It’s like when you listen to a band and wondering ‘what if I met those people would I like them or would they be total *$£”%^%?’. When it comes to the Amber Bugs, you’ll love the song but you can’t not like the attitude. Not an ounce of pretension here. Check them out below!
- Describe your sound in three words please!
More is More
- You have an EP out titled “The Year of the Rat”. Want to say a few things on what this is about?
˜Rat vs Mole™ has an unconventional structure and a cross-genre sound.
- Should music as a form of art should always challenge the listener?
I honestly don’t really think about the listener when I’m writing so I’m not thinking about challenging them. For me writing music is about expressing ambiguity, I’m not just one thing, I’m lots of competing, contradictory things simultaneously, An individual, A part of a collective etc.. Part of how I express that is to throw ideas that don’t obviously go together into the same song.
- What are the main themes explored in your music?
Lyrically it’s all over the place, I don’t expect people to know what Rat vs Mole is about, a couple of fans worked it out and messaged us when the penny dropped but I think it’s ok if most people just see what’s on the surface. I guess a lot of the songs are just observational social commentaries, Pricks 2020 and Make money, spend money, die. definitely fall into that category. I try to mix the silly with the serious. I suppose the underlying message is “we’re all f*%ked, but lets have a great time anyway”
- Similarly to your titles, you also have a very creative artwork. What is the idea behind it?
Ah glad you asked, a friend of ours Daniel Ian (Insta @Death.is.no.end ) paints these faces. They’re simultaneously ugly and beautiful which really speaks to me as a visual representation of what can be seen everywhere if you look hard enough, it’s so similar to what the band tries to express through song and Dan does it with a paint brush.
- You had recorded material before the pandemic. How did the lockdown affect the circulation of your work and what are your plans for the near future? Also, in what ways has the isolation affected your creativity and ability to work as a band, if at all?
Yeah it’s all up in the air really. A week after we finished the EP we were due to be at SXSW to promote it. The festival got cancelled but we decided to go to Austin anyway as we were due to play some fringe events that were still going ahead. A travel ban got announced while we were in the air and we had to fly home the very next day. Since then we haven’t played together, We bounce some ideas back and forth in pro tools from time to time but nothing is getting finished. Playing in a room together is such an important part of the process and I’m missing it like hell. I feel like a dormant volcano, very much looking forward to the eruption.
- If it wasn’t London, which place would it be and why?
I’m settling into my 30’s now, Readily available 4 am Chinese food is not as much of selling point for a city as it used to be. Maybe at some point I’ll let myself get really fat and go somewhere rural.
Thanks Amber Bugs!
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