Submotion Orchestra Interview
The seven-piece dubstep influenced live band have just finished their first European UK tour, so we caught up with them to find out how it went.
How’s it going guys?
Ruby: It’s going well!
Taz: Pretty good.
Danny: It’s good! We’re a little bit tired, just on the last day of a month long tour.
It’s the last day of your tour how did it all go?
Taz: Yeah it’s been great. Great crowds, great venues. Yeah everything’s just been really good. Getting to the end of it, probably could use a bit of a rest.
Any best ones you’ve done so far?
Ruby: Today we got back from Poland, five days in Poland. Every venue out there is very good, you get treated like kings and queens. UK venues; pay attention! It’s nice to be treated good! No, all of them have been really diverse, we’ve been playing some theatres, some dubstep raves, art centres...
Danny: Yeah, jazz clubs.
Ruby: Jazz clubs. It keeps it very varied for us as well.
And the last set’s tonight at XOYO in London. Looking forward to it?
Taz: Absolutely, yeah.
Ruby: Really looking forward to it.
Danny: Home crowd, always great.
And it’s the last one!
Ruby: Yeah, going to pull out all the stops tonight!
You’ve just had your album out, tell us about that. What was the process with seven of you?
Taz: Yeah, there’s seven of us. It took a little while, we’ve been together about two and a half years something like that, it took a little while for us to get the sound down and get all the things, all the elements in that. So we did all the improv gigs and lot of working together to get the sound. The tunes we had, we probably took about four months to piece everything together, ‘til we were happy with it.
How does it come together, any disagreements or anything?
Danny: Pretty slowly.
Ruby: The way the songs are written often it’s Tommy or Dom that bring songs to the table that we then turn into live band versions. We’ve recently started improvising things and recording and everybody writes little bits.
Is the dubstep sound really key for you?
Taz: It was initially, yeah, it was initially. But we wanted to try and do our own thing.
Danny: Use all our own individual influences. A few of us were never really involved in dubstep, never had much to do with it, we came from different backgrounds.
Ruby: I didn’t have a clue what it was when they asked me to join the band. I got a Facebook message from Tommy “Do you want to join a dubstep band”, and I was like... “Okay, what’s dubstep?”
Are you all from Leeds?
Taz: A few of us studied at Leeds College of Music and knew each other that way. Everyone else came from playing with each other in the Leeds scene and just came together pretty naturally. Started off with just four of us, and then we added percussion, trumpets and that got more into it.
[To Ruby] How do you find it in the group, do the guys look after you?
Ruby: Yeah, they do. They’re like six big brothers. You kind of pretend you don’t like each other but you all love each other and get on. Have to be thick skinned with all the constant abuse, I’m turning into a diva!
Taz: She is...
Ruby: It’s all their fault!
Taz: We’re just there to bring down the sides.
What’s it like to hear all the support from everyone, from DJs like Gilles Petersen. That must be quite good that you’re getting such a good reaction from people?
Taz: We’ve been listening to those guys for years and you know, to end up being played by them is fantastic. Yeah, spot on!
Silly question, if you could have a swimming pool filled with anything what would it be?
Taz: Puppies!
Danny: With anything?
Ruby: White wine, so I can swim around in it!
Taz: Yeah Ruby would take white wine. Danny would take rare Brazilian percussion instruments.
Danny: Yeah that would do me.
Taz: Danny would just take a beer, or deep heat. I would probably take...
Ruby: Lots of small dogs.
Taz: Yeah small dogs. Only because I like them.
Danny: That’s disgusting.
Taz: That didn’t come out quite right, forget that.
Can you give The Guestlist Network an exclusive?
Taz: Well, second album on the way. We’re going to be playing two or three songs that are potentially going to be on the second album tonight.
Ruby: Just lots more gigs and festivals in summer. Hopefully more European dates.
You can keep up with Submotion Orchestra gigs and releases at www.submotion.co.uk
How’s it going guys?
Ruby: It’s going well!
Taz: Pretty good.
Danny: It’s good! We’re a little bit tired, just on the last day of a month long tour.
It’s the last day of your tour how did it all go?
Taz: Yeah it’s been great. Great crowds, great venues. Yeah everything’s just been really good. Getting to the end of it, probably could use a bit of a rest.
Any best ones you’ve done so far?
Ruby: Today we got back from Poland, five days in Poland. Every venue out there is very good, you get treated like kings and queens. UK venues; pay attention! It’s nice to be treated good! No, all of them have been really diverse, we’ve been playing some theatres, some dubstep raves, art centres...
Danny: Yeah, jazz clubs.
Ruby: Jazz clubs. It keeps it very varied for us as well.
And the last set’s tonight at XOYO in London. Looking forward to it?
Taz: Absolutely, yeah.
Ruby: Really looking forward to it.
Danny: Home crowd, always great.
And it’s the last one!
Ruby: Yeah, going to pull out all the stops tonight!
You’ve just had your album out, tell us about that. What was the process with seven of you?
Taz: Yeah, there’s seven of us. It took a little while, we’ve been together about two and a half years something like that, it took a little while for us to get the sound down and get all the things, all the elements in that. So we did all the improv gigs and lot of working together to get the sound. The tunes we had, we probably took about four months to piece everything together, ‘til we were happy with it.
How does it come together, any disagreements or anything?
Danny: Pretty slowly.
Ruby: The way the songs are written often it’s Tommy or Dom that bring songs to the table that we then turn into live band versions. We’ve recently started improvising things and recording and everybody writes little bits.
Is the dubstep sound really key for you?
Taz: It was initially, yeah, it was initially. But we wanted to try and do our own thing.
Danny: Use all our own individual influences. A few of us were never really involved in dubstep, never had much to do with it, we came from different backgrounds.
Ruby: I didn’t have a clue what it was when they asked me to join the band. I got a Facebook message from Tommy “Do you want to join a dubstep band”, and I was like... “Okay, what’s dubstep?”
Are you all from Leeds?
Taz: A few of us studied at Leeds College of Music and knew each other that way. Everyone else came from playing with each other in the Leeds scene and just came together pretty naturally. Started off with just four of us, and then we added percussion, trumpets and that got more into it.
[To Ruby] How do you find it in the group, do the guys look after you?
Ruby: Yeah, they do. They’re like six big brothers. You kind of pretend you don’t like each other but you all love each other and get on. Have to be thick skinned with all the constant abuse, I’m turning into a diva!
Taz: She is...
Ruby: It’s all their fault!
Taz: We’re just there to bring down the sides.
What’s it like to hear all the support from everyone, from DJs like Gilles Petersen. That must be quite good that you’re getting such a good reaction from people?
Taz: We’ve been listening to those guys for years and you know, to end up being played by them is fantastic. Yeah, spot on!
Silly question, if you could have a swimming pool filled with anything what would it be?
Taz: Puppies!
Danny: With anything?
Ruby: White wine, so I can swim around in it!
Taz: Yeah Ruby would take white wine. Danny would take rare Brazilian percussion instruments.
Danny: Yeah that would do me.
Taz: Danny would just take a beer, or deep heat. I would probably take...
Ruby: Lots of small dogs.
Taz: Yeah small dogs. Only because I like them.
Danny: That’s disgusting.
Taz: That didn’t come out quite right, forget that.
Can you give The Guestlist Network an exclusive?
Taz: Well, second album on the way. We’re going to be playing two or three songs that are potentially going to be on the second album tonight.
Ruby: Just lots more gigs and festivals in summer. Hopefully more European dates.
You can keep up with Submotion Orchestra gigs and releases at www.submotion.co.uk
