Smilex Q&A

Your name:

Lee Christian.

Where are you from?

I live in Bath now but the band is from and born in Oxford.

Name of band:

Smilex (named after a toxic chemical Batman villain the Joker uses to kill people with a smile on their face).

Who else is in your band?

Tom Sharp - guitar and vocals, Pat Holmberg - drums, Liv Luce - bass. I'm the singer (loosely defined!)

How would you describe yourselves?

Alternative rock I guess: Arty and melodic but heavy and in your face. Kick ass live. Nice people with problems.

Who are your main influences musically?

We all have our own tastes but the stuff that unifies the band and is reflected in it's sound would be: Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, Pixies, Jane's Addiction, Soundgarden, Tool, Deftones, At the Drive-in, Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin and Beavis & Butthead's vocal impressions of classic riffs from yesteryear...

What do you hope to achieve in music?

Fight the good fight against all the meaningless style-over-substance commercial drivel and make an argument for intelligent (tho not TOO intelligent - that would spoil everything!) But visceral rock. Always get better.

What has been the highlight of your career so far, and why?

The creation and release of Smilex's debut '7' as it is pretty much exactly the record I wanted to make and also resulted in working with Ace from Skunk Anansie, a band that we all love. Also getting Playmusic's award for best live act 2010 was nice as our live show is very important to us!

And what’s the moment you want to forget?

The sales of '7' that followed! Plus a couple of nights picking glass out of my head after a hectic gig!

If you had to pick just one of your songs to represent your music, what would it be and why?

Old album - Ape Pig Man as it is one of 7 direct kicks to the balls. The new album - I'm still too close to tell. 

Where can we listen to it?

https://soundcloud.com/smilex/ape-pig-man

Where can we find out more about your music?

www.smilex.co.uk
www.facebook.com/smilexband
www.youtube.com/smilexvideos
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/smilex/id213490413
www.soundcloud.com/smilex
www.smilex.bandcamp.com
www.twitter.com/_smilex_
 

Anything else you’d like to say about your band/music that I forgot to ask?

We're not trying to be rich or famous: Both have become very crass & tacky (if they were not always!). I want to give people something for their heads, hearts, feet and maybe loins to feel engaged/excited by!