Jessica caught up with Sorry And The Sinatras before their show at Le Pub in Newport to speak about the bands current tour, drinking, zebras and so much more.

Thanks for taking time to do this interview with us, guys.

You have been on tour in the UK since the 1st April, how has the tour been so far? And what have been your main highlights of the tour so far?
(Scott) Well the tours been going great. For the first leg of it we didn’t have a day off for 15 days. All the shows were fantastic even the shows were there weren’t that many people there it was still a really really good time.

(Dave) The receptions always been really good.
(S) The receptions been great and erm highlights, I think most of the highlights have actually taken place in the van

(D) Yeah

(S) With everybody taking the piss out of each other and just kind of laughing along

(D) Out of each other?

(S) Or just you actually, Dave Jon Cheese Tits

(D) Scratch that from the interview thank you.

(S) All the shows have been great and London of course was fantastic, there was loads of people. Like show wise they’re shows and they’re fun and they’re great but it’s been more everybody laughing and stuff.

(D) The vibe on this tour has been really good like really positive and really kind of just everyone having a great time you know. It’s been really good.

Tonight you are playing Le Pub in Newport? Have you played here before? And what can we expect from the show?
(S) No we’re never been before. No idea what we can expect from the show. I mean Lenny might puke.

(Lenny) Yep

(S) Rich might puke.

(D) Yeah, I probably won’t.

(S) Cheese Tits probably won’t (everyone bursts out laughing). Don’t call him Cheese Tits actually. (More laughing)

(D) Yeah it’s John thank you!

(S) I dunno, every shows got a little bit, I mean it depends on how delirious we are. By the end of the first leg the banter on stage was just complete random bullshit. Gibberish. We found it hilarious. I think the crowd didn’t find what we were saying hilarious but how hilarious we found ourselves.

Sometimes that’s the best part of a gig though, when you can see the good chemistry between everyone in the band. The crowd may not have an idea what you’re talking about but it’s awesome.
(D) There’s definitely a lot of that in our shows.

(S) We have a lot of inside jokes that we forget other people don’t know so we’ll say them to the crowd and the crowd will be like ‘huh?’ and we’ll be pissing ourselves like total retards.

You were due to play some dates in Finland just after the Volcanic Ash problem arose, how gutted were you to not be able to play these shows? And do you have plans to reschedule the shows?
(S) Umm, yes we were gutted. It was kind of nice because we were going to do an EP the day that we are done with this tour we go straight into the studio and it gave us a little bit of time to actually like recover and write a little bit and give everybody’s throats a rest and get some proper sleep. But we would’ve rather done the shows. Those two (Lenny and Dave) have never been to Helsinki before and it was going to be our guitar player Rich’s birthday, which was two days ago, we were gonna have his birthday in one of my favourite bars that were gonna be DJing at. So it was kind of a really good time and we’ve got some really good friends there who it would’ve been nice to say Hi to, but we are rescheduling for July and hopefully October.

(D) We thought initially that it was going to be a nice day off and then someone put the album on in the house where we were staying in and we were all sitting there going ‘Man I wish we were somewhere playing this’ you know what I mean. So we’ll go back hopefully.

Kind of bittersweet then.
(D) It wasn’t devastating but

(L) I cried.

(S) Lenny cried. (Door opens, the sound guy peers in then slides the door shut again)

I love that we’re in your mini van.
(D) Surrounded by alcohol.

It’s brilliant. My table is made of Stella; it’s cracking!

You have just released the video for your new single ‘Hated Heart’ what was it like to record and what does the video feature?
(S) The video was a blast to record. We did it in Huddersfield.

(D) At the Parrish.

(S) At the Parrish in Huddersfield which is where we were playing that night. Ash TV came out and did it for us and it’s all basically one shot of, they sped up the music real fast and so that I had to sing real fast and everybody else’s move bigger so when they slowed it down it looked like that. But it was an absolute blast. Everyone who is on the tour ended up being in the video; Carmen’s in the video, Dunc’s in the video, all our band, our driver Pete is the guy who comes over, sits down and shakes my hand. It was a bunch of friends getting absolutely pissed and making a video. By the time the video was done everybody was too drunk to even play.

