[avatar =”Ross” size=”50″ align=”left” /]
great night of bands. Beforehand, I had the chance to speak with Dan Steer (guitar and vocals), Jonny Finnis (bass) and Joe Sansome (drums) of Reigning Days as they Wilson’s first headline UK tour. As the lads get a drink from the bar, we sit down and chat about their recent tour with RavenEye, how the trio met and their plans.
First of all, welcome to Glasgow! Is this the band’s first time playing here?
Dan: No, we played in this venue before.
Joe: About two years ago with a band called EofE. I think we did it a year or two ago. 2014, wasn’t it?
Jonny: Yeah, it was 2014.
You’ve just started a UK tour with Wilson, tonight being night four. How’s it gone so far?
Dan: It feels a lot more than night four! It’s going really well, we’re a bit tired but that’s what happens I guess. Just try and remain mentally strong and not kill anyone! [chuckles] And then we’ll all get along just fine.
Joe: We’ve been doing alright at the moment.
Dan: Yeah, we are.
Joe: We haven’t killed anyone so far which is good.
Dan: Intentionally…[laughs]
And for those who may never have heard of you, how would you describe the band’s sound?
Dan: I would describe it like being punched in the head by a drunk bodybuilder. Quite forceful but not necessarily controlled at all times. [laughs] It’s quite riff-orientated, a bit Royal Blood-y, something a bit sleazier.
How did the band get together?
Dan: I met Joe on the internet, bit like a blind date. We arranged to meet up, have a chat, had loads to drink and decided we were gonna be in a rock and roll band. And Jonny, how did that come about? Because you two used to be in a band before.
Jonny: You went for a drink and Joe just invited me and then you decided and I went “Alright, I’ll play bass”.
Joe: It was the most simple getting together of a band that’s ever happened.
Jonny: We went to a band practice, played a song and it just clicked and we went “Well, that was remarkably easy”.
From what I understand, you’re a rather new band. Is there any music out there for people to get ahold of?
Dan: There is. Today is the day [Friday 26th Feb] our single “Renegade” is out and about online. So people can , Kerrang are playing it, it’s getting some airplay which is good. There’s another song called “Friendly Fire” which was our previous single.
Joe: It was the first single off this album.
Dan: Yeah, we’re excited for people to be ing our music for money. [laughs]
Joe: Not always the case…
You’ve also recently toured with RavenEye who I saw in Edinburgh. How was that?
Joe: Brilliant!
Dan: I think they’re three of the nicest lads, asides from being musicians, I’ve ever met. They’re just really nice, humble lads and very talented. I fancy them all a bit.
Joe: We’ve shared a few sweaty hugs with Oli in our time. The last night we did, because it was the last night of the tour, in Sheffield, and we’d had a bit too much to drink, we decided that we were gonna see if we could effectively walk together on my bass drum across the dancefloor.
Dan: Oh yeah!
Jonny: I’ve got that on video!
Joe: Subsequently, after that, I can’t what happened but we pranked them because it was the last gig. So we ran in with confetti canons and stuff.
I heard about that.
Joe: He got me back, I went to sit down on a flight case – and school-boy error, he [Oli] kicked the flight case out from under me. But I ended up landing on my elbow so I had to cancel the next night’s show because I couldn’t move my arm.
Dan: It was the first time we’ve had to cancel a show so thanks RavenEye for our run! [laughs]
Joe: Seriously it was a great tour.
And you’ve recently been confirmed for , I gather.
Joe: Yes.
Dan: Yeah, on the Saturday day-time on the fourth stage which we’re fucking pumped about. Really excited, we’ve never played anything on that scale before.
Jonny: Not in this country…
Dan: Yeah, not in this country
It looks like you’ll be on pretty early, too.
Joe: That’s even better because all of my favourite bands are playing that day. From a selfish point of view, the sooner I can get our set out of the way and done with, I can just enjoy the day as a fan.
Dan: I reckon I can blag us a main stage set as well.
Joe: Yeah? How are you gonna manage that?
Dan: Just ask nicely…just throwing us out there! Yeah, that’s not going to happen. The lineup’s incredible.
Obviously, you’ve already been out on tour with some class acts, who would be the dream band to play with?
Dan: From a musical linking point of view, I reckon…actually that theory’s completely gone.
Joe: Yeah, it doesn’t work.
Dan: We’re really different to RavenEye and we’re really different to Wilson but we can still put on a good show on the night. It’s nice to have a bit of variety and different styles of music because if you turn up to a night with seven metal bands, you start to switch off after a while. Not that metal’s boring, just a case of too much of the same thing. If you had too many of me running about the stage and squawking all night, it’d get on your nerves. [laughs] Ideal bands to :
Joe: I’d love to tour with Deftones because they’re so completely different to us but I think it could still work. I can just imagine…I dunno, I’m just being overly positive.
Jonny: I’d love to tour with Don Broco.
Dan: They seem like fun guys.
Joe: Or we just get Mötley Crüe back together and we just go out with those guys.
Yeah, just tear up the contract!
Johnny: They can’t, can they? They’ve contracted it!
As we’ve already said, it’s been a busy month for you. Is that set to continue?
Dan: Yeah, we’re just get busier and busier and busier and tour and tour and tour and tour. And then need looking after and looking after and looking after [laughs].
Joe: Luckily we have a couple of weeks down time after this tour as we have to go in and finish our album.
Dan: Yeah.
Joe: So we’re going to spend a couple of weeks in the studio, get it wrapped up. We’re about 80% there, we’ve just got handful of songs left.
Dan: When you think about it, we’ve actually been a lot busier than I realised. With touring, in-between touring we’ve been recording and writing and rehearsing and touring. It’s just been non-stop.
Joe: I reckon we’ve done just short or around forty shows just until now, this year.
Dan: I thought I felt a bit tired! [laughs]
Joe: Trying to do too much in one go, that’s what it is!
