|| The Sound Faction (dot com) ||

I had the chance to ask Mikey from Seprico a few questions recently. I'm sure a lot of you don't know who the band is, but I think after this you should all give them a chance and a listen. They hail from Edinburgh, Scotland in the United Kingdom. I stumbled upon their myspace over a year ago now, and have been enraptured. So enjoy and take a chance on something new!

Can you please tell us who we have the pleasure of talking with today? Could you also tell us the members of your band, and what your respective role in the band is?

Mikey, vocals. I'm joined in the band by Jonny on drums, Steve and Oli on guitars and Iain on bass.

How long have you all known each other? How did you meet?

Well, I met Jonny and Iain about 3 years ago now, which seems like ages ago now! I advertised on the internet trying to find a band, because I'd just come back from 3 years away at university to a home town where I knew no one in the music scene, so I had to just hope to find good guys... and I did! Stevie then joined us, through us advertising on myspace, and that was a couple of years ago now. We have had a few other guitarists and after our last one left in December we hooked up with Oli and hopefully that'll be us sorted for guitarists now!

What's the name of your band? What's the origin of that name?

We're called Serpico and that comes from the Al Pacino film, Serpico, from the early 70s. We chose it mainly because it sounded cool - with the kinda snakey connection... but also because the films awesome, and Serpico's resistence to the corrupt NYPD kinda reflects our attitude as an independent band against the system.

What genre of music do you consider your work to be? Who are your major influences?

We call it Punk Metal... or maybe Melodic Punk Metal... It has it's roots in the melodic punk of bands like Bad Religion, NOFX, Offspring, Misfits, Greenday etc but equally is heavily influenced by metal bands like Metallica, Maiden, Pantera, Avenged Sevenfold. There's also a quite dark, gothic streak that comes from bands like HIM and AFI. But essentially it's Serpico... we've kinda got our own sound going on, not just being another emo band, which is really important for us.

When did you form your band? What inspired you to make music together?

We formed in about May 2005, I guess... that's when I first met Jonny and Iain, but I had been attempting to write music and performing acoustically since I first bought a guitar in about 2002, when i was 16/17. Ever since started playing the guitar I knew I wanted to write music and be in a band... so as soon as I could strum a chord I started writing! Not sure there was any one thing that inspired me, but I've always performed, ever since I was little, so it was kinda natural for me to start a band and be up on the stage, rockin' out!

Where have you performed? What are your favorite and least favorite venues?

We've performed all over the UK and also in Europe. Our favourite venue I would say has to be the Astoria in London. It's like a 2000 capacity theatre and we always have really amazing fun gigs there. Seeing thousands of people bouncing or clapping along to your music is mind blowing. Our least favourite is probably in a little town outside London called Luton... we were on our first tour and it was just a stinker of a gig. The crowd just stood there staring at us... we had no idea what was wrong... it was just bad. So yeah, "it's a Luton gig" has passed into Serpico terminology as a stinker!

Which songs are your favorite to perform live? Is there a certain song that you are more connected to?

There are a few songs that I always enjoy. "Feelin' Minnesota" is always good cos it really gets the crowd going... it's normally the watershed song too, because if they don't go for that, they're not gonna go for anything! One of our newest songs, "Last Honest Cops", has been really great too. It's just had this immediate connection with people... they may never have heard it before but they're still gonna jump around like a loon to it! We've only just started playing "Glasseye" off our EP, and that's been really fun too... we were always kinda worried that a ballad might not go down too well, but there's been an amazing reaction to it... everyone waving and singing along - it's great to see. The other song is our set closer - "Kultura"... it's normally one that everyone knows cos it's from our EP and it's good for getting everyone clapping and singing along. The songs that I enjoy really are the ones that you can see the crowd interacting with and really enjoying - that's what makes it fun for me!

Who writes your songs? And how have they evolved since the band started?

I write pretty much everything. I do all the lyrics now (initially our original guitarist did some) and I write all the songs. Obviously people contribute their own parts to an extent... so Jonny will come up with his own beats, Iain will occasionally write a little bass lick, Stevie does his own solos etc. Since I'm the writer and kinda the conductor I'll sorta oversee what everyone else is doing and just make sure it's right for the song.

Well, some of the first songs I wrote are on our EP! But yeah, they've certainly evolved to an extent... because I'd say I'm more consistent... I think I just fluked writing a couple of good tunes at the start and a lot of the other songs I wrote around then are terrible! Now I kinda think more about the arrangements, trying to keep them interesting and varied, as well as trying to make the songs as catchy as they can be, without losing the metal edge.

What has been your biggest challenge as a band?

Basically I'd say that our biggest challenge has been trying to get our music out there and getting people to know about our band. We don't have a manager, a PR agent, a booking agent or a label... we're totally DIY and so it certainly takes a lot longer than a band that can just book thousands of pounds worth of advertising space for a month to make everyone go "wow, I better check out that band!" We kinda have to take everything at a bit slower pace... but hopefully with our debut album coming out that might change a bit!

What's your ultimate direction for your band?

Well, we'd love to have our record released properly and tour the world on the back of it. We're a very ambitious band - there are a lot of bands that seem to be fine with playing one gig a month to their friends in a bar... that was never gonna be enough for us. When we were starting out it was our aim to support an awesome band playing a show in our hometown - we did that with AFI last year. After that we had to get on tour with some cool bands, and we did that all through last summer/autumn/winter. Then we had to record the most kick ass album we could, and we did that at the start of this year. Now it's almost finished, the next step is to get it released and tour the ass off it, let everyone know that Serpico are here to take over! ;)

What advice do you have for people who want to form their own bands?

I'd say that you should make sure you've got good songs - that's what music is all about for me: the songs. So just keep writing and writing, maybe try doing different things, like writing in pairs with someone else in your band, writing with someone you've never worked with... but just make sure the songs are good - and when they are good everything flows from there! Cos you can practice to play tighter, but you can be as tight as you want, but if the songs suck you'll not get very far.

How can fans-to-be gain access to your music? Do you have a website with sample songs or a demo CD?

Yeah, on our good old myspace - www.myspace.com/serpicoband - there's currently a sampler of a few of the new songs on our album, as well as the songs from our EP. You can buy the EP, or download the songs there too.

The Sound Faction is make up of five girls (...and Ed) who are random at best, love to laugh and make others laugh. We try to ask all of our interviewees five random questions at the end.

If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?

Hmm, the pervert inside me does like the sound of x-ray vision, but I guess that after looking at 99% ugly fat people that would be kinda annoying. Flying would be pretty useful... and very environmentally sound too... less carbon emissions from the cars and the planes. So useful and saving the planet - count me in!

What is your favorite dinosaur?

I always used to like the Triceratops... cool name, cool horns... all good!

If you were a flavour of Potato Crisp, what kind would you be?

Got to be Salt 'n' Vinegar... because I can divide opinion... most people love it, but those that don't hate it!

If you could be the champion of anything, what would it be? (and if you say The World, I might have to die of laughter!)

I'd love to be a champion soccer player... I love playing it and I'd love to make my team the best in the world. I kinda suck though, so it's not gonna happen in real life... so in dream world, I'm there!

If you could be any old-school rock god for a day, how would you abuse the power?

I'd have to be like Gene Simmons and just have sex with every woman I saw! I'm not sure Gene abused his power like that, I think that's just the way things rolled back then!

Thanks again to Mikey for talking with us, and make sure to check Serpico out on their MySpace, and let them, and us, know what you think of them!