MIMI SOYA INTERVIEW
Mimi Soya are a quartet from Brighton. They’re continuous rise to fame is strengthening as time goes on. Labelled as the Cities Paramore they’re off on tour again to try and show the country they’ve got a sound of their own and they’re certainly not going to live in Paramore’s shadow. Down to earth, witty and comically ready to rip themselves, this band are a prime example of adolescent fun and they don’t take things too serious and it’s probably best you do the same.
Katie Wright chats to the band before they play their gig at Trillians bar in Newcastle.
You’ve been labelled as Brightons Paramore, how do you feel about being a comparison to Paramore – being in their shadow – rather than looked at in your own light? Do you aspire to be them or are they just an influence, if that?
JORJA (vocals): I think we get compared to Paramore purely because our band has a female singer and we’re counted as being in ‘pop alternative’ but I think we are definitely more pop than Paramore, I really dont see too much of a link but we’re going to get that. But it’s better than being like compared as being the next Jedward or something.
CHRIS (guitar): It’s always good to be associated with someone as big as Paramore.
I think people see a lot of similarity between your vocals and Hayley Williams, however I think there’s more of a valid link between you and Cassandra of Hey Monday. Do you see any link?
JORJA: I guess it’s just the whole power side of my voice, if you can belt out a note, and Hayley Williams obviously can and then if I can it’s just a link people will pick up on.
You’ve supported some pretty big acts, such as Set Your Goals, GO:Audio and Cobra Starship. Which tour do you think has benefitted you the most as a band?
MIKE (bass): There’s probably been two massive tours which we’ve done, one we supported Cobra Starship on their UK tour and that was in massive venues and we got to quite a lot of fans and sold quite a lot of CDs. The second one was when we supported a band called Destine in Holland, they were quite big in Holland and got a lot of radio play so that was a massive tour for us. We’ve benefitted… possibly more from the Holland ones actually.
JORJA: Definitely because now we’ve got European fans so it’s good now we’re branching out to different countries.
What do you think has helped you step up the most in the music industry?
CHRIS: New singer for a start, that’s probably the biggest thing because when Jorja joined things have just rocketted up, strength wise like song writing as well.
MIKE: Also, being signed to LAB records because they do so much, like they book tours for us, they put up the money for the EP, printing and some recordings. It’s good to have someone back you up all the time is really helpful.
JORJA: It gives you a bit of confidence.
Who would you most like to tour with?
JORJA: Obviously Paramore…. try and show them up every night of course…(laughs) Nah, probably N DUBZ.
Really?!
JORJA: No no, joking!
Thank god for that.
CHRIS: Probably All Time Low
JOE (drums): Bruce Springsteen…
(laughs)
MIKE: Blink have reformed though so that’d be pretty good
JORJA: How amazing would that be!
You played at Wembley for Nikes Human Race concert, (featuring acts such as Pendulum and Moby) to a crowd of at least thirty thousand, what was like that for you as band and as individuals?
CHRIS: Surreal
JOE: Mindblowing, I’ll definitely never forget that.
MIKE: Wicked, it was pretty good with the stage
CHRIS: They had the stage so that there was like you would have people running towards us, it was so good.
You’ve released your new EP – I Can’t Stand Pop Bands – who thought of the title for it because it’s quite tongue in cheek?
JORJA: We’ve always said that we weren’t going to take everything majorly serious, we were going to have a laugh.
CHRIS: There’d be no fun in it then if we did.
JORJA: That’s why we love everything that we do because we can just have a laugh. The title is quite hard to explain.
CHRIS: I think it came from what people said to us and it was tongue in cheek because there’s some times when we can be slated for being pop so we just had a laugh about that.
JORJA: Yeah the title doesn’t really come from us it’s more about when people say, ‘oh I can’t stand pop bands’ so it’s just supposed to be a joke.
CHRIS: People take it literally though because we get asked ‘what pop bands can’t you stand then’ it’s mostly just us taking the piss out of ourselves.
JORJA: Glad you caught onto that though.
Who was the main writer for the EP and what were the ideas and influences behind it?
CHRIS: I’d write some music and then get everyones opinion and they’d add in
JORJA: Everyone kind of writes their own parts because Chris will come up with the main guitar parts and the structure
MIKE: We all pitch in with lyrics and song ideas
JORJA: Yeah then I’d add the melody for singing but we do it together in band practice, once we’ve got the guitar and lyrics we add in the drums
JOE: I just make noise..
