“We’re leaving on the best terms possible”: An interview with Triassic (05/06/13)

If you live in Southampton but haven’t heard of Triassic in the last year and a half, you must have been living under a rock. Very soon after they got together, they won the Southampton heat of Battle of the Bands, leading them to the final for the south coast last June, from which they also emerged victorious. Since then they have played plenty of shows across Southampton’s music venues, released their EP A Thousand Leagues Down, had a huge EP launch, and most recently secured a slot performing at SUSU’s Grad Ball. The Edge caught up with Chris & Phoebe to talk about the band, the history, and saying farewell.

Strange question to start on, but why are you actually called Triassic?

Phoebe: I can’t remember exactly how we came up with it… we didn’t intend to come up with a dinosaur theme but I think we thought about geological time periods and then someone mentioned Triassic. There’s 4 of us, not 3, so I don’t know why it really happened.

Chris: With Phoebe and Connor it’s a biology and zoology thing, and Jonny really likes dinosaurs as well, in fact the only person who is not a massive fan of dinosaurs in the band is me. I’m indifferent to dinosaurs! I think they’re alright, they did their bit.

Phoebe: Connor has one tattooed into his skin so he likes them that much. It’s quite a good name though, you can google us quite easily.

So you’re playing at the Grad Ball on Monday, how did that performance come about?

Phoebe: Crazy! We did sort of mention it to SUSU a few times and they were like, oh yeah, maybe, and then I ended up sending them an email like, can you just give us a definite no?! And then we had an email back pretty much straight away saying yes!

Chris: It’d have been nice to know a little bit earlier but SUSU have been great.  

How did you feel when you got that call?

Chris: I was in the Murray Building doing monotonous revision, I’d been spending all my days on campus, and then I got a Facebook message and then I was just on Facebook for the entire afternoon just sorting everything out and getting the announcement sorted. It was really, really exciting. It really made my day, because the days before that were literally dreadful with revision! It was one of the best pick-me-ups that anyone could ever ask for really.

Are you looking forward to sharing the stage with DJ Fresh?

Phoebe: It’s quite cool. I probably know about 4 of his songs, but maybe I’ll listen to some more now! 

Chris: I’m not hugely superstitious but when I first came to university, one of the big songs that came out was ‘Gold Dust’ by DJ Fresh, that was all over freshers week…

Phoebe: Little known fact, we tried to do a cover of that at one point!

Chris: Yeah, one of our first practices we tried to cover that song! So yeah, that song has just come up, and him as an act, has come up in our history, and in my own personal history time and time again through uni, so it’s almost like DJ Fresh has bookended my university experience, which, I don’t know whether that’s highly coincidental, but I quite like that.

Have you got any surprises in store for the performance? Are you going to perform your DJ Fresh cover?!

Phoebe: We have got a surprise cover but I’ve got a big mouth and I’m trying not to blurt it out! It’s completely new though. We had to tie Connor down and make him do a cover because he doesn’t like covers at all – he’s very anti-cover – but he’s gone with it because he thinks it’s good enough to now perform which, if it’s high on Connor’s standards it must be okay. We’ve all written out set lists out for our gig on the 6th and we’ve all put different names on the set lists to disguise the cover, so mine says ‘Pingu Theme Tune’ but unfortunately that’s not what we’re doing.

…and it’s your official final gig tomorrow, will there be tears?

Phoebe: Oh god it’s tomorrow! We’ve had our last practise so that’s it! I never know until the moment takes me, whether I’m going to cry or not.

Chris: There was quite a lot of people who couldn’t come to other gigs, but this is one of those rare moments where everyone I know is free and so many people are coming, so it’s going to be a really good night. 

Phoebe: Yeah. The Talking Heads is where we started so we thought it was a nice way to end as well.

Chris: I’m so glad it’s been kept open in the time we’ve been here. The sound is really good, and the location in terms of where our friends are is ideal. It’s just a nice venue, and Jurassic Mark [promoter]has been really supportive as well, he’s been excellent. He gave us our Battle of the Bands slot in April last year.

What would you say to other students who are thinking of starting a band?

Phoebe: I guess you have to make sacrifices so it’s really hard to get the right balance at first. You have to think that you’re good enough, and if you think it’s going well then carry on with it.

Chris: Yeah, in terms of advice you just have to work hard, know your audience, and-

Phoebe: …Don’t do too many gigs in the same city!

Chris: Yeah definitely, earlier on we were guilty of that!

Your time together has been quite short-lived as you only formed 16 months ago, what’s been the best bit?

Phoebe: Our EP launch was great. It’s amazing playing to friends who have brought friends and you kind of feel like you know everyone, and that was amazing. The support we had for our EP launch was great… but our Cosmo Jarvis gig was also great because there were so many people who we didn’t know who were listening and responding, I don’t know, just getting all of that live experience!

Chris: Yeah the stand-out was the EP launch. Yeah it was just packed, and we came on to the Jurassic Park theme tune which is completely clichéd but awesome… 

…and so what is going to happen to Triassic?

Phoebe: I think after Monday, I’ll probably cry a bit. We’re always going to be friends but I think logistically, Chris is going to Leeds, Connor is going to Oxford, I think that told us that it was going to end.

Chris: We’ve done quite well but we’re not making a huge deal about breaking up, we’re just going out with a bang. We’re leaving on the best terms possible, and obviously we’re having the gigs but when I say we’re not making a big deal, we’re not labouring it! I think we’ll leave our page up, we’ll leave our contact page up, and if it became convenient I think we’d pick it up again. 

Phoebe: Yeah I think at some point we might just be like, let’s just work on that song we never finished for old times sake! Connor’s got so many good riffs and new songs that we just didn’t have time to finish. There’s so many that we’ve left without having finished. But yeah, who knows… It’s probably been the best part of uni for me. I’ve got another year left but I can’t see it getting much better than this. Yeah it’s been cool.

Tickets are still available here for Triassic’s Farewell Show in The Talking Heads on Thursday 6th June; £5 in advance and £6 on the door. Grad Ball will take place in Oceana on Monday 10th June where Triassic will perform alongside acts including DJ Fresh, Example, Amelia Lily and Scott Mills. Tickets can still be purchased from SUSU for £49.