Upon my first few listens to Warprayers demo, it was exactly what I was expecting (that's a good thing). Pessimistic low growled vocals with cold guttural riffs. Now I'm a fan of some of their previous bands. But that did not make my judgement on the musick. Take a listen to the tracks on their myspace page. Stand outs are 'Traitor's Gate' and 'Night Takes Pawn', fuckin serious stuff. Thanks to the band for answering the following questions. ANSWERS: T Tim on bass, A Antenor on drums J Jimmi on guitar and M Martin on vocals. 1./ Could you give a bit a brief history of the band? Do you find since you've all been in various bands people compare you to the previous bands you've been in? Do you have to avoid certain riffs? Is it handy for getting gigs? T: No M: The band most immediately emerged from THE RECKONING a short-lived project that crawled into being only once to play the scumfest in 2007 and then fell apart. We have all been in other projects some of which will be quite well known to the punk scene others less so. We do get offered lots of gigs but I like to think its because we are nice boys, who don't complain and don't rip people off and don't have big band egos but it might just be because of the pretty singer. A: No answer for this. I've played in 3 previous bands all in the Netherlands. J: There's a certain inevitability that judgments will be made by either preconception or witness. It doesn't bother me in the slightest; our primary concern is satisfying our creative inputs. I obviously try to avoid certain riffs if they're 'obvious' but as time goes on, more people play a formula based on minimalist chords & progressions and the pool for not replicating something that hasn't been done elsewhere gets ever smaller; it's part of the challenge. I certainly would not blatantly copy something although using the words 'inspired by' gives a certain degree of poetic license. If something we use bears an uncanny resemblance to something else then it's either a case of minds thinking alike or imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. 2./ How would you describe your sound? What do you think inspires your way of playing the most? T: Noise inspired by pissed offedness and happiness. A: Sound: bonecrushing steamroller together with a circle saw! I'm inspired by the rest of the band (especially Martin's sexy voice ;^) J: Harsh, heavy, brutal and fluffy marshmallow. We play to our ability or lack of. If it feels purposeful then we'll do it. M: at the moment I think we are all playing hardcore punk rock with influences that are worn on our sleeves and occasionally under our vests. At the risk of sounding pretentious I think we will develop a sound as we go on and don't imagine that we will sound like the first recording in a few more recordings time. The nice thing is no one in the band rules out playing any style and I would be happy to fuck about with almost any sound but perhaps some of that would be inappropriate to the notion of Warprayer and as such we will do our Neil diamond covers LP under a pseudonym 3./ A band can be very time-consuming thing. Do you find now being older buzzards, between work etc? Is rehearsing, touring tough to organise, etc? Is there still the same buzz? Or is that a midlife crisis kind of question? T: Same buzz (except, used to be pissed and now stoned so different really). A: Do I have a mid-life crisis? What's that? J: We all have lives outside of the band although the two are not mutually exclusive. Two of us have families and the respective real-world responsibilities that accompany; most of us work regular jobs. It will always restrict our options but we just have to make the best of what's available to us. With enough time and forward planning we can accommodate although we'll never be able to go on protracted jaunts to foreign lands, that's something we accept however frustrating that is. My raison d'etre is pretty simplistic and if I didn't get the 'buzz' from doing this then I'd either be doing something else or nothing at all. It fulfils a desire and a need, that being catharsis and sociability. I turned 44 years of age this week and I'm more concerned by what I haven't done than what I already have; if that's a mid life crisis then it's been going on since my teens... M; Im full of contradictions really yes doing a band is very time consuming and that can be hard but I also wish we practiced more and I wish I had more time to dedicate to the band (lyrics, art ideas etc) but I just don't have it! I really love recording but I don't really like playing live, don't get me wrong I love going to gigs and watching bands and the whole social event is bread and butter to me but me doing playing live isn't my buzz, Im still mentally very excited about punk rock but I would be fibbing if I said I was as excited as I was as about it when I was 18 cos that was very very very very excited indeed!! 4./ Do you think punk stands for much in this day and age? Do you reckon the anarcho-punk scene left an impact? T: Does and did for me. A: play in a punk band and that says enough! Yes. J: There's' resonance rather than relevance in 'real world' terms. We're small fish in a very large ocean where the sharks are (still) at the peak of the food chain. M: I think political punk set itself (and standards expected) too high and thus only had further to fall. I would not sing the same lyrics now that so impressed me when was young (I would cringe) Punk to me is still an amazing network of underground communication and organisation and lets face it meeting a gang of punks in a country you've never been to before and getting on like a house on fire over some booze and crashing at someone's house is still a brilliant thing and utterly alien to people outside punk "what you let strangers stay in your house?!" . I love anarcho punk but I see it very much of its time. Punk has changed the world already for the better in its own sphere of influences and they are on many levels from haircuts to diets but we cannot realistically claim we are close to overthrowing the system. 5./What's next in the pipeline for Warprayer, release wise, gig wise, hopes and fears etc T: More. A: Gigs, drinking and recording (whenever we feel like) J:: The songs that we recorded in February and currently occupy our myspace page will possibly become available in the form of a split LP. We'll post details once the wheels are in motion. At the moment we're concentrating on the strength of our armoury, cutting some dead wood and hopefully building a more potent artillery. We'll record new stuff when we're ready. M: More gigs and new songs more recording and some lovely merchandise with your logo on Sean!!! I fear that I will throw up at more gigs whilst singing and I hope that I won't throw up at more gigs whilst singing 6./Any last comments? T: I must get rid of the cats' dreads. A: Bye! M: a big thanks to you Sean from all of us at Warprayer you have been our biggest supporter so far and we will all be getting tattoos of your face on our six litre six packs to show our love. Anyone wants us for anything except cellar parties in Austria or BNP fundraisers we will be happy to help. We might be busy lads but we've always got time to talk. CONTACT US ON: http://www.myspace.com/warprayerpunk Or you can get personal at: martin.einon@blueyonder.co.uk