I N T E R V I E W
Interview Micky Waters, James Heatley (face to face)
Hello guys, thanks for your time, we are Auxportesdumetal.com, a French webzine, and this interview will be published in Frenh and English
Thank you, Didier, and please to meet you
Could one of you present the band for those who are not too familiar with it?
Micky: Yes, sure, we are The Answer: Cormac on vocals, James on drums, Paul on guitar and myself, Micky on bass. We formed in 2000. Basically Paul and myself got together, and James was a local drummer playing in a lot of bands, we got him involved, then we got Cormac to sing for us and since then we have been touring for about ten years [laughs]
James: And here we are in Hellfest [laughs]
You just finished a huge tour, opening for AC/DC? How was that? Did you learn a lot ?
Micky: It was probably the best year and a half of our lives. We got to travel the world, for what was the biggest and most succesful tour in 2009, and we were part of that. It was a huge experience for us to have, to play for such huge audiences all over the world. We got to also play in Ireland, it was one of the biggest show actually, 98000 people. And we had a surprise at the end, we were presented with a big trophee stating "Thank you for playing 120 shows of rock 'n' roll with us". That was cool
James: It was sold out everywhere, everywhere !
Did you have good contacts with the AC/DC team?
Micky: Oh yeah. We've gone on very well with them. On the first day we showed up, on the first day of the tour, some of the AC/DC crew were working on a sample of the bell you know for Hells Bells, and it was not sounding right, so we took it on our computer and tuned it down for them and turned it back to them so after that, we were all good friends
James: That made us good friends with them. And on the AC/DC days off, we were having our own gig, they helped us on stage, tuning our guitars, so it was really good.
Was AC/DC a major influence?
Micky: Always, from day one. Highway to Hell and Back In Black, were in our kids records collection. To play with them was a real dream come true
How did you get this deal?
Micky: Brian [Johnson] was fan of the band actually. They made the choice. Then Malcom and Angus also got into the band. So all three asked to bring the boys along for the tour.
James: Some bands were ready to pay to get this deal, but they said no, we want The Answer. Few weeks after the start of the tour, they told us that Brian was actually listening to our first album in his convertible car
Did you write new material during this long tour?
Micky: Yes, we did. Quite a lot of riffs and a few lyrics. So our new album is now finished, completely mixed and mastered. We are trying to get it on the shelves for the 5th of September. It's all ready to go.
Do you have a title for it?
We have one working title that is: Revival. That may change, but for now that's it.
Was Everyday Demons a commercial success?
Micky: Yes, in the UK, at home, it was very good. In France and in Spain, it was also very good. There seem to be a pretty good rock'n'roll culture here. Like when we played in Bercy, we couldn't believe it. We love it here.
There is in this album a great song called Pride. There is also one from U2, is Pride a Irish anthem?
Micky: Yes right [laughs]. Every Irish band has to have a song called Pride [laughs]. You know like the French, the Irish are also very proud.
Tell us about your new DVD "412 days of Rock and roll"?
James: Whenever we found out we were going for the AC/DC tour we bought a camcorder and as the tour went on we bought another one, so we had two cameras nearly everyday, hundreds and hundreds of hours of footage of us backstage with AC/DC, at our own shows, on the days off, footage of Cormac and Brian having a beer and so on. They are things that are not on the AC/DC DVD, they gave us permission. Of course there is also the concert, taken from AC/DC tour and from our own gigs. It comes also with a CD.
Micky: When we came back from the AC/DC tour, we did a UK tour. Because, we didn't really make an Everyday Demons' Tour, so we did a small one and we finished it in our home town in Belfast in a venue where we saw lots of bands when we were kids, like AC/DC, so we got to finish our tour there, a very special gig for us, and there are songs from this too in the DVD.
I heard about a cover of a Rose Tatto tune, is this another major influence for you?
Micky: Yes, Rock'n'Roll Outlaw. It's another major influence for us, for sure. It's on the CD.
So you are an Irish band but with a strong Australian influence
Micky: Exactly, you know they are all Irish anyway there [laughs]
James: Yes criminal imigrants [laughs]
It's your first time in Hellfest, have you heard about it before?
Micky: Yes first time here. And so far, it has been a little bit of rain but it's a proper rock'n'roll audience. We heard about it from our PR guy here, Olivier [Garnier].
Well, when you started the rain stopped
James: The people always says the Irish bring the rain, but it's not true you see...
You got invited at the last minute
Micky: Yes, because we have been recording constantly for our album, then we worked on the DVD, getting it all ready so it was good for us to come back again to play.
James: Yes it's been the first gig for quite a bit for us. We were all the time in studio.
How was your set, happy about it? How was the audience? It was prety early on the first day
Micky: Very happy, the audience was good. It was our kind of audience. Because there are a lot of heavier bands before and after so sometimes you worry a bit about that, but I think, that appeals to the audience. It was pretty early but we could see people coming in and by the end of the set, it was a huge audience
Are you staying any longer? Thin Lizzy is playing tomorrow you know?
Micky: No we have to go back tomorrow. We are doing our photos and our artwork for our album on sunday, monday, tuesday, in Ireland. It's a pity because we are fans of Thin Lizzy since we were small boys. Ricky Warwick is also very good, I haven't seen him yet front the band.
James: But we get to see a few bands today. We saw Alter Bridge, Monster Magnet, Cult, lots of good bands...
Are you doing more festivals this summer?
Micky: Yes we are doing the Sonisphere in England. Which is going to be good for us. And a few other gigs in Ireland and in Germany. But the priority is to release the album. After this we will see for a Revival Tour
Any other good bands in Ireland we should know about?
Micky: There are a few ones coming through, like Glyder, there is also Swanee River which are a really good rock band and Million Dollar Reload which are a pretty good hard rock metal band
Gary Moore passed away earlier this year, did you ever met him or played with him?
Micky: Yes, very sad. Yes, we played together at the Albert Hall, five years ago, Paul Rodgers invited us to come play with him, and Gary Moore was guest guitar. He stood and watched our show and he had a few beers with us after, and since then we've seen him a few times actually.
James: He was after us in a show in London last year, he was very cool
Micky: It's a big loss for the Irish music, because he was such a huge figure. He is one of the best players in Ireland, ... after Paul, you know [laughs]
A last word for your French fans?
Micky: Yes, so please check out our new DVD, "412 days of Rock and roll", any fan of AC/DC, The Answer, or just rock'n'roll will find something they like in this DVD, because it's really about what it's like to be on the road with the world biggest and greatest rock'n''roll band in the world.
James: In one of the part of the DVD we were in Paris after coming out of the gig in Bercy, in the double deck tour bus, on this carriage way, and the driver realised that he couldn't get under that bridge. We nearly crashed into the bridge. We had to reverse against the traffic, that was stressful...
Micky: Also check out our album coming out in September, it's by far the most ambitious effort by the Answer so far.
James: Yes, it's a very mature album, we've grown up
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