Introduce yourself…
Mick - vocals/ guitar, Phil - guitar/vocals, Kenny - bass, Chillo - drums
How did the band start?
The band started as a 3 piece with mick on vocals/bass, daz - guitar and foxy on the drums. kenny maaged to wangle his way into the band by persauding mick it would be better with 2 guitars. he's been in the band ever since.
How did you come up with the name?
Threshold Shift is the condition which causes ringing in the ears after they've been subjected to loud noises such as music. come to one of our gigs - I gaurantee you'll suffer from threshold shift
Who would you say are your influences?
We all like loads of different bands and styles of music. Kenny is mainly into punk but is recently listening to a lot of old rockabilly and stuff like that. Mick has a lot of reggae influences among others. Chillo is an old rude boy at heart listening to ska, northern soul and punk. phil is mainly into punk but also ska, reggae and metal. Actual bands who have influenced us would have to include, the clash, ramones, the ruts, etc....
What was the punk scene like in the UK in 1990?
Pretty stale really. most of the bands had called it a day in the late 80's with only a few of the big names still remaining. The scene had returned back to the underground soon to come back big time of course due to the likes of green day and the offspring going global.
How do you feel it has changed?
It's main change since the old days is that nobody gets a kicking outside gigs anymore by morons waiting outside for the 'weird kids'.
Describe the song writing process...
Usually starts by mick or phil bringing a riff or finished tune down to the studio then Kenny and Mick putting their stamp on things. some tunes nevr make it out of the rehearsal room, others we play for years. We've probably got more finished songs that we grew bored with and never played live than actual live ones.
You guys released your first album in 1992, tell us about the album...
I (Phil) wasn't in the band back then so this and some of the other answers might not be 100% accurate. The album was recorded at 'in a city' studio in bradford which we later used for the '65' ep and 'another fine mess' album. The engineer down there was a completely mad but cool geezer called carl stipetic. The album was recorded over a couple of days and taken to abbey road studios in liverpool for pressing. I think there were 1000 copies pressed. We just got rid of the last one a couple of gigs back. We still play a couple of tracks from that album at our gigs.
What caused the band to split in 1995?
Kenny left to join the circus, daz embarked on a mission to sample every cider ever made, Mick became a vicar and Foxy got chased into blackpool by a pack of hounds!!
What sparked you to reform the band in 2000?
Me (Phil) and Kenny got a covers band going with Gaz and a guy called Tino Palmer on drums. we soon got bored with this and realised mick was still up for playing. We had a few rehearsals, one live gig, then got chillo in to play the drums and the line up has remained unchanged since then.
You then released the 65 EP, tell us about the EP...
That was really soon after chillo joined. We already had the recording booked and chillo slotted in perfectly. We recorded the tracks in a day with carl twiddling the knobs again. One track off it - on my way - came second in a annual christmas chart on an independant radio station.
What else have you released?
We released 'Live in Rio' which was alive recording form rios when we played with stiff little fingers. It's a live album with about 15 tracks. Our next album was recorded in 2004 again with carl. We caled that one 'Another Fine Mess'. 13 tracks. We recorded a 5 track EP last year with a punk poet called Nick Toczek under the britanarchists name. We've just finished recording 8 tracks for the next album with another 8 tunes ready to record. We're gonna release a 4 track ep very soon before the album. The new stuff sounds really good with the reggae/ska influences coming through more than any previous release. Also an album called 'Trees' which was put together from various recording sessions after Daz had gone on his cider mission.
Who are some of the bands you have done shows with?
Name bands include the damned, slf, uk subs, anti nowhere league, bad manners etc....
Do you prefer to do shows at large venues or small clubs?
Small clubs are great but can be a pain cos we usually have to supply the full back line and sometimes the pa. big venues are easier for us as they have their own sound systems and sound guys but can lack the atmosphere if the crowd is a bit thin on the ground. Nice and sleazy festival is great to play - we've done that the last 2 years.
Have you toured?
Not really but we've played gigs all over the place - just not on a night by night basis.
Is there a favorite band you like to do shows with?
We'll play gigs with anyone but like doing gigs with bands we know and can have a laugh with - mardi gras bombers, the drastics, suicide by cop etc...
Is there a favorite place you like to do shows at?
Rios in Bradford is good to play as are loads of other places.
Do you see is the future of Threshold Shift?
We'll see how the new album goes down - you can listen to some of the tracks at reverb nation online. Probably continue as we have been already unless Simon Cowell comes along with a big fat cheque for us then we'll do whatever he wants!!
How can people contact the band?
email - thresholdshift@hotmail.com
www.facebook.com/thresholdshift
www.myspace.com/thresholdshift
www. our local pub in idle the brewery tap.com usually pissed at the bar!!
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