SPLINTER INTERVIEW - NOVEMBER 2006
THIS INTERVIEW WAS DONE IN NOVEMBER 2006 TO PROMOTE THE "SICK TO THE STOMACH" RELEASE. SPITTING TEETH RECORDS WANTED A SHORT INTERVIEW DONE, WHICH COULD BE LINKED TO ONLINE ADS FOR "SICK TO THE STOMACH" AND HELP LET PEOPLE KNOW A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE BAND.
When did Splinter form?
Dek (our drummer) and Rik (our first guitarist) had known each other for years and played in a few bands together. They had the idea of starting Splinter and had started coming up with song ideas. Due to work and other time restrictions, they were having trouble finding suitable members (so the band went on for a number of years without really kicking off). Ben joined the band in early 2004, followed by Euan a few weeks later. By April 2004 we had about ten songs finished off and a proper set was put together, so the band was ready to play shows. We all agreed on Dek's original idea for the band name, so Splinter was finally a fully established band. We then played our first show on the 2nd of May 2004.
What is the musical style of the band and what are your main influences?
We bascically play streetpunk, drawing our influences from punk / hardcore / oi! / hard rock. Our sound is influenced from many bands (mainly including older style punk / oi! / hardcore bands, but there are certainly influences from some newer style bands too). Our lyrics aren't really political at all, but have a fairly working class attitude (and are based on things that've happened to us and around us).
Your website advertises SHARP and anti-nazism / anti-fascism, can you tell us more about this?
As we're not too political, we don't like to affiliate the band with political organisations. We do, however, support attitudes and networks that condemn racism (as it's something that has become a problem in our music scene).
A good example of this is the Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice attitude, which appeared in the eighties to combat the growing problem of fascists in the scene. SHARP isn't a political movement and merely seeks to bring back the old style skinhead attitudes, which (by the time fascism appeared in the scene) was a very internationally spread way of life (and was never about excluding people or being affiliated with political views). SHARPs also believe that skinhead was about being free to have your own personal views without telling others how to live their life (so fascism is something that's clearly not in line with the skinhead attitude).
We see the SHARP attitude as being pretty relevant to our music scene. Although we're not political, we don't condemn some of the political attitudes - like socialism and anarchy, as they don't advocate excluding and harming people. These types will generally do their thing and let us do ours. If they come along to a show, it's usually to see the bands and have a good time. You might get the odd wanker who starts talking shit, but it's easy enough just to tell them you're not into it and leave it at that (and put it down to the fact that you can meet wankers wherever you go). Racists and fascists, however, come from a very agressive political attitude that seeks to exclude people and always causes trouble. Our experience is that, whenever they're at shows, they are there to cause trouble and aggressively push their political views in other people's faces (and will also commit other aggressive activities in the general community). This is something we don't want to have to put up with and is why we, despite not being too political, do condemn racism / fascism.
What is the link with Antifa about?
Antifa (or Anti-Fascist Action) is a network which brings many different types of people together to combat racism and fascism in the community. Antifa has always supported our music scene and has been supported by many bands from our scene. We've experienced, in places we've been to, that some of them have genuine problems with fascism and racism (in some cases the fascist groups are even very organised). Antifa does some very good work to try and combat these people and we are very supportive of that (and the good effect it can have on getting racist attitudes out of our music scene and the community in general).
Is "Sick To The Stomach" your first release?
No, it's our second release. Our first EP was released in September 2005 with a live DVD. The EP includes five songs and can be downloaded for free from our website. If you wish to purchase the EP, you will also receive the DVD (which features eight tracks recorded live at the Soundhaus).
When do you plan on releasing more material?
After "Sick To The Stomach" is released in December, we only have another three songs to record. As they're ready to record, we'll try and get them done in the next few months and have them released on a split CD or a compilation. Due to having nearly a year long break, when Rik left the band, we've not written as many songs as we'd liked to have. Ealier in the year we got the live set up to thirteen and decided we should record before writing too many new songs (as thirteen was enough for a decent length set and could keep us going until we got more recording done). When we've released all the songs we have at the moment, we'll start writing some new material (which will probably be later next year).
Any other Splinter news?
We'll be organising a launch night when the EP is released, so check out our website at www.splinter.antifa.net for more details. The website also features downloads and info on future shows, etc.
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