INTERVIEWS: Alex Bain of Suffer No Fools Chats to Mucka!

What was the last album you purchased?

This is a bit of an odd one, considering how old the album is. It was Shadow Zone by Static-X. I had all their albums when I was a bit younger but over the years CDs broke, files became lost, so I only had a fraction of their entire musical collection left. When I heard that Wayne Static had died last year it was quite a shock, his band and his music had made such a massive impression on me when I was younger, something that still lasts to this day. Listening to Shadow Zone, arguably their best album, really took me back to being in secondary school and remembering what it was like trying to find my place in the world, what I wanted to do with my life, and all the excitement that comes with being a teenager. I would recommend anyone to check out the album, and Static-X in general if you have never listened to their music. I think some people might be put off by the simplicity of it all, what with all the tech metal bands around today, but the simplicity of it is it’s real genius.

If your music could be used in an advert on TV, what would you most like it to be advertising?

Well, if they ever wanted to advertise nanomachines they could use our song Prey! The advert could go like this: I imagine an over the top fight to the death between an old man and a cyborg ninja, with the ninja exclaiming “why won’t you die?!” to which the old man replies “nanomachines son!” as he rips off his shirt and shows his nano enhanced body, with ripped muscles. Or something like that, maybe that would sell, or maybe that was from a movie or something I saw…

If you were to do a cover of a song, what would it be and why?

Well in the band we always play a cover of Killswitch Engage’s song My Curse at every show. It usually goes down really well, our singer Ali usually asks the audience if there are any Killswitch Engage fans in the house, to which there is normally a pretty large cheer. Although one time Ali asked and there was dead silence, until the sound guy started shouting “Me, me!”, that was pretty funny, in an awkward way. I think if I was to pick another song for us to cover, it would probably be something that is pretty far removed from our style. I think covering a Johnny Cash song could work really well if we worked it to fit with our style, but we will have to see, it is definitely something we have on the cards though, so all I will say is watch this space…

Dead or alive, which band would you most like to co-headline with?

The obvious choice for me is Metallica, the only trouble is that I have seen smaller bands playing before Metallica and it usually doesn’t end too well for them. I think Killswitch Engage would be a great band to co-headline with, it’s no secret that they have had a big influence on me and the way I write music, they are also a great live band who seem like they are always having a great time. I think we could get on pretty well, plus Adam D is batshit crazy, which is always a bonus. From a strategic view, Killswitch would also offer some crossover appeal, I feel like their fans could probably appreciate our music a bit more than if we were to tour with Slayer for example, although I’m sure our drummer Mike would have no qualms touring with Slayer!

What has been the most memorable moment in your musical career so far?

Theres far too many to mention, but one of my best memories is our first show we ever played, which was at The Good Ship in London. We haven’t been going for too long, so this was near the beginning of this year. We had been practicing for months on end to make sure we were as tight as possible, so we knew we could pull it off, we had just never played in a live setting, so there was some degree of apprehension. I will admit, it was a little nerve racking going on stage for the first time in what felt like years, but as soon as we started playing it felt natural. We were the last band on that night so we had a pretty thorough soundcheck earlier in the day, as we watched the bands on before us we knew that the sound guy had done a great job making sure all the bands sounded great. When we started playing our set though, I think maybe someone messed with the amp settings, because it was a hell of a lot louder than the soundcheck. As a result, myself and the others could barely hear anything from each other, or from the monitors, that was slightly worrying. We managed to nail the set though, and the feedback we got was just fantastic, from that moment I knew we were going to be ok.

If you had the opportunity to change something about the music industry, what would it be?

This is something we have discussed in the band a fair bit in the past, and I have done my own research into this area. I don’t think piracy is the problem, as so many others seem to think, there is no way to stop it. I think that piracy could and probably should be lessened, but there is only so much you can do. Instilling the idea of music being worth something, of it being of value, is a core idea that some people either don’t understand or don’t care for. A lot of people think that it’s the greedy record companies they are fucking over if the pirate music, and in some cases that may be true, but at the end of the day it’s the musicians who are suffering as a result. It is true that bands make more money from touring these days, but even that is becoming more and more difficult for upcoming bands. Many live events are being shut down for student nights or not even being replaced at all. I think there is a massive market for live music but people just aren’t putting enough faith in it. For example, when I was at university, every freshers event was a club event, or a hip-hop, RnB, or rap artist. I’m not knocking that sort of thing, obviously everyone has different tastes, and their is value in what they are doing, but there was never anything offered as an alternative, and I have heard this up and down the country. If freshers events put on a night of alternative live music I think they would make a killing. I know I have kind of gone off on a tangent and not really answered the question, but to put it simply, I would probably make it easier for venues to put on live events, remove some of the restrictions involved, and push for the live scene for upcoming bands to expand.