Big Scary Monsters have been holding on to this band for quite some time. Self described as “post teen spirit”, Secondsmile have recently released their second full length album ‘Years’ which takes their alternative rock to a more mature, constructed sound.
I caught up with guitarist Thomas Warne to talk about the band.
Tell me a story:
We recently did a short tour of Spain and France. Everything went perfectly well until the final day.
Throughout the tour, our tour manager Steve kept telling us how dangerous it was to have weed on our persons whilst we were driving through France. We didn't really take much notice, but the hire van was in his name, so if we were pulled over it'd be Steve who would get into trouble.
So after two and a half weeks of driving hundreds of kilometers everyday, and not getting pulled over, we'd pretty much forgotten his warning.
So on the last day we got up early and I started the long drive from La Rochelle to Cherbourg. About and hour into the journey three armed police officers waved me over to the side of the road and I turned off the engine.
The first officer asked me if I spoke French, I said no. Then he says "You smoke marijuana, hashish, weed?" and I said "No. I don't even smoke!" He then asked each of us separately the same question and one by one we were searched with our hands on the bonnet of the van. I was thinking everything will be okay because none of us have any weed on us. Then one of the other guys in the band mouthed at me "I have some weed in my bag!"
At this point I looked through the windscreen to see one of the other officers opening all our bags and taking everything out of each one, and basically searching every part of our van.
Somehow, the police failed to find my friends weed, at which point a van pulls up behind us in the lay-by. It was Steve, our tour manager, who was taking the hire van back and had seen our van and came to make sure we were okay. Unfortunately for Steve, they decided to let us go at this point, and searched his van where they found some weed that had been left over from the show the night before.
So we carried on our journey home, whilst Steve and his friend got a grilling from the French police, before they confiscated the weed and sent them on their way. I honestly thought we'd be spending the night in a French jail cell, and felt very lucky that we got away with it!
This is your hometown (and it is cutting you):
We (Secondsmile) grew up and are based in the small West Country town of Bridport. I feel this has been both positive and negative for us as a band/musicians.
I think it's really helped us develop our own sound and not follow other current trends in the music scene. Trying to sound as unique as possible has always been important to us, and as we are so isolated here, it makes it easier I think.
The down side of this is that were away from London, which is where it's all happening within the music scene. A lot of the bands that live in London socialise together and form strong bonds with each other and important people within the industry, which helps them to increase their fan bases and move on within the industry.
Our great and secret show:
Other than trying to keep our sound as unique as possible, the other thing we always try to do is develop. With each release we want to challenge ourselves and our audience, and keep people guessing as to where we might go next with our sound. Our first EP could very easily be filed under emo or post-hardcore, but having lost a singer after its release, we decided to go for a more mature rock/post-hardcore/post-rock vibe. Having toured the album to death, and recruiting a new guitarist, we decided to try a more straight up commercial sounding rock format for our second album.
Having said all that, the idea of boxing music up into nice genres and trying to label every band as this or that is something we are very much opposed to. We believe that any true music lover loves music, not because it "belongs" to a certain genre or because the band dress cool and are good looking, but because of the music itself and nothing else.
So there it is, Secondsmile write genre-less music for true die-hard music lovers. Because at the end of the day, that's exactly what we are, die-hard music lovers.
Good night sleep tight:
Well, this year we recorded our second album in New York, and it's called Years. You can buy it in shops or on i-Tunes or from bsmrocks.com
Thanks for reading/listening/caring about Secondsmile, your support means the world to us and makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. x x x x x
New Single Stars Away
Video Source: YouTube
Picture Source: Myspace
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