Scottish DIY Thrashcore – An Interview with Atomgevitter

Tell us about the band, how long have you guys been around?
G' day mates! Atomgevitter has been around forever, well since 2004, that’s pretty good going for a diy thrashcore band in this day and age. We're all about playing fast, putting on a good show, giving folk something to think about after the gig, all that good stuff. We maybe used to get naked a bit more at the gigs, but the Asian heat will no doubt bring that trend back!
We gigged a lot in our first year, toured UK, Ireland, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Finland and have just been living off that groundwork ever since. We’ve released a couple of split 7”s and have our first full CD out this summer for the Asian tour which we’re obviously very excited about, it’s been a long time planned!

What is the best thing about the Scottish DIY punk scene?
The scene itself I guess, the network of friends, that good ole family feeling all through the country. Scotland is pretty small but it’s still possible to do a six date tour if you put in the work, playing all the countryside towns, that’s where you meet the coolest folk, no jaded old farts or hipsters out in the sticks! I guess that is the best thing about the Scottish scene is that the country is small enough that you get to know everyone in all the towns real easy and there is a nice community feeling running through the scene.

Who is UK's best Grindcore band and why?
UK? Without a doubt it's gotta be the Afternoon Gentlemen from Leeds. These lads have been tearing it up live for a couple of years now all over Europe, leaving jaws touching the floor after blasting the audience with their powerviolence assaults. Everything they have recorded is solid G O L D - from the latest 7" eps, back through the comp and demo cds from a few years ago - I'd recommend absolutely anything by these lads, they are that good. They're gonna trash the USA this summer so who knows maybe they'll make it down under, "if you book them they will come" !

With Grindcore heritage well embedded in the UK, is there still innovation to be found in UK grindcore music?
What musical limitations do you find coming from Scotland?
I think innovation is a pretty loaded term, I'm pretty strongly of the belief that no new music has been written in quite a considerable time, nothing good anyway. Once you create a box, grindcore for example, then everything that comes out of that box is just a variation on a theme, which is no bad thing, striving for perfection within an art form has long been an ambition of humans. Of course innovation can mean something totally new which usually equals crap or indeed something completely new, which means it no longer belongs in the grindcore box. Anyway to answer the question, check out The Afternoon Gentlemen.
The biggest musical limitation I would say with Scotland is just the size of the country making it difficult to find musicians that share your vision when trying to form a group, which inevitably leads to some kind of compromise in what could be potentially achieved, I guess what I'm saying is there are more people with bad taste in music than good!

Where is your favourite place to tour?
My touring experiences are limited to Europe and the USA, and to be honest I'm always happy to be on the road no matter where I'm headed, I do however love touring in Eastern Europe and Germany. Not sure why, just lots of good memories and nice people, it’s great to see the world from a completely different angle yet come together over something like music, I'd imagine we'll have a lot of the same experiences as we tear up Asia!

What do you find to be a necessity to bring along when touring?
A positive, adventurous attitude, if you’re gonna be grumpy and moan and want a comfy bed, to check your internet, have a shower, not be stuck next to 8 other sweaty bodies for 20 hours a day stay at home! 

Is punk dead?
It’s as alive as we want it to be. I think the scene in general has become very a-political, and consumer orientated, with too many bands trying to do as much as they can in as little time possible (I'll put my hand up and say I've been guilty of this in my younger days too). We need to slow down, smell the roses, appreciate what we have here in the punk scene and try to direct our energies back towards delivering quality music and trying to make a difference. Remember plastic will never bio-degrade, all those hundreds of shit 7"s which are shat into the world daily will exist FOREVER!

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