From left to right: Anthony, Brian, Leah, me, Tara and Sam
I first came across Beware of You when they were announced as contestants of the ‘War at the Button’ competition at The Button Factory in Dublin. I did not go but when I saw they were a pop-punk band I liked their Facebook page to remember to check them out later on. One Friday evening I was on a ‘Facebook break’ whilst working at Trinity College Library where I am studying when I saw that Beware of You announced a last minute gig at The Mercantile starting right then literally just a 5 minute walk away from my uni. It took me 3.17 minutes of listening to their first single ‘Control’ to decide that it was worth dropping it all and going to check them out live.
They are actually a really cool live band. Great energy, they are cracking jokes and talking to the audience in-between songs, Beware of You is the type of band you will always enjoy live if you are a pop-punk lover! I also like the fact that Sam and Brian jump off the stage to play from the pit, they really aren't scared to engage with the public.
Ahead of the band’s biggest live show opening for Against the Current in a sold out Academy, I spoke to Beware of You to find out more about them, their new EP 'Self Portraits' and their past and upcoming shows!
Hey guys, could you start by introducing yourselves?
Leah: I’m Leah, I’m 20 and I am the singer.
Tara: I’m Tara, I’m 20 and I’m lead guitar.
Sam: I’m Sam, I’m 19, I’m rhythmic guitar.
Brian: I’m Brian, I’m old at 27. And I’m the bassist.
Anthony: And I’m Anthony, I’m 19 and I play drums.
Where does your name ‘Beware of You’ come from?
Brian: The name comes from a saying by Hayley Williams from Paramore and we took it on because we feel we relate to it a lot. It means: you are in control of your own destiny, you can make it the best life or the worst life in the world and we are out there to make it the best for ourselves and hopefully we can bring you along with us’ and that’s where the name comes from.
Sam: We also couldn’t think of a better name! [All laugh]
Well, that is a cool name, I like it! So you guys are fans of Paramore, but what other bands do you listen to? Do you have a favourite band?
Leah: That would be between The Killers and Tegan and Sara.
Anthony: At the moment it is Periphery and You Me At Six, which are miles apart but it’s just what’s inspiring me at the moment.
Tara: Paramore and Tonight Alive.
Sam: Bring Me The Horizon and Buddy Rich.
Ok, Sam what do you think about the BMTH new album ‘That’s the Spirit’?
Sam: It’s unbelievable, I love it! It’s definitely different to their early heavy stuff…
Yeah, I am obsessed with ‘Throne’.
Sam: Oh yeah, it’s class! It’s so good!
So back to my initial question, favourite bands?
Brian: [to Sam] You stole my influence. So, Bring Me The Horizon, All Time Low, You Me At Six and Chunk! No Captain Chunk!
Did you see All Time Low back in March when they played the Olympia [17th March 2015]?
Brian: I met them! They gave me guestlist for the night!
So, how did you form the band?
Brian: I was looking for a band to play a gig that I was organising but before ATL played here actually, and I got on to Tara because her old band was the same style of music and she said ‘Oh we [she and Anthony] are not in that band anymore, we are looking for a bassist and a singer’ and I said ‘Oh well, I’m a bassist’ and at the time they only knew me as a photographer, so she told me to come down for a jam. So I went and on that same day, Leah was there auditioning to be the singer and we ended up playing ‘Proud Mary’ and the rest is history.
Leah: We found Sam a little while later. We had a few different rhythmic guitars in our rehearsals and every single person did not stick with us and we had two guys coming in the day Sam was there and he just fit straight away.
Sam: Because I’m good, like really good.
Leah: Yeah… [Laugh] And Tara and Sam know each other since years ago.
Tara: We met when we were like 17.
Sam: She really did not like me! She hated me!
Tara: [Laugh] When I met him, he wouldn’t speak and I would be like ‘urgh that kid looks a bit weird’ and then we did not spoke for about two years and then one day he messaged me on Facebook about coming to an audition for my old band and I told him ‘No I am in a new one now, because whatever’ and from that point it was all of us together…
Sam: I still don’t like you! [All laugh]
And what was the first concert you’ve ever been to?
