Nottingham based all-girl punk rock trio The Smears claim to be noisy girls with nice guitars and we here at Uber Rock believe them. Their debut album came out on luscious pink vinyl and with the follow up due for release next spring and the promise of even dirtier songs to look forward to, it looks like exciting times ahead. With an L7 shaped hole in the punk rock market these days, they could well be the gals to fill it up.We caught up with C Doll, Miss C and Maimee V recently to get the lowdown on their band and see what they are up to.

Hi there, thanks for taking the time to answer some questions; for the benefit of those who don’t know the Smears could you please give a brief introduction and band history?

 

M: We all met by chance and have been gigging for the last 8 ish years together.

 

Miss C: I wrote an advert in crayons a long time ago asking for some other girls to join a band with me and stuck it up in a local music shop in Nottingham, where I live. I’d just left yet another band full of idiot boys. A few girls got in touch and after a few line up changes with different drummers (isn’t that always the case?) we finally met C Doll and we’ve been that way since. I play bass, Emma guitar and vocals and C Doll plays drums. We started gigging in 2002 and we are the best of friends – we’ve been likened to a gang, but we aren’t really – we just look out for each other (and don’t take any bullsh*t)!

 

C Doll: I got a call from Emma at the pub I used to work at asking me if I’d like to audition for the band. 2 weeks later we had a gig and a recording to do, it all happened fast!

 

You have a new single, ‘Freakshow’, which has been getting some rave reviews, is there an album in the can, if so when is it due for release?

 

M: Thank you. Our new album is due to be released Spring 2012, we’re recording parts of it at the moment.

 

C Doll: We’ll be doing a release party for it in Nottingham, as well as a new tour, so keep checking for gig updates.

 

Miss C: I am so excited about it because the tunes ready to go are just amazing and a joy to play. With a new album always comes a new tour…

 

Your debut long player ‘Hell In High Heels’ is a strong album, to me a great mix of L7 and the Distillers, two great bands that are sadly missed, will the new album follow in the same direction?

 

M: Thank you again! I worry about a Distillers reference but they wrote some killer tunes so that’s a compliment! It will have a definite Smears sound. We try to write slow songs but it’s hard! Who wants a slow song with loud guitars in it?!

 

C Doll: It’ll still sound very Smears-esque but the new stuff is a bit different in terms of the use of different time signatures and slightly heavier riffs here and there.

 

Miss C:  The Smears will always sound Filthy and Gritty , but the new songs are even dirtier. I love them.

 

‘Hell In High Heels’ was originally released on 10″ pink vinyl, that’s cool and so punk rock, was that a band decision?

C Doll: The label who put ‘Hell in High Heels’ out, Pink Box, mainly only deal with vinyl releases, which is great, cos personally I think vinyl sounds ace and loads of people like to collect it. We chose pink vinyl because you very rarely see it and we’re not ones for blending in…

 

Miss C:  We were offered an amazing deal by PinkBox. We jumped at the chance to have our stuff on vinyl. The Pink was our idea of course!

 

M: It was a decision of the people who funded the record Pink Box Records in Leicester. We loved the idea and it was a good decision, we’re very proud of it.

 

With the music industry in turmoil these days, with the download culture and album piracy common place, it seems to me the live music scene is thriving. Certainly in the North Yorkshire area where I live I can go out and see a decent band most nights for under a tenner. Do you think it’s easier for bands with the help of the internet these days, certainly Myspace and Facebook are great tools for bands, yes? The underground punk scene seems pretty healthy wouldn’t you say?

 

M: Definitely! It’s easier to talk to other bands, to read interviews by other bands and hear their music. It’s just a commonplace idea now, you like a band you look them up on the net. It’s definitely made the scene wider, not so city based. You can be really supportive of other bands in other cities and you can hear music from all over the world.  Everyone’s realising they don’t need the record companies to make music, it’s a beautiful thing.

 

C Doll: Myspace and Facebook have been great for getting so many different peoples’ music out there. You can search for any genre you like and you’re guaranteed to find hundreds of artists that you would never have known about otherwise. It’s great for promotion. These sites are great for finding out what gigs are on in your area. Facebook seems to have very much taken over from Myspace.

 

Ginger from The Wildhearts seems to be making waves with his most recent triple album project through Pledge Music, do you think this is the way forward for small bands, taking charge and getting fans to put their trust in the artist and pay up front for an album before it has been recorded; it’s certainly a punk rock attitude, don’t you think?

M: It’s awesome.  It’s a trickle down effect from the X-factor. I think with the technology at our hands and seeing the ugly underside of the record industry exposed in a such a way as the X-factor has done people thought ‘I’m better than that’ and more people do it themselves, and the people who support bands in this way have cottoned on to it too. True artists are driven, they don’t sit about waiting for someone to take them by the hand and help them/show them what to do, they do it themselves, what ever the music. They have that burning in their guts that means they have to get out whatever it is in them. We do it for ourselves because we have to, we are creators and it’s a drive that can’t be stopped. It’s in a lot of things at the moment, the ideology of control is changing. Sorry to go on but I get excited by things like this.

