Rolling Out the Red Carpet

So what do you do in your first few days as a Fresher? Drink too much? Meet lots of people? Maybe go along to a gig or two and have a good time? Probably all of the above. But what is it that makes the infamous Freshers’ Week so good? It’s a multitude of things: new friends, new enemies, new opportunities and a new life. And of course, being parent free. Warwick’s student’s union did their bit, throwing a fantastic welcome party with Reverend Soundsystem as the main attraction.

Reverend Soundsystem is a side project of Jon McClure, pioneer and frontman of indie sensation Reverend and The Makers. Reverend Soundsystem is made up of Jon ‘The Reverend’ McClure (vocals), Matic Mouth (vocals, MC), Laura McClure (keyboards) and Jimmy Welsh (electronics, turntables). They’re out to create a new mix of indie and dubstep, something they’ve dubbed ‘indie step’ (see what we did there?).

The Boar, and Warwick Radio, caught up with RSS backstage to get their take on the big event that was Freshers weekend…

_So you played the union – how did it go?_

Laura: Awesome, fucking awesome man! Everyone was bang up for it. It was really refreshing to see Freshers who were up for it and ready to have a good time at university.

MM: I got a bit of crowd-surfing in, bit of water throwing, beer-spilling. It was a bit weird seeing 100 people in the same T-shirt… but it was cool, I loved it!

Jimmy: Yeah really loud as well –one of the loudest PA’s I think we’ve played on.

_You guys played Coventry Uni – who are technically our varsity rivals – how do we compare to them?_

Laura: Man! You guys are WAY better, WAY better! And actually I am being honest; Warwick students were SO up for it last night! It was really good to see people just letting go and having a good time and forgetting about rules.

Jimmy: Coventry really wasn’t one of the good ones!

_So in terms of campuses – you’ve done a whole Freshers’ tour – what would you say was the best campus? What would you say was the worst?_

MM: Because two of us are from Sheffield – it’s our home town – it was different – kind of sentimental, a bit more romantic. Whereas this lot just go BONKERS – universities are crazy at the minute! The worst one… they’ve all been alright apart from Coventry – Coventry was a bit slow.

_The music industry today is very short-term – bands come and go and no-one seems to remember. Do you find it frustrating?_

Laura: I think the whole world is like that – it’s not just music. We live in a very short term world with not many long-term solutions… I think every industry is like that at the moment. You used to have a job for life and that just doesn’t really exist anymore.

Jimmy: We’re in a situation in the UK where DJs like Zane Lowe would sell-out a club quicker than Example would sell-out a club. More people are interested in seeing someone like Chris Moyles than they are in seeing Coldplay, and so I think that’s a bit of an issue.

_On your MySpace page your music is described as Indie-Dubstep or Indie-step – is that just sort of a combination of things you all love? Or do you think you’ve invented a new genre?_

MM: We believe we’ve created a new sound. Basically, we’re making songs on a dubstep tempo really, stripping away and just replacing it with a nice melody and a nice chorus and things like that. You could say we’ve created a genre, but it needs more people to back it up.

Jimmy: It’s just party music basically. We’ve got a keyboard, turntables and a laptop. We’re pretty flexible.

_Have you got any advice about how to make the most of your first year?_

Laura: Go to as many parties as possible. Go out, don’t stay in. Don’t love those pyjamas, they may seem sexy and comfy but they’re not! They’re shit! Get out there, have a good time, laugh your tits off for three years and then get serious.

MM: Meet people; learn how other people do things. Don’t be so separate from everything – get connected.

So there we have it: ditch the pajamas, get out there, and enjoy yourself. Of course it’s important to at least know where the library is, but at the end of the day: these three (or four) years come but once in a lifetime. Now’s the time to feel free, alive and discover new opportunities. And that seemed to be what Reverend Soundsystem were all about.