Brian: Oh fuck that’s gonna be embarrassing!
Leah: Oh my god, it was Hear'Say. [All laugh]
Brian: Me too!
Leah: Was yours Hear’Say? Oh my god, no way, imagine we were at the same Hear'Say concert! [All laugh]
Who is Hear'Say?
Leah: It’s really old. It’s a boy and girl pop kinda group and they were a bit like S club 7 and they were together to maybe a year. They were really big for like 2 seconds and then just disappeared. [All laugh] But yeah I remember… Hear'Say! They’re great!
Tara: Mine was Paramore. I have gone to two concerts and both were Paramore! [Laugh]
Sam: My auntie bought me tickets to Deep Purple for my 14th birthday… yeah that’s smoke in the water that band! But nobody would go with me because everyone else I was friends with hated Deep Purple so I had to bring my auntie with me out to county Cork to go watch Deep Purple play! That was a great gig, it was Steve Morse playing guitar. I love him!
Brian: This is embarrassing. I went to the same possibly Hear'Say gig as Leah. I actually loved them! I was one of those fangirls!
Fangirling is life!
Brian: Yeah it is life! [Laugh]
Anthony: I’m like in the same thing as Sam. I went to see Metallica at Marlay Park back in 2008 and I was too young and nobody else went so I had to go with my dad. I was actually to small to see over the crowd of people but my dad let me stand on his shoes so I was just high enough so I could see. It was awesome!
Tara: Awww, he still can’t bleedin’ see, look at the size of him!
Brian: He is big on the inside!
You launched your first EP on the 19th of August, can you tell me more about it?
Leah: It’s called ‘Self Portraits’. Identity is a big theme in it, hence the name. We recorded it down at Red Lake Studio in Portlaoise. We had a great time there with Gary Duncan. We are gonna go back again soon to record our album. We have a few more songs that are not on the EP, we just chose the one that shows us off the best just to get ourselves out there.
And you got a great response!
Brian: Yeah, the response for 'Self Portraits' was incredible! It was above and beyond anything we ever expected. It managed to reach number 7 in the Irish charts and we honestly can't thank everyone enough for their support.
You guys just played at Electric Picnic, how did that happened?
Leah: Our first gig we played as a band was actually here in The Mercantile at the King Kong Club [bands battles event] with Keiron. We played three songs and we had brought nobody with us and it was judged by clapper-meter, so the band with the more cheers wins. The other band had brought all of their friends. But they didn’t get through. So we had to do a tie-breaker, and everybody that was there for the other band said they would cheer for us. And we ended up both getting through in that round. It was unheard of. He said in like 11 years it never happened.
Brian: I have done the King Kong Club with different bands 4 times and it has never happened! Two bands never get through. So the time we went through as two bands, it was the first ever. It was just so loud and energetic from everybody, it was crazy!
Leah: So then we went back for the semi-final and if you won it you get to play at Electric Picnic, so we tried to round up as many people as possible and all the other bands wanted to play Electric Picnic too so it was so packed in that tiny little place. We ended up winning and we are playing on the Oxjam stage in Electric Picnic woohoo! And we still have one more King Kong to do.
The King Kong final was on the 30th of September and BOY unfortunately did not won the first prize but they got booked for further gigs thanks to it so well done lads!
We also won different things like Gigs for Stage.ie, and Battle for the bay, that we played on the beach, it was really cool.
Tara: And we are gonna go the Lamps and Amps live session soon.
Leah: We played another festival before but it was quite small so it’s great to get out there.
Brian: Electric Picnic was incredible. We were on quite early on the Friday so we weren't expecting too many people to be there when we played, We thought it would just be friends we knew at the festival. We were completely wrong. There was a load of people there. Some had heard of us and went out of their way to get to us early and a good few people who stopped as they were walking by. The whole weekend was amazing too. We stopped by a few of our friends, who were playing too, like our good friend Anti-One. the big acts playing were great but this year we think the smaller lesser known acts on the smaller stages championed the festival! A great experience all round!
