Q&A: Demob Happy

This Newcastle four-piece have made themselves at home in the thriving Brighton rock scene with their off-kilter grunge. They play Leeds Brudenell Games Room, 9 April, before Sheffield, York and Hull. We spoke to frontman Matt Marcantonio.

How did the band form?
We met in Newcastle. It could have been some kind of cosmic alignment or just the result of a series of flukey circumstances but once we got together in a room with our instruments it just made sense.

How would you describe your debut EP?
Like two nuns on LSD armed with blunt weapons tearing each other to bits
in a bloody fight to the death. The lyrical content doesn’t directly endorse this imagery but it’s suggested. Other than that the songs cover topics from sex parties to our generation’s bland unwillingness to develop any independent beliefs or stand up for the ones they have.

What can we expect from your live shows?
A rough around the edges assault on your senses. We like to walk the line between playing the songs well in a form that is recognisable and just going batshit crazy and letting stuff get so rowdy it feels like it could come apart at the seams at any time.

Is there a sense of community among Brighton bands?
Small scenes can be bitchy and full of complicated inter- band politics. In Brighton people have realised that you can only get up so high stepping on other people. The bands that we hang with look after each other, go to each others shows, champion the acts upcoming, jump on stage to right a fallen mic stand or run to find a guitar for someone who snapped a string.

Does it make it a crowded place to get noticed?
It doesn’t really matter if there’s two other great bands playing on the same night at different venues. You just meet up after and get trashed.

Now you have been noticed, how do you plan to make sure you don’t get forgotten?
A resistance to taking the quick and easy routes to the top and instead working really fucking hard building a fan base of real people who have attention spans is our vaccine against flavour of the week syndrome.

ANTONIA CHARLESWORTH