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WEAPONS: THE STORYJustin, Georgia G and Mo-laudi (vocals) / Blair Macann (guitar) / Pete Cherry (bass) / Tasha Baylis (drums)
The Weapons story starts in the sleepy seaside town of Penarth in Wales, where Justin and his sister Georgia grew up. In the quiet environment of the Welsh coast, music was one of the few distractions available. Radiohead, Prodigy, Beasties, Pixies and The Smiths all played their part in defining the musical terrain, as did enthusiastic parents who encouraged their creativity. Recording equipment and instruments littered the household which also inspired their other sister, singer/songwriter Jem, whose debut album "Finally Woken" (SonyBmg) went double platinum last year.
A move to London via university followed for the siblings, but their capacity for new music remained ravenous, leading them down surprising new avenues: inspired by hip-hops rhythms and its ability to communicate complex ideas, the brother/sister combo started rapping.
"For both of us I think we've always had big mouths, because we're Welsh", says Justin with a smile. I wanted to explore certain things and the only way was in that form. Dylan Thomas used words in a rhythmic way - concentrating as much on the flow of words as their meaning. I'm interested in meaning but more than ever I just love the sound of words, whether I'm singing or rapping."
Georgia's first performance as an MC was actually in prison. Sent down for nine months for a drug case that caused a media frenzy, Georgia got a group of yardie prostitutes to showcase with her to the rest of the inmates. "It rocked! I knew then that rap was a wicked way to communicate the inner angst!"
Whilst Justin and Georgia were planning the band's future in a north London pub, Mo-laudi overheard as he was serving them drinks. He's a multilingual South African from the tropic of Capricorn, born of activist parents in the days of the struggle. He grew up listening to maskanda, folk, dinaka, mbaqanga, kwaito, ragga and hip-hop. After winning his first rap competition in high school, Mo started his own hip-hop nightclub.
Something gelled. The three started writing together: three views and three very different styles. By February 2003 they had enough material to know what they were doing was worthwhile. But they needed a band to give a rock 'n roll framework to their extreme vocals.
Tasha, drums, was the first. She's played drums since she was twelve, and despite her diminutive size, she beats those drums harder than most fellas. So much so that the Verve's drummer heard a demo she made and commented "Bloody hell, he hits the drums hard!" Tasha: "I get a lot of attention from blokes (and females) which is an added bonus - I think it can be very eye catching being a female drummer."
Blair, guitars, was the chef in Mo's pub. He's from New Zealand, and an obsessive guitarist. Justin describes him as the "mysterious, philosopher-type, with a temper as bad as Gordon Ramsey in Hell's Kitchen - he likes throwing plates at Mo!"
The crew were completed by Pete, bass. From Lowestoft, Pete once worked with Ed Graham, The Darkness' drummer, breading chicken giblets on a conveyer belt. He was nearly deported from Norway for wrecking a hotel, and currently earns his dough writing music for porn flicks. Credits include "To the Manor Porn", "Customs & Sexise" and "Pump Friction".
Originally called Weapons of Mass Belief/ W.O.M.B. the bands name arose as a way of expressing the media's role in the machinery of modern belief systems. It was only earlier this year that the band decided to shorten the name to Weapons.
The band played their first gig in June 2003 at The Verge in London's Kentish Town, where the three rappers formed an unlikely yet compelling trio. Infectiously energetic, they ploughed a course through metal, punk, ska and post rock, aided by collaborator Carlos Da Jackal's furious scratching.
Holed up in a north London studio over that new year, Weapons recorded their first demos with Damian Taylor (Prodigy/Bjork/U.N.K.L.E.). On the back of the recordings, they were invited to Texas to play the 2004 SXSW festival. Selected by Music Week alongside Franz Ferdinand and The Hives as one of the buzz bands of the week, Weapons were soon doing a radio 1 session for Beth & Huw. Later in the year they released their first UK single "Terrorist Youth" to critical acclaim on indie American Blood, with plays across the evening sessions of Zane Lowe, Steve Lamacq and XFM's Ian Camfield. They ended 2004 with dates on Radio 1's "In new music we trust tour".
Following the success of their second single "Black Line Ninja" in March 2005, the band went over to the US to play their first LA show at The Viper Rooms in May. When they got back, Weapons were fortunate to start working with Graeme Stewart (Radiohead's engineer, Amnesiac/Hail to the thief) who recorded a limited edition third single "Death of a nation", which was released in November.
In early 2006 the band finished writing their much anticipated debut album and recorded it with Graeme at Courtyard Studios in Oxfordshire. Recalling a multitude of musical references - Pixies, RATM, Muse, Supergrass, Eminem - the album is an exhilarating 36 minutes through the heads of this genre-crossing sextet. The self-titled record is released through the band's own label Wicked Old Lady Records on Sept 18th 2006, preceded by the single "Love is Thunder", on Sept 4th.
LOVE IS THUNDER VIDEO
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WEAPONS LIVE AT CARGO, LONDON
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DEATH OF A NATION VIDEO
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