Posted on Aug 25, 2007 by DevotedToMusic

Lights.Action! are a London based Indie band with a large amount of energy and a lot of talent. They are currently writing songs for their debut album and have just finished recording their video for ‘Story of a Broken Boy’.

The Band Members are:
Patrick Currier - Vocals
Karl Bareham - Guitar/Keys
Chris Moorhead - Guitar
Alex Leeder - Bass
Steve Durham – Drums

I Alexandra McLoughlin was lucky enougth to catch up with Patrick outside the Camden Barfly for a lowdown on the band and the upcoming tour.

Hi Patrick!

Hi! How are you doing?

I’m good thank you, and you?

Very, Very well

What have you been up to lately band wise?

Well, we’ve just recorded a single and we did the video for it, so literally last weekend we got all the kit, filmed our own video on the top a rooftop in Soho, with a sheer drop we could have died on. We are playing Leeds festival this week and obviously we’ve got this Kerrang show right now and then we are preparing for this tour with Anberlin at the start of September.

Which single did you just do a video for?

We did it for a song called ‘Story of a Broken Boy’ and we’re gonna be playing it tonight.

Can you explain to us a bit about what we should expect from this video?

Yeah sure! The performance side of it is us up on a roof with the whole city scape of London in the background. There’s a story with the girl. You’ve gotta have a girl in the video otherwise no one wants to watch it. The girl in the video has 5 dolls which I suppose you can liken to Voodoo dolls and as she goes though her travels throughout London then onto the rooftop, she then removes the dolls and it moves us and stuff like that and then she throws them of the rooftop and so essentially that’s the end.

Was it hard to pick which girl to use in you’re video?

Well fortunately our guitarist’s girlfriend knows loads and loads of really attractive girls so it wasn’t hard at all. She just found one that looks kinda mysterious and is a girl called Jackie and she’s a super awesome girl.

How long did it take you to film it?

We did the whole thing in 2 days but we planned it solidly everyday for 2 weeks in advance..probally longer then 2 weeks and then the editing has taken our guitarist this whole week but he’s done a really good job. It’s been worth it.

Did you injure yourself at all doing the video?

I did actually. I hurt my hand really bad which still hurts from flinging back and hitting the guitarist’s guitar. I hurt my head and my foot from just rocking out and not a pain thing but our bass player has got extreme vertigo which is the fear of heights so in-between every time we had to take a shot he had to hold on to someone so he wouldn’t collapse on the floor or whatever with fear (Laughs) but he did a great job.

I bet you had a lot of laughs about his vertigo…

Yeah we did but we had to be supportive aswell because he’s our mate the poor guy. He had some balls definitely for going up there.

When is the video out?

I think the digital release is in September. It might be the 10th when the video is out. I’m not positive on that though.

I know you have a lot of gigs coming up. Which ones are you most looking forward to?

Well definitely Leeds is gonna be amazing because it’s just gonna be rammed with people and there is gonna be a good vibe. Leeds is gonna be great because I’ve always wanted to play one of the Carling Weekend festivals and I think the Anberlin in Glasgow is gonna be amazing and the one in London is gonna be amazing just because we love those areas. Probably that whole tour will be amazing. Those are the 2 I am really looking forward to for some weird reason.

And you were saying that you’ve always wanted to play a Carling Weekend Festival. How long have you wanted to do this?

God! The first one I ever went to was..I went to Reading in 97 that’s almost 10 years now (Laughs).

Did you go to any of the festivals last year or this year?

I went to Download this year. Last year I went to Reading and Download. I pretty much go every year to those festivals. One of the years I went to Leeds the year Guns & Roses played so I’ve been to Leeds aswell and that was really good. I think it was the first year that went on.

What stage are you playing at the festival?

I think it’s the Topman Unsigned stage. I don’t think it’s massive but it’s a real big honour to play at the same time. I think we’re not to low down the bill. I think we are actually on at 4PM or 3:30.

What day are you playing?

Friday, this Friday.

What bands are you looking forward to watching at the festival?

That day has just got some great bands like The Smashing Pumpkins are my favourite band of all time and they’re playing, Nine Inch Nails I really wanna see, Funeral for a Friend are playing, we’re buddies with those guys. Silversun Pickups are playing. There are so many good bands playing. There are some cool electro bands playing like Does It Offend You Yet? And stuff like that. I think it’s just gonna be a great weekend.

Are you gonna stay there the 2 days afterwards and just watch bands?

Yeah definitely.

Any other bands in the other 2 days that you really want to see or just check them out for the first time?