(laughs)
Do you think you’ve matured from your first EP (The Four Penny Knee Trembler)?
MIKE: Yeah we’ve got a different singer
JORJA: I wasn’t in the first EP
JOE: I think matured is the best word to use to describe the transition between the two EPs. Our song writing is generally a lot stronger, we sound more like a complete band now.
CHRIS: Yeah because on the first EP the songs were all different genres and this one has more of a direct sound, it’s more consistant.
Your tracks on your new EP are all similar – not to the point where it’s annoying – but you can tell they’re all from the same EP. What do you think makes you different from other pop bands, why should we listen to you rather than Paramore or Hey Monday?
JORJA: People say that they think we’re selling out but it’s not that we are because we actually really love our songs. They all make us smile and they sound happy.
MIKE: From a fans point of view, the best songs are the catchy ones you can sing along to, so when we’re writing we want to put in as many hooks as possible so it gets in peoples head and that’s what our songs do.
I read one review that gave your new EP a score of 8.5 out of 10, what would you personally give it?
CHRIS: I think that’s fair, I’d say 7 or 8 yeah.
MIKE: Yeah same 7 or 8.
JORJA: I’m going to go 9, no point bad mouthing my own band is there!
(laughs)
MIKE: Ten is obviously perfect and it’s hard to have a totally perfect CD
CHRIS: Pretty damn close though….
(laughs)
CHRIS: In the most modest way obviously
JORJA: We’re not actually big headed…we just know how to have a joke!
Not many people do.
You’re modelling for Boohoo.com has that helped promote the band and helped you or was it just something you wanted to experience?
JORJA: Nah well I’m short and I’ve never really considered myself a “slender model” but it’s not like catwalking or anything like that cause my heights not brilliant on the catwalk is it. They just gave us clothes and we’re in their new catalogue after we’ve done a photoshoot next time we’re in Manchester.
CHRIS: I think once it’s done it will help the band because if that’s getting out all over the country then hopefully people will see we’re Mimi Soya.
MIKE: We better start doing situps…
JORJA: and stop eating the pizza.
What’s your plans for the rest of 2010 and for 2011?
JORJA: After this UK tour we’ve got another big one in Holland and that’s with a band called Make Believe and they’re all awesome shows and Holland is amazing. It’s going to be so good, we get treated well over in Holland we’ve got a lot of fans there. We’re shooting a video too so hopefully that will bring more oportunities our way.
What do you think your strengths and weaknesses are as a band?
MIKE: Strengths.. song writing, live shows
CHRIS: Our music’s sellable too
MIKE: Weaknesses.. we’re usually running late
CHRIS: Money is holding us back, like we can’t afford to buy new equipment right now so things can screw up.
JOE: Our weakness is just our bank accounts
CHRIS: I think the way we’re always wanting to shower is a weird weakness.
JORJA: Yeah that’s a weakness on tour, we’re not a band who can just stay messy every single night we like to actually shower.
CHRIS: Get a nice face mask on…
(laughs)
CHRIS: It is boardering vanity?
I’d say just hygenic.
Out of Leeds, Glastonbury, Slam Dunk and Download, which one would you want to play at the most?
JORJA: Slam Dunk would be awesome I’d love to play there and loads of the bands which I love play at Slam Dunk so that’d be so good to see them all.
MIKE: Slam Dunk would be the best to get all the pop fans watching us but on the grander scale of course Glastonbury is the biggest festival.
CHRIS: The Warped Tour would be pretty cool
What do you think is your best moment as a band so far?
CHRIS: These questions are really good!
JORJA: Best times… Holland! We had a really good time in Holland. We don’t fall out so everyday was just a good day. We’d have the awesome shows at the weekend then during the week to go see stuff and visit places, like Amsterdam. We made loads of friends it was wicked!
CHRIS: Amsterdam was really cool, messy times.
What moment or event would signal that you’ve successfully made it as a pop band?
CHRIS: Some sort of an award
Like a Kerrang Award?
JOE: It’ll be when our song is played in the Queen Vic on Eastenders.
CHRIS: These questions have been some of the best we’ve had.
Mimi Soya have released their new Ep – I can’t stand pop bands’ and it’s available now. You can also get their new single – Millionaire – and catch them on tour throughout the UK.
