ANTLERED MAN
Bermondsey Studio, London - Nov 2010; Damo Holmes, Sarah Townsend, Ollie Parker, Sam Ray, Danny Fury
The Most destructive animal (and band?) on earth
by Robert Pally
(August 2012)
It's anti-charts music but we love it. The London foursome the Antlered Man (who describe themselves as '101% Punter Proof') play very refreshing non-commercial music as heard on their 2012 debut Giftes 1&2. Be surprised, be very surprised. Think head-banging, damaged art-rock- maybe not too shocking that they consider Mike Patton to be an influence then.
In this interview, singer Damo Ezekiel Holmes talks about their influences, the possibility to make any kind of music you want, their organic approach and the most destructive animal in the world.
PSF: Tell me the story of ANTLERED MAN so far (How the band came together, etc)?
Damo Ezekiel Holmes: We all met whilst working in a shitty warehouse job on the graveyard shift. Me and Danny used to get drunk fucked up as they worked and blast out loud music from the portable CD player we had. It used to piss off every employee who worked inside, apart from Oliver and Sam who loved it and joined in the fun. We soon got out of there and then into a rehearsal room to make music.
PSF: How come you called yourself ANTLERED MAN"?
DEH: We thought of the most destructive animal on earth, which is man and then thought how could we make him more dangerous and unfuckable? Give him some antlers. Also when you have a name like Antlered Man, you can make any kind of music you want. It doesn't have a clear pigeon hole.
PSF: You have pretty weird song titles. Do songs like "Platoono Of Uno" or "Schizo Tennis" have a real meaning? If yes, which one?
DEH: "Schizo Tennis" is based on a true story of a young man who murdered his parents in New York. He managed to fool a girl into believing that he was a famous tennis player. So as they went on a romantic holiday, his parents were rotting inside their apartment. We thought he should get a song for this.
PSF: How do your songs develop?
DEH: We spend a lot of time in our studio working over the ideas over and over again, until we start to all get our own individual ideas. We are very organic in our approach- we like to obey where the music takes us. Sometimes musicians just follow the same formula of writing songs but we like to be forward-thinking and truly believe that music is one whole feeling, not 500 different genres and pigeon holes.
PSF: What other music inspires you?
DEH: We love the music of Mastodon, Melvins, Queens of the Stone Age, Queen, Mike Patton, Wu Tang Clan. We have so much music that inspires us. But this is what we are listening to mostly in our tour van.
PSF: What qualities must a good song have for you?
DEH: Good lyrical content is something we care about- even if you are going to write 3 words, at least make them 3 good words. It makes us laugh, some of the lyrics (other) bands write. It's like they're fucking five years old.
PSF: Where are your musical boundaries?
DEH: We do not set any musical boundaries for ourselves- we believe to be open to all styles of music. That way you can create something different and fresh when you apply it to your own music.
PSF: Which rumor would you like to hear about Antlered Man?
DEH: That we beat the shit out of Scouting For Girls live on stage in Germany.
PSF: Please finish this sentence- "Our music will get into the charts, when…"
DEH: Our music will get into the charts when the world is a better place.
PSF: Antlered Man songs are like…?
DEH: Antlered Man's music is like... A kick in the whole world's balls!
Check out their new video "Platoono Of Uno"