Interview with The Eruptors!

Hey all! Empty Bottles is back with a fresh new intie for u! This is an interview we have been looking forward to for a while & anyone who enjoys good hard rock fueled music will like The Eruptors.

Hey Alex hope you are doing well.

Hello and thank you. Yes things are good here! By the way, great zine!




1. Just for the readers who may not be familiar with your music could you tell them a little bit about ya sound.


We are a rock band, mostly we like the fast, loud raw stuff such as Motorhead, Zeke, Hellacopters, Iggy Pop, ACDC, Sabbath. We mix it up and call it "1000% rock", we wrote a song about it on our latest album! We have a few slower/quieter songs too for a bit of light and shade, but it is mostly high octane fuel guzzlin' adrenalin rock. The sort of thing that makes you want to jump out of your chair and rock out!

2. You guys are huge rock/metal fans and have been inspired by bands such as Electric Frankenstein who self produced their music. Do the Eruptors feel this an important approach to creating your music? Has this always been the long term aim for the band?

Well we aren't on anyone's payroll which means that we get to self produce our own music. Down-side is cashflow - we never have as much money as we'd like in time for recording, promotion, touring etc. Upside is that we get full creative control and get to do this for fun and creative reasons without compromise or extra pressure of deadlines/bureaucracy/other people's crappy decision making. We've always seen music as being a long term thing for us even though when the current Eruptors line-up got together we didn't have any plans beyond playing a show or two. Now we see it as an ongoing thing and we want it to last.


3. Empty Bottles has noticed that you guys have a close relationship with your fans world wide & is this something the band has tried to do since your inception? Do you find it helps the band to form ya music around the expectations of your audience?

We are very grateful that people enjoy our music. Now there are people writing that we are amongst their favourite 'new' bands and that our latest album 'Seduce & Destroy' was amongst their favourite releases of 2009. We always take time to talk to people who enjoy our music and support what we do. It is great meeting people with shared interests and values. We've followed the example of great bands such as Iron Maiden and Electric Frankenstein who always made the effort to be a 'people's band'. One of the great things about rock and punk music can be the sense of community, that 'stick together and don't let the bastards grind ya down' collective mentality. Us against the world! As far as writing music goes, we don't cynically engineer our music to meet the demands of 'the punk/rock/heavy metal demographic' or anything that contrived, what we do is we make music that we'd enjoy, as fans of rock music. Therefore, if you listen to the same bands we do then you should enjoy our stuff to.



4. With your music crossing into a few different genres is it hard to keep everyone happy at times or does this generally give you more freedom with creativity?

It gives us more freedom and creativity.

Everyone gets a say in how the songs sound and contributes to the songwriting, and we work well as a team. We share a lot of musical tastes and try to bring as much into the mix as possible, there are no musical straight-jackets. So we cover a lot of ground but at the same time the way that we gel as a band, everything we do will sound like The Eruptors.


5. The band has a large following on the East Coast of the USA and is there anywhere else you would like to play in North America? Montreal or perhaps Riverside in California which has a huge punk/hard rock scene?

Yes, we have many friends and fans in the USA and we've had some great support from the press over there. Maximum Rock n' Roll magazine, Sleazegrinder.com and a ton more underground magazines, websites and radio have really given us some great reviews and airplay. So there is a buzz about The Eruptors over there and we'd love to do more in the USA. Our drummer Gary de Niro's wife is from New York, and my wife is from California. So we have good links to America and spend a bit of time over there visiting friends and family etc. Any labels/promoters over there interested in working with us, please get in contact.


6. Microwave Massacre was is latest album from you guys that was recently released in Japan and has a selection of tracks from ya first two albums. So we can say this serves as a solid starting point for the Japanese market to gain an introduction to your music. How has the release been going so far and have you received any feedback from the Japanese or wider Asian press?

Well the most recent in the UK is actually 'Seduce & Destroy', whereas 'Microwave Massacre' (a collection of demos, alternate mixes, and a couple of remastered tracks from our first album) came out a few months before, only in Japan, but it also got reviews in the UK and American press as an import. Classic Rock magazine chose the song 'Cannibal Holocaust' as their 'song of the day' and gave us an interview on their website, and Total Rock Radio in the UK played it too. Big Cheese, Powerplay and a few others all gave it great reviews too. It was well received by the fans in Japan and the record label that released it was very pleased with how it has done, so hopefully we'll be releasing more music over there soon. I don't deal with Japanese press as much as I do with the European and American contacts because of the language barrier, but the record label do, and they are happy with it all.


7. Empty Bottles understands that the band consists of University academics playing loud rock n' roll! Have you guys found it hard combining the two roles? Empty Bottles is curious to know if there any similarities to the approach between the two areas?

Similarities - it is all about getting up in front of an audience and keeping them interested. Also, making money can be difficult in both rock music and academia!


Differences - Rock shows tend not to start so early in the morning!

8. The Eruptors hit the road a lot & what is the most enjoyable part of playing shows & what is the worst?

The most enjoyable is creating great music and 'connecting' with the audience, seeing people in another town or even country singing your songs back to you is a buzz.

The worst part is all of the waiting around and quite often having to deal with bad organisation and/or flakey people.

9. We recently reviewed ya albums on Empty Bottles & noticed that your music consists of elements belonging to hard rock, pyschobilly, 60's, & old school punk rock. Do people appreciate the various contrasts to ya sound and what has the UK response been to ya music so far?

You are very perceptive. Yes I think people like that fact we mix it up and wear our influences on our sleeves, although a couple of reviews have mentioned we are hard to pin down at times, but I think they meant it in a positive way. I mean, I think everything we do fits together and sounds like The Eruptors, we have various influences and we pay homage to them all so we cover quite a lot of ground on each album, but that keeps it interesting. We don’t re-hash the same song over and over. I think we offer good value.

10. So what plans and aims do you as a band have for the future?

Just to keep on keepin’ on, rockin out, workin’ hard and keepin’ it real!

We are working on another albums worth of new songs as well as mixing some live recordings. There will probably be a single or something released in the meantime.

11. Are you working on a new album yet or are still working on live shows at the moment?

(see above)

12. Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers about ya music or any other projects that you are involved with that you feel music fans would be interested in?

Just a mega ‘THANK YOU’ to everyone who has come to our shows, bought our albums , or supported us in some way, including everyone who has taken time out of their busy lives to read this interview. Find us online at www.myspace.com/eruptors

Keep on keeping on and DON’T LET THE BASTARDS GRIND YA DOWN.

Ok Empty Bottles would like to say thank you for taking part in the interview!