D ance Mission the 2010 band who have dominated the charts with their electro punk sound and with thousands of new fans who don’t know their identity. I find out about their first world tour with their debut album ‘Step 1’ and their first few gigs in London. Finally discovering why they hide themselves behind weird but wonderful make-up. I talk to Lily Thompson (Singer), Billy Sanderson (Drummer) and Pod Howard (Guitarist) in their own small recording studio which they built themselves. In their Camberwell Studio near to where they grew up, the band sit there and are very open and chatty like we have been friends for years; not what you would expect from a band who hides their true identity. I see them with their un-masked faces and I dig a little deeper to see if they are ready for world domination.
Lily Billy Pod
1.) How surprised were you about the enormous success of your debut album?
Lily : We were amazed at how quickly it took off. I personally thought that the album was great, but I didn’t expect it to be so successful, especially in Europe!
Pod: because we are an Electro-punk band I didn’t think so many people were into our kind of music.
2.) How long have you all known each other, and how did you meet?
Pod: Bill and I have known each other since primary school, so nearly all our lives. We met Lily in High School.
Lily: I had guitar lessons with Pod , and when I started hanging out with him, we have all been best mates since!
3.) How would you describe your music, to people who have not heard it before?
Billy: I would say it’s a mixture of Eighties Electro Pop, with Punk influences. It’s dancey, pretty fast, but sometimes rough sounding. We are not too bothered about every song being clean and perfectly recorded. I use a real drum kit and also drum pads to trigger my samples with.
Pod: I’d liked it when someone recently described us as sounding like “ Does it offend you, Yh”
Lily: yeah with a hint of the “Yeah Yeah Yeah’s perhaps!
4.) Ah, that leads on nicely to my next question!
What kind of bands are you currently listening to?
Lily: I really like the new Kings of Leon album, I’ve always been a big fan, and they seem to get better and better. Also, Deadmau5’s new album is pretty good.
Billy: One of my favorite artists is Bonobo, it’s kind of chilled out, but with some good drops.
Pod: I’ve always been listening to Blink 182, especially their earlier albums.
5.) Your are also well known for wearing makeup on stage. What made you decide to do this?
Lily: We wanted to look different to other people and make our appearance more interesting. I didn’t want us to end up looking like the band “Kiss” so we designed our own make-up.
Billy: Sometimes when we are performing it smudges when we sweat on stage, but recently we have some cool new makeup, which works a lot better
Lily: Excuse me I don’t sweat!
6.) Do you all write the songs together?
Lily: I write most of the lyrics and the guys write the music together in our studio.
Billy: We used to spend hours on end jamming and writing stuff. Then we decided to take it a bit more seriously.
7.) I heard a rumor that “Justice” may be joining you on tour! Is this true?
Billy: We have met them a couple of times, when we have supported bands in Paris, but we are not 100 per cent sure if they will be joining us. If they did that would be sick!
8.) You say you have been to Paris, what other countries have you played in?.
Lily: We have played in Ireland, France twice and Spain once last summer for a festival.
Billy: Yeah that was great, definitely one of the best shows we have even done!
Pod: Yeah that’s probably why we are so well known now in Europe, it all started there!
9.) Are you going to perform all your own material?
Lily: Ninety percent, of the set will be ours, we will probably do one or two covers, depending on how big the gig is.
10.) Are you looking forward to the Tour?
Billy: Shit yeah! You don’t even understand how excited I am!
Pod: I am really looking forward to touring in America, you know what it’s like out there.
Lily: I hear Tokyo is a really fun gig, and I just love Festivals. I can’t wait to see what they are like compared to England.
Ok, thanks Guys, hopefully catch you on tour!
You can find them on
Dance-mission@myspacemusic.com
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