting to do really well.People are like what's it like being lumped in with the White Stripes. And were like well we've known them for years. We played with the White Stripes two years ago in San Francisco in front of about 100 people and at the time nobody was really taking much attention.
Q: The UK is really receptive to all the American bands right now. What's the scene like in the States?
A: The UK were the first one's to really take notice, but in the US its really starting to spill over for those bands too. We just saw the White Stripes in New York before we came over here and people are really freaking out over them.Nirvana were great, but every few years people need to shake it up a bit and now grunge has turned into an almost bastardized version of itself. With people that a few years ago would have beaten up Kurt Cobain are the ones pretending to be suffering and tortured. Now something new needs to come out.
Its funny with all these band that are doing well. Take Nickelback, they might play the same place that the White Stripes are playing in and they might not sell it out....and the White Stripes will sell it out 4 nights in a row. This band is selling a million or two million more records than the White Stripes, its just that its such a event. And hopefully the records will catch up as well because Nickelback and Staind and Puddle of Mudd are just really horrific.
Q: Were only seeing the tip of the iceberg over here with a few Limp Bizkits or a few Puddle Of Mudd's. Is it literally a case of every other band is like this?
A: Yeah, its just all over the place. But you definitely get a sense that all the record companies and people on MTV are getting sick of it, cos they're people too. Its not just like they're corporate monster and they get bored of things too...so you can see Black Rebel Motorcycle club being played on MTV. It just wouldn't have happened a couple of years ago.At this point people don't even care about N'Sync. Its harmless and you kind of end up liking it in a funny way. All these jocks, like take Limp Bizkit, these guys are supposed to be tough and they look like a bunch of security guards and these sing about how their girlfriends left them. They must be the biggest pussies in the world!!!
You end up sympathizing with N'Sync and Britney Spears because at least they are what they are pretending to be. Making music is the first mission. But if we end up destroying what going on now that's incidental.
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