Interview: Not Advised

Sean recently had a few words with Not Advised guitarist Jack, to talk about the bands new EP, 'Fight For This', working with producer Romesh Dodangoda and their forthcoming UK tour supporing You Me At Six and more.

ATP: Tell us a little bit about how the band came together?
Jack: I played guitar in school and Andy had started a band with a few of his friends. They needed a second guitarist and so asked me to join. Greg and me have been friends since we were about 4 so when it came to needing a new bass player I suggested him and he joined up! A few school hall performances and local gigs later and we made friends with Jim. He played bass and sang in another local band, who Andy had been helping out on drums for a while. Seeing as he could sing and at the time we needed a singer we stole him and made some sort of local superband! A few more local gigs later and we needed another guitarist. Ash played guitar in another local band who had just split up. We asked him to help us out for a while and it went so well we asked him to join a few weeks later and Not Advised was born!

ATP: You're just about to release a new EP, 'Fight For This'. What can fans expect from it?
J: 5 energetic British pop-punk songs with huge powerful catchy chorus’s and honest lyrics. It’s the best music we’ve ever made. Someone once wrote on a poster for our show “not advised- hooks that could land a shark!”. I think that’s a pretty awesome quote!

ATP: How was it working with Romesh Dodangoda?
J: It was awesome, Romesh had recorded 2 tracks for us previously that sounded awesome, and we became good friends, so when it came to recording the CD there wasn’t really any other option for us. We knew he was the man for the job, he gets the best out of our band. He knows exactly what we want and genuinely cares about our band. Romesh wanted this CD to sound as good as we wanted it to and that mattered to us. He also enjoys our obsession with Tiger Woods, a must-have for any potential producer!

ATP: If you could pick one song from the EP to recommend. What would it be and why?
J: Cliché as it sounds I’d be happy for anyone to listen to any one track on the CD and judge our band from it. We made a goal before we wrote the CD that we wanted it so that every track could be a single in it’s own right and I think we’ve accomplished that. That said I think the A.R.K lyrically is a good introduction to our band and what we’re about.

ATP: I understand there is a story behind, 'Red Light Situation'?
J: Yes indeed! Our van “The Shower 2” like many other touring band’s vans isn’t exactly in the best shape! It developed a fault whereby the red engine management warning light comes on regularly and puts the van into “safe mode” which basically means the speed drops to 30mph on the motorway! Rather than get it fixed we pull onto the hard shoulder and have to turn the van off and back on a few times to sort it out! The real problem came when our starter motor broke meaning every time the light comes on we have to bump start the van on the hard shoulder! We call these moments “Red Light Situations”. Some of our favorite and funniest moments as a band have happened because of a red light situation and so we wrote the song about how even when everything seems to be a complete disaster we wouldn’t change a thing as we’re having the time of our lives.

ATP: To promote the record, you're supporting You Me At Six. Looking forward to it?
J: Definitely, it’s the perfect tour for our band and at the perfect time, we couldn’t believe it when we were offered the slot! I think You Me At Six have shown what a UK pop punk band from this scene can achieve so it’s really cool to go out on tour with them.

ATP: What can we expect from these shows?
J: We always give 110% energy into our live shows but we’re so excited for these shows it may well reach 111%! We always try and involve the crowd and make sure everyone has a good time. I think our band is at it’s best live, I think we translate our live show onto CD rather than writing and recording a CD we can’t deliver live and that helps us a lot in a live environment.

ATP: How would you describe a typical Not Advised show?
J: 5 boys from the New Forest giving every ounce of energy into 30 minutes of loud catchy pop punk which gets everyone involved and having fun. There’s usually some sort of technical nightmare for the band and live shows always result in the 5 sweatiest boys in the UK leaving the stage with a big fat smile on their faces!

ATP: What future plans do Not Advised have?
J: After the You Me At Six tour we’ll be announcing more tour dates for the remainder of the year. We’re planning to release a single from the CD as well with a new video. We’ve already started writing for our album so once we’ve toured out this CD we’ll get into the studio and get that out sometime next year hopefully!

Not Advised's new EP, 'Fight For This' is released on September 14th.
'Fight For This' can be pre-ordered here with 3 bonus tracks.

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Sean Reid