1. Ska punkers the Fractions - give us a brief history, discography your role and any other bands in which you have dabbled.
The Fractions were formed when Joe, Rob, Matt and Dave decided to form a band in high school playing ska/punk covers and their own material. Since then we’ve lost members and gained members (mainly our ever changing brass section), and we’ve come out with out current line up. It works well now because we all know each other well and it all kinda fits together. We've just released a 5 track cd called ‘Matanza’ which is our best to date. Before that we had a 4 track ep which was Self Titled, and before that we had a poo quality demo called ‘End of Ska’. I have played a couple of gigs with Suspicious Stains and Harijan, our old sax player Beanie is now in Kamikaze Sperm, and Joe and Ewan both play trombone for Harijan at the moment.
2. What's your view of the Ska and Punk scenes at the mo and which do you prefer?
I think both the ska and punk scenes have a huge potential to be strong and there is a hardcore bunch who go out of their way to support gigs, be it promoters or punters. I think the main problem is people not turning out to gigs. You can get into decent punk or ska gigs for a few quid these days, so turn outs should be strong. It seems to comes in swings and round-a-bouts. Some gigs that should be busy aren’t, then gigs you would expect to be less quiet are packed. Its hard to judge. The regular nights seem to attract good attention, such as That’s Not Skankings gigs at Joshua Brookes in Manchester. They are monthly and have 4/5 bands per gig and are normally only £1 to get in, so these always get a good turn out and are a good crack.
3. Button up bottom holes - quite messy really but I can see the gimmick. What's your style and opinion on this?
It depends on the tightness of the pants and their material. If they are tight leather then bottom holes are a bonus, as easy access can be gained quicker than dropping ones pants, be it for pooping or other deviant antics. I would prefer a zip, as button holes could cause a draft in the wrong environment, resulting in a drop in ring temperature or a shrinkage to ones pecker. However a zip could get caught in bum hairs, or possibly ‘trap sack’. I’d have to say I’m more than happy with a front zip, but if I was to change to some tight leathers I may be tempted. Another negative to button up bottom holes is if you unbutton to ‘drop anchor’, what happens if you piss at the same time. Imagine the temperature in those tight leathers with warm piss added to the mixture. Not nice!
4. What are your influences in life and in music and do you feel you express this in your performances?
It's all about having a laugh and enjoying yourself. If I didn’t enjoy playing music I wouldn’t do it. Same with my job and everything else. Lifes too short to give a fuck about people who don’t give a fuck about you. As far as our music goes, each one of the band has a slightly different taste in music, and we think this comes across in our songs. Also we respect bands who do gigs and CD's because they enjoy it and not for the money.
5. Tell the reader why anyone should come and see the Fractions and what are your best selling points?
Hmm..... we have CD's, but as with most bands, you don’t get the whole feeling of the songs until you see them live and felt the atmosphere and stage presence. I like to think our stage presence has grown and grown the past few years and we’ve grown more confident. No one likes to see a band just standing around, so we try and make the most of the stage, be it big or small. Also if you come down and sweet talk us you will probably get a free CD. At the end of the day if people don’t come down to gigs, bands won't carry on. So if you do enjoy a bands CD, go see them so they can have the finances and support to carry on.
6. I have recently been carrying out various experiments regarding the mutation of wasps and the DNA of Russel Grant. My cellar is now a no go area as it contains two 50ft flying pooftahs with a fetish for stinging bottoms and wearing shite jumpers. If you could mutate 2 living entities what would they be and could you forsee the outcome of your terrible experiments?
I would mutate Russel Brand with a twat but that’s already been done so I can't do that. Probably mutate Buster Bloodvessel from Bad Manners with a pigeon. You’d end up with a big fuck off pigeon flying round doing massive turds on people. Would be quite funny.
