Before supporting Funeral For a Friend at the Old Fire House in Bournemouth, Rise to Remain’s bassist Joe Copcutt and drummer Pat Lundy took some time out to chat with THE EDGE’s Chris Brooks:
Alright a guys first things first, when’s the album out?
Joe – There’s not an exact date as of yet, but defiantly towards the end of the summer, this year for sure.
So have you completed recording yet?
Pat – We have indeed, it’s all mastered and ready to go and on our laptops right now. It’s really good though man, I couldn’t be happier.
Nice one guys! Now last year you won ‘Best New Band’ at the Metal Hammer Golden God awards and the Karrang! Award for ‘Best British Newcomer.’ How did it feel to receive all that press attention, especially so early in your careers?
Pat- I think I cried!
(Joe laughs)
Joe – Yeah it was emotional, good parties as well (laughs)…But no, it was a shock, especially considering the stiff competition. We defiantly weren’t expecting it.
Pat – Naa, not at all.
Joe- We’d toured the UK a bit but we had no idea and when we heard the vote and that it was all done by fans we were blown away. It’s awesome, it’s given us an outlook that we want to continue pleasing people and putting on a good show, so it’s given us a bit of a kick up the arse as well in some respects.
Pat – You’ve got to hang onto it you know?
Joe- Exactly, hang onto it and prove to people that this is who we are…
Pat – …that their votes weren’t wasted.
Joe – Exactly!
On top of all that, over the past few years you’ve supported some massive bands like Maiden, Korn, and a personal favourite- Five Finger Death Punch…
(both nod approvingly)
…What does it feel like to be… for lack of a better word, ‘Rockstars’?
(both laugh)
Joe – I defiantly don’t think we’re rockstars!
Pat- Yeah, I wouldn’t use that word to describe anyone I liked personally. I think the record industry, being as dead as it is right now; ‘rockstar’ isn’t an applicable term to anyone that isn’t actually a poser. It’s like you don’t have bands like Kiss anymore, there’s no more U2s, no more Bon Jovis you know…
Joe- (laughs) Well there are…They are still…
Pat – Of the new breed man! Of the new generation! There’s none of that anymore and I think that with that extinction will be the extinction of rockstars hopefully, because….they are all a bunch of bell-ends.
(Everyone laughs)
Joe- We’ve grown up listening to loads of the bands we’ve had the privilege to tour with, but they’re all really down to earth, mellow guys. It’s been a great experience, we’ve learned so much from all those bands.
You’ve toured with Funeral For a Friend a few times now and I see you’re both set to play Download this year, so is it safe to assume that description includes them too?
Joe – Yeah absolutely!
Pat- We’re ‘besties!’
Joe – We did two or three weeks with them in Europe in November so we were on their bus and we defiantly got to know each other! (both laugh)…So it’s cool to spend another couple weeks with them round the UK.
As well as Download, you’re doing Sonisphere this year. You’ve played both festivals before, but do you have a favourite of the two?
Joe – Ooh, I duno…I cant! I can’t!
Pat – They’re both good in their own respects, like Download’s good because of its heritage. I guess Sonisphere being a new festival it has a fresher outlook on how to run and set up the going on. I personally find Sonisphere a bit easier to handle sometimes. Download can be a bit full on and in your face but they are both the best British metal festivals.
Joe – For sure, yeah.
Pat – I’m not saying anything bad about Bloodstock, but what would you rather spend your money on?
(I hold up my arm to show them my Download band from last year.)
Pat – Straight up man, straight up!
So do you prefer playing those big festivals or the smaller gigs like this one at the Old Fire Station?
Joe- We were talking about this earlier. They’re sort of different shows; it’s a much more personal connection when it’s a smaller crowd, whereas on a big stage it’s like, “Fucking Hell! Let’s just go absolute mental!” I don’t know, they’ve both got their pros and cons really.
Pat- You can rock a postage stamp and make it look cool, have fun and give people their money’s worth, or you can do it on a bigger stage where you can swing three cats.
Joe – Yeah like last night we played a pub in Wimbledon and it was just an absolutely wicked vibe in there. It was totally rammed…
Pat – …No barriers (smiles sadistically)…
Joe-… really sweaty, people were falling over the stage, pits…..in a pub! It was just…
Pat – …It was nuts!
Joe- But we’ve had amazing sets playing Download before, where you’ve got…
Pat – …Ten thousand people going crazy! Obviously you adapt your show slightly to those sorts of environments, you know you’ve got to bring it at a show like Download, where as it can be slightly more relaxed for the band playing I guess… the Bournemouth Fire Station.
Is there anywhere you aspire to play?
Joe – Really want to play Brixton academy. (laughs) It’s just one of those legendary venues.
Pat- And it’s our hometown more than anything…
Joe – Would have loved to have played the Astoria.
Pat – The Melkweg in Amsterdam.
Joe – Oh yeah! Really want to do the Melkweg.
Pat – We’ve only played in Tilburg in Holland though, we haven’t played in Amsterdam yet. We’re not doing Holland again for a while and I don’t think we are playing Amsterdam, it’s somewhere else right?
Joe – Tilburg again…
Pat- …No it’s not Tilburg again!
Joe- Oh I duno (laughs)
Pat– But we’re gutted about Amsterdam. Maybe one day we’ll get a tour when Amsterdam is actually in there. It will be our headliner because that’s sods law in it.
Do you have any other ambitions as a band? Like are there certain people you want to play with?
Joe – Limp Bizcuit (laughs)
Pat – I’d say Chino probably
Joe – Yeah Deaftones.
Pat- Slipknot maybe…I’d throw Slipknot in there just for the fact that it would be jokes. I love Cory as well man, I get on really really well with Cory.
Ah, who doesn’t love Corey Taylor?
Pat- (laughs) He’s just the best guy I’ve ever met to be honest.
Joe – As long as we can still do this really, it’s what we’ve always wanted to do so in terms of ambitions if we can do this for as long as possible I’d be absolutely stoked.
And finally the serious journalism, why ‘Rise to Remain?’ As in the name of the band, is there any particular meaning behind it?
Joe – Sort of. To be honest we came up with the name in about five minutes before our stage time in a car park in Camden (laughs). But I used to play in a band when I was about eleven and we were called Rise to Remain and we just needed a name real quick and we were like, ‘Rise to Remain? How’s that?’ and we were like, ‘yeah, that’s cool’…
Pat – Sounded really good and it sort of meant something as well.
Joe – Yeah it’s just like positive, continue doing what you want to do.
Pat – Keep proving yourself. That’s what we’re about man, because when we started it was a hell of a lot of stick because of who our front man was etcetera, etcetera. At the start of it there was a lot more haters than we had fans and it was hard to prove to the unforgiving forty odd crowds in pubs in London that you are worth something.
Joe – It’s made us work harder.
Pat- It has man, it defiantly has.
