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1.    What inspired the name of the band and what are your influences?

Honestly, the name came about because when we stared, we had an offer for a show, but no name.  We hadn’t thought about it, and were 16 years old, a bit naïve, and flicked through a dictionary and “filament” was the first word we landed on.  I really regret having a band name that wasn’t given any consideration at all, but I’ve also grown to quite like it.  I think of fungal filaments as a good metaphor for punk rock: underground, coming together to make something that spreads out, flourishing in decay, but also a bit gross!

2.     What themes were you looking to explore on the new record?
I don’t set out to try and write about any set thing, I wait till the motivation grabs me.  I’ve never been inspired by writing songs about feelings and emotions though, I’m more interested in things that are happening in the world around me. While writing ‘look to the skies’ the Syrian refugee crisis was unfolding, the Labour Party was being reshaped by a resurgent left, the extreme right were marching in Europe and America, austerity was condemning workers to real term wage cuts of a fifth of their pay packets…. these are the sorts of subjects our songs address.


3.     What do you think has changed about the music scene since you started?

The first thing that springs to mind is the digital revolution, with songs now being available at the click of a mouse button.  When we started, you would still order a CD into the record shop cause you read you might like it, wait two weeks until it was in, and then go buy it hoping it was a good choice.  That’s a million miles away from today of course.  Bands have to be online now to get attention, making videos, getting on playlists.  We are not on top of all that stuff at all… so I suspect we don’t get through to as many people as we might otherwise.


4.     What plans do you have for the future?

Plans haha.  We hope to play a few more shows, and I’m always writing tunes and hoping we have another album ahead of us. We are not a band set on world domination, there’s no massive marketing campaign and world tour to come… I hope to keep enjoying what we do, keep playing fun shows and keep a few people wanting to hear what we are all about.