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Could you first introduce your band to the readers of our zine?
Hi we are History Of Guns, a UK industrial punk band who've just released out third album ACEDIA.
How did things get started?
Del and I were both lost and hellbent on self-destruction when we were recruited by a madman called Stagger Lee back in the mid nineties. He was the original bass player, but he quit in 1999. He rejoined the band in 2007.
What are your main influences?
We came together because we had our own mental demons, depressions and that, and we drank a lot... people we knew would get drunk, but we'd always be the last people awake at the party you know... drinking until we couldn't drink any more... and getting together to get drunk and make music was the only thing that seemed to make us feel any better. Musically speaking there aren't that many bands that we all agree on. We're all into quite different stuff, which is good because it pulls our sound in different directions. i think we all like Killing Joke.
How would you describe the music you make?
It's always hard to get involved in genre descriptions... and sometimes we do purely electronic stuff, some times hard edged guitar stuff... some of our stuff is quite avant garde and bizarre, yet sometimes we're not averse to 3 minute songs with hooks and melodies. Lyrically it tends to be quite bleak, but then sometimes we've got a sense of humour.
Your currently latest release is called 'Acedia'. What can people who blindly buy it expect of it?
We got some criticism for our second album 'Apophenia' where every track was in a different genre, and people thought we were just all over the shop stylistically... we decided to focus purely on the guitar-side of our sound and see where it took us. The music for all the songs was written on the guitar. Lyrically we decided wanted to confront a lot of the problems and issues we have head on. Hopefully it'd be some kind of cathartic experience for both us and for the listener. We've had some amazing reviews for the album which have blown us away.
What is the best track on the album in your opinion, and why?
That's a hard question. A few tracks have been really surprising, i really thought that people wouldn't like 'Exhaust Fumes' but it's turned out to be a lot of people's favourite.
What is the message you try to spread lyrically?
We try to write lyrics that reflect life. We try to not to shy away from the dark things that people try to forget about. A lot of my lyrics are concerned with the struggle of the individual, and Del adds a lot of his own crazy almost other worldly stuff...
What are, next to music, your other passions in life?
Good question. Alas drinking and self-destruction are our only real hobbies outside the band. Del likes to paint sometimes.... and i write stories.
What can we expect of History of Guns in the near future?
We're just finishing the demos for album four, it's got a working title of, 'Whatever You Do, Don't Turn Up At Twelve'... again it's guitar-based, but with more electronic elements creeping in. We're also rehearsing a new lineup as we're starting gigging again from February of next year starting with the ElectroPunk festival in Bedford, then a few dates around the country and some festivals. We're also releasing one last single from Acedia - 'It's Easy' - which will be up for free download fom http://www.lineoutrecords.com/downloads/.
The interview ends here, thanks for your time. If you have some final words to add, you can do it here.
Thanks for taking the time to speak to us.
Interview by: Gerardo, answered by Max Rael - November 2008
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