Interview . The Blackout . w/ Gavin Butler

Interviewer: Laura Schriefer . 09/11/2011 . city: Hamburg . venue: Logo

  1. Ambition is critical

Punk76: Tell me a goal that you want to achieve in your life but most likely wont be able to.
Gavin: When I was little I wanted to become a fighterpilot but I couldn't join the airforce because I am colourblind. I went up in one of the Red Bull stunt planes, it was for press for Rock Sound magazine so I kind of got to do it but I'd love to be a pilot. I'd love to be able to fly but my colourblindness stops me and it's really expensive as well.
Punk76: I mean being a rockstar isn't bad either, right?
Gavin: (laughing) Yeah, I've got lots of money..


  1. Never by your side

Punk76: How do you manage being away from your family and friends so much? Do you write e-mails and use skype?
Gavin: Yes, I skype and facetime a lot. Usually I'd call but if we're out in Europa it's so expensive, you have to limit it to 10 minutes maximum. Otherwise you're going home with like the biggest phone bill in the world.
Punk76: So what's the best part of coming home then for you? Is it just being home and doing nothing, laying on the couch?
Gavin: It probably is just to come home and relax since we started touring extensively I didn't really get to go home much because it's tour on tour, it's drinks everynight so going home is a bit of a detox.
Punk76: But not all of you are drinking, right?
Gavin: Yeah, Snoz doesn't drink and Matthew doesn't drink as well.
Punk76: Is Jack Daniels and Coke still your favourite drink?
Gavin: Oh yeah, big Jack over there. Picture of himself. (Pointing out to a picture of jack Daniels on the wall)


  1. Higher and higher

Punk76: Tell me about the best drug you've ever taken in your life.
Gavin: Actually the only thing I've taken were mushrooms. Me and a friend got out of school and a friend had like 20 mushrooms and was like „it's so amazing!“ so I took one and first nothing happened but then it kicked in and we thought the walls would be made out of clouds and we watched a film called „Evil dead III – army of darkness“ we watched that for some reason and just chuckled ourselves for three hours.
Punk76: But besides that you haven't taken anything?
Gavin: No, nothing else. Don't do drugs kids! Otherwise you'll think that your friends are made out of clouds.


  1. Hope

Punk76: Do you believe in god or another higher power?
Gavin: I have no believe in any sort of god or whatever. A lot of us in the band feel the same way really, the song „never by your side“ is about that aspect of life.. we like to think that you make all the decisions in your life and you make mistakes or decide not to do so. I think the believe is from a time where people didn't know a lot of things and science made many things clear. So I believe in science over anything but if anyone else believes in it, it's their choice, I'm not gonna try and change their ways as long as they don't try to change my ways.
Punk76: So would you say that there was a big bang and then the world was there?
Gavin: Yes! That's it. For example the christians say god built the world in 7 days and if you look at all the scriptures from the Koran to the Bible and the Torah theres a lot of things that are quite similar and they all follow the suits of what scientist said. I'm very interested in such things.


  1. This is our time

Punk76: Tell me one moment in your career that you'll never forget.
Gavin: I think our London show two days ago at the Road House. It's just a special place in the UK and it's where many people live and the biggest shows are. The last show we had there was so well received and we had such a good time and it was the biggest headline show we played up to this day.
Punk76: How many people were there?
Gavin: 2600 people which is crazy for us. So to see all of them go crazy was amazing.


  1. The Last goodbye

Punk76: Which person would you like to bring back to life? Maybe to have the chance to say goodbye in a good or different way than you did?
Gavin: I'm blessed to have most of my family still with me so that's a tough one. All the people that I know that died, I had the chance to say goodbye. So.. I'd pick Freddy Mercury because he is very inspirational to me he was not only an amazing vocalist but he carried on until the very end. He was still in the studio recording up to his last day so I love his work ethic and everything he's done, I would like to shake his hand.
Punk76: So you would be a total fan?
Gavin: Yes I'd tell him well done in everything.


  1. No more waiting

Punk76: Imagine you just missed the bus call and now you're left in Hamburg all by yourself, what would you do?
Gavin: There's a lot to do in Hamburg! Where would I go.. isn't the Reeperbahn open all night?
Punk76: Yes, absolutely.
Gavin: I'd just go from bar to bar to bar to bar.. pub crawl down the Reeperbahn. Staying away from the ones that may seem a little dodgy.
Punk76: But would you go all by yourself? Or would you try to find some people coming with you?
Gavin: I've never been to a bar all by myself so maybe I'd try it.. it may be a little strange but I'd try it just to see what it's like. And you never know who you'll meet.


  1. The devil inside

Punk76: Tell me some of your bad habits (in case you have any?)
Gavin: Drinking is definitely one of them!
Punk76: You think that's a bad habit?
Gavin: Yes! It's bad for you.
Punk76: But a glass of wine could be healthy?
Gavin: Yes, glass of wine = healthy, bottle of wine not so much.. two bottles of wine.. no. So yeah, drinking and.. I bite my nails. Terrible nail biter and my girlfriend always clouts me on the head until I stop.


  1. You're not alone

Punk76: What's the best part of being in a band with 5 other guys?
Gavin: the best is seeing different places in the world with five of your best friends. that#s where we came from, we were all friends in school, we're not put together or something, it was all natural. We were in Australia not long ago this year and we walked down the Sydney harbour and we looked at each other and were like „this is crazy, what are we doing here?“. It's those times, the first time we've been to Paris or the first time we've been to Germany.


  1. Keep on moving

Punk76: You're known for your high energy life show, do you do sports to stay in shape?
Gavin: I can't sing that well, if I'd be standing still I'd sing a lot better but I think that wouldn't be interesting for people to watch.
Punk76: But you sound amazing everytime I see you.
Gavin: Oh thank you very much! When I'm home I'm so lazy.. I always so when I get back home I'll go running and I'll do that once or twice and then I'm like „aaah, let's play x-box for a bit“. So I think my exercise is mental exercise (smiling), hand and eye coordination.


  1. The storm

Punk76: Fall is almost over and winter is coming with mostly dark, stormy cold weather. I bet the weather isn't better in Wales than it is in Germany so you should know how depressing it can be when it rains for days and days and you just don't want to go out. How would you convince people to get up off their couches and go to your shows?
Gavin: It is cold out there but as soon as you get here it'll get better because everyones jumping up and down and it generates heat and you'll get warm. And I'd promise one of the best nights of your life!
Punk76: really, you'd say that?
Gavin: Yes! It may not be THE best night..but I'd say maybe one of the best nights of your life! (smiling).


The guys made sure that everyone in the audience would get warm. We are the ocean opened up and delivered a perfect show, with Dan running around in the audience almost the whole time. He wasn't afraid of starting a circle pit and standing right in it and I bet he remembered the night because of some bad bruises the next day. The Blackout were amazing as usual, even though singer Sean didn't seem to be as active as the last times I've seen them. While the first few songs he seemed to be a little lost in thoughts but in the second part of the show he showed the energy we all know and love him for. Gavin's voice was outstanding even though he ran around like crazy and James, Matthew, Rhys and Snoz were on point and seemed to enjoy the night very much. Sean's brother Jay was with them again, taking care of the merchandise but left his merch table for one song to run into the pit and jump around for a while.



In conclusion the Blackout is a band with one of the most energetic live shows I've ever seen. They're not only extremely talented but also such friendly, nice and most important down to earth persons. Take the chance to see them play in a relatively small venue as long as you get it, I guess it wont be long until they climb up the ladder and play big venues. And even though it was not the best night in my life, it definitely was one of the best nights!

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