Defend Moscow
Can you give us some background on how the band got together?
It was a very random process – myself (Dave, guitars) and Jon (vocals) have been friends for ever, and have always been in bands together. About 2 years ago I bought a keyboard and we started writing synthpop songs and we had enough, we started to look for other people to join the band. I met Sofie (vocals) through work in Bergen, Norway and she moved over to the UK in September, we met Adam (drums) through advertising old-school style on a messageboard at LIPA, where he was a student, and we finally met Rick (bass) as he was assisting a mix on one of our early demos – we’d been looking for a bass player to finish the jigsaw, and Rick was that final bit that is usually missing from the massive jigsaws that you used to do when you were young – possibly the most annoying thing that can happen. But that didn’t happen to us, we found it, which was good.
How did you get involved with the label ?
It is actually my own label! I’ve been putting singles (and recently albums too) out on KIDS for the past 2 years, and have worked with some amazing bands – namely The Wombats, The Whip, Band of Horses, iLiKETRAiNS, Kyte and many others and so when my own band was ready to release stuff, we did look at other options but decided that if you want something doing well, it’s usually better to do it yourself! It’s been very stress-free – not having to rely on anyone else, and it means we can be presented exactly how we want. Plus we got purple vinyl for the single. I asked myself if we could, and I said yes, and it looks amazing.
How does the songwriting process go in the band?
I come up with the backing, just recording on my computer, then Jon comes in and we work on the tune and lyrics together (if we can’t get a good tune, we scrap the backing), and then we put the song to the band and work out how to play it live!
What are some of the musical influences on your music and you?
I’m influenced by all kinds of stuff – everything you can think of, but I guess the ones that come through the strongest in our music are Pet Shop Boys, New Order, Human League and more modern stuff like Ladyhawke. However, riffwise, I’m hugely inspired by Rage Against The Machine, and beatwise I draw from the masters like Leftfield and Paul van Dyk so I guess it’s a nice mixed bag.
Your debut single ‘Manifesto’ is do out soon. Give the people the reason to buy it!
It’s on purple vinyl, it has the biggest guitar riff since Back in Black, and the biggest chorus since I Kissed a Girl! And it has my Eddie van Halen style guitar solo too, which your Dads will like.
What have you all been listening to lately? Do you all like similar stuff?
We like all kinds of different stuff – Sofie’s into Britney and Lykke Li, Rick’s into Guns n Roses, Michael Jackson and M83, Adam’s into Toto, Dave Matthews Band, and various jazz stuff, me and Jon are into Coldplay, Take That and Sigur Ros I guess! I think we all agree on the brilliance of Ladyhawke, The Saturdays and Lionel Richie though.
What is 2009 looking like for you? Some touring? Another release?
We head out on a mini tour at the end of February/start of March, the single comes out March 9th, and then we’ll be looking to do another single in May, with as much gigging around it as possible. We’ve pressed go so we just keep going from here on in!
