If you are suffering from some lockdown boredom and slipping in to the Autumn lull then we have just the sound to shake you down and get you raring to go once more. Scouse-punk duo Generation are back and as bold as ever with their gritty tribute to youthful angst, 'Suicidal Champagne'. Their new single is the first off their upcoming mini-album of the same name. We caught up with the Punk-rock brothers to see what they have in store for us in the coming months.
"Concert square looking like a scene from Caligula at 5 in the morning"
Firstly, why ‘Generation’ ?
"We wish we had some life-changing story as to why we chose the name
Generation, but we don’t. We were young and foolish and had a song called
Who Loves This Generation? You do the math. Maybe we were naive enough
back then to believe that we could cure the ‘Generation’ of apathy with nu-punk
music. We actually hate it, but we’re kind of stuck with it. There are worse
things in the world."
What can we expect from the upcoming album?
"Abrasive, immature, underdeveloped and really rather short songs about
coping with being a teenager on the brink of adulthood. In retrospect, it’s an
album that we made as a means of personal therapy. It’s hard ‘becoming an
adult’, we’ve kind of adapted to being over the age of 19 now though. It’s an
album about a certain place (Liverpool), at a certain time (2015-2016), and
certain people living their own experiences."
How come you chose the title track as your first single? Does it encapsulate
the feel of Generation?
"I think it just made sense, as it was the first song from the album that we wrote.
It’s a song that celebrates the beauty and consequences of underage drinking.
Basically just us gloating about getting served. There is a deeper layer really, in
that we found alcohol helped us cope with our anxieties, until we found it was
not a fix-all problem."
The new single really does feel like a celebration. Filled with a youthful hunger for life and a no-nonsense instrumental force, the chorus erupts from the heart. Full throttle expressions born out of angst and frustration. It is clear from their unadulterated sound that their music is used as an expressive release, not merely a collection of riffs and lyrics but a channeling of their basic desires to have a fucking good time with music!
"Again, music is just a great medicine. We don’t into a song thinking about what
we’re going to write about, it just happens - and something, somewhere is
inspiring the song, directing the narrative. A lot of this album is about
observations we made as teenagers - concert square looking like a scene from
Caligula at 5 in the morning, for example."
How long have you two been playing music together and has working
together ever put a strain on your relationship?
"We’ve been playing music since we were kids, even if we didn’t realise it. We’d
be smashing guitar hero and rock band, then gradually that developed into a
high school band, which - through trial and error - turned into Generation.
We’ve skipped a lot of hardships there, but who cares. Our earliest memory of
‘performing’ is probably on our family holidays to Devon skids, We’d put on
shows for the adults and do comedy skits, sing - you name it, we did it. Best
gigs of our lives those. There’s a running joke with every bandmate we’ve ever
had about our relationship. Being brothers is hard enough, never mind in a
band. We are extremely close, but we argue all the time, and we mean ALL the
time. Usually we’re best mates again after 5 minutes. Punch-ups are rare,
though they do happen occasionally."
On the other hand, do you think your relationship has impacted your sound,
spirit and image?
"There’s no question about it. The push and pull nature of our relationship
affects every aspect of what we do, particularly live shows. You can feel the
angst between us sometimes, but it works - the energy is elevated to another
level, then we go out afterwards as if nothing happened."
How have you missed live music and is it an important aspect of Generation
as a project?
"Dearly. Like we have no eyeballs and missing thumbs. Take two overactive
brothers from having somewhere to output that energy and stick them into a
lockdown and the result is mania. We’ve been writing loads though, so every
cloud..."
...And we have been missing live music as much as anyone!! What better way to kick off the new year with the restart of what makes our lives tick...some sweaty underground gigs where we can let loose, enjoy new music and get back to normality. What better city is there to be in when all of this happens?
"Liverpool has helped us in a kind of backhanded way. We as a people are quite
defensive, and don’t warm easily to ‘out there’ things. This attitude from people
towards us has helped develop ourselves both as people and in our musical
careers. If you’re looking for an easy way to make it, Liverpool is not your
answer, but you’ll sure learn a lot on the way if you do it here. People will always
be honest and make life difficult for you, and that is meant as the greatest of
compliments."
You can listen to the our favourite Liverpool tunes including Suicidal Champagne and MORE!!
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