Weekend Schemers Interview
Posted by Hunter on Sat, 17 Apr 2010.
Andy Cooper - Lead Vocals & rhythm guitar & keys/synth.
Conor Evans - guitar & vocals.
Harry Radburn - drums & vocals.
Joe Doyle - bass & vocals.
We’ve always been keen to support local bands, and there are certainly a lot of extremely talented bands out there in Leicestershire alone. Sadly it has become increasingly difficult for local bands to carve themselves a career in a music industry that is in total disarray. There are those who claim the likes of Simon Cowell have total dominance in what music is deemed to be successful, while the likes of Don McLean claim that there is no music industry, or at least nothing like it was when he first started out.
So amongst the wealth of excellent local talent, one band came particularly recommended, Weekend Schemers. When arranging the interview it was at that point that my age showed, as I said to meet them at “The Lamplighters”. For those of you who don’t know, before “Firebug” became “Firebug”, it was “The Lamplighters”. Oops. Anyway, after the lads from the band finished taking the mickey out of me we settled down in Firebug to do the interview.
Ok, how did you guys meet?
Conor: It all started with the drummer and I, we went to college together and we wanted to start a band, we did an out of school music GCSE. We didn’t really know anyone who played guitar, especially as it was a small school, and our year was so small. We knew a couple of people but no-one really handy. So we went on this website on the internet called “join my band”, it’s a bit weird saying this, meeting people on the internet, but we met James who used to be our vocalist, but he dropped out. But now we’ve got Andy. Jo came in about mid June 2009. Same sort of situation on Facebook, but I think that’s the easiest way to meet people, so many people there, and you can pretty much sell yourself on this website (join my band). And you can find each other, the same story goes for Andy who only really joined a while ago, exact same website.
Bit like “Band Members R Us” then?
Conor: Yeah pretty much!
Age old question, but how would you describe your music?
Joe: I’ll take that one! It’s not typical Indie, but you can call it that. It’s something everyone likes. We’ve seen so many bands in Leicester, and there are some bands who really try put that the Indie image off. It’s a mixture though because we’ve all got our own influences, like, I’m very much into my Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Joe is into his Arctic Monkeys, Andy is into Muse, one of us is into McFly (ssshhhh). Everything is brought together, and it works really well. Our songs have a bit of everything, some songs have elements of ska, some have elements of rock.
Ok, so, the name “Weekend Schemers”, where did that come from?
Conor: Harry the drummer, he came up with it. Everyone asks this question. We were going to be called “Something for the Radio”, or something silly like that. I can’t remember why we didn’t go for that name. So we sat on Myspace over a weekend and tried out various names, thinking the first one that comes up that isn’t already taken, that’ll be the golden one. Weekend Schemers it was.
Where do you get your inspiration from, and how do you go about writing your songs?
Andy: Well, as this line up has only recently formed (me only joining recently), that process is still evolving. We’ve not used many songs from the “back catalogue”. “I Belong With You” is a new one that we’ve written together, a ballad type song. I take my inspiration from the likes of Muse when I’m writing.
Conor: It’s just a one off. You can be sat there for hours and hours with a guitar in your hand and come up with nothing, then one afternoon or late at night, last minute, you pick the guitar up and you come up with a little riff. Which is pretty much how a lot of songs have developed. Spur of the moment, but it’s always worked. There were times we’d be sat there for two hours in rehearsals, we wouldn’t get anywhere! A lot of songs have suddenly come up.
Joe: haha, yeah, that’s how I did it too. I just thought, “I’m getting bored of waiting” haha, so I’ll just go and write one! I only come out with a few though.
Conor: Yeah, we all contribute, a band effort!
Playing the close of The Charlotte, feelings?
Conor: Yeah, well I read about the guy who was running it, so I thought, sod it, I’ll Facebook him. I used to go to The Charlotte a lot when I was younger. So I got talking to him and he said it was an 18+ venue, so that was a bit of a drawback for us as a lot of the people who come to see us are 17 and under. So we said what about doing a 14+ gig? He said you’ll have to pay for the “policing”, because these new licensing policies on Leicester venues have come into place. So we did the first ever 1+ night and we sold out. We organized the second one, the second gig there, and we got about 200 people there again. And they then recently closed it for the 14+ gigs, but the guy was really reasonable and said we could do one more. We took the date, but the only problem was our set got cut half way through our set because some idiots were fighting outside for no real reason, and the police closed the venue. Mid way through set…..
With The Charlotte closing, do you see things getting better/harder for young bands such as yourselves?
Conor: There a couple more opening apparently, rumours are flying round that a newer bigger venue will be opening up at some point (probably not for a couple of years yet though). You always hear of things like that or whatever I don’t know, you get promoters banding together, trying to sort something out, get investment. But yeah, with the Charlotte closing, that’s kind of an end of an era because they’ve got such an iconic history, Oasis, Coldplay, Robert Plant, they’ve all played there. The Charlotte has always had a good reputation, even with younger people.
Asides from odd fights outside what are most difficult things to overcome?
Andy: Probably song writing because we want to make sure they’re the best they can be instead of just accepting substandard stuff. We’ve got a pretty decent set as it is, so that’s not such a huge problem right now.
Conor: Just to clarify, the idiots fighting outside were nothing to do with us! They were just “randoms” outside! We argue quite a bit, but that’s to be expected! We’ll be sat there in the house, and for no real reason we’ll just take the mickey out of one person, and the following week it’ll be someone else getting it haha.
And the highlights?
Joe: Doing sell out nights at The Charlotte, playing big nights at The Shed, and yes, the social aspect too. Everyone is dead friendly, you meet that many nice people, from the audience, or you start talking to somebody from another band and they’re really decent.
Conor: We occasionally get stick from some older bands but I think that’s because they might see us as being a bit cocky, even though we really aren’t.
Do you think it’s become harder or easier for younger bands like yourself to get heard, especially with the likes of Myspace and Facebook?
Joe: I don’t think people really use Myspace now, it’s all about Facebook at the moment. Because there are a lot of older more established names on there (some with massive reputations), it makes it very tough to get noticed, so it’s much harder on Myspace, and it’s getting tougher finding venues too.
Conor: You’ve got to find a gap in music, organizing your own gigs, working hard to do stuff for yourself. You’ve got to meet the right people, the right bands. We maybe played too many gigs at the start, but it did work in a sense. But no, it’s not easy!
What music/bands are you listening to at the moment that you genuinely like?
Joe: Queens of the Stone Age.
Conor: I tell you what, I’ve been getting back into my Coldplay. I saw a Coldplay tribute band not so long ago, so that’s why. The Killers, The Who. But I think now we play different sorts of music it’s good to listen to music that’s around at the moment too, not to copy, but like The Cortinas, and I like my synth American rock too, things like 30 Seconds to Mars and so on.
Excellent! Well, thank you very much for your time and all the best for the future!
So you’ve read the interview, take a look at their Myspace: