EMQ’s With Attercopus
EMQ’s With Attercopus
Hi everyone! Welcome to another EMQS interview, this time with South Waleian Psychedelic Space Rockers, Attercopus. huge thanks to their multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, Rob, for taking part.
What is your name, what do you play and can you tell us a little bit about the history of the band?
My name is Rob, and I play guitar, flute, sax and vocals. Lloyd (Bass) and I moved in together as part of a housing co-op. We’d been friends for years but never made music together, but started jamming and writing some tunes, and eventually decided to find a drummer. After searching high and low we got nowhere at all until Martin turned up. We jammed for about 45 minutes straight and we knew straight away he was the drummer for us. We wrote more and more tunes and then gigged for about 5 years. We recorded an album during this time, which we never got around to releasing until I found all the files during the first Lockdown. I did a mix of the album without really knowing what I was doing, and it got released before it was ready in 2020. Recently the album was unearthed and remixed from scratch by Matt Ellis, a friend and excellent mixing engineer who offered to redo it for us. We’ve now released this version as the “definitive” version, and we’re really happy with how it has turned out!
How did you come up with your band name?
We tried every name under the sun trying to find something unique. We were called Lizard Wizard at one point until we realised that so were several other bands in the US! We finally came up with Attercopus – Attercop was one of the names Bilbo shouts at the giant spiders in The Hobbit, which just popped into my head one day when we were discussing this. We added the -us on the end then – just in case someone else had thought of it already! It was only later we found out an Attercopus was already a thing – a sort of proto-spider with a scorpion-like tail that died out millions of years ago.
What Country / Region are you from and what is the Metal / Rock scene like there?
We are from Swansea, South Wales and right now the metal/rock scene is doing pretty well in the fact that we have tonnes of original bands playing interesting and exciting music every week, but also we’re facing the same problems as everywhere else – rising costs for the venues and the punters alike, but despite that there’s still a lot of support for the bands and the scene here!
What is your latest release?
“Last Utterance” – the long lost album unearthed!
Who have been your greatest influences?
It’s hard to pin down, and it changes all the time, but for Attercopus we all shared a love for both 70’s prog rock and jazz, and then we all brought our own individual influences along. Jethro Tull, Rush and Man were a big influence on us, along with heavier bands like Black Sabbath, Sleep and Orange Goblin. Lloyd and I listened to Comus a lot too, and watched a particular Gentle Giant gig on YouTube about once a week!
What first got you into music?
My dad is a huge rock/metal fan, so I grew up on bands like AC/DC, Sabbath, Budgie, Hawkwind, The Groundhogs, Stray and Jethro Tull from a very young age. He had a massive record collection that I used to delve into and listen to anything with an interesting cover, which is how I discovered Gentle Giant and Mahavishnu Orchestra, and that was it! All I wanted to do was play music from then on.
If you could collaborate with a current band or musician who would it be?
Mascot Moth (who I do occasionally collaborate with already)! They are a brilliant psychedelic prog band from Mid Wales – excellent groovy riffs, strange and inventive twists and turns, and acid-soaked jams. Highly recommend it. Check out their bandcamp pages!
If you could play any festival in the world, which would you choose and why?
Any that would have us! Maybe one of the big ones in Europe?
What’s the weirdest gift you have ever received from a fan?
Unmarked tinned meat.
If you had one message for your fans, what would it be?
Thank you for all the support you’ve given us over the years!
If you could bring one rock star back from the dead, who would it be?
Tim Smith of Cardiacs.
What do you enjoy the most about being a musician? And what do you hate?
Whatever that feeling is when you’re playing live, everything is going well, and you have completely stopped thinking any thoughts, but your body just carries on by itself – you’re in a completely different state of mind and nothing else exists but the music, the band and the audience.
If you could change one thing about the music industry, what would it be?
The exploitation of the artists and other workers in the industry.
Name one of your all-time favourite albums?
One of them is “Thick as a Brick” by Jethro Tull.
What’s best? Vinyl, Cassettes, CDs, or Downloads?
I mean, god knows, really. I do love vinyl – I love the artwork and the size of them! The sound of them can be really special and make a huge difference if the recording is analogue. Anything digital going onto vinyl is going to be no better than a lossless download file (which sounds great) so it’s still worth getting the vinyl for the artwork! Feels more like a piece of art than a fragmented disparate collection of songs (which is the way they are presented digitally). Cassettes have their charm too, they can colour music in a strange, beautiful way.
What’s the best gig that you have played to date?
There have been quite a few great ones, but one I remember very clearly was in a tiny town in Mid Wales – Lampeter – we played a 2 hour set to a crazy audience of drunken loons and it was brilliant!
If you weren’t a musician, what else would you be doing?
Writing. I write a fictional comedy podcast set in a nuclear wasteland called Gamma Radio, and I am writing a sci-fi novel, in between having to go to my actual job.
Which five people would you invite to a dinner party?
Iain Banks, Daevid Allen, Terry Pratchett, Tim Smith, Robert Fripp.
What’s next for the band?
We’re looking at getting together again for a few gigs and then seeing where it goes!
What Social Media / Website links do you use to get your music out to people?
You can find all the links here: https://linktr.ee/attercopus
Time for a very British question now. As an alternative to the humble sandwich, is the correct name for a round piece of bread common in the UK either a Bap, a Barm (or Barm Cake), a Batch, a Bun, a Cob, a Muffin, a Roll or a Tea Cake?
I grew up in Coventry where it was a batch, but I’ve been saying roll since moving to Wales!
Thank you for your time. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
I may as well plug my other band here too! If you feel inclined please do check out Z Machine (jazz/prog/fusion). We have an album coming out very soon!
Disclaimer: This interview is solely the property of Ever Metal. It is strictly forbidden to copy any part of this review, unless you have the strict permission of both parties. Failure to adhere to this will be treated as plagiarism and will be reported to the relevant authorities.
