We caught up with My Passion before they took to the stage at the Mean Fiddler in London for their support slot on the Kill Hannah tour to talk about their recent bus troubles, their debut album, the music industry and much more.

First of all thanks for taking time out to do this interview

How did the band form and how did you come up with the name My Passion?
It formed because I [John B], Lawrence, John S and Simon were all in different bands before all gigging in the same circle all the time. They didn’t really work out so we came together and formed our own. The name, we were trying to find a name for a long time writing our hundreds of lists and then John S came up with the name ‘My Passion’, sent it on e-mail and that was it! That was our favourite.


How would you describe your band in three words?
THE FUCKING BEST!
Monkey Metal Madness.

You have had a bit of major label interest but instead went along and launched your own record label called 'Style Suicide Records' how is the label going and are you happy working on your own label rather than having the majors controlling your every move?
Yeah it’s going really good, it gives us a lot more freedom than we would have normally and I think basically majors the way the industry’s going at the moment they’re not making a lot of money anymore. We feel we can make money on our own so we don’t really need to give our money to someone else if you see what I mean! Its working a lot better for us now than if we were on a major label, if you don’t make enough money in the first quarter then you’re dropped anyway.

You have your own clothing range called 'My Passion Fashion', how did this come about and how can people check out and purchase items from this range?
It’s just our merchandise really. We’ve taken it a step further and making it more of a fashion label. It’s more than just band merchandise. You can get anything on there from hoodies, bags, t-shirts and wallets. It’s got a good ring to it as well, it’s pretty cheesy but people remember it. It’s what keeps us alive, keeps us feeding, living and breathing. The only way anyone makes money now days is through merch. It’s just part of the brand of My Passion really!

You are currently working with John Mitchell on your debut album, what can we expect from the album and roughly when do you think it will be released?
Best album in the history of the world. We’re really pleased with it like really proud of it. Probably early next year! It’s basically one big guitar solo because John Mitchell is 5X classic rock guitarist of the year, he’s amazing. We’ve got a few tracks on there no ones heard. There are a few surprises on there.

You are currently on tour with Kill Hannah, what are they like to tour with?
Crazy! They’re really love boys, we’ve been on the tour bus with them and they’ve been looking after us and everything so yeah we’ve had a really great time. Partying, chilling out and having a good time. Burning, we’ve been burning quite a lot after the bus incident. They’ve been really looking after us and the tours been great, we get along like a house on fire. We’ve played to sell out crowds and stuff like today it’s been crazy.

Last Tuesday you had a complete living nightmare with your bus catching fire, which must of been one hell of a scary experience, do you now know how did the fire actually started?
No, no ones really sure we haven’t had the fire report yet so we can’t really say about how it started. We think it was electrical. It was 7am everyone was sleeping. There’s been speculation on the Kerrang website that we’ve been smoking but they’re twats!

Judging from the photos posted on your MySpace the result of the fire was complete carnage, luckily no one was hurt, but sadly all your belongings were destroyed, what did you have with you on the bus?
Basically we’ve lost pretty much everything we had like everything. Because we were on tour we brought all our clothes with us so our houses are empty of clothing and everything burnt. People have been really bad towards Kill Hannah saying it was because we had hair spray and smoking etc. We’ve lost pretty much anything you can think of, laptops, phones, bank cards etc. Basically everyone’s been so good to us. They’ve given us a lot like we would’ve been performing naked if it wasn’t for them like everything you see on me now has been brought for us. People have brought us hair straightners and they looked after us in Switzerland by the hotel and the restaurant we were staying with. If you look at the videos they’re all quite tongue in cheek because we were just laughing. There’s nothing else you can do we lost pretty much everything so the end of the day you just laugh and it’s just like for fuck sake what is happening!

After the result of the bus fire did you think about cancelling the tour or were you totally fixed on keeping the tour running?
No it was never going to get cancelled. We really wanted to do Paris but had to cancel Paris and Belgium, we really didn’t want to but there was no way for a bus to get to us and because of our temporary passports we had to go straight back to the UK so we had to literally come straight home and there was no way around it.

