Julio – Vocals + Guitar
John – Guitar
Felix – Drums
Mark – Bass (M.I.A)
Gaz : So when did Illuminatus first start, how did you guys meet and what was your aim when you started the band?
Julio : I moved to Nottingham about 4 years ago and I knew John, we went to boarding school together and we'd always wanted to get in a band together. John knew Felix and it just happened the day that me and John were gonna jam together Felix rang and said 'I have booked a studio, do you want to Jam'.
Felix and Mark were playing covers and John played guitar and I sang a bit and we did that a few times and then I said let's just make this into a band. I had a good idea of what I wanted as i had played in bands for years and so we started writing songs, then we got Dave on Keyboards who i had also know for years and years. My idea from the start was to make a band that would evolve to do better things, the other might have had other ideas but I had my idea and it was a continuation of the things I had been doing before I guess but everyone bought something to it so we knew we wanted the big guitars, big vocals, big keyboards and a big sound, that was what I had always wanted to do. it has always been about big melodies and big sounds with influences like Pink Floyd and Metallica.
Gaz : Well, that leads me into my next question really, what inspires the band?
John : Music wise I think one of the benefits we have always had with 4 or 5 of us in the band is that we all had varied influences, Mark is into alot of industrial sort of music and Felix is into lots of stuff but like Rammstein and then some dodgy pop stuff!! Julio and I always had similar influences, more melody driven rock, I got him into Metallica many years ago and I think that's the key band for all of us.
Julio : I came from like grunge and stuff. I liked like Guns n Roses and Nirvana and also Greenday and Rancid, punk stuff too, thats what I used to listen to. So there is that influence aswell. I think it was good because there was no cliche. we all liked different things and you can hear that in the music but we didn't want to all be any other band and it sort of mixed together well to make a different sound straight away.
Gaz : So where did the name come from?
Julio : The name was quite an innocent choice, it came from a painting, we saw this cool painting and were like 'thats cool lets name the band after that.' Then we found out it had all these other meanings and conspiracy ties and stuff. It had this huge thing going on and it was sort of funny really, as we didn't know this and yet it had a massive connection and it really does appeal to the lyrics and things with our whole comic book socialism sort of idea. We don't look at it as a Dogma as noone would take us seriously as a leftist band but with the tongue in cheek comic book edge it works well.
John : Comic book Socialism, thats a great term!
Gaz : What about your lyrics what inspires them?
Julio : Lyrics have always been important to me. I want to put out my ideas, I don't expect everyone to agree with me but putting my point of view and ideas out there is important, not just writing songs about girls and cars. I guess they are suggestive and as I come to understand thigns better I write more about things that I see and things that matter to me, alot about things like the Iraq war and stuff.
John : I think thats a good thing it is not like we tell people what to believe, we just put our views out but we don't ram it own peoples throats. I think we picked that up from bands like Pink Floyd, making people think with our lyrics. I think thats a more powerful way to get through to people, let people make there own mind up.
Felix : We don't tell them what to think but we are descriptive. We look a things we see and are detailed in the way we talk about it. Some bands write about things without looking into it, Linkin Park did a anti war gig but it meant nothing as it was obvious they didn't know what they were talking about. We are detailed about what we think.
Julio : The way I write the lyrics, I always tend to paint pictures of the issues and things I see as important. I wrote a song about the whole 'living in a rat race' sort of society idea and that all came from a mental image of a guy looking over a highway watching these lines of cars just waiting going nowhere but into eternity and all. I think thats crazy but I won' tell you what to think, it is up to you to think what you will of that picture.
Felix : It is a weird comparison but it is like Public Enemy, who sound nothing like us but they had a point and they made it in a good way. You get so much media that puts spin on issues to suit itself and twists things, saying what we see is maybe a different opinion to take on board.
Julio : Living in a climate like ours, I think it is hard to really moan about our struggle as we are not desperate, we are middle class kids who live a pretty comfortable life style. We don't see that much bad stuff or experience it first hand but we still see things and write about why we see them and how things could be and ask questions of things.
Steph : What do you think of what you see around Nottingham, the local music scene and where the money is in it?
Julio : Are you trying to talk about Rock City??
((everyone laughs and Gaz and Steph grin and mumble a bit))
Julio : I will be honest and take myself away from the fact I work in another venue. I think the Nottingham scene is pretty good, I see a lot of good bands and they are doing okay but I think there is a lack of really serious bands who know exactly what they want to do. Now I think this is a problem especially when your trying to book good, reliable bands who will bring someone. I think the scene has improved though since we first started a few years ago, with people like yourselves, with the magazine and the fact you show a presence and interest and things like the Junktion 7 annual Battle of The Bands, it is all bringing the scene closer together.
Gaz : How did the Junktion 7 Battle of The Bands effect you, as you won it in 2003?
Felix : It changed everything, It made us want to write more songs. It pushed us and gave us something to aim for.
Julio : Having a gig to play each month made us work harder and then when we won it gave us the money to make our first E.P.
John : For me it was also a huge confidence boost as it was the first gig I had ever played, the first heat and to into that having never played live and come out as winners was a real ego trip but a massive confidence boost.
