Below you can find my brief interview with North West UK hardcore band THE RIVER CARD, who have just wrapped up their national run with Bridge 9‘s ALPHA & OMEGA. Formed in Stoke-on-Trent back in 2005, THE RIVER CARD released ‘No Prize Just Pride’ EP in 2007, debut full-length ‘Serious Titles’ in early 2009 and a split 7” later that year with UNRESTRAINED (Power Negi Records). Late 2010 brought a new 7” titled ‘The Great Fall’, early 2012 the band completed their new record titled “Momentum” and have just started working on new tracks.
Scroll down to see a cross-sectional Q&A with the band.
Yo, fellas! How are you on this fine day? Is it so God damn hot at your end, too? :)
Yeah but I guess we shouldn’t complain!! But we’re English so we like to complain whatever the weather!
So, how do you feel about your recent tour with ALPHA & OMEGA? What was that like?
It was a lot of fun. A&O were great guys to tour with and a band we are personally into so that always makes it better. 6 shows is pretty short though so we were just getting into in then it was over!
Have you guys ever played in all the cities from the trek before?
We’d never played in Ashford before and Glasgow was our first time there in 3 years but the rest of the major cities we tend to hit fairly regularly.
What is your favorite thing to do on the road, aside from performing? :)
We all definitely like to party!! Apart from that I personally like to go to the cinema if there’s enough time to kill before the show.
It’s been like 1,5 years since “Momentum”. Are you satisfied with how it has been received?
Yeah, we received a lot of positive reviews for the record. It’s very rewarding as we put a lot of time into the record.
Are you already thinking ahead to the next record?
We have started working on some new tracks. We’re not sure what format the next release will take. It may not be a full length. We’re currently just looking at some options.
Cool. Do you have some new tracks fully written?
At the moment is really just riffs in the rawest for so we just need to demo some stuff and turn them into actual songs.
What records did you primarily take influence from when recording?
That’s a tough one, as we all come together and bring all our different influences. But I think getting Jay Maas on board for the mixing and mastering was a big factor in how it turned out. A number of records that he has worked on have been a big influence for the band.
Do you compose on the acoustic?
Mainly we just get in the studio with a full band set up.
Do you think the band is very much in a better position now than it was before? Why?
I think the new record has definitely increased the following of the band. I’m not sure if its entirely due to that record or just the fact that we’ve continued our schedule of consistent touring.
Yeah man, that what’s it all about,. It’s very nice to hear you’ll be touring mainland Europe in September, this time with SOUL SEARCH! Tell me more about this trek.
Yeah, we’re very excited. It will be our first time back in mainland Europe for over a year, which is the longest we’ve left it for a while. It seems like a lot of people are looking forward to seeing Soul Search too so I’m hoping the shows will be good.
Any chance you’ll hit Poland this time?
The dates are still yet to be announced but I’ve heard rumours there will be a Krakow show.
[UPDATE / August 9th, 2013] The SOUL SEARCH tour has been canceled. THE RIVER CARD commented: Sadly Soul Search have been forced to pull out of the tour in September due to personal reasons. We were really looking forward to coming back to mainland Europe as its been too long. We’re already working on something new and hopefully we will be back to play some shows for you before the end of the year. Sorry again but this is totally out of our hands.
What about some single shows coming up in the coming weeks? You’ve just announced one local show. Is there more coming up?
The local show is the only show that we have planned before the tour.
What is your take on the music scene in Stoke-on-Trent area?
There are a lot less bands than there were 5/6 years ago. The local scene is struggling a bit at the moment but I’m hopeful it will come around again soon.
Anything else coming up from THE RIVER CARD that we should know about?
We are hoping to get back to the US soon for a tour as we haven’t been there since we released Momentum.
Ok, fellas. It’s summer, the festival time in full throttle… If you could curate your own stage at a festival, who would you get to play?
NOFX, MOTORHEAD, CRO-MAGS, MACHINE HEAD, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE, SEPULTURA, BIOHAZARD, PENNYWISE, HATEBREED, MADBALL, TERROR, LEEWAY, COMEBACK KID, SAVES THE DAY, THE MOVIELIFE, A WILHELM SCREAM, CHAMPION, JUSTICE… And us obviously. Is that too many bands?!!!
Alright, before I let you go, let’s do a couple of random questions if you let me.
What made you want to play hardcore?
We were all playing in different local bands that were different genres than hardcore and we realised there were no new bands playing hardcore in our area but it was what we were all into. So we got together and wrote some songs and luckily people liked them!
What are the hardcore punk bands that inspire you these days?
BACKTRACK, ALLEGIANCE, TERROR, SHIPWRECK, RISE & FALL, GO IT ALONE, COMEBACK KID, VERSE, NO TURNING BACK.
Is there something about hardcore that you couldn’t communicate through pure punk rock? How do you see the difference between both terms?
To us, it’s all the same thing but it does seem more and more in the younger generations that there is a bigger segregation between the genres. I don’t think there should be a separation. Maybe some underlying links to hardcore, such as straight edge, vegetarianism, veganism, anti-fascism, politics, but these are also found within punk rock, so I think they should both crossover.
What’s the goal of this band?
To just keep having fun, travelling the world and playing our music to people.
So, do you have any final words?
See you in September!
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