Grate Expectations

How do you get the energy to jump and dance onstage like you do?
I think it’s just when you’re in front of so many people, it just happens. You get energetic because you’re in front of 2000 people. It’s weird, because this time around we’re not doing gig after gig and I never had to work on my fitness with our last album because we did so many gigs. Now it’s something I’m paying a bit of attention to. I started jogging and doing things to make sure that when we started touring I could do what everyone expected me to do.

Are all your dance moves Patience originals?
I don’t call them dance moves! I call them just being an idiot. It’s really nice people say that I’m dancing, although I feel as though I’m not.

How is the new album different to the last one?
It’s a lot bigger. There’s a lot more instruments and it’s probably a bit more aggressive, but Alana said this a while ago, I still think it has the spirit of us on this record. We really put a lot of thought into making something organic. You don’t want to over think it, but you don’t want to not care at all. It’s definitely got a lot more guts and sincerity than our first album. It’s a little less of a party album even though it still has the spirit.

What was it like to record?
It was amazing. We loved recording. It was one of the best times of my life. It was great being in America. We’d leave on the weekends and catch the train into New York City, which was really fun, and come back and spend the whole week doing the album. We’d work from midday to midnight five days a week and then on the weekends we also went to New Haven, which was a neighbouring town. That place was great! Heaps of nightlife.

Do you have a fave track that you like to perform live?
They’re all really fun! I think we all love a song called “Two Kinds of Right”. It’s really fun to perform. “19 20 20” and “Inside Outside”, they always go down so well. They’re just fun because everyone makes them fun! I think that there will be a song off our album called “Let It Die” that probably will be the most fun new song to play live. It’s really fast and really huge.

What’s the inspiration behind the ribbon you dance with onstage?
I’m always coming up with ideas that I’m trying to get off the ground. I run them by John and Alana, and heaps of the time they tell me I can’t do it, but one time I brought up the ribbon and it was so funny because they thought it could be a really good idea. I was so pumped that they agreed! We tried it once in one song and then it just progressed from there. It’s something that kept growing from a really tiny idea. Like having a really crappy ribbon to getting a proper ribbon from a gymnastic store, which made the biggest difference. People come up to me all the time actually and tell me what I’m doing wrong [Laughs] and I don’t care. Thanks a lot. [Laughs]

Who are you listening to at the moment?
I’m loving Tokyo Police Club and Goldfrapp.

What’s something most people don’t know about your band?
We all like comic books. Alana is the biggest comic book nerd! John and I are nothing compared to her. Alana is a massive book head. Alana might read four books a week sometimes, it’s crazy!

If you could sum up the band in three words what would they be?
Loud, angry, fun.

For more Grates fun, head to their MySpace! www.myspace.com/thegrates