(D) It’s so great watching back because it’s such a nice snap-shot of like that point in the tour, like with having everyone in the video. So it’s really cool.

The video is a lot of fun to watch and it looks like you guys are having a lot of fun making it.
(D) I think it captured the spirit and the character of the band really well, which is important. It could have so easily missed that but it’s come out really well.

What is the character of the band? How would you define Sorry and the Sinatras?
(D) It’s kind of not taking itself too seriously but like getting the job done

(S) It’s a bunch of degenerates running around trying to do something

(L) But it gets done at the end of the day.

(S) I think we take the piss out of ourselves but at the end of the day we do sit down an become professional when it’s time to. But for most of the day we’re just

(D) We’re just enjoying it

(S) We’re enjoying being complete messes

We featured you as band of the month on our website back in May 2009, you are now going to be featured as out band of the month in the next issue of our E-magazine which is due for release at the end of the month, what do features like this mean to you as an band?
(S) They’re great, I mean it’s nice enough just to get people interested but like Band of the Month I mean it always (pauses to collect his thoughts), it never gets old. You know it’s always really nice, because you know I’ve got lots of friends who’ve been doing this for years and write better stuff than I could ever imagine to write but who never get any recognition for it

(L) It’s nice when people recognise what you’re working for.

(S) It’s nice when somebody takes notice you know. It’s really important and makes you feel a bit special.

You’re welcome!
(S, D and L) Thank you!

Back in May 2009 you had to cancel your tour, which was then rescheduled for October 2009, what was the reason behind the cancellation and was it a hard decision to make?
(S) It wasn’t a difficult decision because it was made for us by the UK Border telling me and him (Lenny) that ‘You are not coming into this country’. We showed up, and granted we were a bit fucked up but erm, yeah we’ll leave it at that.

(L) It was a fun plane ride,

(S) It was a great plane, well it was a great take off. We didn’t really last after the take off cos we’d been caning it pretty hard

(L) Our paperwork wasn’t err

(S) Yeah we didn’t have the right paper work when we landed, infact we didn’t have any paperwork

(D) I’s weren’t dotted and T’s weren’t crossed

(L) So they locked us up for 8 hours then put us on a plane back.

(S) Yeah they threw us in detention for 8 hours then put us on the next flight back to The States. Which was awesome though because the stewardesses on the plane felt really bad for us and gave us all these free big bottles of wine, not like the little cheap shit ones

(L) Like proper bottles. We spent 24hours fucked, completely off our tits. Eight hours here, eight hours in lock up detoxing and eight hours back to the US.

(S) I was puking my, I was throwing up so hard in detox it was like ‘Wow, I’ve really really hit rock bottom right now’. It’s a bad idea that they let you buy alcohol before you get on the plane.

(L) We killed like a bottle.

(D) It’s a bad idea for you guys that’s for sure
(S) Well the thing is you’re not supposed to drink your own booze. You’re not supposed to actually have it with you they’re supposed to give it to you when you come off the plane but we snuck it on. That’s not the reason we got deported. The reason we got deported was because of paperwork. I’m sure the state of us gave them a little bit of cause for concern.

Do you know what, that sounds like a pretty great time so this question is probably a little futile but what would you say your biggest highlight as a band has been so far and why?
(S) Our biggest high light? Umm, making it into the country the next time (everyone laughs) umm I don’t know man

(D) London was pretty good on this tour. That was kind of a highlight for me just cos it was practically sold out.

(L) Every night we play is a highlight for me.

(S) London was the closest we got to having a sold out gig

(D) And getting a really good reaction out of the London crowd, that was cool.

Are they generally a tough crowd to get a reaction from?
(D) By reputation.

(S) Not a tought crowd, but not a very animated crowd. You know they’ll like you and they’ll tell you they like you but while you’re playing to them they’re just like

(L) Crossed arm mentallity

(S) Everybody was dancing and having a good time and singing along and there were a couple people going ape shit. And a couple of people not going as mental as they wanted to go because there were loads of girls in the audience, which is cool, and they didn’t want to hurt anybody. It’s nice because the old punks are now being nice.