Apart from the bus incident how's the month long tour with Kill Hannah gone so far?
Crazy! It’s just been mental. It’s been like a dream basically because we’ve been everywhere. We’ve been to Berlin, all around Sweden, Helsinki and everywhere. We’ve been to so many places we’ve never been to before and we’ve had such a good response they’ve actually loved it which we’re so lucky for. It’s been really good!

You are playing at the Mean Fiddler in London tonight are you looking forward to it?
It’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna be absolutely mental it’s pretty much sold out. It’s the biggest crowd we’ve ever played in London. This is the only day I’ve ever been nervous, yeah we’re abit nervous because like this is pretty much our home gig on this tour. It’s like we’ve come to this place and Astoria so many times to see bigger bands and now we’re going to play here it’s like Christmas! We’re excited and there seems to be a lot of My Passion Fashion about so it’s looking like we should have quite a lot of fans for us.

What are you plans once the kill Hannah tour ends?
We’ve got a couple of weeks off and then we’re back touring until Christmas and after Christmas in the new year like at undetermined dates so far we’re going to release our album and then hopefully get on some more big tours. Next month will be spent doing all the album stuff. We’ve got a lot of album stuff to do.

Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals that you partake in?
John S and I [Simon] do we like to punch each other. After the show we like to have a drink especially John B. It’s weird because as a band we get a lot of alcohol on the bus but we don’t actually drink it that much. We don’t drink before the show, really we don’t it’s one of our rules like we’ll have a beer but that’s it.
What do you feel is your strongest song to date?
We’ve got a brand new one which we’ll be playing today so it’ll be our strongest song from today, it’s called ‘Crazy + Me’. It’s quite rock and rolly like southern rock. It’s quite different from our usual stuff but you’ll like it it’s good!

What particular gig that you’ve played sticks in your mind as being truly amazing or unforgettable?
Nostero, Finland it was physically amazing. It was sold out and was just absolutely psycho! The kids were just going mental. My favourite show was in Academy 2, Manchester that was awesome. That was our first ever big show so it was great.

What could you not live without on tour?
We’ve pretty much lived without everything after this fire so we’re alright! Underwear and showers, John B has to have like 4 showers a day. I have 2 showers a day because when you get up on the bus you’re all sweaty so have a shower then when I come off stage you’re all sweaty so have another shower.

Every band gets presents from their fans from time to time, what’s the best gift you have received so far?

Clothes! Golden men!
Can you explain these golden men?
In one of our songs there’s a golden man in one of our lyrics. One night in sunny Manchester in the city festival we went out with a record company because they were buying us drinks they said you can have whatever you like. Some of us were very drunk and he asked for a Golden Man so we asked for a Golden Man and then it got written into a song and we’ve asked people to bring us golden men which most of them burnt.

Christmas is fastly approaching. Do you have any special plans for the festive season?
Gigging. On Christmas day we’ll all be chilling with our families. We’ve got Christmas Eve - New Year off.

If you could give a big “Fuck you” to anyone, who would it be?
The record industry for not giving a fucking shit so I’m gonna say fuck you to them. Arse lickers in the industry. Any people who think they can get somewhere and not working for it, kissing ass and shit.

What do you think about the state of the current music scene?
It’s good for us. It’s in disarray. We’re the phoenix rising from the ashes because everyone seems to be not actually making any money from it. We’re getting by on our own, building up our own fan base without any help.

Where do you hope to see My Passion in five years?
Wembley! Taking over the world! On a break! I like how Radiohead do it they’re doing it because they love it and they don’t care if they make money or not. That’s where I’d like to be making music that I couldn’t care if anyone liked not worrying about money, doing it because you love it! That’s where we want to be in five years.

Okay, one final random question; if you had a choice, what animal would you be out of a Zebra and a Giraffe?
Giraffes are weird and wonderful. A giraffe because they’ve got bigger tongues, a baby giraffe! I like giraffes, what do zebras get fuck all! No one goes to see the zebras everyone goes to see the giraffes. Giraffes have got those cool little horn things, you could like ride on their heads or something. They have long necks too imagine what you could do. Zebras would get run over by a car.

Thanks for your time, is there a message you want to add for your fans and everyone who’s reading this?
Thanks so much for all the support and helping us when we were really desperate. Thanks for the underpants, the shoes and everything. This is an important message from Simon: If everyone buys our album DR Pepper will give everyone in the UK a can.

Interview By Emma Bowdidge