Sweet n Sour at the Welly Club 22/07/2004 Mad Action Interview By Andy Dykes

After the show I go backstage. Admittedly it's partly to use the toilet, but also to catch up with the bands, particularly Mad Action, with whom an interview has been arranged. The lead singer and guitarist/backing-vocalist from Kasabian are immediately welcoming, allowing me to use their toilet without fear of violence or harassment.

Fucking hell. Hot ain't the word says the singer. Both are dripping with sweat having only left the stage a few minutes ago. I offer my thanks for a great show and a great evening. And I wasn't kissing arse either. I've had a really great time. They accept my thanks graciously and seem to appreciate it. Nice guys.

Then Stefan, the drummer from The Landaus shouts at me to come into the dressing room and have a beer. I decline. It's their evening and they don't need me getting in the way. Nice guy. Then Ryan and Paul, the singers/guitarists from Mad Action emerge and we walk to a quieter area of the backstage. We take our seats around a little table and begin to chat. Both guys are brilliantly laid back and easy to talk to.

So where are you guys from? Ryan: "We're from Philadelphia." And are you signed? Ryan: "Yeah. We're signed to Loog Records. That's like an offshoot of Polydor, UK." How come you're signed to a British label? Ryan: "We were spotted by a British scout. His name's James Oldham. I think he used to be editor of the NME or something. He's a really cool guy."

All those guys have quite organic sounds. Where does the electronic aspect of your own sound come from? Ryan: "That's just us. We're our own inspiration there." Paul: "I suppose Jesus and Mary Chain are a pretty big influence on us too." Ryan: "We've got a home studio and for the first six months or so of being in a band we were just writing and recording stuff. You kind of learn to hone in on your own sound. We only started singing when we had stuff recorded. We were in another band together but when we realised we could sing we started Mad Action."

Paul: "The first time singing though.." Ryan: "Yeah. First time singing you feel like you're doing something bad. You're worried about getting caught." Paul: "Then we thought we sounded pretty good. Sometimes we'd listen back and go 'oh..why did I think I sounded great?'" Ryan: "We released an album called 'Trophies For Love Making' with our old band, Ty Cobb. That was our first album and we were just learning how to write really. It was just pieces of songs. But we hung on to those pieces and they developed."

Okay, so we've got your musical influences. Who or what influences your stage performance? Ryan: "Us. Each member. We feed off of each other. We're all good friends. Our drummer has a lot to do with it. His name's Brad Conroy and it's only about the tenth time we've played with him. It's only the third show we've done with him." Paul: "He showed up knowing all our songs though."

Ryan: "On the BRMC tour it was just me and Paul touring as a two-piece with a tape machine that Paul had laid down all the drum tracks on. Paul did all the drumming then. We filmed a silhouette of him drumming, then projected it onto a backdrop for the live shows and had ourselves up there silhouetted as well. People would be trying to look behind the curtain to see our drummer. But there wasn't one." Paul: "We're not really that conceptual though."

Okay, bit of a clichéd question but some up Mad Action in 5 words.. Ryan: "Ooh.." Paul: "Right.." [Long pause] Ryan: "It'd be easier to write a song. We'll come back to that one."

What does the future hold for you guys? Ryan: "Our single's out at the end of August. It's going to be called 'Smile'. And we've just made a video. It was with Jonas Odel. He did one of the Franz Ferdinand videos. We just found out we'll be doing the Reading/Leeds Festivals. We're first or second band on the Radio 1 stage on one of the days. Then just tour I guess."

Any talk of an album? Ryan: "Yeah man it just came out. It's called 'And Begin' and came out July 12th." Are you getting much airplay on the radio? Ryan: "We released two EPs in the UK: one in February and one in March. They've got some good airplay." Finally, if you could be asked any question in an interview, what would it be? And also, how would you answer it? [Long pause] Ryan: "Can we go back to the five word question then dome back to this?"

Okay, Mad Action in five words.. Paul: "It's got to be the guys in the band." Ryan: "Yeah. Okay it'd be Ryan, Paul, Brad, Jay and Arch." And your ideal question? Paul: "What food do you miss the most? Mine would be blue point crabs." Ryan: "Mmmm..mine's Philly cheese steak." And we leave it there. We shake hands, I wish them all the best for the tour, and they wish me well generally. Nice guys. Really nice guys. Great band.

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Photograph Gallery   The Landaus Gallery 1   The Landaus Gallery 2   Mad Action Gallery 1   Mad Action Gallery 2   Kasabian Gallery 1   Kasabian Gallery 2

Photographs courtsey and Copyright © Mo thisisUll.com

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