Attack Attack!

Despite numerous lineup changes it still came as a shock to many when Attack Attack! announced that they would be splitting up after the 'Back in Action Tour'. We had a chat with frontman Phil Druyor and live guitarist Sean Bell at Hit The Deck Festival on the eve of the split announcement.

Music News: We're here in Nottingham for the second Hit The Deck date, how did your set go down yesterday in Bristol?

Phil Druyor: It was good, it's always a bit fickle at the start because you know that the people looking at you might not know who you are because I am the new guy.

Sean Bell: And we were playing a lot of old songs so it was probably unexpected.

Phil: Yeah the reception for the old songs is just better here so we have a bit of a different set for here to the States.

Music News: It's been quite a while since Attack Attack were over here in the UK, is it good to back on our shores?

Phil: This is my first time over here so it's way sick, I enjoy it a lot.

Sean: We've been doing a lot of US stuff lately so it's always fun to go somewhere different.

Music News: How have you found it settling into the band since you're the new guys?

Phil: We've had a really rough five months as a band so finally in the last month or two everything is finally going good.

Sean: Personnel-wise we're all getting on really well, we're all clicking, we have a lot of fun together so the stars are aligning

Music News: You put out a new track recently, 'No Defeat', how did writing go considering it was your first with the band?

Phil: When that single happened we still hadn't completed the line up, it was just (Andrew) Whiting, (Andrew) Wetzel and I. To be a bit honest it's not an entirely accurate representation of what the new album is but it was cool, it was really directed in the way that we did it.

Sean: We had to prove that Phil could really wail so I think that song did that.

Music News: How have you been finding it writing lyrics for a new band Phil?

Phil: It's always different because in my other band (I Am Abomination) our old bassist had always written the lyrics because he had a really firm grasp on what we all wanted the band to be. My guitarist writes all of the music so for that band my parts would be done almost and I would sing them, it worked best because we never wanted to compromise what each song could be because we wanted to share writing roles equally. For this band the best way that it could be done is that I write so writing lyrics was a bit....I've always been a lyricist but I was a bit detached at first but by the time we'd finished that song I was really in tune with what we wanted to say as a band.

Music News: How is the new album sounding then?

Phil: I fucking love it, its my favourite thing that I've ever done, this is my most proud record.

Sean: It's also, I don't want to put words in your mouth but I feel like this record is more personal to you than the others.

Phil: Yeah my other band's always been about history lessons or conspiracy theories and I love that but it's really nice to transfer over to this band and be able to write a song on the premise that it's going to help someone get through something or be part of something bigger than myself.

Sean: Also the music I feel has take a very large step forward, it's technically way better, I just think that it's going to be fun.

Music News: After Hit The Deck Festival, you'll be playing a short UK tour, are you looking forward to playing some headline shows over here?

Phil: I'm really excited about them, I'm still new to this band and everything being a process at this level that everything really impresses me.

Music News: Hit The Deck is one of the first festivals of the year, what are your top survival tips to festival virgins?

Phil: I'd say a backpack I guess

Sean: And a good attitude! And an open mind.

Music News: Let's mix it up then, you're at a festival and there's a zombie outbreak, how do you survive it?

Phil: We are the best band for that because back home we pretty much live in a fortress. We own a lot of guns, we like them.

Sean: America! I feel like we'd do quite well. We always walk into our drummers room and see him watching videos on how to tactically survive and Whiting our other guitar player is the same, he's ready for that to happen any moment.

Phil: I'm just going to have the best hiding spot.

Sean: Here's the thing, everyone always envisions this mass epically done end of the world scene where you're juicig out a bunch of zombies but if the whole world turns into zombies then the best thing you can do is hide. Mathematically you can not kill of the zombies.

Music News: So best case scenario, how do you see 2013 working out for Attack Attack?

Phil: Best case scenario? We'd be headlining Download haha! In all honesty the best case scenario is that we get to release the album in the way that we see it being released, We have a lot of secrets right now.

Sean: Yeah there's a lot of things that I can't say right now that I so badly want to say.

Phil: So yeah the best case scenario is that we get to oust all of those secrets and they transcend into something that we've envisioned for this album.