Introduce yourself…
I’m Paul, vocalist with Watford punk band The Blissetts. The other members are Arup (ex-The Astronauts) on guitar, Ed on bass and Ajay on the drums. The Blissetts have been called anarcho-punk, Oi, street-punk and even anarcho-oi. At the end of the day we’re just four normal working class lads who believe in standing up for ourselves and we don’t need politicians to do it for us.
We sing about the things we see happening around us and love having a go at those in authority. We support organizations such as the Hunt Saboteurs, Sea Shepherd and Punk 4 The Homeless, we don’t have anything to do with any organization linked to the government or any political party. We take our subject matter very seriously but we also have a lot of fun. Once you lose your sense of humour. that’s it, you’re screwed. Sometimes the band is like an episode of ‘The Young Ones’, it’s all very anarchic but at the same time we’re getting across a serious message.
How did the band start?
Originally we were just a group of mates playing covers but it took on a life of its own and got serious once we started writing our own material and The Blissetts came into existence in December 2004. The original line up was me, Dave on guitar, Craig on bass and Gaz on the drums. That line up only survived as far as March 2006 as there was a lot of arguing, fighting and general unpleasantness. Mostly it was all down to the old chestnut of ‘musical differences’ and not being able to agree on which direction the band should take. In just over 15 months we’d recorded a demo and a single, got ourselves onto the London gig circuit and were picking up fans left, right and centre. We’d knocked up our own website and had new material coming out of our ears when it just blew up in our faces. We weren’t getting on anymore so Dave and Craig left, leaving me and Gaz to carry on. I thought of knocking it on the head too but I couldn’t ignore the fact that we were on to something. Gaz left a year later and The Blissetts didn’t return to the live scene until August 2007. Arup, who is also a professional drummer, joined the band as guitarist in June 2006, Ed stood in at a gig after our previous bassist went AWOL and enjoyed it so much that he became a full time member in May 2008 and Ajay joined shortly afterwards.
How did you come up with the name?
We named ourselves after Watford FC legend Luther Blissett. Originally we were all Watford supporters, apart from Gaz, who believe it or not, actually supports Luton Town, Watford’s hated rivals. We had a nightmare finding a name. We couldn’t agree on anything so I just suggested ‘Luther and the Blissetts’ as a joke and the other buggers only went for it! I managed to talk them into shortening the name to ‘The Blissetts’ as that seemed a fair compromise. These days, I’m still Watford, Ed supports Tottenham and Arup and Ajay couldn’t give a monkeys about football. That’s as far as the football connection goes, we don’t sing songs about football.
Who would you say are your influences?
Lyrically it was old anarcho punk bands like Crass, Conflict and the Subhumans, but musically we also added influences by the likes of AC/DC and Motorhead as well as Oi stuff like the Angelic Upstarts and Cock Sparrer. The biggest influence on me personally was the Blaggers ITA, they had the hard hitting lyrics and the tunes to match! It was seeing the Blaggers that made me want to form a band. Ed is a huge AC/DC fan and he also loves The Clash, as does Arup.
What was the punk scene like in the UK?
When we formed there was no punk scene in Watford, There wasn’t a single venue that was putting on local bands, let alone punk bands. You’d only get a gig if you were a covers or tribute band. We ended up doing our first gig at Basement Studios in Watford where we rehearsed. Terry, the guy who worked there, let us invite about 20 people down to see us. We weren’t allowed more people due to Health and Safety. Luckily things have picked up in Watford, mainly thanks to Dan and the Independent Creative Movement who put on some fantastic bands.
I think the punk scene is as strong as it ever was. it just carries on regardless of current trends. There are loads of talented bands out there at our level that I’ve seen recently and it’s a shame that we tend to get overlooked by the bigger punk promoters who tend to wheel out the same old tired bands time and time again.
Describe the song writing process...
Arup or Ed usually come up with a riff and we’ll take it from there. Sometimes I’ll have a set of lyrics and we’ll work around them. More often than not, Arup will come up with a riff and I’ll go ‘Ah ha!’ and pull out a set of unused lyrics. We’re terrible at remembering stuff we’ve written and we’ve usually forgotten it by the next rehearsal so I tend to take my 4-track recorder with me to rehearsal and just record everything. Writing and rehearsing with The Blissetts can also be bloody dangerous. Ed has copped various beer cans in the face, Arup once turned up with a BB gun and had me and Ed cowering behind the bass amp and last week it was Ajay and his exploding dog biscuits, but I’ll leave that to your imagination. Anyway, here’s a bit of inside information for you, we are currently writing two new songs, ‘Born To Rule’ and the ridiculously titled ‘You Reaped The Rewards Of A Deal With The Devil, Now Your System Is Failing At Every Level’.
Your first release was the 'Basement Demo', tell us about the demo...
It was recorded by the original line up on my brother’s 4-track digital recorder at Basement Studios in Watford sometime in March 2005 I think. We hadn’t played our first gig yet and people wanted to know what we sounded like. We’d just got our own website up and running and we put the tracks on the website for people to listen to. It was a very raw and rough recording but it captured our energy perfectly.
You then released the 'Destruction Day' EP, tell us about the EP..