MySpace seems to be a big tool in the music industry these days with artists communicating with their fans over it and some even ditching their own website and having just a MySpace site, what are your opinions on MySpace as a tool in the music industry?
(S) Mines a bit different than I would probably say for most of these guys, actually from most people that I know. I don’t see it as a bad thing but I see it as, I mean it’s a great way to get your music out there, it’s a great was to be seen and be heard and be made aware of but at the same time when people, this is gonna sound really funny but I miss the times when

(D) When you go and seek it out

(S) When you had to seek it out on your own and people who did this (make music/be in a band) they were a little bit mythical.

(D) Myspace has no ‘shit filter’, which is great cos every band gets a chance but every band gets a chance and there are millions and millions of bands and it’s just like people get lazy

(L) I think Facebook is better.

Excellent. You seem to spend a lot of time touring the UK, is it like a second home for the band?
(D) I wouldn’t
(L) How easy is it to get citizenship here?

Difficult for you two now I imagine.

(S) Lenny and I are the only two who don’t live here in the UK but I mean everything else that we’ve done, every other band we’ve been in has been bigger here than in the US so yeah, I’d consider it like a second home. I’ve got more friends here than I do. We kinda ended up spending as much if not maybe a little bit more time in this country than at home. I definitely do think of it as a second home. In fact I don’t know where I’m going home to when I go home but I know where I can stay if I’m here.

Where would you like to see yourself this time next year?
(S) Rich and

(L) Richer

(S) Yeah rich and richer than that. This time next year I’d really like to be in a bus touring, with Pete obviously.

(D) Pete Mason everybody. Legend.

(S) I mean obviously it would be nice to be, actually if we are still playing these size places then to be selling them out. I don’t think it’s wrong to want, when it comes to something like this, to be as successful as you can be. You know it’s going to be a long shot but it’s where we want to be. Next April I’d like to be like ‘I can pay my rent or I can buy a car. To sleep in if I can’t pay my rent.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a Zebra and a Giraffe which one would you be and why?
(S) I’d be a giraffe because you never see a giraffe get eaten by fucking tigers on TV.

(L) I’d be a zebra. There’s too much colour on a giraffe.

(S) (imitating Lenny’s voice) I don’t look good in yellow

(L) Yeah I don’t look good in yellow alright; you know what I’m saying. Yeah,

(D) It’s a thinker.

(L) Yep, it’s a thinker, can I get back to you on that? I have to be either one of the two?

Yes.
(D) What if you had an amalgamation of the two? Like a Zebraffe or a Gibra. I’d be a gibra.

(S) A Girabray. Oh no! We’re doing it again. In jokes.

(L) It’s making me think. Ouch. It hurts. Probably a giraffe, yeah, I don’t know why No, I don’t know.

(D) Got to stick your neck out.

(L) Yeah, I like to stick my neck out there a lot.

Thanks for your time; do you have a message for your fans reading this?
(D) Erm, thank you for reading this

(S) I’m always shit, I’m always so not clever when it comes to that. Come on Dave, give the people something. Tell the people what you feel.

(D) I’m just too annoyed at you for calling me John.

(S) (laughing) My name’s not John! (everyone laughs). Dave’s name is not John.

(D) To the fans, my name is not John. It’s Dave

(S) It’s Dave, Cheese Tits.

(D) That’s a rubbish message. Come on think of a better message. Just thank you very much for all the support I guess cos we have had a lot of people come out who have been genuine fans.

(S) To the multi show-ers too

(D) You see the same faces and it’s you know it’s really cool

(L) We couldn’t do it without them you know, so thanks

(D) Keep up the support and we’ll keep doing what we’re doing.

(L) Get your paws rocked off!

(S) Another in joke.

(L) RAWKED OFF!

(S) Yeah…
Brilliant. Thanks guys!

Interview by Jessica Acreman