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Formed in 2004, the members of Rolo Tomassi are still teenagers but their innovative mash of styles and incredible musicianship puts even the most seasoned performers to shame. Their debut EP was released in 2006, and re-released the following year, due to popular demand. An exhaustive touring schedule has taken them around the UK many times, with the likes of I Was A Cub Scout, Trencher and Cutting Pink With Knives.
In May and June, they will join HORSE The Band and Melt-Banana on their UK tours. An album is planned for later this year. We hit them up with the Qs. |
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Our band is formed from the ashes of two other bands. We started making music together as we wanted to continue being creative, all got on well and we shared similar tastes in music.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
Musically, progressive rock. We've kind of tried our own spin on prog with 4 minute results. Compared to the average length of our older material (1.5mins - 2mins) it feels strange but refreshing. Rather than thrashing as hard as we can in a short space of time we've worked more at heavy riffs and spacey breaks. Lyrically, a lot of the songs are about communication. A lot of people (myself included) aren't particularly great at conveying how they feel, whether it be through speech, action etc. and this is very frustrating. That frustration has been turned into words.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating an album?
Our guitarist Joe writes the majority of music but the songs are assembled and structured as a band. Joe will come in with a bunch of riffs and ideas and we gradually piece them together in a way which we all agree on. Eva then writes lyrics separately and comes in when the song is finished to add vocals to the music.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
If you asked any member of the band they would give you a different answer; but personally bands like the Contortions, Racebannon, Sonic Youth, The Great Redneck Hope and Converge influence me. That doesn’t mean I aspire for us to directly sound like any of those bands, I just enjoy the way they do certain things within their music.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
Enjoy!
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
We hope to have our new album released by September 2008 and then tour intensively, hopefully getting to visit some overseas countries. Other than that, just to have a good time and keep making music.
published may 2008