We recorded it in one day in July 2005 at Sanctuary Studios in Watford. It was a nightmare, and an expensive nightmare at that, from start to finish. We recorded 6 songs, ‘Destruction Day’, ‘Words – Action = Nothing’, ‘Bone Idol’, and ‘Nothing To Lose (But Our Chains)’. ‘American Empire’ and the George W Bush baiting ‘My Pet Goat’ didn’t make it on to the final single. Sanctuary back then was nothing more than a soundproofed portacabin on The Tolpits Lane industrial estate. We arrived at the studio and they had just finished building the drum booth. They then gave us the bad news that the headphones hadn’t been installed so our drummer wouldn’t be able to hear much. In hindsight, we should have left there and then, but we persevered and put ourselves through hell to get the recording done. It cost us over £400 and listening back to it now, wasn’t worth the money especially when you consider that our new CD was recorded, mixed and mastered for less than £200 and sounds 200 times better! But it was all that was available to us at the time. The title track was also included on ‘The Harder, The Better’ volume 11 compilation CD from USA based record label Turkey Vulture Records. It was a benefit compilation for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
People keep asking for copies even now, and I have to tell them that the ‘Destruction Day’ single isn’t a fair representation of what The Blissetts sound like today. The Blissetts now are much more streamlined and professional. ‘Destruction Day’ and ‘Chains’ are still in the set but they’ve been revamped and are a hell of a lot faster!
What else have you released?
Last year we recorded the single ‘Liars, Cheats, Thieves and Politicians’ and released it via a digital download on Election Day. Ok so we didn’t storm the charts but the single was (and still is) available all over the internet. We decided to move with the digital age and released our next single ‘The Death Of Freedom’ a couple of weeks after ‘Liars’ via the same channels. I almost choked on my cornflakes one morning when I found the ‘Liars’ single available to download from the Tesco Direct website. We also put both tracks on CD and tend to give them away at our gigs, email us if you want the free CD! Or if you’ve got money to burn, download them.
Our track ‘Dumped on the Scrapheap’ appeared on the ‘Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There’ benefit CD for Action Aid and a brand new revamped version of ‘Nothing To Lose (But Our Chains)’ appeared on the ‘Punk 4 Japan’ volume 1 benefit download album in the wake of the tsunami and earthquake earlier this year.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
We’ve supported the UK Subs and London plus a couple of gigs with the Bleach Boys. We’re supporting Crashed Out at the Grosvenor in south London on December 3rd 2011. We’ve played with loads of up and coming punk bands such as Freedom Faction, The Jelly fiends, Born To Destruct, Brocker, Skurvi and my personal favorites Oiz II Men. We’ve also supported punk tribute bands The Pistols and The Trash. We once landed a support slot with Argy Bargy but one of their band members had double booked so Watford Jon did a DJ set instead.
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Personally I’m not fussed. I’m just happy to be getting up onstage. The biggest venue we’ve played to date is the Hertford Corn Exchange with the UK Subs and the smallest is the Urban Bar in Whitechapel, London where they told us not to jump about too much in case we brought the ceiling down on the punters in the pub downstairs. Arup, The Blissetts guitarist played at the old Stonehenge Festival back in the 1980’s with The Astronauts and I think he’s done Glastonbury too with The Enid, but he’s just happy to get up onstage and go mental whatever the venue.
Have you toured?
No. We all have day jobs and bills to pay, plus me and Arup have families to take into consideration. We don’t have a record label or a management company behind us so we tend to just organize gigs and badger promoters ourselves. We could never afford to do a tour unless a bigger band took us on the road with them and helped cover our costs. We’re on the scene pretty much all year round anyway. Arup has got a large truck that we’ll be piling into the back of when we hit Skegness for the ‘Cheap As Chips’ DIY Punk Festival next month and the ‘Punk 4 The Homeless/Animals’ Festival in Stoke in January 2012.
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
The Bleach Boys are good for a laugh, generally we always have a laugh with the other bands that we play with but there’s always one or two who are quite happy to use all of our gear and then fuck off without saying a word to us.
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
I like the Corn Exchange in Hertford as we’ve always had a blinding reception there. When we supported the UK Subs last year, the promoter gave us a little room to get ready in and a crate of beer. Same goes for the Green Room in Welwyn Garden City, minus the beer! We recently played at the Grosvenor in South London and that is a blinding little venue, and they supplied all the gear AND gave us free beer so we’re looking forward to going back there in December.
What do you see is the future of the Blissetts?
Yes, we’re very much looking to the future. We’ve had a lot of airplay on the radio in the last few months and have recently had a few tracks played on the radio over in the USA. We are putting together a CD compilation of our recent singles along with some unreleased and live recordings at this very moment. It’s called ‘We’re The Blissetts, Who The Fuck Are You?’ and should be available by the end of July. As I mentioned earlier, we’re working on new material so we’re gonna look at going back into the studio later this year and recording our first album. We’re always on the lookout for gigs so if anyone wants to put us on then drop us an email.
How can people contact the band?
Through our email and various websites. My email is paul@theblissetts.co.uk and I pride myself on replying to every single person that emails me. Although we have a Myspace page, If you want to contact us, it’s best to do it through our own website and email us direct. The Rupert Murdoch owned Myspace can’t be trusted! Just use it to check out our stuff. We also have a page on Facebook which is far more active.
www.theblissetts.co.uk
www.reverbnation.com/theblissetts
www.myspace.com/theblissetts
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