We caught up with Get Amped back stage at the Guildhall in Gloucester just before the doors opened for the bands support slot with Rooster.

Well first of all hello and thank you for taking time out to do the interview…
(Rick) No problem!

Can you give us a brief history of the band for people who have never heard of you?
(Rick) Okay well Tim and I are brothers, we’ve been playing music together, forever or pretty much ever since we existed and we decided we were going to form a band together when Tim was at uni in France and we started sending mp3’s of songs we had been working on in Cubase and kind of took it from there. At first we didn’t want a drummer, we wanted a drum machine but then we decided that was naff and had to find ourselves a drummer! We went and found a drummer…we played a few shit hole gigs with him and he decided he was going to leave the band because he had kitchens to fit and other things to do that were more important! …and Tim, at the same time was playing as a heavy metal drummer in a band called This Illusion and Jason had done the drums on This Illusions record and Tim went to get drum lessons from Jason and then we had a tour to china and our other drummer had a kitchen to fit so he couldn’t go! And Jason went to China with us and we never really looked back since then…so that’s a brief history of the band and then we did Download and all kinds of cool things and its rockin at the moment!

So what was it like writing and recording your album ‘Postcard’s From Hell’?
(Rick) It was…good! It’s funny with records because that was 18 months old for us now or like 2 years old and I always forget that people are hearing it for the first time whereas to us it feels like centuries ago and I’m kind of much more focused on the new record we are doing at the moment so my head’s kind of in there, but I mean Postcards was one of those things where if I went back and did it again I’d change loads about it but at the time I was ecstatic with it you know, I think there’s some outstanding songs on it but if I had my time again I would…trim it down a bit!

Do you prefer recording in the studio or playing live?
(Rick) Definitely live playing I think for me!
(Jason) I like the balance really because when your on tour for a long time you get a bit fed up from being away from familiar surroundings but I really enjoy playing in the studio because we’re all…we’re all good in the studio! There are very few bands that can play their instruments in the studio nowadays but we can!
(Tim) I think there’s not a lot of difference, especially with guitar work because I do my take standing up and the first few times it was all done sat down and you can hear how hard your hitting the guitar strings and stuff and a lot of the first albums are very precise and sat down and now for this third record all the takes were done standing up very similar to live because your wrist is actually in a totally different position when your standing up or sitting down…(gives us a quick demonstration!)
(Rick) Yeah…it’s all in the wrist!!!
(Tim) That’s what I always say…you can’t flirt with girls in the studio though!

So you played the Snickers bowl stage at Download festival! What was that like?
(Rick) We got so much free Snickers bars and ice cream you wouldn’t believe that I had turned into a Snickers bar! No it was really really good! At Download we were interviewing other bands for a ‘band on band’ kind of feature in a magazine so we were there all weekend with VIP passes and having a ball! The gig itself…I didn’t really much like having a skateboard ramp in between me and the audience I have to say! But it was wicked to play Download and there were crowds all around the outside of the bowl because the seating area only holds a certain amount of people so it was going down well! It was just a funny vibe when you’re that far away from the audience, there’s no interaction with them at all or your like background music so it could have been better if we were on a different stage I think but you know…you gotta start somewhere!

At Download festival you interviewed a number of bands for burn magazine…
(Rick) We did yeah…

So what was it like doing the interviews rather than being interviewed yourself and who was your favourite band to interview?
(Rick) I think it was really interesting doing the interviews because being in a band yourself you have a totally different perspective on the music and I was interviewing from that point of view and like we were a new band coming to this festival for the first time and what’s it like for an established band and could you give us any pointers and so. I think generally the bands really enjoyed it because they were like ‘wow I can relate to that guy because I’ve been there and done what he’s doing now’ and vice versa, so I think that was really interesting. My favourite band to interview were All American Rejects because they were really good guys and very funny! To be fair to them all though, everyone was great, I was expecting a few rock ‘n’ roll attitudes and people not making time for it but everybody was great…really good! Really good fun! The All American Rejects were really funny though, they made some very disparaging remarks about their street team, they were like (in an American accent) “yeah sign up to our website you can be a fucking platoon fucking leader or some shit! N yeah we pretend to be really interactive with our fans…but we’re not really!!!”. They were funny guys, they’re cool.

