Exclusive Interview: Weaponry talk “Take It Or Leave It”!

After the release of the second single from their upcoming new EP “Forever Nothing” and a show in Watford for Record Store Day as part of the Prank Monkey Records roster that includes Jumpman and Muscle Vest, it’s safe to say that Reading Post Hardcore quartet Weaponry are rising faster than a Space Shuttle. So a casual conversation and catch up with frontman Al Bristow is on the cards…

Having had a track like “Take It Or Leave It” in the live set for a long time without having released it, how does it feel to finally have it out there in the World in studio recorded fashion? “We’re so glad to be able to get it out! We had a lot of back and forth in the band about which would be the next song as we had 3 to choose from but Take It or Leave It feels right and its getting a great response so far! I think we chose well. And it’s our usual set opener so it’s good to have it out there so people can know it for our live shows”

As a live favourite, how much of a challenge was it to capture that live energy that the song has in the studio? How did your approach to recording it differ to that of the newer material? “I didn’t really see it as too much of a challenge as we’ve been playing it forever. I nailed the vocal take in one shot, live, all the way through at the end of a long vocal session. We wanted to have it build and build until the end part of the song where it goes wild so I change my vocals to start off almost spoken in parts and I got more aggressive as the song goes on”

How does this version of “Take It Or Leave It” differ to the version that you started out with? How have the live performances evolved the tune from the original demo? “This is an ollllld song. Previous bands old! Initially it had a different singer, no ending breakdown, a solo! I wrote the main riff when I was 17 and I just knew it was great so we used it again. This is the version I’m happiest with as I just love the ending part”

“Take It Or Leave It” was written before drummer Tim Doyle was in the band; how have you found his approach to playing the bands material that he wasn’t involved in writing? What do you think he’s brought to the King’s table in terms of the newer material? “Well as I said this is such an old song I have heard 5 different drummers play it! This is easily the best drumming on it I’ve heard though and I’m not just saying that. I’d love to be able to slate him! Haha, Take It or Leave It is always the song we test drummers out to when we’ve been auditioning them. Tim literally sat down, made up a beat for it on the spot and we all just looked at each other like “Yeah, this guy!”. He’s improved on it since then obviously and made it better. I love the use of the drum roll”

Between singles you announced your signing with Prank Monkey Records (Jumpman, Muscle Vest) for the release of the EP; how has that changed your thought process and the way you feel about releasing the EP? Does that mean we might finally see the release of some Weaponry music on Vinyl or Cassette? “There’s definitely options for more physical releases but I can’t say much more than that at the moment! Getting vinyl at the moment is a nightmare, I dont think Employed To Serve have even had their Conquering album pressed yet!”

You mentioned in our last interview having another pair of tunes written after the EP; are you still loving writing or are you itching to get back to the stage at this point? “We just played in Watford last night and we’re playing Reading Rising on May 8th so we’ve been having to do extra rehearsals. Some for set rehearsals, some for writing. I love both and the new songs we’re working on sounds so awesome. We’ve unconsciously written the 2 extremes of Weaponry, a softer song called Nothing Hurts and a ridiculously heavy and fast song called 19 Words. Making sure we keep a Weaponry sound/theme is challenging when writing two very different songs but I would say we have pulled it off!”

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