So what has happened with the band since I last interviewed you 4 years ago?
Well we had done nothing since the recording of our mental
ward ep april 2000 , then we sort of split up between then and October 2002
, Then myself peter and guitarist fred , spoke about giving it one last try
. So we set about getting a new bass player , and low and behold we actually
found someone , Wullie …..who is mighty talented on the bass playing
front , hes a lot younger than myself and fred at only 23 , but he had the
passion about the music , which is what we where after.So now we seem to
be doing better than ever before….its so funny after all these years
, to be actually stating to get somewhere at last , makes a change from scrapeing
the barrel.
Have you also seen the scene change in those days?
The scene has changed so much , with all the pop punk
rage , and the millions of young bands that are sprouting up all over the
world.Its just a shame that the ethic of punk seems to be over shadowed with
money making bands who claim to be punk but are in fact ..leeches , using
the punk sound as a way of creating stardomAnd then have the cheek to say
we aint a punk band we are a rock band…….mmmmmmm I wonder……Back
in the 80s …punk was a threat to the powers at be , but not anymore
, its became commercial money making bollocks , and I suppose that’s
just life and things change…..But as far as 4pm are concearned , we
will continue to fly the DIY flag high and keep the prices of cds ect low.
And keep singing about what matters to us.
You are a hard working band – explain some of the frustrations and
obstacles you come up against?
Struggles is an understatement , Sometimes I wonder why
we ever carried on , We kept loseing bass players and couldn’t get
gigs and when we did get gigs , we had no fuckin transport to get to them.
And
when your sort of classed as outsiders to your local scene and other bands
wouldnt help us…That was like a kick to the balls , It was ok when
you helped them bands out , but when you looked for the favour to be returned
, it never happened.There were several times I could have cryed over the
shit we had to crawl threw , it wanst fair and people can be so cruel and
spread lies about us that wernt true , this all came down to one word.. JEALOUSY
!!
You have your new album ‘Trials & Tribulations’ coming
out in May, then again on Beat the System in October – how is recording
going and what can people expect from the new album
Well the recording has been a bit of a disaster to be
honest , And due to illness Barry lights has stopped beat the system recs
, so our deal means nothing anymore,We are back in the studio in july to
rerecord the album again , so we hope it will be out for august at least….weird
recs uk – area pirate recs/ shotgun recs (italy) muck records (canada)
dirty faces recs (germany)
The new material is
our strongest material ever…..Strong in every sense of the word ……Good
strong lyrics , good strong tunes and singalong anthems a plenty , I think
people will be in for a big surprise when they hear it…….A track
from the new album ruffly mixed is up on our Mp3s page right now called IT’S
NOT RIGHT ..check it out!! www.geocities.com/fourpm_2003
What is your favourite track you have ever recorded, why and
what is it about?
MMMMM that’s a tuff one , Id say NO EXCUSE…..Because
it’s a strong lyric orientated song about a subject I feel really strongly
about …child abuse….. or Mental ward , cause its really strong
as well.
Over the years what is the funniest thing that has happened
whilst touring. And what bands have been best to play with?
Well we only done our first tour last year – PUNKOLOGY
TOUR OCT 2003 , it was a great experience and we all had a great time ,
As
for funnyness…..well I think it was stoke we where playing and we had
arrived during the night , seemingly I was snoring as loud as hell and Sandy
our other guitarist of the time (not with us now though) got so pissed off
about it that he began to punch me in the back as I was sleeping in an attempt
to shut me up…..fred + wullie found it funny…I bloody didn’t…ha
ha.
As far as bands weve played with ….. We weve been doing a fair few
gigs with VICE SQUAD , who are a great bunch…..and we recently played
with The anti nowhere league …who were cool……
What other bands would you recommend checking out?
Right here are some bands I think are cool punk rock to
check out….The alpacinos , the threats , them or us , vice squad ,
anwl , 111 on speed , one man stand , spiitin dummies , to name a few.
Why the name 4 Past Midnight?
Well the name was something we thought about for ages
, We didn’t want a name that sounded directly punk orientated , It
was in fact a bloke called Archie Ray who used to sing for 4pm in 1989 ,
who was a big steven king fan , and had all his books and he came across
the book four past midnight , we thought it sounded unusual , yet good shortend
down to 4pm…..so it just stuck from then on…….
Plans, gigs and releases planned for 2000.
Well as for plans – the release of our new album
Trials and Tribulations , hopefully in august 2004 , on www.weirdrecords.co.uk,
www.muckrecords.com (Canada) dirty faces recs (germany) should hopefully
be doing the vinle version
of the album , and we also have AREA PIRATA & SHOTGUN RECORDS (italy)
doing the album as a split release. …Another full uk tour is planned
for October ..october 1st – 17th
And we hope to go to Italy for some
gigs as well this year .
And we wanna try and get to the USA for some shows
, ive spoke to jim of the threats to see about going over with them , but
its only hearsay at this time. But we can hope.
Any final comments?
Our current cd Anthology – PUNKOLOGY THE COLLECTION – 1989 – 2002
, 28 tracks of full on punk rock Scottish style - Is still available for
the very cheap price of £1.50 inc p&p in the uk and $5.00 or 3
euros the rest of the world ….or send something for a trade. Our Demos & Rare
dcd is also available for only £3.00 0r $6.00 or 5 euros ….2cds
48 tracks in total of early demo and now deleated 7” eps…….Tshirts
are also available Punkology design £5.00 uk $8.00 or 7 euros
If you
wanna see us play your town then get in touch with our management at – www.stutaylorpromotions.co.uk
Check our website for up to date news and shows and stuff. www.geocities.com/four_pm_2003
Thanks
once again to Rebecca for the interview and her continued support for 4pm…..thanks
dear.
Contact 4pm at Peter 4 past midnight – pj64912000@yahoo.co.uk
PETER – 15
CRINAN CRESCENT – TOWNHEAD – COATBRIDGE – LANARKSHIRE – ML5
2LG – SCOTLAND - UK
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