Two albums out in the space of two years and I’d like to think we’re beginning to get a idea of what Antlered Man are bringing to the musical table. So when we were presented with the opportunity for a q&a with guitarist Danny Fury it was one we didn’t want to miss.
Jimbo: If you were to try and describe the band to someone, using Twitter’s 140 character limit what would you say?
Antlered Man: I’ll just say what I say to most people who know very little about music in and around where we’re from – “It’s sorta heavy, y’know? Not like ‘toss me that fucking fruitbat onstage and watch this’ heavy, but heavy, y’know? One song has got a flute on it! Do you know Mogwai? No. We’re a bit like Elvis.”
That’s more than 140 characters, but when did we ever expect you’d play by the rules! Onto your music, how would you say that This Devil is Them has developed from Giftes 1&2?
When we were writing Giftes, we were pushing our own musical abilities in Sam’s bedroom and didn’t know what the end result would be. We knew that we didn’t want to be obvious, but also knew that we didn’t want to be belligerent with our output. Our ‘writing’ was also an excuse to continue our Olympian booze consumption without feeling too surly in the mornings.
With This Devil Is Them!, we had a much clearer idea of how we wanted to be perceived, mainly due to us playing the first record into peoples faces at shows all over the place and becoming better players in the process. We knew that nothing could hold the songs back after that.
Would it fair to use our description that This Devil is Them is heavier and yet accessible to a wider audience?
I agree. About 30% of the huge bits on the album were thought up on the road, orally saved into a shitty Nokia (props on the vintage equipment) and tested, very crudely in soundchecks through a massive sound system. The rest of it was done in between tours while we were very much still in live mode, which would explain why it’s probably more accessible to people. We stopped trying to piss our loved ones off and started trying to shift some merch!
In terms of comparing the self-released Giftes 1&2, how different was the recording, production and promotional process of This Devil is Them?
Well, with the new record – we basically got told at the end of a tour last year that we had 3 months to write and record an album. We had a really good idea of how we wanted it to sound, so there wasn’t any worry on that front. Only thing was/is – when you tour, you put any money made back into the pot to cover any van maintenance, more merchandise, etc….you don’t use it to pay the rent. Compared to the – “Wanna come write some tunes and get fucked up at my parents place?!” approach of the first record, this was an obstacle as we had to hold down jobs as well as kick sonic boundaries in the nuts. Then my house got robbed. Then I got a repetitive strain injury in my fretting hand. And that was just me!
Things started to change as soon as Rocky O’Reilly came on board. We’d already toured/made a blood pact with ASIWYFA, like a year before, and were massive fans of his production and their work. The minute he came into the process, he could listen to a song with 19+ ideas ONCE and say – “You know the 14th riff there? We need to nail that.” His talent confused me. When we got back from Belfast, we were totally exhausted and had no idea of how this could be marketed or compartmentalized….we just knew we’d made a great, fucking album. It was only after our label, New Heavy Sounds, and Simon Glacken, from I Like Press, started to give us a battleplan that we saw how much work goes into all of this when the product is ready. Before, I was willing to flog it from the back of a Transit. This time, a Mercedes Sprinter at least.
Taking the idea that each album is progressional, how would you like to develop as a band? Is there an ultimate aim or vision of what you want to achieve?
The most exciting thing about being in Antlered Man is that we, ourselves, never know how things may develop. We all talk alot before we start recording and this is my favourite aspect of the process. I think, with these 2 records, we’re laying the groundwork for what we see as a long career and many more albums. Without any humour whatsoever, we also want to make mainstream acts/celeb dietitians/Otis Ferry shit themselves when they see us play live.
Based on your promotional photographs (see the banner one for the Giftes 1&2 review this q&a) the band wouldn’t look out of place in the Grumpyrocker offices, are the band grumpy and is your music reflective of that?
I know I’m grumpy. I also know that it’s because of our surroundings. Whenever we make an excursion from our surroundings to the rest of the UK/Ireland/Germany/Austria or even fucking Kensington, we start to gain sunny dispositions. And Kensington has armed cops!
We were slap-bang (dwelling) in the middle of the supposed London riots a while back and it upset me that we, the downtrodden of all races for generations, would use that upheaval to steal TV’s from Comet or Twixes from Kumar’s shop (which actually happened). What a fucking waste. Then some fucking newspaper magnate who swindles elections for his pals gets to print stories about us violent simpletons to keep us in our place and forever ingrained into the public psyche, whilst the EDL ride like (un)valiant, beer-gutted fuckwits on white horses (pun intended) to ‘defend’ our shitty habitat. Your headgear can only be critically fucked when this happens.
As much as I try to escape from all of this by writing music to purge myself and to tour the nicer parts of the world with, I know that my shit surroundings make for violent bursts of creativity. The illness and the frigging cure.
That flows nicely into our next question – much of your music hints (maybe that’s underselling things!) at political commentary on the modern age, where do the band’s political influences come from and if you had any vestiges of power, what would you do to improve the country?
I’m not so dumb that I can’t speak articulately about what I feel, but I’m also not one of those arseholes who pretends to know every political nuance of this country. I also don’t intend for this, but, our songs don’t tend to offer any solutions…just insights into our problems! Self centered, we are. It would be extremely limiting if we were exclusively a ‘political band’ too.
My personal belief is that each person should be able to govern themselves without a book, an L. Ron Hubbard short story or a biased media and if you take umbrage to somebodies PERSONAL beliefs, behaviours, proclivities or addictions that effect nobody but themselves and/or a willing prayer/fuck/junk buddy, then leave them the fuck alone. I don’t understand how people can’t leave other people the fuck alone. Everything needs a fucking formula to a solution.
You’re in the middle of a tour right now, what can someone expect from being present at an Antlered Man gig?
It won’t all come at you at once. But it will come at you. Since our set has become longer, it’s been an absolute joy to have all of the extremes come at you over the course of 45 minutes, or so. I’m a fan of music and I’ve become a massive fan of our live show. It’s the shit.
How do the members of Antlered Man relax?
I stock up on booze and food and lock myself away with my fiance where we start the day watching The Thing and invariably end up watching Predator. We didn’t meet at a sci-fi convention or anything, those films are just factually the balls!
Ollie will push himself to gain another muscle to his already ample collection at the gym before getting drunk.
Damo will phone me drunk and ask what I’m doing.
Sam will be writing an opus on some instrument that he made using a yoghurt pot and tramps guts whilst getting drunk.
What do the Antlered Men want for Christmas?
Sleep through it, wake up in January with an awesome tour booked.
For keeping us entertained, providing thought provoking comment and confirming that Antlered Man are worth spending time discovering, we take our hat off to Danny Fury and salute him for taking the time to answer Jimbo’s questions.