You are opening for US band Against the Current at The Academy Dublin for a sold out show in two weeks, how excited are you about it? Did you prepare anything different from your normal gigs?
Brian: Oh man! We could not be any more excited for it! I worked hard to get us on the bill and the feel was unbelievable when they announced it. We've played some big shows, like Electric Picnic, but this one is by far the most important for us. We are looking at this as a stepping stone to the next level of the band. It's an amazing opportunity to be playing with a band who are signed to a large well known label and are on a world tour. We can't wait to show them why they say the Irish are the best fans in the world! As for preparing anything different... not really. We're just going to do what has worked for us in the past and enjoy every moment. As you know, we're a bit wild on (and off) stage when we preform... expect more of that and some other crazy antics.
So you only play in Ireland for now?
All: For now!
Brian: We are in talks with other bands in Dublin and around Ireland and also in places like the UK, Germany and the USA about organising a load of shows. So keep an eye out for them. Some of those will happen this year and some will be next year... who knows, maybe we'll take a leaf out of Against The Current's book and do a little world tour.
What about France?
Brian: France! Oui, oui! [All laugh] I am trying to get gigs with Chunk! No Captain Chunk! and we are gonna go down to Perpignan, Marseille, Biarritz, Toulon, maybe Lyon and Rennes.
That’s where I did my undergrad!
Brian: I did Erasmus there! In ESC Rennes. It was great, I was in a class with all French students and everybody else were in international classes, so I learnt a lot of French and it happened that my class was the party organisation committee so I got into all the parties for free and got free drinks all the time. That’s gotta make an Irishman happy!
Did you hang out a lot at the Rue de la soif [It’s a famous street with only bars]?
Brian: Every day! E-ve-ry day! And the Cactus, it’s a pub there, it might not be there anymore because I did it in 2010…
I was in Rennes too that year.
Brian: Oh! Did we meet each other? Oh oh!
I would remember you.
Brian: No you wouldn’t! [All laugh]
Sam: You missed out!
Alright, that’s it for me, thank you so much guys! Any last words?
Leah and Tara: Thank you!
Sam: Our band is terrible! [All laugh] So bad! Don’t buy our EP! It’s awful!
Leah: But if you do, it’s called ‘Self Portraits’ and you can buy it on iTunes or you can buy a hardcopy from us if you want. [it’s a fiver!]
Sam: A message to Offend Brand: endorse Brian! [Brian is wearing an OB tee]
Brian: It is a Paris based streetwear brand founded and operated by Paul C. Wilson, guitarist of the band Chunk! No, Captain Chunk!
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Since that interview was made, Tara actually announced leaving the band a couple of days ago. I contacted them to find out how they were coping with it and Brian told me: ‘We were sad to say goodbye to her, but we still love her and wish her the best in her next musical adventure. Sam has stepped up to mix duties between the lead and rhythm guitar. He switches in and out of each one depending on what works best for the songs. We are looking for a second guitarist and have a few people lined up. We're not just looking for a good guitarist but somebody who will fit in well with us as people in and out of the band. They'll have to have a strong sense of humour and be able to just as much of an oddball as we are at times haha.’
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You can catch up with Beware of You as they open for Against the Current on the 13th of October at the Academy Dublin (sold out) and at the upcoming two gigs at Whelan’s (dates TBA).
You may also want to like the band's Facebook page, buy their EP 'Self-Portraits' on iTunes or listen to it on Spotify. Personal favourite tracks are ‘Control’ and ‘Forget you’.
If you liked this article, please share it and support this blog by liking Of Bands & Gigs Facebook page and following @ofbandsandgigs on Twitter. I also share news about alternative or/and local bands on these. More reviews, interviews and even signed giveaway from THE STRYPES to come!
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