InMe

 
L-R : Si, Suzi, Dave, Joe and Si, Jess, the 'competition pig', Dave, Joe. 

It had been over a year since Suzi and I had interviewed InMe's drummer Si Taylor. We thought it was about time to catch up with them again and we got the chance on the second date of their current UK tour. This time, as well as Si, we also got to interview front man Dave and bassist Joe. Read on to find out about Die Hard, Saved by The Bell, and playing a gig with Sinead O'Connor, Bruce Willis and David Hasselhoff! 

Suzi: What have you been up to since we saw you in April 2003? 

Si: Lots!
Joe: What have we been up to? We did the Reading festival,
Dave: Yeah, the summer festivals.
Joe: We had a summer of festivals, basically. Then we started writing the new album, we did a bit in Japan as well, didn't we?
Si: Yeah, then we sort of locked ourselves in the studio.
Joe: Yeah, that was about November time, I think, and we just sat there 'til about February, writing songs and getting all of it done for our new record.
Dave: We just got back from America, recording the new album, and now we're back! 
Joe: It was one of the most incorporating songs, I think, because we've very much changed and we want people to know that. I think it's a good starting point of showing how much we've changed, and there's a lot more things going on with the band now, and more things on the album that we've incorporated, and I suppose it just fit the bill, really.
Si: It's a good representation of what's to come.
Joe: Yeah, and there is more to come, and bigger to come.
Dave: It's kind of an inbetween song as well, because there are a lot heavier songs on the album, and there's some real mellow stuff, so it's a good starting point.
Joe: Yeah, to start the ball rolling. 

Suzi: Is it true that the album's coming out in September? 

Dave: It's as true as anything.
Joe: Yeah, it's as true as our release dates ever are, if you knew anything about the first album...
(Laughing)
Dave: We want to release it then, but sometimes things change.
Joe: At the moment we're planning 'Faster the Chase', which is May 24th, and then a single probably through the summer, coming out at the end of summer, and then the album early September. 

Jess: How did you choose the support bands for this tour? 

Si: X Is Loaded we've known for a while, now.
Dave: Yeah, our first headline tour we did was with X Is Loaded, and they're really cool guys, they've grown as a band, too.
Joe: Yeah, we see them around quite a lot.
Dave: Hiding Place, we actually played with them when they were called Quarantine up in Glasgow, and we didn't even know that until yesterday. They just happened to be on tour with us! And they're a good band as well.
Joe: We'd kind of heard of them as well, because a producer we know worked for them and blah blah blah, we kind of heard their name about and heard they were cool people. We'll get to know them, though. 

Suzi: Who came up with the concept for the Faster The Chase video? How long did it take to film? 

Joe: It took only a day.
Dave: Yeah, it took a day to film, it was quite tiring. We went back and forth with the director, he kept coming up with ideas, and then he came up with this one idea where basically, it's a performance video in this huge room and whenever the camera goes into the back it comes out into a real life situation that people can identify with. It's simple but quite powerful.
Joe: We also shot an alternative version which is kind of a bit darker. We're not sure when we're going to put it out or when it'll come to light. It's got more darker images and more intense stuff.
Si: Watch out for it! I'm sure it'll turn up somewhere. 

Jess: Are you anxious about how the reviews for the new album will turn out as the first one was such a big success? 

Joe: I think it was a big success in some areas, but there were some magazines that didn't really take to us, so I suppose we've kind of grown to the idea that we don't really care, you know? It wasn't like every magazine said we were the greatest thing in the world, and we would never believe that anyway. So I think we'll just take it with a pinch of salt and I think people know their own opinions at the end of the day; the most we ask for is give it a listen, I suppose. That's the best we can hope for. (Silence). See, these two are really energetic today! Really fired up!
Dave: Yeah! Well, there will be people who give it bad reviews, and people who give it good reviews, we feel we've made a much better album and grown as a band, so hopefully people will give it a listen without reading the bad ones. (Laughs) 

Suzi: How do you think the sound of your new album compares to the old album? 

Dave: I think it sounds a lot more mature, there's a lot more dynamic to the record, it's a lot more balanced. The first album was quite naïve in that...well, we think it's a good record, but it's just like: song song song, a lot of it is similar in a way, whereas on this album, every song has a purpose and there's some really mellow stuff. There's a lot more instrumentation and it's just a more interesting listen. 

