We’d like to know a little bit about you for our files, however we don’t like regurgitating press releases or asking the easy questions. No-one gets out of the Tone Deaf Interrogation lightly, so just hold still, grit your teeth, clench your buttocks and be still while we put on the rubber gloves, apply the thumbscrews, and pull out our thermometer while you open up and say ahhhhhhhhhhh… Truthful answers only or we drink your rider while you’re on stage.
Raph Brous tells it how it is.
Everyone joins or forms a band to get laid. If your band represents your sex life are you Casanova or spending plenty of time doing the five knuckle shuffle?
Gee, that question hit a raw nerve. I wonder if my beloved ex-girlfriend Yasmine will see this interview? There’s your answer.
We don’t want to know about the painfully hip bands your press release says you’re influenced by. Take us back to your bedroom when you were 14. What band posters did you have on the wall?
I only had skateboarding posters. I still mainly have skateboarding posters. My favourite is Brian Anderson doing a backside tailslide down the massive UCLA hubba. When I was nine, I avidly purchased the hair metal magazines. So my room was covered by centrefolds of Guns n Roses, Whitesnake, Scorpions, etc…seriously.
What’s been your worst gig and why are you glad there’s no footage of it on Youtube … yet?
Well, the worst gigs are the stiffers when nobody turns up. Obviously there’s no Youtube footage because nobody was there. I was quite horrified when I saw footage of us supporting Mystery Jets and realised that I was singing like a strangled galah. I’ve since fixed my mic technique, so there was a silver lining.
Tomorrow’s payday, so we’ve only got $20 to get you drunk. Where do we go and what do we buy with it?
Whiskey is the only alcohol I like. At that price, you’ll sadly get the dishwater marketed as Johnnie Walker Red Label. We’ll visit Not Quite Right to get a bottle for twenty bucks.
We’ve been looking in the $2 bin at Dixons Recycled and also bidding on eBay – what releases are we looking for there that your band has put out?
The Innerspace EP is on Ebay. It’s probably at Dixons if some music journos offloaded their promos. More recently, Inertia has released ‘Green Knight’, our song with Memory Tapes. But that’s released digitally, so it’s too intangible for Dixons.
Suppose we put a gun to your head and force you to kiss a member of another Australian band. Who, which band and why?
What sort of a question is that?!! I dunno. Maybe Chris Cester from Jet, because the last time we saw each other in January, we had a terrible argument that almost ended in us punching each other in the face. If you’ve met Chris, you’ll understand perfectly. Maybe we should kiss and make up (although I still wouldn’t mind shoving his Cuban heels up his arse). Another option is my drinking buddy Muscles, because you would have to put a gun to my head to make me kiss his hairy mug.
Mission Control play the Oxford Art Factory Gallery in Sydney this Thursday 18th November.
