Interview – Motionless In White
Motionless In White are currently on tour with Asking Alexandria and I caught up with Chris and Ricky from the band prior to their show at the O2 Academy Birmingham later that evening. We talked about playing the UK, their fear of being kidnapped and their sometimes crazy fan base.
So you’re touring with Asking Alexandria, hows that going so far?
Chris: The tour’s almost over but its been pretty awesome. Very happy to be back in the UK, the rest of Europe kind of sucked, they sometimes like us…
Ricky: They haven’t caught on yet.
You recently played Brixton which is a pretty iconic venue in the UK, how did that go?
Ricky: Awesome. Probably one of the best experiences we’ve had in the UK
Have there been any funny or weird tour stories from this tour so far?
Chris: You know what, I’m going to check my phone because I decided I was going to write this stuff down in my phone so when this question gets asked I’ll have an answer! I have a crazy story, so for some reason we have this crazy fear of being taken, like in the movie Taken or Hostel or whatever. So we were driving on the highway in Germany and for no reason started getting pulled over and we were like, “That’s it, this is it, they are going to take us!” It’s just like this weird irrational fear and rather than pulling us over on the side of the road they told us to follow them and we had to follow the cops all the way back to this weird warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Why, I don’t know but they said they had to weigh us because we were over weight. They made our driver get out, it just seemed so weird and cobbled, with us being paranoid of being taken it just felt like, “Oh f**k, this is it.” They are going to lead us back to this warehouse and grind us up and steal our shit, it was just weird.
Leading on from that then, have there been any crazy fan experiences?
Ricky: Not really.
Chris: If we went out there we’d probably get zombied over.
Ricky: Once one of them sees you they all come over to you like zombies, I’m waiting to actually get bitten.
Chris: Soon…
What are your favourite things about touring the UK?
Chris: That everybody speaks English and I can read everything and I know what some of the food is.
Ricky: I think the shows are a lot more similar to back home so it kind of feels more like we are in the States so its a nice feeling.
Your latest album, Infamous, came out last year, how’s the response been to that record and what are your favourite songs off it?
Chris: Its been all right so far, we did a headliner as it came out and those shows were pretty cool and this tour has been going good, all the UK shows especially, so I guess it’s pretty well. I like playing a new song called Underdog, that’s a new one we’ve played for the first time on this tour.
Ricky: My favourite is Black Damask.
So your videos are quite cool, is that something that’s important to the band to get really good videos?
Chris: Yeah, a lot of bands just release bullshit, put out videos left and right just to get them out there and don’t put any thought into it. We just want to fucking crush those bands.
So, when you’re not touring or recording what do you like to do to relax?
Ricky: Work on music.
Chris: I don’t even do relax! I’m a pretty new found NHL hockey fan so I’m going to be doing a lot of that when I get back but other than that, sleep.
If you could play a show with any 3 bands, dead or alive, who would they be?
Ricky: 3 bands? I got 3.
Chris: I think our 3 are going to be the same, go on, you first.
Ricky: Oh f**k, I just had another one, can I do four?
Chris: HIMSA, It Dies Today and Bleeding Through.
Ricky: Oh sh*t, mine are way different. HIM, Cradle of Filth and Rammstein.
What are the best and worst aspects of being in a band?
Chris: Asshole fans. The fans that just don’t fucking stop with being creepy and all that kind of shit. We like our fans a lot except for those few who just ruin it for the rest of them by doing stupid shit online. I don’t get it. Some kids on Twitter will just blow us up and insult us yet they’re fans of our band. They form these groups called…I can’t even remember what they’re called…but this group online which purposely insults band members to get attention. Shit like that bums me out, I can’t stand it. I wish all fans were just normal and cool and respectful and shit.
So what are the best things?
Ricky: Playing, that’s about it.
Chris: I mean you can say easily fans for the same answer. When you have the cool fans that come to the shows and want to have fun and are there just for the music, it’s pretty awesome to have that.
Metalcore as a genre is pretty over saturated with bands, what do you think it is about you guys that makes you stand out from the rest?
Chris: We don’t stick to the same pattern as all those bands, we just do whatever we want and not really care about following suit. As far as metalcore goes we are more fans of the early and mid-2000s metalcore bands and not so much anything that is coming out today so we try and incorporate the bands that we are highly influenced by into our music to bring that sound back. To keep it alive rather than just do the same sh*t that every other f**king band is doing.
Looking back to last year what were your highlights and what are your future plans for 2013?
Ricky: We did Soundwave last year so, Soundwave, that had all my favourite things. This year is about touring this record.
A lot of bands tend to have side projects, is that something you would be interested in doing?
Chris: I would love to but I just don’t have the time. Every time we write a record for our band I’m just burned out after it so I take time off and don’t care about writing music. By the time it’s time to write again it’s for this band. He does a lot of his own stuff.
Ricky: Yeah, I do but at the same time this band comes first. I don’t think I would ever do a side project unless the band was coming to an end or we just weren’t doing anything. I have no interest in pursuing my own thing because I’m constantly writing and stuff for our band right now so it’s hard to write two different things, you know.
Any records that came out last year that you really loved?
Chris: I swear every time I get asked this I completely blank out and I always give the same answer because its the only one I can remember. Stick To Your Guns have a record called Diamond that I love a lot, the new Ghost Inside record is pretty awesome.
Ricky: Bleeding Through.
Chris: That came out last year?
Ricky: I think so.
Thanks to Chris and Ricky for taking the time to talk to Birmingham Live and if you haven’t managed to catch them on this tour then make sure you get yourself to Download Festival in June.
Interview by Hannah Sebestjanowicz