MY PASSION – Corporate Flesh Party

At first appearance My Passion look to be stationed firmly between the Goth and Emo camps, with their appearance seemingly top of the priorities list, but not long into Corporate Flesh Party it becomes clear that there’s more to these guys than meets the eye. Electro-pop and dance elements rear up time and again on this disc, products of front man Laurance Rene’s youth being taken to raves by his mum! So, it’s a bit of a mish-mash, but at the same time it’s a very focussed record, the band clearly know exactly who they’re targeting and craft their music accordingly. ‘Crazy & Me’, the first track here, sets the tone with a mix of metal riffs, Fall Out Boy vocals and a catchy beat that could well see this clamber up the charts. The rest of the album bounces around like a pinball, from ‘Day Of The Bees’ with it’s bombardment of synths to the grungy opening of ‘Thanks For Nothing’ (the song soon transforms into something quite different). There’s a wealth of ideas here, any of which might make a good direction for a more cohesive second album, but for a first release there’s lots to be excited about here.

check out My Passion at: www.myspace.com/mypassion

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!

NEWSFLASH: My Passion to release debut album!

MY PASSION are Laurence René (Vocals, Guitar), Jonathan Gaskin (Drums, Vocals, Electronics), John Be (Guitar) and Simon Rolands (Bass, Synth), four young men with a fearless, rebellious intention, DIY ethics and a genre-smashing electronic induced metallic punk sound. My Passion’s story has only just begun but they are a band set to make 2009 their own…

Born two years ago in the leafy suburbs of Hertfordshire, My Passion have done what all good bands do – toured endlessly, racking up more than 400 shows to date. If there is one sure indication of how a band have struck a chord with their audience then look no further than the bands myspace – over 65,000 friends and over 1,000,000 plays and counting..
Keeping a fiercely independent spirit the band set up their own label Style Suicide Records and released a series of singles – “Tomorrow Girls” produced by Mark Williams (The Killers) sold out 2,000 run in a matter of weeks. Follow up “Booman” topped the indie store charts and then the band hooked up with John Mitchell (Enter Shikari, You Me At Six) for their summer single “Day Of The Bees” a boundary breaking release sold with their My Passion Fashion merchandise (the miniature cd becoming the t-shirts label). Alongside this the band played with the likes of The Automatic, Kill Hannah’s 36 European tour, The Camden Crawl, Robots In Disguise, The Faint, Late Of the Pier and support to a sold out tour by US pop cult act Jeffree Star.
The bands debut album, “Corporate Flesh Party”, shows a band at the height of their powers – driving rhythms and distorted guitar overlaid with electronic hooks and infectious vocals and melodies. From the driving riffs of album opener “Crazy And Me” to the electronica punk tinged “Hot In the Dolls House”, from the infectious melody of “Plastic Flesh Garden” to the drive of album closer “Vultures Are People Too”, the album is a remarkable debut. “Corporate Flesh Party” was produced by John Mitchell. The albukm will be released through Cool Green Recordings (part of the Mascot Records group – John 5, Joe Bonamassa and Volbeat).
Fresh from a sold out UK tour in January/February 2009 supporting Innerpartysystem and MC Rut and March European dates with JM Kane, My Passion have a series of dates across the UK in 2009. More dates tbc
Mon 18th May Corporate Flesh Album Launch Party, London Tues 9th June Music Box 14+, Manchester

Tues 19th May The Steamboat Tavern 16+, Ipswich Weds 10th June B2 Brickmakers 14+, Norwich

Thurs 21st May The Crauford Arms 14+, Milton Keynes Sat 13th June Download Festival, Donnington

Fri 22nd May The Hat Factory 14+, Luton Tues 16th June Cardiff Barfly 14+, Cardiff

Sat 23rd May Liverpool Sound City Festival, Liverpool Thurs 18th June Marss Bar 14+, Worcester

Mon 25th May The Vic Inn 14+, Derby Fri 19th June The Canteen14+,BarrowinFurness Tues 26th May Queens Hotel 14+, Weymouth Sat 20th May Thatched House, Stockport

Sun 31st May The Face Bar 14+, Reading Sun 21st June Town Mill 14+, Mansfield

Tues 2nd June The Grv 14+, Edinburgh Tues 23rd June Man on the Moon 14+, Cambridge

Weds 3rd June Ivory Blacks 14+, Glasgow Weds 24th June The Twist 14+, Colchester

Thurs 4th June 02 Academy 2 14+, Newcastle Thurs 25th June Freebutt 16+, Brighton

Fri 5th June Underground Club at The Priory 14+, Doncaster Fri 26th June St Michaels Church, London

Sat 6th June The Cockpit 14+, Leeds Sat 11th July T in the Park, Glasgow

Sun 7th June Eddies Rock Bar 14+,Birmingham Sun 2nd Aug Underage Festival, London
For doors, stage times and ticket prices please see individual box offices.
My Passion are set to release their album “Corporate Flesh Party” through Cool Green Recordings/ADA on the 25th May 2009.

www.myspace.com/mypassionmusic www.mascotrecords.com