Um..Let me think…I can’t really remember who’s on the next 2 days. I’m sorry you have caught me on a loss I can’t remember who else is playing. When I was looking at the bill earlier today I was like there are 15 or 20 bands I really want to see.

Aiden are playing on the Friday or the Saturday…

Aiden are playing on the Saturday? I didn’t know that!

…I think on the NME stage with The Horrors, The Enemy and Ash. Bands like that. Are you going to watch those guys?

Wow! Defiantly! That would be amazing.

Have you played any of the venues before, that you’ve got coming up?

On the tour?

Yes..

Yeah most of them we have played the cities, if not those venues because they are all sort of Barfly sized venues. I think we have played pretty much all the venues that we are playing on the tour so it’s gonna be fun returning and seeing some familiar faces.

How long does an average tour take with a band?

Well I wish it would take longer, if I am honest with you. Our sorta average touring length is 1 or 2 week tours. If you are a bigger band like Aiden I imagine tour pretty much 9 months out of the year. As you move up the bumps on a ladder tours get longer and longer.

How do you manage to cope with being tiered all the time from lack of sleep?

(Laughs) I dunno. I guess you kinda get used to it, I mean the human body can cope with a lot of stuff. I guess it’s just wanting to get out there and perform to people spurs you on. The adrenaline when you get on stage just overcomes any kinda of tiredness that you have. Generally.

Have you had any crazy fans come up to you and as you to record you voice on their mobile phones and that type of crazy thing?

Yeah. Definitely. When we toured with Saosin earlier in the year , I can’t remember which venue it was but there were people trying to secretly record me when I just stood there. I wasn’t doing anything interesting. I was being really boring, just behind the merch stand selling stuff and they where just filming me (Laughs) it’s very flattering that they are kinda interested but at least they could catch me when I’m doing something fun.

Does it not freak you out at all?

You don’t get into this thing without having a kinda healthy ability to deal with that sorta thing. We haven’t had it nearly as much as massive bands do and I’m obviously prepared to deal with all that stuff if and when we get to that level where people will actually give a damn (Laughs).

Are there any bands you really want to tour with?

Yeah. I am really, really desperate to tour with Silversun Pickups and then obviously there are the obvious ones like the Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins and The Killers and people like that but they are all really big bands and slightly out of our reach. I’d love to tour with Biffy Clyro aswell. They are an amazing band. Those are all I can think of that are in the top of my list.

You are doing the show tonight with Aiden. Have you ever done a show with them before?

This is gonna be our first time playing with them. This is actually gonna be my first time seeing them, the rest of the guys have seen them. I think Karl has met them a couple of times because he does sound for other bands but I have never seen them before. It’s gonna be an interesting night.

What are you expecting of the show tonight?

I think there is gonna be a lot of energy. I think there is gonna be a lot of kids just wanting to have a good time. There have been kids waiting outside this venue since 2PM of something. Those kids aren’t gonna come in here and stand still, they are gonna have a fun time.

Have you been around town yet, for a look around?

Oh I live in North London so I have to walk through Camden everyday (Laughs).

Does it change from day to day? This is my first time in Camden. Is it always like this?

Yeah. Camden is one of those sort of unique places which has always been this way and always will unless they rip it down, which I think they are frightening to do. It’s an interesting place. I think everyone who lives near it has a love and hate for the place because it’s so weird.

Talking a bit more about you’re music. You’re single ‘Aurora’ was up on myspace for 1 week only. Why only 1 week?

Well it was kinda like a teaser because that’s not a single. What we wanted was because we had the same sorta songs up there for a while we wanted to give our listeners something new and at the same time they could download ‘The Story of a Boy’, which has now been put up there in ‘Aurora’s’ place. It was just sorta like “Hey guys check this out cause it’s gonna come out later in the year”. It was like a tease really.

What’s the story behind the single?

Behind ‘The Story of a Broken’ boy?

Yes..

It’s based around temptation and what happens when you submit to temptation too much and how it can change you.

When I was listening to you’re music I noticed that It sounds quite powerful. Is this on purpose?

Oh yeah definitely. We have always wanted to create something that was epic and highly charged with atmosphere and emotion. It’s 100% exactly what we wanted to do. So it’s great that you think that!

Finally what’s next for Lights.Action?

Well this tour then we are writing the album. We wanna write loads of songs for the album even though we have enough songs for the album we are probably a third though writing what will end up on the album.

Thank you for allowing me to interview you.

Thank you so much!

Taken At:

Camden Barfly

Taken On:

August 21st, 2007

Interviewees:

Patrick Currier - Vocals

Related Links:

• www.myspace.com/lightsactionba...

Interviews

Aug 21, 2007 Camden Barfly