Interview with Brigade
Posted on Apr 15, 2008 by DevotedToMusic
Brigade are a melodic rock band based in the UK. They are fronted by Will Simpson, elder brother of Charlie Simpson from Fighstar.
They have recently been touring with Aiden and will soon be touring with Fightstar.
I Alexandra McLoughlin was lucky to grab a quick interview with James and Naoto at the Brighton Concorde 2 show.
Hello can you introduce yourselves please?!
James- I am James hello.
Naoto- I am Naoto.
How are you guys doing?
James- Very well today. We are in Brighton and the sun is shining. We’ve had a nice game of crazy golf, had a very lovely lunch by the sea so we’re in very good spirits.
How long we’re you playing crazy golf for?
James- Probably a good half an hour wasn’t it Naoto?
Naoto- Yeah I didn’t play it though.
James- No. Naoto was like a caddy
You enjoyed yourself especially with the weather?
James- Yeah absolutely it’s very nice.
How and when did you guys meet?
James- Will was wanting to form a band and he moved to Bristol and he had no success in Bristol so he moved to London where he met Naoto and I’ve known Will since school time and I was in another band so it was a three piece and he needed an extra guitar player I came to help and then decided I wanted to do Brigade more then I wanted to do my other band so I joined. Since then we got a guy called Fimbo playing the drums who was the drummer with the first album and then Andy joined last summer.
When was it you all met?
James- About 2003 probably early 2003.
That was quite a long time ago..
James- A long time ago yeah.
Has the time flown by for you guys?
James- erm…yeah! It’s gone quite quick hasn’t it Naoto?
Naoto- Yeah.
James- Yeah the time has…We try to keep ourselves as busy as possible so it really has flown by.
When you released your debut album ‘Lights’ in 2006 you got some fantastic reviews 8/10 from NME, 4/5 from Kerrang and 8/10 from Rock Sound…that must have made you so proud ..It was so soon!?...
James- We were absolutely delighted! We couldn’t have wished for better reviews really and it totally exceeded everybody’s expectations.
Naoto- I can’t still believe it!
James- We still pinch at it especially the NME one because usually they hate rock bands and we thought they’d absolutely slate it but to get 8/10 in NME was fantastic.
As well as the first album doing extremely well your first single ‘Magneto’ reached number No.3 in the Rock Chart then"Meet Me At My Funeral" reached No.4 ! Were you expecting this?
James- Nope again. We jut had no idea that it would do so well and we want to thank everybody who got it (laughs) for helping it get there. So we were really shocked really, really shocked.
What did your friends and family think of the result?
James- Shock as well. Everybody has obviously been really supportive. This is what we want to do making a success of it is what it’s all about.
Back in the day did you have any idea you were going to be this successful in such a short space of time?
James- Well you always like to think it’ll happen but quite often it doesn’t but for us were very lucky we’ve done some really good tours and we got some really good breaks so I’d like to think it’ll continue and just keep getting up the ladder.
The next single ‘Pilot’ is due on the 28th. Are you excited to see what reaction it gets?
James- Very excited! I think the video has been on the music channels quite a bit and it’s just fantastic. It’s just the starting off of the new album campaign. It’s just exciting to see how things are going to go.
Especially after how well the last singles have done isn’t it? Do you think it is going to be as popular as the other singles?
James- I think hopefully it’ll be more popular I hope. Fingers crossed.
Maoto- It’s not as heavy as Magneto and things like that so I don’t really know..
James- We’ve tried to make it a little more accessible I think just by bringing out the melodies a bit more and so more people can get into it.
I want to talk a bit about this tour with Aiden. Tonight is the last night of this tour. How has it been?
Maoto- Good. I really enjoyed playing to lots of people.
James- It’s been nice for us because we’ve been playing in front of different audiences. I wouldn’t necessarily be our audience but on the whole the crowds have been fantastic and so it’s nice playing in front of people you wouldn’t normally play in front of.
What date has been the maddest this is in terms of fans and backstage action. What’s been the craziest?
James- Probably last night (laughs) …Last night we played the Astoria and it was just phenomenal. There was a real energy within the place and the crowd went absolutely nuts. It was really, really good.
Which venue was the most fun to play? Was it the Astoria as well?
James- Yeah I think so. It’s a great….Have you ever been to the Astoria?
Yes loads of times.
James- Loads of times so it’s an incredible, incredible building and there’s a real vibe about the place.
Are you going to miss Aiden and the other bands?
James- Yes of course we’ll miss them. They are lovely guys. They are lovely, lovely guys.
Finally..what’s next for Brigade?
James- We’ve got the release of the album coming up on the 12th May erm and then plenty of touring. Basically we’ll be touring for the rest of the year.
Any festivals?
James- Hope so. Fingers crossed. We’ll wait and see how the campaign progresses and hopefully we’ll get on some of the bigger festivals this year.
Thank you for allowing me to interview you.
James- Not at all. Thank you.
Interview Information
Taken At:
Brighton Concorde 2
Taken On:
April 10th, 2008
Interviewees:
James Plant - Guitar/Vocals
Naoto Hori - Bass
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