The Smears – Interview

The Smears - Interview

Photo credit: Steve Fisher

The Smears are an all-girl grunge tour de force from Nottingham that have treaded the boards with bands such as the Buzzcocks, Uk Subs, ex L7 The Shocker, Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, Just Jack and are now taking on bigger crowds in their own right. They’re cute. In a guttural punky doo-wop dogfight kind of way. Download an MP3 and read the interview…

Likened to bands from The Gossip to Nirvana, the Smears are a girl gang playing raw and genuinely unrestrained punk. If you want to delve in, ‘Deliverance’ is their fiercest track so far.

The Smears Interview

Phill Huxley got to interview the Smears for the BBC (read the full interview here) and the results were (ahem) positive:

There seems to be a lack of British all girl punk bands around compared with 5 or 10 years ago – would you agree?

Colette: There is a lack of British all-girl bands full stop – where are you?

Emma: I don’t think there are enough signed girl bands and only very few can represent those who can play well. You know a label once said they would sign us but if we could play like the Raincoats! Have you heard them? Anyway, yes, I agree. I think there is a lack of progressiveness in people’s views. Girls are girls, boys are boys so what? You know some feminists really like men… some men like feminists. I’m not sure if I care.

The music industry is generally dominated by middle aged men – advantage or disadvantage?

Colette: An advantage in that we stand out from the crowd being all-girl, yet you still get people who’ll write you off before they’ve heard you just cos you’re female.

Emma: That’s kind of a discriminative question. When people start asking that to Westlife then you’ll know there has been a move forward. Ask Bloc Party, see what they say…

To an uninformed observer like myself, the DIY underground scene appears to be thriving…?

Emma: The D.I.Y scene is where everything great comes from! People appreciate those who have worked at their craft. Oasis go straight to the charts because, even if you don’t like their music, people can see integrity and worth in them because they work for it. It’s important. Business, comedy, art, whatever… people have more respect for those who have come from grass roots because we all have to work for something. Manufactured bands can be fun but they are never going to have the life and death of real bands.

Nat: There are a lot of decent bands out there with little or no money that are not getting the recognition they should, because they are a poor band. I suggest everyone try and make it to at least one gig a month and support this underground scene. Stop paying big sweaty club owners and pay the bands.

 

 

 


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