China Shop Bull ***New Interview***

China Shop Bull is an awesome punk/ska band out of Leeds. They have an amazing live set and have shared the stage with an incredible list of bands. Have toured the UK 3 times and EUrope once. They also have a couple awesome releases out. I got Nobby to tell their story...

Introduce yourself...
Hello, Nobby here, Trumpet player from China Shop Bull.

How did the band start?
China Shop Bull started from what we were originally know as "Fulibulbus" whch was started by singer guitarist JohnYates with friends from back home in Lancashire.  In 2009 Fulibulbus lost 2 members (Sax player known as Fish Pie and Ant Roberts, Bass player).  We never replaced Fish Pie but Ant Roberts was replaced by Dave Laine and we introduced samples and keyboard guy Scott Firth.  With the new line up we took a dfferent musical direction too and after advice from lots of people, mainly promoters, other bands etc we changed the name too.  As it was different music, a different line up and a different name, it was obvious to us that Fulibubus was no more and China Shop Bull had been born.

How did you come up with the name?
After we decided to scrap Fulibulbus we were coming up with all sorts of names that none of us could agree on.  One day John came up to me in a pub and said "What about China Bull Shop?"  I liked it but said "We should be China Shop Bull!"
We asked the rest of the band and we finally had a name we all areed on.

Who would you say are your influences?
That is such a hard question for us to answer because all 7 of us have very different musical back grounds.  I grew up on punk such as The Sex Pistols, Bad Religion etc.  Pete is the rapper but his roots are in death metal. Joe our drummer is heavily influenced by Jazz, so there isnt really a specific influence.  I think we can all definately say that The Prodigy are an influence we all share.

What is the punk scene like in Leeds?
Its not that different from the punk scenes of any city. There is definately no shortage of bands. We haven't been involved too much in the past year as we have been gigging all over the UK and Europe so havent done many gigs in Leeds recently.  From what I hear, the Punk scene is alive and well.

Describe the song writing process...
well.  There isnt really a structure to it, it is usually just all or most of us having a jam and seeing what we can come up with.  I can't think of a single China Shop Bull song that doesnt have at least one part written by each band member.  Sometimes myself and Glyn (Trombone/Trumpet) will write each others parts, sometimes John and Dave will write each others parts.  Joe will usually have the last say though as to what we keep and what we scrap!

You released Rave To The Grave, tell us about the album...
The album is 8 songs that we each decided on. We had written about 13/14 but we decided on the 8 as recording too many meant studio time and costs that we just didnt have at the time. The songs are all 4 or 5 minutes long anyway so it is stil a good 40 minutes long.
The album includes our most well known song, also released as a single "Sandblaster" a song about NOT smoking dirty weed.
Track one "Brain in a jar" also has a video on you tube.  I don't really know what to say about the album itself other than to just listen to it and decide for yourself.

What else have you released?
The single for Sandblaster was relesed before the album came out which included two B-sides "Crimson Crackhead" and "Dragons".  Crimson Crackhead is a song we still play live however it never featured on the album and Dragons is not something we play very often aymnore.
Whilst still Fuliblulbus we released the single "B-triple O M" which had "Another dirty horse on parade" and a song which we I think we should have kept "Badassassassassin".

Who are some of the Bands you have done gigs with?
Goldie lookn' Chain, Inner Terrestrials, Sonic Boom Six, Random Hand, Guttermouth, Voodoo Glow Skulls, The Skints, The Grit, The Beat, TheSelecter, UK Subs.  To be honest the list is too long to remember them all.

Do you prefer to do shows at small clubs or large venues?
I am not bothered about the size of venues.  It is true that smaller venues have better atmosphere but that is because they are full.  Playing at packed out big venues are just as much fun.  What I tend to find is that the bigger venues have better soundsystems,monitors and mcirophones and therefore the sound on and off stage is better.  There are also 7 of us in the band so sometimes small venues don't have room for us on stage.

Have you toured?
Yes we have.  We have done 3 UK Tours and 1 European tour which we have just come back from.  No one was arrested, no one went to hospital and the bus didn't break down!  What an achievement!

Is there a favourite band you like to do shows with?
 I like supporting Inner Terrestrials as they have become our friends over the past 2 years.  We have played with them a few times and we seem to be on the same wave length.  It is always good suppoting a bigger band as there is always going to be a bigger crowd.
Whenever we play in Birmingham Cracked Actors are usually on the bill and they are a great bunch too.

Is there a favourite place you like to do shows at?
I think in every town there is a favourite place. Here are a few of my favourite places.
Derby - The Old Bell
Nottingham -The Maze
Birmingham - The Waggon and Horses
London - The Rat Star
Dundee - The Doghouse
Hull - Hollywood and Vine
Manchester - Star and Garter
There are loads more but these are very memorable.

What do you see is the future of China Shop Bull?
I see the future as an exciting band to be a part of.  We are writing a new album currently and next year it will be recorded, released and then the fun part..The tour!  The most exciting time for any band is when a new album comes out and you get to go on tour.  We will be heading back to Europe, a UK tour and then hopefully USA.  We are being approached by lots of different promoters, booking agents and loads of people who two yeas ago I never thought would even have heard of us so it is a really exciting time.  Obviously I cant predict the future but one thing is for sure:  China Shop Bull is going to be a round for a while longer yet!

How can people contact the band?
www.myspace.com/chinashopbulluk
chinashopbullband@gmail.com
or for bookings jugofrum@gmail.com