Interviews: Mines

On this new occasion, we had the opportunity to interview the Alternative Metal band Mines from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.

1. Where did you get the idea for the band name, did you plan it or came out just like that?

It was our former drummer's suggestion, we wanted something industrial sounding to reflect the area of the North of England we come from.

2. Why did you want to play this genre?

There are a lot of places you can go with metal, it's a very broad genre. We all enjoy different subgenres so it's allowed us to amalgamate lots of different sounds.

3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?

John & Rick were in a jam band together prior to the formation of Mines, becoming the founding members. Bryn & Dave also played in another project for a short time together before Dave later joined Mines. Alex joined a while later on bass.

4. Each band member's favorite band?

John - Cave In

Rick - Radiohead

Bryn - Karnivool

Alex - QOTSA

Dave - Genesis

5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?

That's hard to pin down, I wouldn't want to give anything away as we like to keep our lyrics fairly abstract. We have three main songwriters in the band so we take inspiration from quite different places.

6. Where was your last gig?

Our last gig was at The Star & Garter supporting Bicurious in Manchester UK, our hometown. 

7. What venue would you most like to play?

The Deaf Institute would be a big one for us, it's not a huge venue but is well known in Manchester UK.

8. Which band would you most like to play with?

That would really depend on which member of the band you spoke with, we all have different favorite bands so I don't think we'd be able to agree on that. I think a couple of bands from the underground British metal scene that we'd like to play with would be Sugarhorse & Pijn.

9. Which band wouldn’t you want to play with?

I'm not sure we despise any band so much that we wouldn't play with them unless we really disagreed with something they represented.

10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?

Make sure you're tight as a band & feel confident with your material as that will help alleviate some of the anxiety. Just don't resort to drinking large amounts of alcohol or taking drugs.

11. What bands have inspired you the most?

I'd say we would all agree on bands like Deftones, Tool, Mastodon, Oceansize, Cynic, Cave In.

12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?

A gentleman once asked to play with Rick's whammy bar.

13. What do you think of your fans?

We're always very grateful to anyone who comes out to see us play or comes up to us after the show. It’s very early days for us so those interactions mean a lot. 

14. What do you think of our site?

The horn's cursor is awesome.

15. Something to add?

We'll be going into the studio very shortly so expect plenty of new material next year.