On glorious Friday afternoon I [Nic] headed to the Zoo Lake Bowling Club to do an interview with Scottish indie band Suburban Saints. We drank beer, played bowls and I did this interview, check it out!

Suburban Saints (SS)

Jaimie Mackie – Vocals and guitar (J)
David Temple – Lead guitar (D)
Rhys Jones – Bass (R)
Chris Sutherland – Drums (C)

WHEN DID YOU REALISE YOU WANTED TO BE IN A BAND?

J: For me it would be the first time I ever heard guitar music, my dad and I went snowboarding and he made up a CD, and then I heard the Arctic Monkey’s first album and instantly realized that playing guitar was cool.

R: I got my first guitar when I was 13, I started playing and I just kept playing. I would listen to music and know that that’s what I wanted to do. When I was 12/13 my mom bought me a Led Zeppelin CD for Christmas and that was the first band I fell in love with. Being able to play guitar to that standard is what I wanted to do.

J: And now you’re the bassist.

C: I got my first guitar when I was 7 years old. I would have jams with my dad to The Beatles albums and I knew from then that this is what I wanted to do.

R: And now you’re the drummer.

D: I’ve played music since I was 5/6 years old. I started playing piano when I was 6, I also played violin and the saxophone. I didn’t pick up a guitar until I was 16, and now I’m the guitar player.

HOW DID YOUR BAND GET TOGETHER?

J: David and I were at school together and we met Chris and Rhys at college, we formed the band and from there we just seemed to click. We’re all on the same wave length when we      write songs.

WHO ARE YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?

SS: We’re influenced by classic rock like Led Zeppelin and AC/DC, but more recently, Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Twin Atlantic (Scottish band) and The Strokes. We like energetic songs and basically anything indie.

WHO WRITES YOUR SONGS?

SS: We have an analogy for the way we write songs, we call it the Christmas Tree analogy: Jaime takes the tree down from the loft and sets it up, David puts the lights on, Chris throws on the tinsel and Rhys is the star on top.

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE BIGGEST OBSTACLES FOR BANDS NOW DAYS?

SS: Distribution, There are a lot of really good bands out there that nobody has heard of. Its also who you know, its tough getting that first break. Not to bad mouth but how could Justin Bieber be number one? Never say never.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TODAY IN REGARDS TO DOWNLOADS AND ALBUM SALES?

SS: It’s cutthroat. We love CDs, we’d rather buy CDs than download. There’s nothing better than having a CD. Bands don’t make enough money from selling songs, its playing gigs that you get the most money from. We’re not totally against piracy, if you download a song from a band and give it to 4 different people and they go out and buy the album than you’ve done nothing wrong.

BRITNEY SPEARS BACK IN THE DAY OR CHRISTINA AGUILERA?

D: Christina

C: Personally, Christina

R: Christina, after that Dirrty song she did

J: I’m going to be the odd one out and go for Britney Spears. Britney when she was bald.

WHERE’S THE WEIRDEST PLACE YOU’VE EVER PLAYED?

J: We’ve played gigs where we’ve been mismatched in genres, we supported a heavy metal band. We played a venue in Glasgow with a big whole in the stage. At one of our first gigs, there was barely anyone there and some drunk guy shouts from the bar “Who the hell are you?

R: “I’m Rhys,” I thought he was asking me personally.

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO MOST ON YOUR SOUTH AFRICAN TOUR?

SS: The weather and meeting new people, there are a lot of nice people out here. We’re also looking forward to playing with the local bands here, like The Plastics and Ashtray Electric.

YOU RECENTLY RELEASED YOUR DEBUT EP ENTITLED ‘CAPITAL’, WHATS NEXT FOR SUBUBRAN SAINTS AFTER THIS TOUR?

SS: Its got to be the big ‘A’ word – Album. We’ve been writing for an album and we’ve got enough singles to release. However, the way we go about it is up in the air, whether we do it ourselves or go to someone.