"We work hard, play hard and have had some lucky breaks...the only problem is that no-one ever told us that we would need 50 lucky breaks before making it"
A group of student journalists, myself included, waited in 'The Rig' for the increasingly popular Hundred Reasons to finish their sound check. They appeared moments later smiling and joking between themselves. Not exactly the typical persona of 'Rock Stars'.
The band have been together for a while, but in the past four years they have steadily grown in popularity. It all began when they scooped the Kerrang! awards' Best New Band in 2000 beating the likes of Muse, Nickleback and Puddle of Mudd. I asked what it was like to be considered better than such big name acts.
"It's quite funny when some of those bands sold 17million copies of their album and we sold 17...and 4 of those were returned!" They told us humbly.
Casually strolling onto the stage, they were accompanied by projected images on the wall and weird music. The band then threw themselves into their first song as if their life depended on it. A friend of mine noted that although their music is not particularly original, Colin's voice is very distinctive. The band always act as if they are enjoying themselves and put every last bit of energy in the bodies into their performance.
"We work hard, play hard and have had some lucky breaks...the only problem is that no-one ever told us that we would need 50 lucky breaks before making it".
It is quite easy to compare Hundred Reasons to other bands of their genre but the band seem to rely on the theory that journalists have a lack of imagination when it comes to comparisons:
"We've been compared to people like At The Drive In, which is better than being compared to some other bands, but I think it's really because of his barnet (pointing at Colin) and the fact we jump around a bit!".
Hundred Reasons have recently released their new album Shatterproof Is Not A Challenge. To test this hypothesis one of the journalists brought in a shatterproof ruler and challenged the guys to break it...but they failed miserably. This in fact triggered a long conversation about the naming of the album and the problems that drummer Andy has with the name: "Andy's the one who cries out of us" stated Colin, after which Andy seemed to sulk.
Someone asked about their music and they joked about the fact that in an interview they said they "put the disco back in metal". I think this explains their lack of arrogant rock star attitude and instead their incredibly sincere friendliness.
The conversation then went a little mad and we discussed everything from shoes, to getting hit by cars and pantyliners:
"We once played at the Mad Cap Theatre which was the worst gig we've ever played. It was just full of teenagers copulating on the floor and none of them were paying any attention to us. There were these two guys getting off with this girl then the girl got up and the guys carried on! As all of the kids were under 18, none of them could go to the bar, so they would stand outside with bottles of whisky, then when they were finished with them they would throw them at pasing cars... We teamed up with the support band and left in convoy because we thought it would be safer!"
Besides their constant joking and sarcasm Hundred Reasons do in fact have a serious side to them. The conversation moved on to internet music dowloads and how it's going to ruin the music industry.
"The main problem is that the major labels themselves ignored the problem for ages. Our manager went into a meeting with the head of new media at Sony Music and apparently this guy thought that an mp3 was a type of BMW!".
This conversation was quickly replaced, however, by more lightherted banter which included the inevitable question:
"Do you really have A Hundred Reasons?" (I would just like to add here that I did not ask this!). They handled it well though and said "we do, but they are all a secret!"
Hundred Reasons are the kind of guys that you could sit in a pub and chat about anything without worrying about celebrity tantrums. They are all genuine, funny, cool guys who like to have a laugh and play some good music without the pretentiousness that seems to engulf the music industry. Their tunes are catchy, but well thought out. They play to their diverse audience, rather than at them. They have worked hard to get where they are and I'm sure that they will be staying here for a while yet.
www.hundredreasons.com
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