Everything Zen Q&A

Your name: 

Michael Kumar (guitar and vocals).

Where are you from? 

Stevenage, Hertfordshire.

Name of band: 

Everything Zen.

Who else is in your band?

Lee Warren who plays bass, Ant Pinnell who plays second guitar, and Andrew Bisgrove who plays drums! The band's ages range is between 20 and 26.

How would you describe yourselves?  

Good question, whenever I get asked this I can never tie down our genre. We are closest probably to alternative rock/post-grunge.

Who are your main influences musically? 

It all differentiates between the members. We all have a mutual liking for Silverchair though, and I think any genre of music that sounds good. Lee has fairly punky roots, while Ant and Andrew are the ‘metalheads’ of the band. I also have a small spot for hardcore jazz banjo fusion too lol.

What do you hope to achieve in music?  

To go as far as possible if not the whole way! Open up opportunity, and build up contacts.

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

Probably being approached by HotVox and opening opportunity in London. I’d say as well, just generally getting a project like this together; it’s literally taken years to tie it down for all of us.

And what’s the moment you want to forget?  

Sound problems with our pedals, leads and amps, which is bound to be standard anyway. However, I would say every bit has been enjoyable and a learning curve all the same.

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

Keep Calm and Carry On, because that is exactly this bands mentality!

Where can we listen to it?

http://soundcloud.com/everythingzenofficial/keep-calm-and-carry-on

Where can we find out more about your music?

www.soundcloud.com/everythingzenofficial

https://www.facebook.com/everythingzenofficial

https://twitter.com/zenbandmusic

http://www.youtube.com/user/everythingzenmusic

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

We are currently in the process of gathering material to record an EP in early 2014.

Traitors Q&A

Your name: 

Ben Davies (Vocals).

Where are you from? 

Hitchin/Stevenage, Hertfordshire, UK.

Name of band:

Traitors!

Who else is in your band? 

Rosie Allen (Bass/Vox), Jason Haggerty (Guitar), Danny Clayton (Drums) and Chris Hollis (Guitar/Vox).

How would you describe yourselves?

A five-piece pop-punk band with harmonies galore.

Who are your main influences musically?

The pop punk we grew up on - NOFX, The Movielife, The Get Up Kids, New Found Glory, Millencolin etc and a bit of Say Anything, Against Me and The Gaslight Anthem.

What do you hope to achieve in music? 

Just to get some songs out that people like really! We've all been in various bands for WELL over a decade so any dreams of rock stardom are long gone, but if we can write a song that means something to someone that would be mindblowing. We'd also like to revitalise the punk scene in our area, which used to be amazing, by putting some bands on and getting the buzz going again.

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

Well we are very new! As in our first gig is next week! But just getting to know the guys better and writing some proper back to basics rock songs has been amazing.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 

Um none yet! Hopefully we can keep it that way!

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

I guess We Will Build Towers, our first single, is a fair representation. Poppy, punky and harmonies galore!

Where can we listen to it? 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ImJ4tGfCkE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Where can we find out more about your music?

www.facebook.com/traitorsmusic

@we_are_traitors
traitorsband.co.uk

traitors.bandcamp.com

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

Not really, you've been very thorough! People can pre-order our EP 'Boys Of The Double Cross' on the bandcamp page, as well as listening to a couple of songs - and we'd appreciate people letting us know if they're digging it!

Shadows Collide Q&A

Your name: 

Chris Lincoln (Bass, Vocals).

Where are you from? 

Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England.

Name of band:

Shadows Collide.

Who else is in your band? 

Egor Zverev – Guitar, Chris Watling - Drums, James Willcox – Lead Vocals.

How would you describe yourselves? 

Enthusiastic, hard working and fun music lovers. Our sound is hard to categorise, we're an alternative rock band that twists and turns mixing metal, screamo and punk.

Who are your main influences musically? 

Funeral For a Friend, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Avenged Sevenfold, Bring Me The Horizon, Memphis May Fire.

What do you hope to achieve in music? 

We hope to get signed by a legitimate record label, perform at reputable venues and make a career out of our music. From our guitarist - I want to tour in a rusty white van, eat KFC for breakfast, lunch and dinner and playing near the seaside.

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

Performing our songs to our friends and family. We spent over a year in a garage rehearsing, when we finally got to play our records to a crowd singing along it reminded us of why we were doing it.

And what’s the moment you want to forget? 

Receiving a letter from the council, a noise complaint to be exact. Now we just play louder.

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

We are all about energy and hard hitting breakdowns, the record that portrays this the most is 'Awake'.

Where can we listen to it?

http://www.youtube.com/shadowscollide1
https://soundcloud.com/shadowscollide1

Where can we find out more about your music?

https://soundcloud.com/shadowscollide1
http://www.facebook.com/Shadowscollideband

https://twitter.com/ShadowsCollide1

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

At this point in time we are working on our next single, we can't wait to get this out there so keep your eyes and ears open.