PLEASE ALLOW ME TO INTRODUCE MYSELF: My Passion

Hotly tipped electro punks My Passion have been creating a stir everywhere they go, picking up features in Kerrang and leaving music journalists (this one included) waiting expectantly to listen to their debut. With their debut album due for release next week, we thought we’d best find out what all the excitement was about so we caught up with frontman Laurence René to find out what these guys are all about!  

Lets start at the beginning, how did you all meet? 

We were the local weirdos I guess so we were attracted to each other naturally! We built a great friendship and bond over our teenage years and it just so happened that we shared a big musical variety too. It was about 3 and a half years ago when we decided to form a band that demanded attention, divided people with a love or hate of it, stimulated people both aurally and visually and pretty much offered an alternative to everything else out there.  

Tell us what we can expect from a My Passion gig, what makes you stand out from the crowd? 

The first thing people notice is obviously the way we look. We try and keep it striking and high on impact. But there is also a huge energy that I don’t think you find in many other bands. Its not a forced movement it is literally the music engulfing our senses and us letting it have its wickid way with us… I guess that is something worth watching. There is also a diverse sound that moves between a dark and sinister imagination and  blindingly bright optimism, there are elements of all kinds of music within it. As we grow we are never content and always want to make each tour a better live experience than the last! The next tour sees us lit up by an epic lightshow and flanked by our two henchvulturemen vic and vinnie.  

You’ve very quickly grasped the idea of creating an image around the band, was this something you consciously started doing? 

Well we always had an interest in making the most of what we have and feeling good. Ready to perform, entertain and thrill people and this is part of that. Of course like the music and the stage setup, setlist, it is thought out to some extent but only as far as us working together and hooking in. Ever since we started playing music live we have wanted to stand out. Its the same with everything In My Passion, It has never meant to be the same as what other bands are doing, we aren’t into that, it’s us on our own path experimenting with the whole liveshow. 

There’s obviously a pretty diverse mix of influences in your music, which artists really inspired you? 

Yeah I think growing up with crazy parents really influenced me the most! My mum was into early dance and raves from when I was born to my teens my first rave experience being 9 years old in a wood full of people with the biggest grins I have ever seen. Then I had my dad, Ken in bands and stuff from old punk, glam, goth, new romantic and he has had the biggest influence and is a huge part of my passion with words and melodies its like having our very own punk oscar wilde and we all songwrite together. All of this along with my own favourites like Muse, Manson, The Cure, Bowie, Iggy, Slipknot, The Blood Brothers & Tim Burton help My Passion capture something very broad and open I think. 

I gather you run your myspace page yourselves and you all seem to find beiing close to the fans very important. Do you think thats helped you a lot? 

I think it gives you some amount of respect and people who have been part of it then feel proud as success starts to hit. When youre carving out a path on the underground hitting lots of weird and wonderful places I think you have to have that connection with people, It obviously gets harder as comitments grow but playing hundreds of shows over the last couple of years and bringing those people into our world on our own adventure has been what has got us this far for sure. That and us being pretty bloody determined and devote our lives ha! 

Tell us about ‘Corporate Flesh Party’, what can we expect from the album? 

A collection of songs  from our time so far! There’s a mention of those that have tried to drag us under or hold us back from doing what we love but its about over coming the shit, getting off of your asses and doing what you feel passionate about, not waiting around for a golden ticket… We are in pretty dark times yes, but its definitely a record that takes a look at the madness around us and inspires us to get through it and out the otherside and what if we don’t make it through? Then we’ve  had the time of our life and we and the people with us will grinning when the apocalypse hits It’s optimistic really! 

Your music has been tagged as “Electro Shock”, does it really mean anything? I gather you aren’t fans of being lebelled? 

Haha, people come up with different ones everyday, I think sometimes people need some kind of category or description to put you in the right box. It’s to be expected and we don’t really think about it. We’ve never thought we just want to be a punk band, a metal band or an indie band we’ve played music that we love sometimes it’s been upbeat and rocky other times purely electronic and reflective we don’t want that restriction. I’d like to think that electro shock is just how people feel at a liveshow, brought to life and animated without really having any control over it. 

Okay, last question, where do you see yourselves a year from now? 

My Passion is the sort of band that grows and gathers adoration from getting out there and working hard so in a years time hopefully the monster will have grown to us headlining bigger venues and still being able to play and perform what we love, its definitely not an overnight cool thing… Me Personally i’d love to be hitting Japan and America next year because they are like new worlds to us and of course working on album number two is a really exciting thought even if it is in the distance a little!