Interview: Pin from Aliases
It’s interview time again!
This time, it’s Graham ‘Pin’ Pinney from Aliases and Sikth.
Oh how I miss Sikth. I remembered last night that I actually met Pin in 2006
when Sikth played in Norwich.
I remember watching Lord of the Rings on their tour bus.
I reviewed Aliases debut mini-album, Safer Than Reality
yesterday and bloody good it was too. Now, they’re currently working on their
debut full length album but Mr Pin was nice enough to take a break from his
busy schedule to talk about Booze, Beats, Bites & other such bizarre
things.
BOOZE:
What are you currently drinking/last thing you drank? If it’s not
booze, you better have a bloody good reason...
Main drink at the moment seems to be Vodka and Coke, its
gradually taken over from VRB having seen our drummers spirit fingers on that
stuff one too many times and deciding its best not to obtain them myself. Beer
is still the precursor but way too bloating in excess these days.
What was your first ever alcoholic drink? How’d that go for you?
I couldn’t tell you specifically, however I am pretty
certain at a very young age I thought it would be a good idea to sample one of
each spirit and liqueur available in the rather open and easily accessible
booze cabinet one Christmas day. I also don’t recall what happened after so I
guess it went well.
One beer. One Spirit. One Non-Alcoholic drink. Go:
Erdinger, Russian Standard, What?
What’s the most absurd thing you’ve done while drunk?
Using another human being as a baseball bat with the
ball being a third human being is pretty high up there. This was just one of a
series of absolutely ridiculous absurdities that occurred on our Brighton Beach party whilst on tour with Cyclamen
and Chimp Spanner
BEATS:
The boring one: Why’d you get into the music industry?
Played guitar a lot, played sport a lot, decided music was
cooler and I could bring out my own brand of joy to peoples ears.
What’s the first ever musical artist you ever remember enjoying
listening to?
I honestly don’t remember, however I do remember the first
records I bought. I went to the local record shop and picked up Cannibal Corpse
– The Bleeding, Napalm Death- Fear, Emptiness, Despair, Soundgarden –
Superunknown and an Aphex Twin record though which one it was escapes me.
If you could only ever listen to 3 musical artists again, who would
they be?
John Zorn, Frank Zappa and Venetian Snares
Why the hell is your band called that?
I think the name Aliases relates well to our musical vision.
We don’t limit our writing in any way so we will always have a broad spectrum
of sounds and so the band will have different guises. I am lucky to have the
band members I do, each has a very distinct style and this in turns allows us
to vary the music a lot whilst retaining the fundamental sound of the group
because of these characteristics.
You shouldn’t really feel guilty about any of your choices in music,
but really, what’s the one musical artist you feel really embarrassed about
telling people you listen to?
I don’t think I can feel any embarrassment for any music we
listen to, it’s extremely varied, I think on any given trip out with the band
we will listen to everything from Spice Girls to Cryptopsy, Katy B gets played
a fair amount come to think of it.
Would you ever play live with a guitar shaped like a penis? It
would be hilarious, wouldn’t it?
Nah.
What made you want to play guitar?
I think I have had a guitar since I was about 3. Maybe I
know no other way, however, it’s clearly the coolest instrument so landed on my
feet really.
For all the guitar tech geeks out there: What kind of kit are you
using?
Blackmachine and Invictus guitars
Diezel Amplification
TC Electronic G-System
ISP decimator pro-rack G
Line 6 Relay G90 wireless
Bites:
What are you currently eating/last thing you ate?
Last thing I ate today was an omelette; I am pretty obsessed
with them, super quick and easily varied.
Can you cook? What’s your signature dish? Will you make me the best
sandwich in the whole universe?
I can indeed cook although I wouldn’t go so far as to
say I have a signature dish, stir fries are a definite favourite but not really
going to win any impressive cooking awards. My mashed potatoes are also
incredible, although my good lady will always argue hers are better.
I reckon I could come up with a universe dominating sandwich
for you. We will just have to wait and see if the opportunity arises.
One Fruit. One Vegetable. One Meat. One Cheese. Go:
Tomato, Broccoli, Chicken, Stilton
What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
No idea although I got a raw chicken breast in squid ink
while in Japan.
It wasn’t going to be cooked and I sure as hell wasn’t going to eat it raw. I
would like to try some of those crazy things on skewers that you see in China I imagine
that would be weird, but I haven’t been there to have the chance as yet.
BONUS ROUND:
What sports do you follow? What are your teams? Do you play or are you
a fat bastard?
I don’t really follow any sports, I used to play rugby
like a maniac back in the day but now I just hit the gym and swim.
Where’s the weirdest place you’ve had to take a shit while on tour?
I have got lucky and not been caught out really so no great
story here (Joe our bassist would have had some cracking answers for you mind
you). It would again be the squat over a hole type toilets in Japan service
stations or the opposite end of the spectrum the auto opening, auto flushing,
self-cleaning techno beasts of bogs they have there.
Can you rap? I dare you to record a rap as a hidden track on your new
album…
No definitely not….. It would be so bad I would have to give
myself a lobotomy to forget it..
What would you do if you came face to face with an antelope? [Courtesy
of Jadeski]
If sober I would probably try and get some pictures with it.
If I was pissed I would probably try and ride it onto stage, which in turn
would probably result in some serious antler stab wounds.
How many times can you bounce up and down on Satan’s big old
trampoline? [Courtesy of Chris - @ckdsaddlers on twitter]
Assuming such a device would have to be in hell and
therefore be absolute torture, made of broken glass, spikes, cocks, fire,
electricity etc (you get the point) I will say zero bounces… he can bounce on
it himself.
When your music career all goes terribly wrong and you end up more
hated than Metallica after they released St. Anger, what’s your fallback
career?
I have been watching too much Dexter and Breaking Bad
to think of a sensible alternative; fortunately I don’t think I need to worry
about releasing anything that damaging anytime soon.
What’s the most bizarre thing you’ve currently got in your wallet?
A used ticket to Blackpool Pleasure
Beach…. Clear out time
again I guess.
And finally, where’s that goddamn sandwich I asked for earlier?
You don’t get it if you aren’t in my kitchen so you only
have yourself to blame.
So, what have we learned about Pin today? His favourite beer
is Erdinger which is a good choice, he makes good mashed potatoes (allegedly)
and he uses a lot of technical guitar equipment… I have no idea what any of
that means (Note to self: Must learn more about this kind of thing).
A massive thanks for Pin for taking time out of writing a
new album in order to answer my questions. It was a pleasure to read! Also thanks
to Lisa from Hold Tight/Basick Records for hooking me up (I interviewed her
here: http://www.boozebeatsbites.com/2012/07/interview-lisa-coverdale-from-hold.html)
You can catch Aliases live at the Siege of Amida Records
& Basick Records all-dayer which you can read about here: http://www.boozebeatsbites.com/2012/08/beats-gig-alert-soar-basick-records-all.html
You should like them on Facebook
for constant updates: https://www.facebook.com/aliasesband
Following on Twitter is also a cool thing to do: http://www.twitter.com/aliasesband
Also, Pin's own Twitter is worth a follow, cool chap: http://www.twitter.com/pinthevoid
And check out their video for What’s Left For Us:
Nate
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