Fresh Meat Monday - Blue Sky Archives

photo by by Nicola McGrath

Would you care to introduce yourself?

Pete: Konichiwa. We are 40% of Blue Sky Archives. I play the bass and Matt plays guitar and sings a bit. The others are Paul (guitar and lead vocals), Lauren (drums/percussion, keys and also lead vocals) and Ross (drums/percussion).

How would you describe the music you make?

Pete: I'd say its a kind of poppy post-rock. Pretty upbeat stuff on the whole. Our backgrounds are all from different bands with different music, which creates a big melting-pot of musical stew.

Matt: Yeah, it's basically a group of people who enjoy making lots of different kinds of music and decided to make a pop band. The post rock part kinda just comes from the fact that we all enjoy that vein of music and it can't help but come through a little.

How did you start out making music?

Matt: Being the second last addition to the collective I can't really comment, I just somehow appeared in a practise room with the rest of them and got a few odd looks before being accepted. The added rhythm from Ross definitely gave the whole thing the final boost it needed.

Pete: I agree. The final piece of the puzzle was when Ross joined in December. That's when things started to really fall together and hit a rich vein of productivity. But don't tell Ross that, or he'll try and take all the credit for it...

What process goes into the way you write songs?

Pete: I would say it's your classic 'one guy writes the basic song, and everyone else augments' approach. I think the thing that makes it most interesting is our diverse backgrounds. One person might write lyrics with a certain set of ideas and influences, whilst someone else might write a guitar part that comes from a completely different approach and style. It creates a nice mish-mash of sounds.

What can people expect from your live shows?

Pete: This is a good question! I can tell you what they won't see: I won't be taking my top off, Ross won't look happy as he's made to play the keys, Paul and Matt won't be doing any lefty-oriented Status Quo stage moves and Lauren won't be allowed to fill the gaps between songs with jokes about penguins or any of that.

Matt: Well... The jury is out on the Status Quo moves, it's not everyday you get to play alongside another lefty. I'm hoping you will get to see lots of smiling faces, apart from Ross with the keyboard...

What are you all listening to at the moment?

Matt: In the hope of some sun, a bit of Zapp and Roger along with Tokyo Police Club and Mew. In terms of local bands, there are a lot of people making good music. We're particularly enjoying Olympic Swimmers.

Pete: Literally? Soundgarden. Generally? In all seriousness, Witchburner, Jimi Hendrix and The Unwinding Hours. Or so my Lastfm tells me.

What can we expect to see/hear from you in 2010?

Pete: Things are pretty busy right now. Between commitments to other bands, we're getting a limited EP run pressed up, playing quite a few shows over the next couple of months and continuing to write new material. We're lucky enough to still be at that experimental writing stage where you just throw things in to the mix and see what sticks. If you'll excuse the implied metaphor.

Matt: Once the EP comes out we are hoping to hit the ground running in terms of gigs, we will be playing Nice n Sleazys, Electric Circus and Captain's Rest in June and hopefully hit some of the festivals come June/July as well. Anyone interested can check out our myspace to find out more specifics.

Crash Your Face by Blue Sky Archives

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