In 2005 you played many festival shows in China to over 100,000 people, so what was it like playing in a different country and to so many people?
(Jason) It was very alien really, I think the good thing about going to a place like China is that it’s like another planet and there’s nothing there you can recognise associated from where you come from, like the writing, people, the way they talk, so you act in a way where your not your normal self and it got the best out of us as a band! You just realise that there’s actually more to playing in one little country like the UK and it’s so important to get out there. Any band could of done that really and gone to China.
(Rick) The opportunity came about through a radio one erm…
(Jason) We were at a radio one sound check and I think the guy emailed the top five or ten bands.
(Rick) And we were the only ones who replied! So it just goes to show, answer your emails!
(Jason) It’s really good though, and really good experience and because of that we have been invited to play there every year now so its an ongoing thing.
(Rick) I think the other good thing about going to China is that the press in the UK are so interested in it because we were the first western band to play…well three of the towns we went to, we were the first western band to play there and the capital cities of massive provinces way bigger than the UK. The first city we went too was about the size of London, about 8 million people and then we played provinces after with 110 million people! We were playing massive shows and no western band had ever been there before and we were just like, this is such an untapped kind of world. I felt really honoured in lots of ways! Mad shit happened to us though, Tim got electrocuted on stage, I fell through the stage, Jason literally put his whole arm through the snare drum because the skin was so…rubbish! Everything that could possibly be thrown at you…happened! The other good thing about it though is that we have an endless supply of stories to tell because its not something that every band has done and I feel really privileged to of done it.

Your halfway through your tour supporting Rooster, how’s it been so far?
(Rick) Great…fantastic!
(Jason) It’s not the sort of audience we’re used to playing too because it 95% girls…young girls into pop! But to be fair to Rooster it’s not their fault that they’ve been labelled like a boy band they’re actually quite a rocking band live.
(Rick) Yeah quite a rocking band and also they can play their instruments. Most boy bands, they mime to backing tracks. These guys are a tight band and really good people to hang out with and it’s been great. From our point of view, we have played to a rock and metal crowd and we have to kind of change, well not change, but the audiences are very very different. Like these are 14 year old girls mostly at the Rooster gigs, there’s a few older people but generally that’s what it is and it’s almost like it’s their first rock concert, it’s like they don’t really know how to react and so to me it’s a little bit like playing in China where you have to kind of coach the audience through it a little bit. Even when Rooster play, they kind of like put their hand up and point a little bit and sometimes put their mobile phones up to take a picture.
(Jason) Yeah that fucks me off actually!
(Rick) Yeah there are no mosh pits happening which was a little bit odd at first because we are used to things kicking off and people sweating!
(Jason) Well there’s a few but the trouble is fans aren’t used to it. There were two guys jumping up and down at one gig and the security removed them because they touched a girl in front accidentally.
(Rick) Yeah it was a bit weird! But we are enjoying it. It’s a good experience for us because you have to be able to work any crowd. It’s no good just saying, ‘we just play to rockers and metallers and we can work them just fine’, you have to be able to adapt to different situations so this has been really good. It’s good playing every night on the trot as well for 30-32 days because we can try things out, trial and error really quickly and work out what’s working and what isn’t and I think we have learnt a lot about ourselves as a band over the course of it…is that a long enough answer?!

You’ve been playing two new songs in your shows on this tour…
(Jason) Three!

