Smugglers Run Interview

When I first saw the listing I have to admit I was a little taken aback, ‘O2 Academy Sheffield-SOLD OUT’. Of course, it meant to say Academy 2, but at the same time, to play to a full upstairs crowd of a few hundred people is big news indeed for Hallam lads, Smugglers Run. ‘We are very excited,’ frontman Liam Bardell proclaims, ‘all the hard work is starting to pay off. Nothing has just fallen into place, we have worked for this…hours and hours of practising, hours and hours spent forcing people into coming to our first shows!’

Tonight’s turnout is a milestone for the band, having formed at the city’s other university just a year ago. ‘Hang on, you’re from Sheffield Uni aren’t you? That’s it, [glances with a cheeky grin at Alex, the manager], end this now!’. Of course they’re just playing, ‘We’re all Sheffield students, anyone speaking our name is great for us!’.

When asked what sets them apart from other bands on the Sheffield scene, Dave cites their energy as their key strength. ‘Too many bands just stand there onstage, without any interest in the music they’re playing, we like to throw ourselves around a bit.’ Following this, Liam suggests that ‘Sheffield has a particular scene associated with it nowadays. We see ourselves as being an alternative to the Arctic Monkeys.’ Indeed, the band look to offer something punchy, Dave bestowing upon their music the tongue-in-cheek moniker, ‘Pussy punk’ to his bandmates’ apparent delight . ‘We didn’t try to be different, we’ve just always found ourselves to be a little bit heavier. We like it raw. We’ve even talked about going down to Drop D tuning’, Liam states.
It’s at this point that drummer, Robbie Hesketh, breaks his silence ‘We won’t.’
A point of conflict here?
‘It’s just not something I’m really up for.’

No matter what, Liam has a view of how he sees the current musical climate, and hints that there is some vague strategy to the band’s choices. ‘The mainstream is getting heavier and we’ve got our minds on that. When you start a band you’ve got to look not just at what is popular now, but what will be, in say, three years time.’

The band cite a wide range of influences. When asked who have made a considerable impact, among others they list The Libertines, The Doors, Rage Against the Machine and even, perhaps ironically, local metalcore outfit Bring Me The Horizon. With another knowing glance at the manager, ‘I like to scream every now and then, but I get told off and to look after my voice!’.

However they slot into the local scene, the band stress that they don’t see themselves as a Sheffield band as such, all hailing from elsewhere, but acknowledge its place on the UK’s musical map. Liam asserts that he ‘came to Sheffield because of the music, it just seemed to be a place where there was so much going on musically.’ But it wasn‘t originally all he had hoped for, ‘Not to insult the city, it’s not as cutting edge as say, London. In a way I like that, because as a band, it’s easier to stand out. Not to sound like we’re selling out, but would you rather play in a town where there’s another 10 bands just like you, or one where you’re something different.’
Manager Alex steps in again at this point, ‘If anything, I suppose that knowledge Sheffield’s past success, means we know that we can access the industry from here.’

The first step towards really breaking into the industry is recording, and the band plan to do this ‘when [they] can afford it’, or rather when they can afford to put into practice the session they have planned in theory. ‘We are going to record with Tim, the singer from Bromhead’s Jacket, as soon as we can’. Do they have an idea of how they want it to sound? Dave answers, ‘Like a punch in the face!’, which is clarified by Alex as rather ‘capturing the live experience’ on record.

Before this can come together, the band have planned a fairly extensive tour in order to build a fan base, in which they’re playing each of their hometowns and ‘as many places as they can fit in between.’ Liam has one date in particular he is looking forward to, ‘Colchester’ he says in a distinctly matter of fact tone, ‘’cos my brother-in-law lives there and he’s a copper. He’s promising to bring the whole force, so I’m thinking, they’ve got a bit of money, we might be able to bump up the ticket price a little bit!’.

The band have a distinct strategy in marketing themselves, ‘We’ll use Myspace, we’ll exploit people, we’ll do anything we can to get people down the front really! In the run up to the gig tonight, we used Myspace to get the word out as much as possible, and this has spread to other cities, and so we realised its power [for touring bands]. The way I see it, if you’re playing to more than ten people, then it was worth going’ says Liam, before politely excusing himself to answer a call.

Are you worried you might drive each other mad on the road? The answer, from guitarist Nathan Croot, ‘If anyone is going to drive us mad it will be him [all point over towards Liam, then Nathan mockingly] ‘Oh my God, I’m a superstar!’’.
I reveal this verdict upon his return, he refutes the claim, ‘I think if our manager is around, he will be the one that drives us mad, like ‘everyone get on the bus now we need to leave!’etc’.
‘It’s you who does that.’ (Drummer, Robbie)
‘Would we be playing here tonight if I wasn’t like that, eh?! Do you want to play tonight? We’ve got [a friend] coming who knows the songs! [a brief pause] We’re only playing…’
I do hope so, I don’t want to be the cause of the break-up tonight!

Liam is quick to defend the band’s solidarity however, ‘We’re just looking forward to the tour. We aren’t looking to make money from it, we just want to cover it’s cost. We’re students, we don’t expect to make money, we just want to make some fans and then maybe we can do the same tour in say a year, then they’ll bring their friends.’