What folk are currently in the engage ranks? Is this a settled line up or is everyone on loan?It's a settled line-up, but we're trying to sort out a new bass-player at the moment. There's me on vocals, Dougie and Bobby on guitar and Martin on drums. Mark from The Fightback has been playing bass for the last few months
You're currently taking a break from gigging at the moment, is this to write new material? Is anyone else in the band involved in writing stuff now and what's currently influencing you these days? What are the chances of a new release anytime soon?
I don't think we're taking that much of a break, just not playing too much in the same places too often. We are writing new material, so I don't really want to play too much up here till we've got some of the new songs finished. So far, it's still me that writes the material, but that might change. We're planning on releasing a split with The Fightback pretty soon- no definite date is set though. Influence-wise it's pretty much the same as before- Dag Nasty and Turning Point are still what I listen to the most. I like a lot of European stuff too- I listen to a lot more of that than I used to. I think Sportswear produced some of the best HC records since the early 90's. That band was so good. The Damage Control stuff is great too- I'm Iooking forward to playing with them (tomorrow night!).
You've been in the punk/hardcore scene for a good few years now, what initially drew you to it and what keeps you involved?I was into Thrash metal in the mid 80s and through that started listening to bands like DRI and early Suicidal Tendencies. It seemed a lot fresher and more energetic than the metal stuff. On of the guys from Brain Damage (Dundee punk band from the 80s) gave me a tape with Bad Brains and DOA on it, and I thought it was amazing. So from that point on, I didn't really listen to anything but Hardcore and some early 80s punk/Oi! The energy in Hardcore just can't be found anywhere else- there's nothing like it really.
How many bands have you been in over the years and what ones have you enjoyed the most?
Dunno how many bands exactly. Brain Damage was the first punk/hardcore band I played in. Together with Exalt (whose members went on to play in On File), these were the 2 punk bands in Dundee in the late 80s.Brain Damage was more Broken Bones/GBH sounding. Me and Grant from that band got together with Graeme (who used to drum for Oi Polloi for a while) and formed a new band called Broccoli, which was a lot poppier sounding than Brain Damage. Lifer was after that, then I played in a punk band called Bloodshot in 97. Me and Fungus (old guitarist) started Engage in Jan 98 with Colin from Exalt. I don't really know which one I enjoyed the most- all of them had good times.
With engage suffering from revolving membership and then having the few year hiatus do you think you lost momentum and general awareness of the band that was built with the demo and the 7"? Why did you decide to resurrect engage and not start something brand new?
It wasn't really a case of resurrecting the band, as for me it never went away. It was just a constant struggle to find people who were into playing that kind of music- at the time (2001), there were hardly any up in Dundee, certainly not enough for a full band. We definitely lost momentum. I have at times thought of starting something new.. It’s something I have thought of a lot. It kind of is a new band in a way though.
You're well into classic old school sxe hardcore, what 3 hc records do you wish you could have played on and why?
Ha- well I don't really wish I could have played on them- I'm just happy listening to them. Those records would probably be Dag Nasty- Can I Say, Turning Point- It's always darkest before the dawn, Chain Of Strength - True Till Death. Add to that the Rebuilding comp seven inch, cause that Turning Pont song is awesome. The Dag record just seemd so passionate- the tunes are great too- one of the best LPs ever.
You were doing games programming at uni, have you always had an interest in video games? What are you’re top 5 classic games? Have you finished programming uridium for the ps2 and if so can i get a copy? Any other conversions you're working on?
Yeah since I was about 14 or so- that was back in the
C64 days. My favourite games would have to be 1.
Uridium, 2. Spellbound, 3. Jet Set Willy, 4. Manic
Miner, 5. Mercenary.
I'm finishing a ps2 version of Uridium- partly so I
could play it without having to fire up an emulator,
and partly so I can use it as a demo to get a job
(finally!).
You won't be able to run it on a regular unmodified
ps2 though- only on a devkit. There's no way to boot
the game on a regular ps2, due mainly to Sony's
licensing and anti-piracy measures. I'll give you the
PC version though- that's nearly done, and it looks
just the same.How about the hotrods? Do you still have that one in peices in your mum's garage? Are you into any other car mods or just old school rods?
I still have something in that garage- a baby blue 65 Ford Zephyr with red steels and whitewalls. I've got a big block ford motor (460 cui V8) lurking around which could go in there. I'm not really into the 'picnic-table on the roof' sorta cars. Just hotrods, traditional kustoms (51 mercurys especially) and pro-street motors. Big V8s do it for me. I would very much like a trad black 32 roadster for the summer.
You’re older than me, should you not be thinking about getting a proper job, settling down and having kids?
Yeah.. When I get that game finished.
Anything else you want to add?
Just to say thanks to the Fightback and Divide (and everyone else too). Plus thanks for the interview..
