by
Dis: So what have you been up to since the last interview?
Pete Hurley (vocals/guitars): We've been played on Peel and Lamacq. We've got an entirely new set. We've been on tour with Miss Black America. Our site is much better (see link on band profile). We've supported Snow Patrol. We've been asked to do a John Peel session. We've gained new fans like Simon Williams from Fierce Panda and a nation of 'Men and Motors' watchers. We all got dumped by our girlfriends. We met Henry Rollins, Ash, Everett True and the Dandy Warhols.
Dis: And what have been the highlights and lowlights of the past six months?
Pete: Never going home was good and bad. Becoming best friends with Miss Black America and The Dawn Parade has been fucking wicked. We made a pact. Whoever gets big first will take the others. There has been lots of joy and depression these last six months. It's been brilliant and tragic within the band and out. Aaliyah died and I loved her. Me and Davo (bass) have always loved all that Timbaland stuff and she was kinda special to me. 'Try Again' is one of my favourite songs cos it reminds me of one of my best friends and a cool period in my life. I'm glad she went Number One recently. September 11th sucked. George Harrison died and me and Davo are OBSSESSED with the Beatles. We were in the car listening to it come through on the radio and I turned my head away. I knew if he saw me crying he would cry. And he was supposed to be driving. I guess band wise we hate not being more successful. We're not proud of ourselves. We just want to be really big. We want to be the band you put on when you're having a shitty day and they just turn it around.
Dis: Would you say that you've changed as a band?
Pete: I think we are tougher outside and in. I think we're a lot tighter and a little more mature. We're much, much better. We've come from a local band to a tipped band.
Dis: Tell me about the set you recorded for the 'Men and Motors' channel. Is it true that you mimed?
Pete: We didn't know we couldn't until we got there and we hadn't brought all our stuff. We were really using it to get video footage of us but we never found out when it was on so it never happened. It was a really fun day though. Swanky studio. Beautiful people. That was a cool day. It made us feel important even if it is a really trashy looking show. It just has anyone who wants to be on it basically. It wasn't a thing where they cared about us. If you've seen it please tell us! We tried to look cool, but we probably looked like village idiots.
Dis: What was it like playing with Gary Lightbody (of Snow Patrol)?
Pete: It was OK. We don't like playing acoustic really. I didn't meet him. We're fans of Snow Patrol. They're cool. I wish they would get back together and do stuff.
Dis: Aren't you sick of playing MTV?
Pete: We got sick of it but then people started screaming when it kicked in. Anything people scream for we will play. We're a people's band. Everything is for the people.
Dis: Why call your album 'The Alamo?'
Pete: Me and Davo decided to call it this through a comic book we love called 'Preacher'. Read it. It rules. IN that edition the hero, or antihero, spurns life to face God. It's fucking cool, not stupid like it may sound. It kicks ass. It's a guy thing. Budweisers and kicking ass. I recommend it to all red-blooded thinking males.
Dis: Would you say that coming from Stratford rather than say, London or
Manchester has hindered you as a band?
Pete: It's good and bad. The apathy fills you with rage and drive which can help propel you to greater things, but it also means that most of the gigs you play do not help you. There's only so long you can drive around the country with all your equipment in your car playing for nothing before your money runs out and your tank is empty. It has held us back, but I hope it may help propel us forward and make labels realise there is more to this country than London. I've never been blown away by an unsigned band from London.
Dis: You have to choose one of the following options, which one do you choose?
a) a short-lived music career that will earn you fame and fortune
b) the opportunity to make music for the next 50 years but without any recognition.
Pete: It's gotta be A. Sorry, but I was brought up on Nirvana and it really is better to burn out than fade away. It sounds superficial, but I was raised by MTV. Live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse.
Dis: If you hit the big time, how will you ensure that success doesn't go to your
head?
Pete: I don't know. I hope it will. Everyone likes a no good fuck up rockstar. Then again, I'd say that our constant dim view of ourselves will probably keep our feet on the ground. Every success brings new responsibilties, I don't think a band like us will ever just be sitting around with too much money and nothing to do.
Dis: If one of the band decided to leave would you continue with a different line-up?
Pete: Very difficult. I haven't found anybody who could fill the gap in any musician I've met. This isn't because we're good, but we've grown up playing together, so it would be really hard.
Dis: What are your plans for the immediate future? A headline tour perhaps?
Pete: We'll do gigs wherever anyone wants us. I fucking mean that. If there's somewhere where we can make enough money to get our car there and back we will play there. We will not turn down a gig. Please take me up on this challenge. Anyone. We'd like to open for local bands all over the country. We want to play a lot of gigs. So if anyone wants us, ask us. We're not big enough to command a proper 20 headline tour of the country yet. But we'd love to support any band on one.
Dis: What's the best thing about being in Antihero?
Pete: The friendship. Meeting new and cool people. little tastes of success. You share the highs and the lows with your three best friends.
Check Antihero's profile for forthcoming live appearances. The new single 'Limb From Limb' is available to download free from their site, also linked on the profile.
