Edd – How did CMA form? Did you plan to ‘do a band’ or did it just sort of happen (like it often does)?
Tom – John had moved from the sprawling metropolis of Birmingham to the calm, gentle town of Southport where naturally the only activity to keep you sane is boozing. I tried to show him a ‘good time’ but there’s only so much drinking you can do in Southport before you have to form a band so you can drink more. I believe his exact words were “Let’s start a band that’s all about the smash”, and CMA was born.
Edd – What kind of band are you? Do you going in for sub-genre pedantry when it comes to classifying yourselves?
Tom – At times it feels like we’re just a rock n’ roll band, although obviously it’s much heavier. We’re definitely not a grind band like people have been saying all this time but I suppose some of that influence leaks through into our songs seeing as it’s what we’ve been doing in various other bands over the last decade or so. Our style is pretty much a culmination of all the influences we’ve picked up over the years.
Edd – You have a full length album coming out at some point soon. Care to share any details?
Tom – All shall be revealed in good time! We’re currently finishing off the recording process.
Edd – How important do you feel hair is for heavy bands?
Tom – This is either a trick question or a stab at the fact I’m thinning on top, bastard! I don’t care what anyone says, bald windmilling is king. Also, our bassist Adam has a beautiful head of hair.
Edd – How well traveled is CMA, both as a collective and individuals in respective projects? Do you have plans to tour, and where will they take you if so?
Tom – CMA has been gigging around the UK since November last year, from Scotland down to London. We’ve got a 5 day UK tour confirmed for November and we’re currently booking some tour dates for December too. In 2014 we’ll be hitting up Europe and intend to be on the road as much as possible!
Reese and John are pretty well travelled, Reese has been around Europe with his other band Horsebastard a couple of times and also his old band Introrectalgestation (say that 3 times fast). As far as John goes… I found a Nicaraguan note at his flat the other day. Nuff said.
Edd – Have you been to Bristol before, for gigs or for pleasure and did you have a good time?
Tom – I’ve only been to Bristol twice to play gigs with other bands (once about 7 years ago and once earlier this year) and on both occasions got astronomically smashed, the most recent visit saw me run face first into a bus stop and then get locked out of my hostel room with just two bottles of strongbow for company. That was a lovely time.
Edd – I see a lot of ‘we’re writing’ updates from Corrupt Moral Altar. Do you have a strict writing routine, or does it just happen?
Tom – Generally we’ll just decide to write a song on the spur of the moment and it’s done in about 30 minutes. It’s a mix of just making stuff up on the spot and dipping into John’s seemingly endless catalogue of riffs that he’s come with over the years.
Edd – If you could form a band with any two other currently active musicians (based anywhere in the world) who would it be and what would you envisage doing with them?
Tom – The clock head guy from Portal (The Curator) and Papa Emeritus II from Ghost. I would form this on the premise of writing some music together but then lock them in my studio and make them fight each other, using whatever musical equipment they can find as weaponry (pretty sure my insurance covers this). They both front bands made up of faceless members, but there can be only one!
Edd – What is the best gig you’ve ever played in any band you’ve ever been in?
Tom – Well clearly after this Saturday it will have been this Bristol gig, but aside from that I’d say the best was a few years ago when I was playing guitar in Magpyes. We played a warehouse party in Manchester with Foetal Juice, everyone was out of their minds, one guy was trying to play a violin while on DMT but his bow was about a foot away from the strings at all times, poor chap. There were burlesque dancers and people doing fire poi, it was just nice to have different stuff going than your usual grind outing. John said his best gig was playing bass for Napalm Death to 60,000 people at an open air festival. Think he might have me beat on that one.
Edd – What are the dangers of getting drunk when playing a gig?
Tom – I’m usually more concerned about what happens if I don’t have any booze, sober gigs aren’t much fun. We drink at practice and when we’re recording so not boozing at a gig feels wrong. That said, the dangers make themselves known when you try and get a taxi home after playing locally and you leave your equipment/merch in the boot and never see it again.
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