LifeArcade!

Intraverse

w/ Origami Dinosaur

The Forum, Tunbridge Wells, 15^th July 2011

In my time going to gigs around the country I have been to a variety of different venues, established venues, stadiums, festivals, pubs and clubs. But never in my time have I arrived at a location which used to be a public toilet. Never. Until tonight that is.

The Tunbridge Wells Forum is a surprisingly spacious room, with a decent stage area as well as having a good sound. Its location on the Green makes it easy to find, which is handy when you are heading into the unknown by yourself on a Friday night. I am here to see Intraverse. This is the night of their new single launch ‘Grant me Permission’. I shall get to the music momentarily, but before the set I caught up with two members of the band, Mikey (bass) and Tim (drums) to talk about live music, touring and the expectations of the new single.

LifeArcade! (LA!): Thank you for taking the time out to join us. Let’s get started. How does it feel coming back to a local gig? Is it good to have the local support behind you, especially for a single launch?

Mikey: Well this is actually the first single launch we have done in our home town. For the previous single we didn’t really organise a specific gig to release it, but it is nice to have a good vibe about tonight. As for the local support we have a fantastic following. But it is not just that, we recently played Download and there are people here tonight who have come down from the Midlands to see us play, which is pretty incredible.

LA!: As you say, you have recently played Download Festival. What is it like playing to a crowd that you have to win over in a sense? Is there any pressure there or do you thrive in that environment?

Tim: You do thrive on it, but you also do feel a little bit of pressure because it is new people and it is also the traveling up there – it is not just down the road. But it is exciting because it is a test, as you have the music that you like and play, and you are playing to a crowd that are the judge, aren’t they? So it is whether they choose to accept it and it was good for us because they were accepting it. I think we took a bit of a risk; we were on the acoustic stage and we started our set by clicking our fingers, then bringing in the guitar as we let the song build. Some people may have found that stupid as you are at a heavy festival, but we did our thing and it went down really well. It also helps that we have some more up tempo tunes. Our acoustic stuff is quite lively as well so that helped to build through the set also.

LA!: So you were almost leading the crowd into a false sense of security with the clicking fingers?

Mikey: Yeah, the front man (Max) made a bit of a joke about it saying “I bet this is the first set you’ve seen beginning with clicks”, but they really enjoyed that.

Tim: You could look out at the crowd who were all there for 12.30 and see these heavy metal fans, and they were enjoying it.

LA!: Tonight you are in Tunbridge Wells, but what is your favourite place to play outside of Kent, and how is your response on the road?

Mikey: Personally I like playing in Brighton because of the relaxed vibe they have down there. We also enjoy playing in London. It helps that they are both relatively close to home.

Tim: I don’t want to sound big headed but we haven’t really got any bad reactions anywhere we have played. But it is difficult to say; wherever we have gone we have got good press. We just go out and play our music and hope the people enjoy it as much as we do. That’s the bottom line.

Mikey: We must be doing something right!

LA!: When you are playing festivals, what is it like from a band’s perspective compared to a smaller venue such as The Forum?

Mikey: I don’t feel the pressure of it. We have been playing for a long time now and it is just something that we do. We relish the opportunities to play the festivals, but also the smaller ones are just as good. There is a different atmosphere with the closeness, which is great. You can literally see the expressions on peoples’ faces which gives you a good buzz when you see them smiling at you and enjoying themselves. We just try to go out there and enjoy it. It’s just fortunate that people seem to take to it.

LA!: Your last single ‘Please Don’t Share Your Kisses’ reached No.4 in the iTunes chart. What are the expectations for the new single? It is a bit of a different sound from previous tracks.

Mikey: Personally I have no expectations. Obviously we hope it does well, but we are putting it out there because we feel it is the right song to put out there, and as Tim said earlier, the audience will be the judge and we will soon know if we have come up with something that they either like or they don’t.

Tim: I don’t think we actually write to a formula. We just write tracks that we enjoy, so I don’t think that you will hear another ‘Please Don’t Share Your Kisses’- esque song; I don’t think we are that sort of band. I do not think we would ever write an album that included the same formula and similar tracks throughout, so in that respect it is a risk.

