Ahead of their final date of the ‘Under Your Spell’ tour in Wolverhampton, we got the chance to chat to Chibi and Rainbow from The Birthday Massacre about their touring experiences and a pretty serious injury…
Hello! Could you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Chibi: Yes! My name is Chibi and I am the singer for The Birthday Massacre
Rainbow: My name’s Rainbow and I play guitar for The Birthday Massacre
Your latest album ‘Under Your Spell’ has just come out, how do feel the response has been to the album?
Chibi: Very positive which we’re very happy with. I mean it did well and charted on Billboard in the states which was great, the audience seem to enjoy it and we’re really enjoying playing the songs live, I love listening to the album!
Rainbow: Yeah we’re really happy with it!
You funded this album and gave incentives to fans via pledge music. What was the decision to go for pledge music?
Chibi: Yeah this was the second one, why did we go with Pledge?
Rainbow: Well the initial idea was just to have a more direct relationship with the fans and just do the music more closely in conjunction with our audience. To be able to give more updates. It was interesting for us, it gave us a sense of who was listening, how many people wanted another album!
Chibi: Which is a good piece of information!
Rainbow: Yeah it seemed like a more honest realistic way of funding an album that’s not over funded or under funded and you know where you stand. Its also a way where you can offer the Skype calls and you can kinda have fun with it and offer things that are interesting and unique and and I would have liked if my favourite bands did a pledge campaign. Just an interesting new way to make an album! The first one went well so we did it again! Just like a good joke you keep repeating it!
Do you feel like for your next release you will go for Pledge again?
Rainbow: Not sure I haven’t really thought about it. I’m assuming so but who knows? We’re still promoting this one.
You’ve been around for about 17/18 years, do you feel your musical influences have changed over the years?
Chibi: Oh gosh, yeah!
Rainbow: I think we just have more. I have the same influences I did earlier on but now there’s just more influences, different production styles, different bands that have come out since but I think we definitely respect what’s come before we’re all of a sudden not gonna do a reggae album…
Chibi: We’re not? Well okay I guess we’re not! I mean, I don’t listen to a lot of newer music, I really kind of live in the past but at the same time your musical tastes will change so its kinda the same foundation. We’re the same people with the same interests but different influences will come in. I think we are who we are at this point!
Rainbow: Yeah, I definitely think I look for new things but mainly just from a mixing production kind of standpoint. A lot of the progressions in bands that sort of touch me the most are the ones that are more nostalgic, so I agree with Chibi on that.
Who would you say are some of your biggest influences?
Chibi: Right now? I really like this band called Mew, I think they’re from Denmark, I’m probably wrong and looking like a complete jerk but they’ve been around for a while but I didn’t really get into their music too much until recently. I absolutely love the singers voice, absolutely love the songs, that right now is something that I just can’t get enough of.
Rainbow: There’s too many to be honest.
Chibi: He’s more into the new stuff. He’s always exploring new things
Rainbow: If I find something I like, I’ll Shazam it and download the record and I won’t even remember the band.It happened the other day I was just listening to the songs and someone asked me what it is and I was like ‘I don’t know’ but it’s like one of my favourite records but I don’t know any of the song names or who did it. I’m not looking at that I’m just listening to it on headphones. It’s more about finding progressions I like and production that I really enjoy.
You’ve been coming across to the UK over the years and this is the last date on you’re most recent tour, how has it been going for you so far?
Chibi: This has been quite a long tour actually. It’s been one of the longest ones we’ve done in a while. Started in the States and it was very warm then we had a couple of days off and we came to Europe, toured with several bands, female metal bands so we shared the bus with Sirenia and the Agonist are also a Canadian band so it was a lot of fun, made a lot of good friends, listened to cool music every single night on that tour it was great and then everybody got to go home except for us! Then we came to the UK and this has just been a gorgeous way to wrap up such a long touring cycle because we love it here, we’re really looking forward to this part of the tour and I’m glad it was at the end it gave us something to look forward to.
Obviously you share a tour bus quite a lot, what are the best and worst parts of having to share a bus?
Chibi: Best part is if everybody gets along you have a group of best friends to hang out with all day and all night and its amazing. Worst part is probably the laundry, a little TMI I’m sorry but you know what I mean! Three sweaty bands that have just performed shows, you know what I mean?
Rainbow: Just basic things like washing and showers and stuff. Those little things. Also if you want space I think it can be the best thing being around people all the time and you really enjoy it or sometimes if you need quiet there’s nowhere to find it. But that’s not really something that any of us would complain about. We know that’s the deal coming into the tour.
Chibi: That’s touring, you’re never going to have any real quiet time.
So Chibi, I heard that you hurt your elbow before you came out, did you feel that this would impact the tour?
Chibi: Initially, everybody was concerned.
Rainbow: I honestly thought that tour was gonna be cancelled! She sent us photos…
Chibi: Like I’m in the emergency room, I fell off my bicycle, I’m sending them photos of my swollen elbow.
Rainbow: It was brutal! Then I was like oh my god. It was like right before we left, not a couple of weeks but…
Chibi: It was like a week before we were leaving. I had to have surgery.
Rainbow: But yeah, after talking to her she was like ‘No it’s fine I’m pretty sure I can do it’
Chibi: I had surgery and we were on the tour bus three days later. I had a giant cast on my arm.
Rainbow: We did a week in the states before you even got the surgery.
Chibi: It was a mess.
Raibow: It wasn’t, like I thought it was going to be a mess but it wasn’t.
Chibi: For me personally, it was a mess! I did keep telling myself that I wasn’t gonna complain because it was a tour, and it was hard performing, I couldn’t sleep in the bus with a cast, but I didn’t wanna ruin everyone else’s tour.
Rainbow: You didn’t complain about things we were expecting you to complain about.
Chibi: Everyday I was like ‘Ow this sucks, I hate this and I wanna go home’, that’s gonna ruin tour for everybody so I made a conscious effort to not complain too much.
Rainbow: We’ve been on the road so long it’s pretty much healed!
Chibi: Yes! Its almost been two months and I can touch my shoulder. It was very character building because I don’t know how I got through those shows with that cast on!
I saw that you had a black cast at one point?
Chibi: Oh it was a knee sock! I just shoved a sock over it!
Rainbow: Anything you don’t think you can do, like if its happening, you do it anyway, you have no choice cause its happening and you get through it.
Chibi: You’re proud of yourself at the end. Like I have no idea how I did nine shows, sweating every night,not able to really shower cause you can’t get the cast wet. I feel so good about that now! I’m proud of myself and you guys we’re really awesome and helped me out.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
Chibi: To our fans I would say, obviously a giant thank you and that I’m happy to be a part of a community of fans who take care of each other so well and the gorgeous creative community among themselves. I’m happy to be a part of that.
Rainbow: Thank you and we’re grateful to be a part of their family too. Its a really mutual feeling of gratitude and positivity and we’re really lucky to be where we are and be doing what we’re doing and we never want to take it for granted. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Drive it in like a hammer!
EUPHORIA OF BREAKDOWN 