FUBAR, The Point, Cardiff Bay, May 2007

Are you all from the Vale?
Yes we are.

How did you get together?
Jason Matt and I have been friends for ages from the beginning of year
eight. We’ve been in different bands for years now and it was February
2006; I had just started uni and he said do you want to start a new band? I thought yeah, let’s have a blast.

Matt I needed a vocalist and a bassist. I was scouting around everywhere. I was in uni at the time. I had lots of people telling me James, James, all the time. I gave him a call. We had problems finding the right bassist and then we met this one. He was a fan of Fubar anyway. He’d come down when we were playing and say ‘awesome set’. He was looking for a band and as soon as we had an opening he was straight in. We played one song with Pricey, then we did a few gigs and started to get a name for ourselves and we thought something was missing - we needed another guitarist. As soon as Nick found out, he asked if we fancied a jam and it just went from there. We had one practice and he picked up eight songs within an hour and that was it.

Where do you want to go from here?
Jason As far as we can. All the way. Basically, we’re trying to perfect our sound and find out where we want to go with it. We think we’ve come up
with something that’s quite good but to take it that step further we needed another musician (Nick) to contribute to the mix.

Matt I’ve been the manager before Sean turned up. I booked the Point.
I did all the door fliers. It was the second gig I’ve set up. Things have
gone wrong but good things are going to be happening tonight. I’ve made mistakes but I’ve been stressed today and if I’ve taken it out on you guys. I’m sorry, but that’s the way it goes. Sean came along and then took all the stress off me.

How did you find him?
Matt Basically Sean owns SB Promotions. We were playing a small gig down in Pencoed and he was down there with the band that supported us. They were really good and we were up the front clapping and we played our set and Sean grabbed us when we came off stage and asked us if we were interested in joining him. It’s working okay. Basically he’s the one that’s got the major phone bill every month. He phones everyone. As SB Promotions, he’s got over fifty artists under his wing but he concentrates on Fubar. He always says we’re his leading band. It gives me goose bumps every time he calls and tells me how we got the booking. As soon as he mentions us, we’re in straight away. We’re gaining momentum and getting out there!

Fubar’s an interesting name!
Matt It’s an abbreviation. When we print Fubar it’s got the stars between each letter so it’s not so obvious. Have you got a website?
Matt www.wearefubar.co.uk. The other one is being made at the moment. We’re on MySpace and if you click on that link it’ll take
you straight to it. The MySpace page has only been up about eight months and we’ve had near enough 16, 000 plays. For an unsigned band that’s pretty good.

How many MySpace friends?
Matt 1, 500. It’s people who’ve added us. We didn’t want to add just anyone at all. We thought we’d add people who knew us. Some bands go out and just go click, add, add, add. There’s no value in having loads of plays if they are relatives. You can tell if it’s genuine interest really.

Any record label interest?
James We have some interest from Roadrunner Records at the moment
who are a major record company. I don’t know if you’ve heard of them but they’re fantastic. Lockjaw records are coming down tonight and I think someone from Polydor is here too. The agents from the Manics and the Phonics and Linkin Park are coming. There’s interest from the V Festival and Chris from the Bulldog Bash should be here tonight. They’ll all be up on the balcony.

Nick There’s about six or seven promotion companies that I know of
coming down tonight, which is brilliant. Magazines and newspapers
are coming down, including yourselves, too. Basically, there’s a lot
of important people coming to see us and we’re recording a live DVD
tonight, so there’s no pressure!

Are you nervous before you go on?
Matt Yes but as soon as we get on stage and it kicks off we love it.

What bands do you like?
Matt Eclectic mix really. All sorts, ranging from metal, pop, rock,
whatever. We draw from classical music too. We’re obsessed with
melody and harmony.

Vale Life interviewed Fubar at The Point in Cardiff Bay. We like Fubar,
they’re a nice bunch of lads. For more information and to listen to
sample tracks visit: www.wearefubar.co.uk

Fubar is. . .

James Taylor 27
Vocals (songwriter)

Jason Staddon 19
Lead guitar and backing vocals

Nick Taylor 20
Rhythm guitar and backing vocals
(songwriter)

Matt ‘Animal’ Thomas 20
Drums and percussion (songwriter)

Jason Price (Pricey for short) 21
Bass guitar and backing vocals
(songwriter)