Mikey: We just want to be true to ourselves. We are too creative as a band to just stick to a routine formula. In doing this we feel that we are not ‘selling out’ as it were, because we are not rigid in our approach to making music. It is a risk we have to take.

With the sound of the music pumping from within The Forum, we headed back inside where the first band of the night was underway. Origami Dinosaur are far from prehistoric with their music, with elements of funk and rock fused into an upbeat and catchy sound which gets the crowd head bopping from the off. The guitar work stands out in the same way ‘guitar’ bands such as The Strokes or Artic Monkeys make it pivotal to their noise. The air plectrum was strumming against the thigh throughout this set. The bass was also impressive and had aspects of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Gossip and London-based band The Skints during the songs as well as in the solos, a nice touch when some bands lose the sound of the bass in a live setting. The drums were very good and kept a very good rhythm during the set, they also did not get too overcomplicated during the faster moments, which was refreshing to see. The lead singer did his job as the front man exceptionally well. He was full of charisma and had the audience in the palm of his hand during the entire set. On a bigger stage, he could quite comfortably fill the space with his stand out swagger and strong voice. A great start to proceedings and a perfect build up into the headline act.

With the crowd replenished at the bar, Intraverse hit the stage and instantly you know this was a homecoming gig. The response from the crowd is impressive as the band kick off their set to the arrival of balloons from above. Nothing says party like falling balloons, a nice touch that sets the tone for the rest of the set. This is a celebration of the bands recent success as well as new single release, and both the crowd and the band appreciate this.

It is hard to put down a comparison to Intraverse as their sound is quite unique. The band say that their influences are, “whatever that is floating our boat at the time” and that is clear both live as well as recorded. There are hints of metal, electro and even jazz that makes this band so interesting to watch and listen to. The front man Max, despite nursing a sore throat, shows a strong and powerful voice, reaching notes that make you question any illness. His voice compliments the eclectic mix of influences well and holds it all together nicely. His stage presence is also strong, making direct contact with the crowd, bringing further intimacy to an already close gig. The guitar work during the set was wonderful to hear, bringing notions of Muse and System of a Down to the fore - a combination that I certainly cannot complain about. It sometimes felt that the music was coming from all directions and definitely helped me, and the rest of the audience, into the music. The bass was funky and drew comparisons similar to those of Origami Dinosaur, but there is also a hint of The Flecktones, a band Intraverse have said they would like to play with. The drums blended well with the rest of the music and could range from heavy, hard-hitting to calmer rhythmic beats.

The set list was strong and varied, even including a bongo led instrumental which slotted in smoothly. Funk fused with jazz coexisted with more heavy metal influenced tracks. The highlight of the night of course had to be the new single, ‘Grant me Permission’. A very catchy track which even had me singing along after one verse and chorus - or trying to at least. All their influences come into effect in this track with Muse sounding guitar working alongside heavier riffs and drums. If their last single reached No.4, there is no reason why this cannot top that feat. It was well accepted by the audience and in a live setting, felt even more powerful and atmospheric than on record. Writing catchy songs seems to come naturally to this Kent fivesome. I asked Intraverse what the future holds now the single is officially out there, their answer being: “We would hopefully like to surpass the last singles achievements. We plan on touring in the autumn and we are hopeful of a debut album being released in the spring of 2012.”

As the gig drew to a close and the encore was requested and delivered, the audience eventually dispersed and headed in their respective directions, very happy in the knowledge that they witnessed a great gig with two bands of a very high caliber. Money on a ticket to the gig and a trip to Kent was certainly money well spent.

I had one more question for the band – How do you see the current state of live music in this country? Intraverse simply answered, “It’s Thriving”.

It is hard to disagree.

With thanks to Neil Hayes of Black & White Music

Intraverse’s new single ‘Grant me Permission’ is available to download now. Check out www.intraverse.com for upcoming tour dates and information.

Words by William Evans