1. Can you state your name(s) and what you do in
the band?
Wayne (drums) Tony (guitar) Jonny (bass) Luke (guitar) and the vocals on our
CD are by Tom Fenn (currently living in the south of the UK, no longer in
the band). We're currently going through the process of finding a new
vocalist.
2. There have been a lot of bands coming from
Great Britain lately. How do you view the scene there? And what makes you
guys different?
Well, the current scene is layered with 'metal-by-numbers' bands,
predictable, boring, and not at all exciting or new. There ARE a few amazing
bands coming up nowadays. We tried as much as we could to avoid fitting in
too much, we succeeded somewhat, but there is only so much you can do. For
some people it worked, for some it didn't, but what it boiled down to is
doing what WE really wanted to do.. mainly technical music. Whatever made us
happy - we did.
3. Test Switch Isolator is a very unique name
for a band...who came up with it? and what does it mean? if it actually
means anything anyways?
Haha, well, that's always been an odd story, the three original members of
the band (Tony, Wayne and Jonny) were in college studying music, and we had
to come up with a band name for a project, where we had to write and perform
a piece of music.. we hadn't come up with a name yet so we were a bit
pressed for time, we were in the toilet, and saw a switch with the words
'test switch isolator' written on it, so when asked what our name was, we
just said that off the top of our heads.. and it just kinda stuck.
4. You all are very talented musicians, were
you in any bands before this? and how long have you been playing for?
Well, Wayne, Tony and Jonny all started playing our individual instruments
at the same time in high school. Jonny and Wayne went on to be in a cover
band in the last year of high school covering Incubus songs. Then as we
progressed onto college the three of us came together, and found Tom (old
singer) which is when we rehearsed and played together, and wrote 'Lets
Dance' the first album. Luke was a late addition to the band when we decided
to develop the sound with two guitarists, he was in a band called Hattori
Hanzo, then came to us when he moved near us to start University. As a unit
Test Switch Isolator has been going roughly 4 or 5 years.
5. When did TSI form?
We formed in early 2002(?) with the four original members.
6. Have you played any live shows and how have
they been perceived?
Yeah we've played hundreds of live shows all over the UK, we've played a
couple of big festivals, including a headline festival in Camden Underworld.
And a sold out gig at Leeds Cockpit with Clone The Fragile and Bring Me The
Horizon. We recently did our first tour with our new material, and our good
friends Chronicles Of Adam West.. which turned out to be a pretty amazing
experience.
In the early days of playing shows there weren't many bands like us around,
and there still aren't, but grindcore in the local scene wasn't very
popular.. some people thought we were crazy, others thought we weren't
actually from the UK?! and the rest either loved it or hated it.. but
gradually, the majority grew to love it.
7.How do you guys feel about American Cartoons,
i.e. Family Guy, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Simpsons etc.?
In our opinion, they're amazing (I am actually watching Family Guy as we
speak) Family Guy and American Dad are the best, and of course The Simpsons
is one of the originals. Other than that we don't get many American cartoons
shown in the UK.. but those are the best by far.
8. What kind of music do you guys prefer to
play, considering the majority of the music on the cd. is grind/math/death
metal?
Well, our heart lies in Grindcore and Death Metal really, because of the
'Math' aspect of it, we like to think of ourselves as 'proper' musicians
after all, and part of that is constantly improving, and always challenging
yourself, the easier it gets to play the songs we've written shows
improvement, and the fact we get comfortable means we can go on to write
even more technical face-fucking music on the second record. But we're
lovers of Jazz and Classical and Drum & Bass etc, in a rehearsal or at a
show if we feel like it.. we'll just bang out a bit of improvisation.
9. How many vocalists are there in the band,
considering there are many forms of extreme screaming, as well as a really
well done clean vocal?
Every single bit of singing/screaming/talking and everything else on the
first record was done by our original singer Tom.
10. Who came up with the rat spawn concept, and
how did that come about?
Haha, the Rat Spawn idea was just a private joke in the band, basically a
stupid word or phrase we came up with.. we decided to use it in the album
because the three songs with 'Rat Spawn' title were all improvised in the
studio, we had rough ideas leading up to recording where we'd just improvise
for a laugh and came up with these jazzy riffs, so we played around with
them in the studio as like a spontaneous, on-the-spot kind of thing.. and it
turned out alright.
11. On "Lets Dance" you have a very wide and
eclectic bunch of song genres and structures, can you give us any insight
into where this all comes from and about?
That's just like most bands would say really, there are bands that are like
really extreme metal, but are still influenced by say.. Depeche Mode? or Joy
Division or anything they like. Where as we were not only influenced, but
realized we had an ability to write bits in our songs with singing, and bits
with Jazz influence that seemed to fit, and add to the craziness of the
overall sound, so it's an idea that kind of just grew with us as a band and
as musicians.
12. How did you decide on doing a dance song
for the first "Rat Spawn" track?
Like we said, leading up to recording we realized all the songs we'd written
were pretty tight and ready for the studio, so we just started having a
laugh, improvising some songs, and that's just one of the one's we came up
with.
13. Who does the vocals on the last "Rat Spawn"
song on the "Lets Dance" album? Where did you come up with that whole
Diatribe anyways?
Haha, the vocals, as I said before, were all done by our original vocalist
Tom Fenn, he made up all that shit he was saying on the spot in the vocal
booth off the top of his head.. no preparation, no discussion.. we basically
just told him to go in the booth and do whatever he wanted.
14. Whomever did the talking on that song has a
very distinct accent. Is that the persons real accent? and where did you
guys grow up in order to incur that form of speech?
No that's not Tom's real accent! we're all from West Yorkshire, Huddersfield..
well known for a more, 'farmer' type accent (we don't sound like that
though) our accent is kind of generic! just.. 'British'.. the accent on that
Rat Spawn song is more of a fake London accent.. just for the laugh! :)
15. Has there been any interest in any major
labels yet? If so, what has the experiences been like? If not, why do you
feel that is, considering how fun, unique and talented you are?
We've had a few discussions with majour labels, but with our type of music
and our work ethic and way of thinking, and with our experience of labels in
the past.. we've decided a small independent label with have our best
interests at heart for the time being, so when we start with the new record,
that's the kind of thing we'll be looking out for more than anything else.
16. What can we expect different on the new
record that you are working on right now?
Well, our old record was well publicized for having 'grind and funk', we had
planned to not have much mellow sections and funk parts in the new stuff,
but we've since had a change of heart, as we think it's what we're good at..
the main difference being, the grind and death metal part are more technical
and brutal, with the addition of a second guitarist, things have stepped up
a level 'technicality' wise.. and it's a bigger punch in the face than ever
before. It's exciting, be ready for it.
17. What are TSI's plans for the future?
Write, Rehearse, Record, Shows, Shows, Shows, Drink, and have a good time
with it! And take TSI as far as we can and hopefully to other parts of the
world! :)
18. Those are all the questions that I have for
you right now, thank you for speaking with us!!! Any final words???
TSI bringing the beef in 2008
Email interview with UK grindcore act Test Switch
Isolator.