1. Mafafi - tell us all about it?
We formed at the tail end of 2005, pretty much to combat the mediocrity of the Scottish music scene, which seems to churn out pop-punk and generic metalcore bullshit from every orifice. We just wanted to give the scene a hefty kick to the balls and get some energy and excitement back.
2. Tell us the main influences of the band and describe each band member in 3 words.
We draw influence from all over the place. Musically bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Discharge, Black Flag, Minor Threat, the Cro-Mags and Converge play a big part. Scottish dialect plays a massive part; we throw as many Scottishisms in as we can. We deal with a lot of social issues as well, as opposed to politics.
Sam – Nice young chappy
Moffat – Short, angry, moody
Kev – Easy, youthful enthusiasm
Me – Not-so-short, angry, moody
3. Jocky Wilson porn star or deviant darts dickhead? Tell us your opinion.
Deviant darts dickhead. I feel I should have a stronger opinion than I do and/or a Jocky Wilson story to share with everyone, but I don’t
4. Whats the punk scene like in Scotland and who are the current top bands?
You’re hard pushed to find some proper punk rock up here. You’ve got PMX from Perth who are certainly one of the biggest bands. Other great bands like One Man Race, who are a blend of ska-punk and metal, and Omar from Arbroath don’t get as much recognition as they deserve. You’ve also got Violent Response who are amongst the best bands in Britain, but who unfortunately disbanded after the tragic death of their guitarist. The punk scene is slowly building its way back up, up here, but I imagine it’ll take a wee while to get going again.
5. Tell us 3 main principles of Mafafi!
Release some anger
Have a wee dance
Bring something new to entertain the masses
6. The Crankies once tried to sell their own brand of anal wear. Ringpiece bling, duffelbag zippers, rectal globes etc. The business went bankrupt - why do you think this is?
I guess there’s not much demand for anything with Wee Jimmy Crankie’s face on it. Nobody’s willing to sport a middle-aged woman pretending to be a pre-pubescent boy on their dufflebag zipper.
7. Whats the best gig and best bands you have played with?
Every gig’s got something different that makes it stand out, but I can’t put my finger on a best gig. We’ve played with some brilliant bands that I’ve really enjoyed watching, like RSJ, Hungarian hardcore band Baracka, Get Stuffed and Edinburgh-based Poles Amok Attack – a 4-piece grindcore band with 2 bassists, no guitars and bucket fulls of distortion.
8. Mafafi's ambitions - please reveal all?
There’s not too much to reveal. Ideally getting some distribution set up would be great to get our CD more readily available, and we all want to get back out on the road again, play some more dates in England. We’ve got 4 days organised in November with PMX in the north of England, so we’re looking forward to that.
9. Whats your fave Mafafi song and why?
Hold It! You Owe Me Forty Quid. It’s got a very personal connection to me, although technically they only owe me £20, since they paid half of it. It was one of the first songs I wrote for the band, and I stole the structure from Prince’s electro-pop stage. I like the big intro.
10. Ben Schizm (of Social Schizm) once dressed up as a lumberjack and stuck a pogo stick up his jacksie and bounced 5 miles in protest against the price of Sausages in Southend. Are there any overpriced items of food in Scotland that you feel warrants this kind of behaviour.
Everything costs so much these days anyway, but the price of Buckfast is also outrageous compared to up here.
11. Why should anyone come and watch Mafafi?
The energy, I guess. Even all the people that hated us with a passion always said that we were energetic as fuck.
12. Finally give a message to punks everywhere and the world in general?
Fuck knows, there seems to be a lot more or that “I’m more punk than you” bullshit down south, try to steer clear of that. And listen to Prince.
