on the record with....
Iain
BeerZone & Control
By Jillian Abbene
(SugarBuzz Richmond)
SugarBuzz Magazine
1. I was impressed with last year’s ECOF performance – you guys seem as tight as ever and I get a sense that something has changed. Any reason for this? Curious on why ‘HA HA’ and ‘Stupid Little Man’ were not played? they were my 2 favorites!]
IAIN: Sorry we never played those songs mate, you should have asked us beforehand and we would have put them in the set for you. Yes, things are changing as some of us are now involved in a new harder hitting project and are going to keep Beerzone on the backburner.
2. Will Beerzone crank out yet another CD [after, “Against The Flow,”] perhaps for next year? Curious.
IAIN: No, there will be no other Beerzone releases. We just released a split CD and vinyl album with Suburban Lockdown on Durty Mick Records a couple of months ago and that will be the last record we are making under Beerzone. It's been ten great years but time to move on. It was never meant to last more than about 6 months and ended up going for ten years, 5 albums and loads of singles and compilations as well as taking us all over the world. I wouldn’t swap it for the world.
3. So you have a new involvement with the new project/band called, ‘Control?’ ‘Hooligan Rock N Roll’ is a great debut song to open with at the ECOF, can we see a full length CD in the future?
IAIN: Yes, I am in a new band called Control and the debut album 'Welcome to the Nanny State', will be released later in the year. It is harder hitting, heavier, angry and full of social commentary and doused in attitude put across in big sing-along choruses. It’s a mix between Streetpunk/Oi! & Hardcore and the result is simply Hooligan Rock & Roll. Check out www.myspace.com/controlrocknroll or www.hooliganrocknroll.com.
4. Is Beerzone or Control embarking on any tours this year? Or maybe fests? Perhaps for the states or just the UK? Ok, this can be confusing!
IAIN: There are no plans to tour with Beerzone again, but you can never say never. Control pland to play the States, Australia and Europe in late 2008/early 2009 but check the websites for updates as they come through.
5. What bands influence you today?
IAIN: Very few bands actually influence us these days, but we listen to and respect a lot of the bands on the circuit. We just want to make our own noise though, and the new bands comed straight from the heart. Bands I have been listening to recently include Anti-Heros, Marching Orders, Provoke, Mouthguard, Murphy’s Law, Bulldog Spirit, Agnostic Front, UK Vacant, Skingraft, Foreign Legion and Argy Bargy.
6. What has been your most memorable gig to date?
IAIN: That's a very hard question to answer, but if I had to choose one, it would probably our show in Melbourne, Australia in 2006 at the Wasted Festival, or The Holidays in the Sun Festival in New jersey.
7. What are the future plans for the rest of the year?
IAIN: Finish recording the record, get the name of the band out there, and then arrange some shows. It's given me a real shot in the arm being able to start a new band and sing about things that the whole UK is talking about at the moment as we watch this once proud land be dragged in to the gutter by a bunch of spineless morons.
8. Is there any time in your life (lives) that you can remember as a turning point that made you realize that punk is not a phase, but a lifestyle?
IAIN: Since I was a kid, punk rock and Oi! have been a huge part of my life and I can't imagine a life without it. I started the band, ‘Intensive Care’ as a naive teenager, then started Beerzone and now it's Control. My father was in bands all his life too, so it's in the blood and all I really know to be honest.
9. Anything you would like to add?
IAIN: Be the first kid in your town to be seen in the must wear item this year by checking out the merchandise on the Control site, spread the word about the band, and most importantly......stay punk! Thanks for your help and support and good luck with your website/zine, you're a star.
The Captain