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

Joe: Yeah, that would be pretty cool.
Dave: We'd like to but I don't think we can act.
Joe: Yeah, I don't think we're funny enough either!
Dave: Give us a few more years, then maybe.
Joe: Yeah, give us a few more years and a lot more acid and we'd probably get on the same line as them. Not really, we don't really want that! (Laughs) 

Suzi: If you could star in the remake of any movie, what would it be and who would you play? 

Joe: Personally? If I could be anyone, I'd be me!
Dave: Remake of Die Hard, I think we could do. Si would obviously be John McClane (pointing at his muscles), and I can be...his wife!
Si: (Laughing) yeah.
Joe: We did say we were like Saved by the Bell.
Si: Oh yeah, I was Zack, wasn't I?
Joe: Yeah, I could be AC, and you (pointing at Dave) could be Screech.
(Laughing)
Dave: I had no part in the choosing of that.
Si: Always the last one to get chosen!
Joe: So yeah, Saved by the Bell, The Hawaii Trip, or something. The Las Vegas Wedding. (Laughs) 

Jess: What's your favourite film and have you got a favourite quote from it that you can do? 

Si: My favourite film is Scarface.
Joe: Go on, then. Do a quote from Scarface. I bet you can't think of one.
Si: I bet I can't think of a decent one.
Dave: Say it in a really bad accent.
Si: I'm not going to do an accent at all.
Joe: Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn! I don't know what film that's from...I think it's Casablanca.
Dave & Si: It is.
Si: I don't know any decent quotes.
Joe: Yippee-ki-yay, Motherfucker! from Die Hard. You'll probably realise the relevance of that later on, hopefully.
Dave: Do I have to do one? I pass!
(Laughing) 

Suzi: If you were a chair, who would you want to sit on you? 

Dave: Joe.
Si: Dave, 'cus he's light.
Joe: Si. We've got a little love triangle going on here!
(Laughing)
Dave: So I'd be squashed by the end of this?
Si & Joe: Yeah.
Dave: Ok. 

Jess: What's on your CD player at the moment? 

Joe: At the moment? I don't want to sound bad, but to be honest with you, we've been listening to us just because we've got to do mixes and stuff like that. But apart from that, I've been listening to a lot of Aphex Twin again, that's about it really. We're big fans of The Used and stuff like that.
Si: Joe's just introduced a band to me called Avenged Sevenfold.
Joe: Yeah, I think they were on tour with Lostprophets. They're pretty good.
Si: Fucking great!
Dave: We bought the Sinead O'Connor record.
Si: Oh yeah, that was our last purchase, wasn't it? (Laughs)
Dave: We're thinking of possibly covering one of her songs...so it was for 'business purposes.' (Laughs) 

Suzi: If you could play a show anywhere, where would it be and who would support you? 

Si: It would be at Stoke Sugarmill,
Dave: With X Is Loaded and Hiding Place
(Laughing)
Joe: No, we'll say the Stoke...Treadmill, because we'll make up our own venue as well, and call it 'The Treadmill', and who shall we have supporting us? 
Dave: Sinead O'Connor.
Joe: Sinead O'Connor, there we go! An interesting line-up, diverse..!
Dave: I think Bruce Willis actually did some rap music once, so he can support us too.
(Laughing)
Joe: Right, so we'd have Stoke Treadmill, Bruce Willis on first, because, you know, beginner. David Hasselhoff we might as well have, for the German fans...that live in Stoke...
Dave: Followed by Sinead.
Joe: And then us. Yep, there you go.
Si: I think that'd be great!
(Laughing) Dave: Fantastic.
Joe: We're excited already! 

Jess: What have you got planned after this tour? 

Si: Another tour, probably.
Joe: Hopefully we'll do some support shows, and then like I said, the single, a new video and everything.
Dave: Hopefully we'll get added last minute to some festivals as well.
Joe: Yeah, we're hoping to get some festivals, but if we don't, we'll be doing our own tours and maybe hitting Europe or something.
Si: It should be cool. 

Suzi: Is there anything else you'd like to say to our lovely readers? 

Joe: Hello! How are you?!
Si: (In very impressive Cartman voice) Screw you guys, I'm going home! Timmeh!
Joe: Yeah.
Dave: Yeah! 

Thanks a lot to the InMe guys for taking time out to answer our questions. I also want to thank their tour manager, Joe, and Warren from Infected for sorting out all the interviews we did that night. And if you were wondering, the band put on a very good show, playing favourites from 'Overgrown Eden' as well as new tracks off their forthcoming album that went down very well with the crowd, to say the least. For more information, check out www.inmeonline.com.