I last spoke to Dan, Muzz and Alex of Graveltrap last May when the Over The Moon tour hit The Rugeley Rose. One year later and I'm back at the same venue to witness the most recent Moon Ska Tour, 'Launch Pad 2004'. So what had they been up to over the past 12 months? I got the chance to talk to them about this and many other things. So read on to find out what Dan (vocals/guitar), Alex (bass), Muzz (drums) and this time, John (guitar/vocals), think about Skateboards, Spinal Tap and Cross dressing!

What have you been up to since we last spoke to you on the Over The Moon tour?

Dan: (Pointing a fork at John) Fork off! Oh, sorry. God man, you spoke to us last year, didn't you?

Last May.

Dan: May...well, we've been getting various videos not accepted,
Muzz: Rejected
Dan: Rejected, yeah, by Scuzz,
Muzz: Several failures,
Dan: A few shit tours (laughs)
John: I've got a bit fatter since last May!
Dan: You have, yeah!
Muzz: Some personal problems (looking at John)
(Laughing)
Dan: (Changing the subject pretty well) What have we been up to? We've been writing some new stuff,
John: Done a couple of videos,
Dan: Done a couple of videos, did I mention videos?
Muzz: Did we mention that they got rejected as well?
Dan: Did we mention that one didn't? One of them actually got accepted, let's look at the postive here! (Laughs) We've done a few tours, supported every band on Moon Ska (pause) a few times (pause)
Alex: Over! (Laughs)
Dan: (Laughing) Over and over again!
John: We're not in a very good mood actually!
Dan: We went on tour with [Spunge] which was really cool. Enough said, that was fucking great, Man. (Trails off)
Muzz: It's because we're tired, see.
Dan: No, it's because Rugeley are (coughs)...enough said.
(Lots of laughing)
Dan: No, it's the people in the bar. We love you guys who actually watch, it's just we got rather annoyed tonight about the bar people.
John: It's like there was a bigger mosh pit going on outside the DJ booth than there was in the audience in the room.
Dan: Although I'm actually quite impressed that they didn't put the DJ on whilst the bands were on this time, that happened last time. How are we meant to compete with Metallica and Linkin Park?
Muzz: It was better music out there, to be fair. (Laughs)
Dan: The DJ was really good tonight, man, yeah.

Muzz, how long did it take you to recover from your Skateboard accident?

(Laughing from the other band members)
Dan: He hasn't recovered yet!
Muzz: I haven't, no. Erm...about six weeks.
Dan: The funny thing was, though, I don't know when we spoke to you, but he went to Southampton General Hospital and got it X-Rayed and they told you it was broken, didn't they?
Muzz: Well, they told me it was fractured in two places.
Dan: And you'd need a cast. No, they were going to do a cast, but you didn't have time, did you?
Muzz: They were going to put that cast on and I was going to go back a week later...
John: Ignore those two, they're just rambling (laughs)
Dan: Oh, that wasn't my story then. My story was that he was going to get a cast but he didn't have time to come back and play the gig, he went to Milton Keynes and they re-X-Rayed it and it wasn't broken, so if he had had a cast on, he would have been in it for about three months for no reason! But obviously, that story's not true! (Laughs)
Muzz: Yeah, so all along I was just being a great big fucking girl! No, it was a bad sprain.
Dan: No, it was just a bad choice of skateboards. It was that big (holds out hands about 20cm apart) for fuck's sake! (Laughs) It was one of those accidents waiting to happen.

How has your debut album, 'Udder Chaos' been received?

Dan: Really shit, Man. Everyone's hated it, it's been bollocks!
Muzz: I didn't hear that, what was the question?
Dan: How has our debut album been recieved?
Muzz: Received? (Pause) Badly?
(Laughing)
Dan: Watered down Green Day, Blink 182 Rip-offs, Heard it all before...
John: They've got a fat cunt for a singer!
Alex: Don't buy it!
John: Yeah, don't buy it. (Laughs)
Dan: Actually, the best comment we had was, 'If these guys were around 10 years ago, they might actually get somewhere.' That really touched my heart!