Three! Okay, well how have they been going down with the crowd?
(Rick) Yeah…it’s a funny one because two of them come slap bang wallop at the beginning of our set and people are just getting used too seeing the sight of us and people are like “what the fuck is this”, so the first two songs no matter what they are, people are always a bit like shell shocked and then they start going “ah yeah that’s what there all about”, so I think there’s a little bit of that but the last song that we play is also a new song and its been going down like…
(Jason) like a stonker!
(Rick) The great thing about it is that I am really enjoying it playing live, and I think all the guys are and it’s a really good sign because you can quickly get bored of things when you do them 30 nights on the trot!
(Jason) You can ‘test drive’ new stuff as well, and the opportunity to test drive new songs is good because we are not going to go away and write because we are writing now.
(Rick) Yeah we’re halfway through recording a new record so…
(Jason) We can test it out live…
(Rick) …see if it’s working or not! Is everyone going mental enough! It’s good.

Your last show of the tour is at the Mean fiddler in London, are you looking forward to that?
(Rick) Very much so!
(Jason) I’m not! Just because I hate the fact that it will be the 34th show and it has to end in London and London is so traditionally shit because it is full of people just standing there with their arms folded. I’m trying not to think about it because it’s also full of industry and press and unfortunately record companies end up buying loads of tickets and not turning up…I hope that I’m proved wrong though!
(Rick) I really enjoyed the Mean fiddler each time I’ve played there, but I agree with Jason where in London there is a sort of scene there where people are a bit spoilt to music so the crowds tend to more look down their noses at you a little bit. I think it’s going to be absolutely rammed and we will be absolutely knackered but it will be such a release as it’s the last night of the tour.
(Jason) I’m more looking forward to playing Rock City, two days before that, I think that will be better!

So who are the best band you have played with live and why?
(Jason) I don’t know really!
(Rick) I’d probably say… Rooster! Because there proper, good musicians. They’re professional and they’re nice people as well. Like living in a bus with a band you don’t know for 7 weeks could go wrong but they’ve been very accommodating! There all really good!
(Tim) Yeah, great singer, fantastic guitarist and a wicked bassist as well.
(Jason) Shame they’re all gay though!

What is the best and worst thing about being on tour?
(Rick) I think the worst thing about being on tour is…hygiene, on the bus because it’s basically an incubator for bacteria…and farts! One of the guys was coughing so much, it was like a comedy cough! It went on for so long, I thought he was going to puke up or I thought some his guts were going to come up and everyone was just putting their pillows over their faces and going “oh my god!”. You could almost see the bits of phlegm flying about! I think it gets to you, because you’re living in very close quarters. The best things are the gigs and the people that you meet because you get to meet a lot of fans, a lot of new fans which is pretty cool!

So what’s next for Get Amped?
(Jason) GREATNESS!
(Rick) Yeah! More tours, refining our sound further…
(Jason) We’re just really focusing in on ourselves and finding out what we’re about and what is our sound about? Just trying to stamp our brand on people instead of following trends really.
(Rick) I feel like we’re only just starting, we’re only just scratching the surface. I mean we have a lot of cool things under our belt but in a way I kind of see that as such early days for us. We have discovered a sound and a direction and something really cool and a cool dynamic in this three piece and I think that this new record is really going to go off. Well I hope it is anyway! If that doesn’t then the next one will! We will have a new record out in the third quarter of next year.
(Jason) So that means next September really!!!
(Rick) Yeah! We will be touring again definitely in the first few months of next year pretty heavily I think!

Thanks for your time… is there a message you would like to add for your fans reading this?
(Rick) WE LOVE YOU ALL! THERE AMAZING!
(Jason) Oh my God…
(Rick) No seriously…on a serious note I think Get Amped have really really cool fans. I’ve been blown away on this tour by the number of kids who have been on the street team at each show, I mean we haven’t had a show where we haven’t had street teamers collecting emails and handing out stickers. I always get blown away when people want to do things for you for nothing and they just want to help us out and that is amazing so thank you!

Interview by Trigger And Charlotte