FEATURED INTERVIEWS                          

Beat Union

These boys crossed the pond looking to connect the disconnected.
By: Gian Erguiza - - March 4th, 2008 - 10:32 am PST



Having toured with great bands such as Goldfinger, Taking Back Sunday and Alexisonfire, these childhood friends from Beat Union are ready for their time to shine. Having signed with Science and about to release their debut, Disconnected, Beat Union is giving the Us a taste of UK's best. Dave took a minute to answer some of our burning questions.

Hey guys, can you guys do me a big favor and please give us a quick history lesson on how the band got started and how everything basically came about?

We have all known each other for years, myself and dean actually met at first school about age 4. I guess we weren't real friends until we started playing music together about age 11. Dean then met luke through a mutual friend and ended up playing their first ever gig together. Then later down the line I met luke through dean and thats how the three of us came together, we all played in various bands on the birmingham punk / metal scene on and off throughout our teens. That's how we all met, his old band farse was one of the biggest bands from that scene. When farse came to an end, we were already doing beat union, but were in need of a bassist, so I guess it had alot to do with timing. We got a UK manager and agent and started touring the country as a support act to bigger bands to get our name around before eventually meeting feldmann, science and getting the album done.

Your debut album is soon to be released sometime in April, which I'm pretty sure is going to be outstanding. What can we expect from your debut and how much work are you guys putting in to finish the album and what do you guys hope to accomplish with your debut?

Well, we didnt have a huge budget or a huge amount of time so we worked pretty much non stop for four weeks. 18 hour days most of the time so it got pretty tiring, but were really proud of what we achieved. I think the album came out pretty solid for a debut album, no messing around or getting too experimental. Just short and sharp songs from start to finish. Some up-lifting feel good kinda tracks and some a little darker, so the mix works well I think. In terms of what we want to achieve, I think thats kinda hard to answer... we keep telling people we have achieved way more at this very moment than we ever thought possible. We want to work as hard as we can and hope this album manages to touch as many people as possible, but at the end of the day, we're so appreciative of what we have at the moment that if it all ended tomorrow it would have been an amazing experience - I wake up everyday and ask myself where the hell I am and how I got here, and I hope that feeling never wears off cuz I never want to take any of this for granted. Yes, were gonna raise the bar as high as we can, because its healthy to want to better ourselves as a band, but we will also just take it one day at a time and see where we are in 6 months I think.

John Feldmann of Goldfinger, which is one hell of a band by the way, is the one that produced your debut. How did it feel to work with John Feldmann and what did he exactly bring to the table for you guys?

It was so incredible to work with john feldmann, to work with a guy who knows so much, is really creative and someone who you feel you can actually trust with your music is unbelievable. Sometimes you can work with people who you aren't completely impressed with and that you think you could do a better job than. But that's not the case with john. He's really on the ball when it comes to anything musical... writing, arranging, producing... I dont think there is a producer better suited to what we do, john loves and understands exactly where were coming from musically!

"There isn't one person in the world who hasnt suffered a broken heart, a shitty job, family problems and family break-ups, lonliness, fear, financial problems, uncertainty or rejection. These are the things that have inspired me especially for the writing of our debut album."

During recording he would just throw a lot of ideas at us, he's not afraid to try anything, and that is the best way to be when being creative. Some of it would work and some of it may not... but when it works then its usually something awesome. People tell me how awesome the record sounds and I have to tell them to say it to john and not us. We wrote and played the songs, but john is the guy with the talent and the know-how to get it sounding so amazing, sonically through two speakers. We had nothing to do with that side of things.

Now I read somewhere on your BIO that you guys have been through some rough times. How has these rough times translated into the music and is this what fuels The Beat Union's fire?

Well I really dont know about rough times, theres always someone thats had a rougher time isnt there? We've only really been through what every other band has, or what every other person has, in fact, thats what fuels our fire - real life. There isn't one person in the world who hasnt suffered a broken heart, a shitty job, family problems and family break-ups, lonliness, fear, financial problems, uncertainty or rejection. These are the things that have inspired me especially for the writing of our debut album. If you aren't singing from your heart then you aren't singing at all! If you write about the stuff that affects you then I dont think you can go wrong, cuz its all sincere and art has to be sincere to be any good!

So Beat Union, how excited are you guys to be going out on the road with Bedouin Soundclash & Westbound Train to do a US tour? Any expectations?

We're really really excited. In fact, I'm typing this interview from the van while luke is driving us to the first show.... weve been driving for about 35 hours. This country is huuuge! haha. But like I said before, everything right now is appreciated. To be seeing the world and playing music with 3 of my best friends is incredible to me and to be invited to do it with two bands as good as bedouin soundclash and westbound train is just an honour. Playing with bands we actually like is the icing on the cake... massive thanks to bedouin and westbound for having us aboard the tour- you guys are top notch!

Alright, let's get something straight here. Which one of you guys is the myspace whore that gets to answer all of the messages and do you guys ever take anything to the heart as far as nasty messages, comments or bad reviews, if any?

Haha, deano normally takes care of the internet stuff and yes we have some great fans. People who are so devoted to our music its crazy, almost like they love it more than us. ha. One guy we owe a huge thanks to is scotty who runs a fansite for us, he's awesome. But in terms of comments, I dont believe you should take anything to heart, whether it be good or bad. Appreciate the fan mail for sure, but never let it go to your head, that way you cant get bummed if you read a bad review- if someone loves or hates our band its just one opinion and thats all! At the end of the day, we're just four regular blokes making music, we're no one special or out of the ordinary.

The world of music got a big shock lately on how good album sales were for Radiohead's 'In Rainbows', that did not need a major label to back the release and gave the people the right to price it on their own based on how much they think the album was worth. What do you guys think about this and is this where music is headed to in the future? No more labels?

I really dont know what to say about this, I guess its a huge ongoing debate. Although I think it was pretty cool that radio head gave people a choice. I'm kinda old fashioned in that I love taking a trip to the record shop to make that special effort to buy an album for my collection. But on the other hand, I realize times are changing and it was definitely an interesting thing they did. It's comforting to know that so many people still value music so much and feel its worth parting with a little bit of their money to get it!

Great point and Thanks Dave!

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