Who's been your favourite band to tour with?

John: Definitely not Sonic Boom Six! (Laughs as the members of Sonic Boom Six are in the dressing room)
Dan: This tour has been wicked, actually.
Muzz: Yeah, and Mixtwitch are a brilliant band to tour with. Not that any of these guys aren't...(pointing at the other people in the room)
Dan: Mixtwich are funny, just to hear those guys say the word 'fuck' had us in stitches for hours. Jonathan, what did Dave say when our van ran out of petrol?
Muzz: Oh yeah, we ran out of petrol on the sliproad to the motorway, and we didn't have any petrol or any money for petrol, so Dave says, (putting on a high, Irish accent) "We'll fill the van up with hopes and dreams to get to the venue!"
(Lots of laughing)
Muzz: We did, by God, we did!
Dan: No, 'cus then we filled it up with petrol, and it all went very wrong and we suffocated to death in the back of the van.

Are there any bands you'd really like to tour with?

John: Loads, loads! It depends what level of bands...
Dan: Tough question, is this like dream bands?
John: Green Day.
Dan: Yeah, Green Day. Or we'll dig Kurt Cobain up and do a post (laughs) post-tour. Post-career tour. Or Avenged Sevenfold (looking at Alex's T-shirt)
Alex: Yeah.
Dan: That would be pretty mad, although I don't think we'd go down too well. Therapy as well, man. Therapy would be a dream come true.

What kind of music were you brought up on?

Muzz: (Raising his arm) Phil Collins! Yeah!!
Dan: What were we brought up on? Kylie, Cliff Richards,
John: Take That, man! My first tape was Take That.
Dan: My first gig was Bruce Springsteen at The Bowl. That rocked man, that's some credibility there.
Muzz: Dire Straits, man.
Dan: (Laughing) Yeah, man. (Throws the horns) Bon Jovi!
Muzz: Chris Rea!
Dan: We listened to bands like Nirvana, Green Day, Therapy, Symposium, Foo Fighters. We started covering all their stuff and then we started ripping it off. We're just like a glorified cover band really!

And what kind of music are you into at the moment?

Dan: So much, man.
John: Avenged Sevenfold.
Muzz: RX Bandits, been listening to them a lot recently.
John: Motley Crue, as well.
Dan: It depends what mood you're in, though. If we're going out it'll be drum 'n bass or 'somethin' bangin!'
John: Yeah, we have a wide range of music tastes, don't we? Some Hip Hop as well, always goes down well.
Dan: Some badass Hip Hop tunes! A bit of Bob Marley every now and then too. King Prawn, Capdown.
John: Clash.
Dan: Yeah, Clash too, a good band. (Silence) Alkaline Trio, Hot Water Music. (More Silence) That's about it!

Who organises things like tours and getting your video onto music channels?

Dan: I've no idea! Tell me, I'd love to know!
(Laughing)
Dan: (Shouting at the rest of the dressing room) Who organises tours?
John: Does anyone know?!
Muzz: The Tour Fairy.
John: This guy here, man! Phil, this guy organises tours.
Dan: He does it all.
John: No, we have an agent by the name of Liam,
(Gets interrupted by John who is coughing pretty suspiciously)
Dan: Are you alright there, John?! We've also got an agent by the name of Darren, the manager from 4 ft, he's a really nice guy. Videos...let's not talk about videos. We're actually going to be in a video that will be on Scuzz soon, it's their video! (pointing at Sonic Boom Six) We play some wannabe rock stars!
(Laughing)

How long does it take to film videos?

