“We are part of an industry now where there are so many bands, it’s harder than ever to get noticed,” muses Tom Buxton, vocalist of Manchester alternative rock quintet A Mouth Full Of Matches. Their ‘Smoke Signals’ EP saw release on the 8th September and is a marked step in the right direction, its anthemic vocal refrains and song-writing largess sounding positively custom built for those big rooms with the big stages in them. Yesterday they released their new music video for track ‘Young Blood’, viewable HERE and today Mark answers the A-Z Interview…
A Song Which Made You Want To Make Music: – It was ‘Plug In Baby’ by Muse that set me off into the world of rock and made me want to pick up a guitar!
Best Album Ever Written: – Personally I love ‘Design Your Universe’ by Epica. It’s a huge sounding record packed full of dynamics and incredible song writing.
Craziest Moment You’ve Experienced In The Band: Fans travelling from great distances to see little old us, thanks so much
Deepest Lyrics One Of Your Songs Features: ‘Lets run fast into the dark, with nothing but the fires in our hearts’ from our song ‘Lets Burn Beautiful’
Easiest Song You Wrote: – I would say ‘Danger High’ as when we were writing it, it flowed from start to end so well.
Favourite Show You’ve Ever Played: – Would be our recent Manchester Headline set at the Academy. The sound was huge and the reaction was amazing!
Guest You’d Most Like To Feature On A Your Record: Probably Lzzy Hale, she has a crazy good voice and has so much energy and passion!
Happiest Moment In You’ve Experienced In The Band: – Pretty much nearly every moment, from being in the studio to filming a music video, but it always a blast when we get a great reaction on stage!
Interesting Fact About One Of Your Members: I think Ste was a junior Table Tennis champion at one point? All I know is he is very good at it!
Jokes You Have In The Band: When Helen eats she nibbles something and puts it back so Ste takes the Mick out of her ahah!
Kicking Off Your Set Is Best With Which Song: – We’re kicking off with Young Blood for our current shows. Straight in and full on!
Longest Distance You’ve Travelled To Play A Show: – Would be to London and back to Manchester. 4 hours there. 4 hours back!
Most Inspiring Musician You’ve Ever Experienced: – Seeing Toni Iommi on stage last year, I thought I’d never see them live. It was an awesome moment to see the pioneers of metal there in front of us.
New Band You’d Recommend: Speaking In Shadows and Above The Apex are two awesome bands are they are all lovely people! Go check them out!
Opening For This Band Would Be Ideal: AC/DC would be amazing! They are still living it up at their age.
Place You’d Most Like To Tour: – Across Europe would be awesome. So many places to see and stages to play!
Quote That You’d Like To Pass On To Readers: “The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life.” A Quote from the film ‘The Last Samurai’ that Tom’s late Father used to watch over and over again- I think the quote speaks volumes.
Reason For The Title Of Your Recent/Forthcoming Release: – ‘Smoke Signals’ is about about how difficult it is to be heard in the music industry at the moment and this our way of getting out there.
See Us Live At: – The Unicorn in Camden on Saturday 20th. It’s going to be a fantastic night!
The Old Days Of Music Were Better Than Those Current, do you agree: – I don’t agree, as music is always changing and developing, and there are many new great musicians who shouldn’t be so easily overlooked!
Unusual Merchandise: We don’t have any yet but I suppose we could think of a few… We could sell AMFOM toothbrushes that sing when you brush
Variations You’d Like To Do On Any Of Your Songs: – Epica did a rave-esque chorus on their live ‘The Phantom Agony’. I’d love to do something like that, turn our songs into dance beats!
What Bands Have You Seen Live and Regretted: – I’ve never regretted any shows I’ve been to, but I’d have to admit I went to see Coldplay once and I didn’t really like it!
X-rays or any other treatments needed for band related in juries: – None as yet! Although we almost choked Tom to death during a photoshoot. We’d put him in a small room and let off a smoke grenade, and he came out coughing and spluttering.
You could have written any song in history, which would you pick: – Probably ‘Paranoid’ by Black Sabbath. It’s a simple, great song that everyone knows and loves.
Zoo animal that best describes the personality of your band: We would have to pick an animal that’s quite passionate and loves to connect with fans and is like a lion on stage.
