Another band appearing on February’s ‘Stop, Drop, Rock’ tour are Brighton pop rockers Glass City Vice.
This hard working band are Josh Oliver, Ed Lytton Cobbold, Dudley Powell and Lawrie Miller and since forming in October 2010 have played 100’s of shows and have recorded and released 2 EP’s and are refining their catchy and unique sound with 2013 set to be the bands year.
Who are you and what do you do? I’m Dudley, and I play bass in Glass City Vice.
Where did the bands name come from? It came about for a number of reasons. Its more of a sort of social commentary, with everyone being obsessed with social media its almost like we live in a glass city, with everyone looking in at what we do, and the obsession with this is the vice part.
Also because it has harsh syllables so when you say it on stage it cuts through, and when you search it only our band comes up!
How did you get started? First week of uni, founded on a mutual love for the same bands.
What have you got going on at the moment? We have our biggest tour yet starting in mid February, more releases and music videos in the pipeline. We’re all finishing up at uni right now, so we’re juggling it all but as soon as we graduate, you’ll see even more of us.
We’re also in the process of finalising some really big things for the end of the year, 2013 is going to be a really big step up for us as a band.
Favourite music and why? I guess this is different for everyone, but as I’m doing this I’ll just do mine. Its cliché but picking one band or artist is so hard, top 5 at the moment, definitely taking influence from all of these acts
– Pixies, Frank Zappa, Manchester Orchestra, Dry The River, Nirvana.
Favourite book and why? Bill Bryson has written so many incredible books, pointing out all the little things we often overlook but injecting dry witty humour into it, I guess anything he’s done really!
Favourite film and why? Same as music and books, re-watched V for Vendetta the other day, incredible. I guess Gattaca has got to be one of the best.
Whats your best experience in the business so far? Just generally meeting new bands and people in new cities, and whenever you see a band that just blow you away!
Why should Soundscape readers care? I wouldn’t literally force anyone to listen to our music, but if this interview is the first time they’ve heard of us, I’d just say take a quick look at our influences and what we have to say for ourselves, that should be enough to warrant a quick listen of our stuff.
Tell our readers an interesting fact about your band? In 2 years we’ve played 200 shows and self booked 4 UK tours whilst somehow getting Uni degrees!
What’s the best and worst things about touring? The best thing has got to be how its just a road trip with your mates and all the related stupid things that go with it.
Worst bit, not knowing where the next shower is coming from.
Most embarrassing thing to happen to you while in the band? Me personally? I’ve been quite lucky I guess. It would probably have to be pretty much everything that happened to me when we played this small festival last year . . . enough said.
Oh yeah and, spilling coffee all over a mixing desk.
What’s your writing and recording process? Josh (vocals/guitar) will bring the basic chords or maybe a top-line melody to practice, and we’ll collectively work on the song for either a couple of hours or a couple of months, there’s no set way to how or where we write our songs.
What inspires you? I think I speak for all of the band when I say that this is what we want to do for the rest of our lives, we’ve known it since we were young but the idea is, to at least, be paying our bills doing something we love.
Best thing about coming from or playing in Wales? I guess the closest to coming from Wales would be Josh being half Welsh. Great rugby and choirs!
In all seriousness, we’ve played Swansea a bunch of times and have always felt welcome, its obvious theres a passion for music, so many great rock bands come from Wales.
Who are your role models or idols? I don’t think we have role models or idols, just people we respect for various reasons. Personally, someone like Captain Beefheart. He never cared or listened to what anyone would say about his music, and was to me one of the only truly original musicians of the last 40 odd years.
Hardest thing about the current business? Nothing at all, I think if you view it negatively you’re never going to do well.
Its just exciting how everything is changing so much you honestly have no idea what is going to be the next big thing, what will last for years to come and whats gonna instantly fail.
Favourite Batman actor? Adam West!
