Interview w/ Callum of The Bottom Line

Have another interview ready for the masses! Today, we head across the pond to the South Coast of England where we seek out the lovely lads of The Bottom Line. You may remember these guys as they were featured on my most recent Bandcamp compilation, "Towering Over London" and they have quickly taken over my mind with their sonically pleasing pop-punk rhythms wrecking havoc on my music collection and has made me appreciate the breadth of talent emanating from the U.K. that much more. Frontman Callum Amies was gracious enough to sit down for a chat as he talks about their beginnings and the comparisons between the British and American music scenes. Here is the transcript from that interview:

Give us your names and your roles in the band?

   Callum Amies - Guitarist/vocals, the mom of this little family 

   Max Ellis - Bass/vocals, he has great hair! 

   Matt Bicker - Drums, the sensible one and the best looking one!

How did you guys meet and when did the band form?

   

We started playing music together in early 2009. we met due to our other bands previously breaking up/failing so we met up one day to jam to some Alkaline Trio and we went from there! We became 'Thursdays Bad Luck' in 2010! 

How did the name 'The Bottom Line' originate?

I wish there was an awesome story behind this, but it kinda sucks. We were called 'Thursdays Bad Luck' but at this time we were a kinda joke band, the only songs we wrote were about Max being gay or about anything stupid. Then we kinda looked at it and decided we wanted to start writing real songs and tour. We thought that a better sounding name would be in order and because we had a bunch of shirts saying 'I Heart TBL' (yes that is a real shirt haha) We didn't wanna have to get rid of them so we picked a name with the letters TBL... The Bottom Line! And that's the story!

What bands made you most want to start a band while growing up?

Too many to list. We were all huge Alkaline Trio fans. I remember when we first started we played the song 'Hell Yes' over and over again for around 6 weeks because that was the only song we had, but to mention a few names Pull The Pin, Saves The Day, New Found Glory, Blink 182, Sum 41, Green Day, Lit, Bowling For Soup, Simple Plan Etc Etc but I think that my first realization that i wanted to play music was seeing (wait for it)…Busted live. At the time it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen and I just wanted to go home and start a band! 

For those in the U.S. what is the U.K. music scene like and what genres of music are most popular?

The music scene over here is kinda like the weather, it has a lot of ups and downs! The problem is that people are very reluctant to turn up to small local shows, and lately that has caused a lot of smaller venues to shut down, and its slowly making it a lot harder for smaller bands to tour the UK. We also have a huge problem with smaller bands paying to tour with bigger bands, which spoils opportunities for other hard working artists! 

What subject matter or themes typically run through your music?

We don't like to think that we have a particular theme, I guess if a song sounds good than its a keeper! We do try to make sure our style of pop punk is more the sound of bands from our childhood, in my opinion the old school kind of pop punk has so much more character and style to it rather than most pop punk bands forming these days. 

What are some of your favorite songs that you've recorded together as a band?

Thats a tough one, i think "Pull The Pin" off our album 'Role Models?' was one of my favourites to record, because we actually wrote that song previously for our first record, but it never made it on, so to finally hear it recorded was awesome! 

What was it like to do that interview with Critical Wave UK where you were in the bathtub completely naked? What inspired you to do that?

That was the best interview, he claimed that everyone else who did it had always worn bathing suits etc. but we were on tour so we thought what better thing to wear than nothing at all. We did it cause we think we're funny, when we're not people just laugh at our fat out of shape bodies, and its just hilarious watching peoples reactions. There was so many cameras in that bathroom and at times I kinda felt like I was about to shoot some kinda fucked up porno.. either way I think that Critical Wave are rad and those bathtub interviews are pure gold! 

What's coming up next from you guys right now, any plans to come by the States anytime soon?

It's all down to money at the moment, we've had a few offers which we have had to decline cause at the end of the day we're broke as shit! But we cant wait to get out to the US someday soon! Right now our focus is on selling this record to bigger markets and touring the hell out of the UK/EU. I think we'll probably return to Asia again this year and maybe make a visit to Japan & China! 

What is your favorite thing about being in this band?

At the end of the day, we're just 3 friends who love to screw around and have a good time, and we're not afraid of people seeing this, and every second in this band is so much fun on and off stage. But I think my favourite thing about being in this band is traveling miles away from home and meeting people who like our music and have related to it, cause without those people we would be nothing!

Thanks once again to Callum for taking some time out in doing this interview. The band are incredibly hilarious chaps and just plain loving playing music for those that have gathered to see them, and totally thrive of being in the spotlight and basking in the glow and adoration of everyone around them. To check them out for yourself, 'Like' them on Facebook here and find out what you've been missing all this time.