 

Miss C:  If you have fans that believe in you that much then it’s a good thing. As long as the fans are not badgered with constant spam about it.

 

What bands influenced you and made you want to be a musician?

 

Miss C:  Just the love of music, it is the universal language.

 

C Doll: I’m influenced on a day to day basis by various things and it always changes. I listen to all different genres of music and draw inspiration from them. I was brought up listening to everything from Motown to heavy metal.

 

M: Honestly? Sex Pistols, Hole, Nirvana, Patti Smith and The Ramones – all for different reasons.

 

If you could collaborate with one artist or band, who would it be?

 

C Doll: Right now, if I could work with anyone, I’d say Mike Patton and/or Mark Ronson.

 

Miss C:  Mike Patton – he is a musical genius. I wouldn’t mind working with David Bowie and System of a Down either.

 

M: PJ Harvey.

 

You capture a lot of energy on record, and have been described live as “being hit by a train driven by Iggy Pop and Courtney Love” – you must be pretty happy with statements like that? How would you describe the Smears live experience yourself?

 

M: Honestly someone said that to us once and it was a pretty good compliment. We’ve been likened to pretty amazing bands at the minute – Motorhead, The Ramones, The Distillers, Rancid and Amen…so if you know those bands then you’ll know what to expect, that and lots of banter because we’re always a couple of drinks in and we’re really good friends so it’s just a natural thing that happens. If you think you’re going to come to a Smears gig and stay nice and quite and sober – think again. It’s loud fast and hot and not very sober. It’s awesome.

 

C Doll: The Smears live are fun, fast and sexy.

 

Miss C:  It is like standing on a geyser. A very beautiful geyser that makes you shit your pants.

 

A lot of girls in rock bands look uncomfortable holding their guitars, like they are playing Guitar Hero, you are not one of them are you?

 

C Doll: No, we’re not uncomfortable on stage. It’s what we love to do and we’re good at it.

 

Miss C:  Do they really? Man, I have never seen that. I organise Ladyfest Nottingham and all I see are amazing musicians. The only awkward looking girls are the ones that apologise.

 

M: They way I see it is when I pick my guitar I OWN that guitar, I mean it is mine but I can do what I like with it. When I’m on the stage it’s my stage, for that period of time I am pretty fearless with it. Some girls want to have that kooky scared thing about them, good for them, but it’s not me, you can’t make music like we do and face the things we face and be scared, we’d be eaten alive and that ain’t happening! We’re no-one’s main course, we own the restaurant.

Are you really hell in high heels or are you just nice girls with noisy guitars?

 

M: Ha! Depends who you are, what you’ve done and how I’m feeling… Just remember, hell is where all the interesting people are.

 

Miss C:  We are noisy girls with nice guitars!

 

C Doll: We’re Hell in High Heels with noisy guitars.

 

You have supported The Buzzcocks and Discharge in the past, but who would you most love to open for?

 

Miss C:  Faith No More, and I would love to work with The Dogbones again.

 

C Doll: I’d love to open for Faith No More or System of a Down.

 

M: Queens of the Stone Age.

 

Where do you see yourselves in 5 years time?

 

M: Sounds like a job interview… a few albums on, more tours under our belts.

 

C Doll: Hopefully still making music and definitely still gigging. I couldn’t imagine not doing any of those things.

 

Miss C:  In a house with a big lawn, playing music with a couple of beers and a BBQ in the sun surrounded by friends and family.

 

Do you have a gig from hell to share with us? A gig where things have just gone wrong?

 

C Doll: A few years back we played a gig in Liverpool where the whole PA just cut out about 2 songs in. It wasn’t too bad though, it was up and running after a short while and we were able to carry on. It looked like game over for a bit though. Luckily the crowd stayed and waited for it to be fixed!

 

Miss C:  I would rather not talk about my worst gig as it makes me vomit.

 

M: Oh man, there’s a few of those. They’ve only made us stronger.

 

Finally, I want to thank you again, and to finish we at Uber Rock do a thing called iPod Shufflin’, so stick yer player of choice on shuffle and give us the first five songs..no cheating!

 

C Doll:

 

1. Foals – Two Steps, Twice
2. Incubus – Version
3. Led Zeppelin – No Quarter
4. Florence and the Machine – Between Two Lungs
5. No Doubt – Underneath It All

 

Miss C:

 

1. Roots Manuva – Butterfly Crab Walk
2. System of a down feat Hed Pe – Feel Good
3. Faith No More – Aggressive
4. David Bowie – Young Dudes
5. Faith No More – Just a Man

 

M:

 

1. Pantera – This Love
2. Hole – Malibu
3. Pissed Jeans – Science Fiction
4. PJ Harvey – Rid Of Me
5. Janis Joplin – Summer Time

 

Phew, I thought my Girls Aloud shame was about to be exposed!

 

www.reverbnation.com/thesmearsuk

 

[Photographs: Stephen Doyle & Michael Preston]