Julio : It is a good platform but you mention Rock City and they have their agenda and it is to make money so they get bands who sell records now they play it safe by not looking at the local scene but that means they have no responsibility to us and we don't have to them. So we work in different leagues. It would be nice to have a link between the two scenes but I think the real life in the local scene is in the independent press, the guys from Riot, James and Michelle, they do a lot of work for bands and spend time and money getting local bands gigs with quality artists and you guys and others too are getting some sort of culture going and thats what it is about. That is what the local scene needs. Every City has a few good bands…..
Felix : Apart from Sheffield!
((everyone laughs))
Julio : Apart from them! The difference is you need the bands to pull together and make an effort for there to be a good scene. You need bands and press and promoters who go up and talk to people and each other. In Nottingham the scene is all very divided. Like the people at The Old Angel don't come to see gigs at Junktion 7 and if you go to play the Angel and you don't hang out there, they don't know who you are. Then you get bands play Junktion 7 who have been around for years but never played here before but it is getting better when we started there was noone to look up to or help us out.
Now with bands like Deadfall we are hoping to help them out cause we love them and so help them if we can.
Gaz : You have had your video for Wargasm played on Scuzz TV, how did that come about and what is your biggest achievement so far?
John : We a still haven't been on the cover of Saggy Pants, which is a major aim.
Gaz : Well actually I you guys were on the first ever issue front cover but it never saw the light of day!!
Julio : I remember you telling me that!
John : I think one of the biggest things we have done is Bloodstock festival, alot has come out of that and just playing it in itself was amazing. We played it in 2003 and played the smaller stage and got great reviews and then got asked to come back the next year on the main stage in front of 3000 odd people which was awesome.
Felix : For me it is a bit different, we have done some cool things, won Battle of The Bands and played some great gigs but for me the fact we have been together for 4 years and still it is exciting and we have evolved the sound.
Julio : It is great to hear how far we come and how the sound changes and to feel we are still doing something fresh.
Felix : I know I have just learned and change and grown so much from being apart of this whole thing.
Julio : We have done some great things, I have enjoyed so much of it, seeing myself on TV, Bloodstock, some great gigs and being interviewed on the radio and playing our favourite songs.
John : We were interviewed by the guy who basically started the metal scene in the U.K, he founded Kerrang!
Julio : It is just nice that people appreciate what you've done and when people know your stuff and get it and enjoy it. That is a really important thing for me to know I have made a difference, created a dent somewhere to someone.
Felix : I think that is our attitude, it is like the keyboardist Dave has just jumped ship and left us in a bit of a weird place as we don't know how we are gonna progress but we don't look at it as a bad thing, which we could, we see it as a new challenge. We could give up now but we want to see where we go now, it is exciting.
Julio : I would prefer people to say 'Fuck Illuminatus they suck' than 'Who are Illuminatus, I have never heard of them!' My advise to new bands coming out is, play shows obviously get out there, make friends, but do your thing and do it your way. If you get places it is cause your good but you must work hard to, that is a minimum need, you can't go anywhere if you don't put effort in. We don't work hard enough and we know it! We work slowly sometimes and don't play loads of shows but we work together and that the way we do it. You must work in a way that works for you and commit to each other, that is important for any band I think.
Felix : How you see us on stage is just how we are in practice. It is never an act we just let the emotion take us and go ape shit!
Gaz : Okay, there is a new album in the pipeline, what can we expect it the future?
Julio : The album will have everything we have done so far on it. It will probably be a lot heavy than the last E.P, I think our sound is heavier now.
Felix : We have worked at some really good studios in the past but I think in the past there has been a very different sound to our recordings than to our live sound but this time we have been aware of that and have made it more like the live sound.
John : We recorded it ourselves so have spent more time and it has been more flexible. So we have gotten a sound we are all happy with and that sounds the way we want.
Julio : For bands who are starting out another piece of advise that i have spoken to with my friends in Earthtone 9 and Pitchshifter, is record yourself. The technology is there now and if you get a computer and learn to use it, then record it yourself and send it to be mastered somewhere else. Don't expect record labels to pay for you, I know alot of bands who have had attention from E.M.I and Sony but the big labels won't release much cash as it is a risk compared to the in your face pop they put the money into. So do it yourself and make more money!! If your good you will sound good on a four track or a multi million pound recording. When you give Robbie Williams ?9 Million pounds for one record it leaves no money for anyone else.
John : I think people are getting wise to it though, Metallica did it in the 80's they got such a good self made fan base that the record company had to buy them up.
Julio : It used to be the point of record companies was to get your music to the masses but now the internet does that. Look at Arctic Monkeys, thats how they got big, there is a whole new way to be hear without being a slave to your label. Things are changing a lot.
Gaz : So go D.I.Y kids!!! Shout outs???
Julio : James and Michelle at Riot, you guys, Junktion 7. Adrian and Di have been great us.
John : Since the beginning they have been good to us and supported us. Come down to Junktion 7 on March 25th for James from Riot's Birthday Bash!
Julio : We have the album out in the summer and Bloodstock again in September, so we will be playing the main stage again!
Gaz : Cheers guys!
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