Fightstar’s Omar Interviews Imperial Vipers

21 April 2009

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Fightstar took over FemaleFirst for the day yesterday, here's what happened when drummer Omar got his hands on the Imperial Vipers frontman, Ash Simmons.

Hello there Ash, how are things going with the new Imperial Vipers album?

Cool man, our new album has just come out and it’s available on iTunes and it’s all going well. We’ve been doing a few dates to support it and it’s all looking good and we’ve got some good gigs coming up too. Playing on May 3 at Islington academy and we’re coming up to Manchester on July 12 to do Ruth from FemaleFirst’s Battle Of The Bands.

Cool, cool, You doing the festivals too?

I think we have a few small ones, we’re waiting to hear on the big ones yet, I think we’re being considered for them so hopefully we might be seeing you boys!

We hope to see you too! To anyone who hasn’t heard of you yet, how would you describe your sound?

It’s always a difficult one, I think if you’re going to compare us to any other band it would be somewhere between Soundgarden and the Clash. We definitely have some influences from the grunge stuff but we’re a lot more British sounding I’d say.

Good stuff, and tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your new record that’s just come out.

We’re from a small town called Dunstable just outside London and the front cover is actually a picture of the high street and it really sums up what the album as a whole is about - with all the ‘To let’ signs and all the boarded up shops. The high street is pretty much dead and a lot of the songs on the album is about what it’s like to live in a small, dead end town and all the stuff to go with it.

Cool, and if you could cover another band’s song, what would it be?

I was thinking about stuff like this earlier really, I’d love to do Now I’m Here by Queen, but I don’t know how we’d do it!

Ha, yeah, that would be awesome, do it! Maybe on the next B-side or something.

You never know!

And if you could set up your dream festival, what three bands would you have headlining?

I think we’d have to have AC/DC [Omar: Yep, good], Alice In Chains [Omar: ooh] and Metallica [Omar: Sweet! I’ll come to that festival, I’m telling you now!] Maybe I’m in the wrong business, maybe I should take over organising festivals?

Haha, good plan, and what has been your favourite musical memory to date?

Before the band or with the band?

Well even something before the band, just something that’s quite special to you.

Staying with the Alice In Chains thing, I went to see them and it was the first time I’d seen them with the new singer and it was at the London Astoria on a boiling hot evening and I tell you, I’d never been to a gig with much anticipation in the air, and when they came on - I mean he was stepping into some big shoes there - the love for the band was so immense that the singer was [I don’t even know the new guy’s name] just so overwhelmed. I really want to go see them at Sonisphere festival too.

Yeah, that’s quite a line-up this year…. And if all of the bands equipment was on fire, what one piece would you save and why?

I don’t know! That’s a tricky one!” I think it would have to be Loftys drum kit!

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