Today Pankerijada celebrate 1 year of existence and proudly presents you a interview with UK legends Restarts here goes :
Kieran
1.Here goes the first question ,tell me who are you ,what do you play in the band and write something short about the band
Kieran: I play bass and do vocals, Robin plays guitar and vocals and we now have Bram on drumming duties!
2.How did you first get the idea of starting a band and why the name The Restarts?
Kieran: I used to play in some bands in Toronto Canada between 199-1994, then I moved to London and realised I wanted to keep making noise! I ended up jamming with Darragh (the original drummer) and it went from there. We then got Mik Useless on guitar. We were all siging on the dole at the time and would get sent on these madatory "restart" courses, designed to restart you back into full time employment. As full time employment would interfere being in a band we tried in vane to avoid getting put back into employment! Hence the name "The Restarts".
Old Lineup
Mik,Darragh,Kieran
3. What's the main reason Mik and Darragh left the band?
Kieran: You' have to ask him that, but basically from what we discussed he wanted to pursue his other project Trashcat, which is a slower paced rocknroll punk type band. NHe plays guitar and sings in Trashcat so I think he wanted a break from drumming
4.About what do you write your lyrics?
Kieran: We dont have an agenda we just write what is ever relevant to us at the time. So far we have covered social issues like the imbalance between rich and poor (Terror breed), Fear of war (no confidence), internet additcion (Time waster), homophobia (XQ28)...and some other more specific issues which you can read about on our websites "Lyrics" section.
New Lineup
Robin,Kieran,Bram
5. What do you think about todays punk scene,and the one back in the 80-es?
Kieran:I guess the main difference is that I am alot older, then i was in the 80s, so my difference in perspective is that from a teenager to that of an adult. The main difference is that NOW punk rock is so well documented world wide, everyone seems to know at least a little about the movement. when i was a kid in Vancouver it was more like a secret society and occasionally there would be some (bad) press in the news about how "violent" and "dangerous" this new punk cult was. Nowadays certain aspects of punk rock seem quite "safe" and easily accessible for Mainstream consumption. We do our best to try and dispel that reputation.
6. How did you like playing in Croatia,Pula?How do you like the croatian audience and punk scene?
Kieran: The Monte Paradiso Fest was our first introduction into Croatian punk rock/Anarcho scene. We had a great time and it was very well organised. We spent the days down by the beach swimming in the crystal clear blue water and then by night crazy punk rock in the squatted army barracks. I think there must have been about 2000 people.
7. What are your expectations for concert in Zagreb?
Kieran: We are excited to play anywhere new for the first time, so we look forward to playing in Zagreb, and I have seen alot of friends have already played there. Hopefully we have no problems at the border.
8. .What do you do apart from playing in The Restarts?
Kieran: I do illustration and some design work (Web and graphic), I like to swim to try and keep in shape and generally like to get out to gigs and events around London. there is always loads to do, but it is a very expensive city so you must choose carefully.
9. What about your split album with MDC? How that you cooperated with them?
Kieran: we have played with them a few times over the years, and has always been a pleasure when our paths cross. We have a few times offered them accommodation when they play in London. We got to talking about how it would be good to do some gigs together and then the obvious progression was to do a split release together. We will be touring in the USA with them May 7-28 2010.
10. Which one of your published albums are your favorite ?
Kieran: Thats a hard question, but as the years go on we get more skilled at controlling how our sound turns out, so the last recording for Mobocracy I guess would be my favourite, as we are most satisfied with how it turned out.
11. What is your most memorable gig ever?
Kieran: This is a very subjective question??? for me seeing Dead Kennedys in Vancouver at the at UBC sub ballroom 1981 was th most memorable! but obviously not a restarts gig , maybe i misunderstood the question.
12. Do you have any plans for the future, like a new album or tours around Europe?
Kieran: Well we are embarking on our european tour as I write this (on the ferry) which is taking us to Belgium, Germany, Austria, Croatia, Italy Switzerland and France. The we return to London for 5 days and then set off to tour the USA with Millions of Dead Cops for a month. Later in July we go out to Canada and play 5 gigs there. And if all goes to plan we should be in New zealand and australia in november 2010. we want to start writing new material for a release in early 2011.
13.And the last question, tell us briefly where will you play your next gigs,and we hope to see
you play in Osijek,Croatia someday,it"s been a pleasure talking to you,cheers!
Kieran: I will include our tour flyers so you can see where we play next. we would of course love to come and play more gigs in Croatia including Osijek.
all the best.
cheers for the interview
Kieran
Today Zagreb gig 21.4 (MEDIKA)
Europe Tour
Follow Restarts on:
SITE
MYSPACE