7. Whats the best Fractions gig to date and what would be your ultimate gig to play on?
We played an all night ‘rave’ at rock world in Manchester in summer this year (2006). The band stage was run by Gash Music Collective and it was a cracker. Harijan, Kamikaze Sperm and a few others played. It was crammed and the sound was great. It felt good to play on a bigger stage with lights and a barrier and shit. The crowd was really up for the gig and everyone danced their arses off. One of my other fav gigs was at the Transport Club in Rochdale. It’s a WMC with a room upstairs where bands can play. The gig was with local bands doing covers and it was full of kids who got pissed up and bounced off every wall and every ceiling in the building. There must have been 50/60 people dancing which filled the dance floor and the rest!. It was all going so well until the police turned up and stopped the gig because some drunk kids had a fight outside. Rock and roll ending to a fucking great gig.
As for our ultimate gig, it would be somewhere with good sound, where the stage isn’t too far from the crowd, like Joshua Brookes or the Retro Bar. Full of people with their dancing shoes on, and their drinking heads on. Not sure who we would really like to play with, but its always good to play along side Harijan.
8. The Fractions - were did the name come from (perhaps a sexual deviancy towards mathematics books in fact)?
I'im not sure really. The name was picked back in the day before I joined. I did see a maths question paper hovering around our practice room that had one question which was “how many people can fit their own cock in their mouth”. I can only guess this had something to do with the name Fractions.
9. Tell us your highs and lows as a musician, heroes and zeroes in life and punk and likes and dislikes about todays music scene?
I suppose my highs have been relaxing by the pool with Elton and David and sharing cocktails with Frankie goes to Hollywood, but enough of that. My low, wasn’t really a low. I sliced my finger open with a Stanley Knife at work and had to go to hospital for stitches...and that was about 4 hours before I was due to record the guitar on our lastest cd. I was gutted. The recording had to be put off for 2 months and I couldn’t play guitar either until my finger had healed. I suppose my highs are getting a buzz off playing a good gig and getting cds recorded. Suppose its because we put in lots of hard work to stay tight as a band and continuously writing new songs, when stuff gets recorded and played live its like our jobs done, kinda. Todays music scene is hit and miss. In Manchester the scene has really grown, thanks lots to Bomb Ibiza and That’s Not Skanking. Both promoters helped lay the foundations for the current Manchester ska and punk scenes, and are still going strong. I have a lot of respect for OMD too. I'm not just saying this because this is on his site. He has done so much for punk bands and is doing so much more in the future. He is arranging gigs all the time and helps bands out every was and even arranges tours for bands, all for the love of it and to make a stronger scene.
I'm sick of the radio at all the so called ‘new music’ which is mostly shite. Radio 1 and such like are full of commercial turd but then you do get the odd good station but they are few and far between. Pricks like Pete Doherty are always in the news and for what reason? Taking smack and getting away with it. Ooh how much we’d all love to be like him. Who wants to fuck a stick thin transvestite looking ‘model’ hehe
10. Noz of One Man Stand fame has started a new website called House Fly Porn? Is this just discriminating against insects especially Diptera (true flies) or is this a totally valid release for Noz's deviant inklings?
Total acceptable. The internet is a good place for sexual deviants to go. House fly porn sounds fun, but I'm going to start up wwww.flying-things-that-fuck.com it would be photos and x-rated videos of all things that make love while flying. Like those weird dragon flys that fuck each other while flying round ponds scaring people. I may have been miss-informed tho.
11. Tell us your fave Fractions track and where it was borne?
I'm struggling to pick my favourate. Old songs like ‘The Camp German Detective’ and ‘Lube the Trumpet’ will always stick in my mind. I guess my favorite song is ‘Choices’. It's got some good punky bits and some catchy slow ska bits.
12. The world is in turmoil, Paul Daniels is about to appear nude in Eastenders, all transport systems are down, anarchy rules, polythene underpants are now £10 a pair and the devil himself walks among us? Pop and rave are the only allowed music forms and fry-ups are banned? You are a rebel and you are armed with a spray can in lurid urine yellow. The can is nearly empty - paint is a banned susbstance - What last message from the Fractions would you spray on a wall for all the world to see?
“Death to potato wedges!! They are a lazy bastards chips. Peel the fucker first for Gods sake!!!” Either that or draw a massive cock on a wall. Either would be ok.