Dan: About a day.
John: And then about 3 weeks to edit it.
Dan: Yeah. It's really weird, though, because you can't just play your song normally because it won't be in time for the recorded song, so you kind of have to sing along to a backing track, which I just thought was really strange.
John: Yeah, you end up hating the song as well because you have to listen to it so many times. By the end of the day you're like, "I fucking hate that song!" And you never want to play it again. But...apart from that they're all fun! (Laughs) Dan: (Handing John a book to sign with a question on the front asking 'Cake or Death?') Cake or Death, John? Pick one!(Laughs)
John: Erm, cake please. (Laughs)
Dan: It depends, man. We've never really done a proper video, it's just been like a few camcorders and a load of mates in a room, which has been fun, but it's probably the reason they're not getting on!

Would you ever want to star in a Spinal Tap style documentary?

Dan: Yeah, man! Spinal Trap, I think. That'd be class. (At Alex) You'd make a great bassist.
Alex: Yeah, I would. (Laughs)
Dan: One day! One day he'd make a great bassist. (Laughs) Yeah, that'd be awesome. In fact, we couldn't actually find our way to the stage tonight, it was a bit of a Spinal Tap moment.
John: I think I'd look really good with the long hair and the tight leather pants.
Dan: Yeah, you'd rock that look, you really would. I just want an amp that goes up to 11, so badly!
(Laughing)

Have you ever dressed up as Women?

Muzz: (Enthusiastically) Yeah! Yeah!!
John: I do all the time! No, no...
Dan: Have I? (Thinking) I must have done...(Pointing at Alex) We shaved your legs once.
Muzz: (Poking Dan) We put your Mum's lipstick on that one time.
Dan: No, that was thrush cream, I just told you it was lipstick. That's when you had a coldsore.
Muzz: Yeah, that was it. I had really chapped lips and I was after some vaseline, and you gave me some thrush cream instead.
Dan: It had Aloe Vera in it, that's the secret weapon.
Muzz: It worked!
Dan: Wait...what was the question?
John: Have we ever dressed up as women?
Alex: All the time. Dan: Oh, right. I actually used to be Daniella when I was younger. I used to dress up in my Mum's beads and bath naked whilst tucking it in between my legs!
John: Like when people dance in front of the mirror, with it all tucked in?! (Does a demonstration)
Dan: It's gotta be done. That's in a film isn't it? Is it in Silence of The Lambs?

Yeah!

Dan: Yeah! That turns me on!

What have you got planned after this tour?

Dan: I think, it hasn't been confirmed yet, but I think we might be on the Smash It Up Big Cheese Tour with [Spunge], Not Katies and 4 Ft Fingers, which will only be about a week. Hopefully we'll be coming back around this area, probably Birmingham or Wolverhampton I would think. That'd be really cool. And we're hopefully going to get some recording done.
John: Yeah, write new songs.
Dan: We've got a load of songs that we haven't recorded and we're getting a bit sick of the album so we'll record some more stuff. One day hopefully, one day! (Laughs)

Is there anything else you'd like to add or promote?

Dan: Buy our album!
Muzz: Phil Collins!
(Laughing)
Dan: Yeah, Phil Collins' new album rocks, man.
John: Buy Busted's album.
Dan: Yeah, shall we promote something that isn't by another band?
John: Our website! Let's promote our website.
Dan: Yeah, it's www.graveltrap.org.uk.
John: And come and check us out live because I've got really big man boobs.
Dan: Yeah, there's an ongoing liposuction fund, (pats John's stomach). It obviously isn't going that well, so we need some more money. (Silence) I'd love to actually have something to promote, but we don't.
John: Let's say we'll promote our album that's not out or recorded yet.
Dan: No, buy our album, and then decide for yourself whether you want to buy the next one.

Thanks a lot to the Graveltrap guys for the interview, and I also want to thank everyone on the Launch Pad Tour and everyone working at The Rugeley Rose for putting up with us filming everything! As the band said, you can find out more about them by going to their site, www.graveltrap.org.uk. Go here to read a review of the Launch Pad gig.