THE MIRIMAR DISASTER

Writer: Jan Webster
Photographer: Chris Saunders

“It was a tragic loss that hit us hard. It came out of the blue and we never saw it coming. She was just reaching the peak of her life when she was struck down. That caused a swelling in the engine and clogged the valves causing instant, irreparable failure. We’ve had to go to Homebase to get some wood panelling for the coffin. She will be sorely missed.”

The Mirimar Disaster have, only recently, suffered one of the worst things that can happen to a band. Their van died.

And it is an important loss for a band like Mirimar (named after the moment in the homo-erotic paean to Manlove, Top Gun, where Goose dies.) who see getting out of the city and playing to new audiences as one of the most important parts of being in a band. There’s little interest with this lot in playing a couple of gigs a month to the same crowd of people – a sense that safety can deny development, as well as the fact that that the brand of music they make is not particularly well catered for in Sheffield
“We’ve done about 38 gigs I think and only ten of them have been in Sheffield,” say singer Stocky.

The Mirimar Disaster actively want to make good, interesting, challenging music which gets to an audience and also satisfies themselves as musicians. They like a pint too.

For too many bands time seems to have stood still since Metallica whacked out a string of albums which virtually defined an entire genre – effectively making them the Oasis of the metal world. This is a shame since, as Nick, points out. “There’s already been a Metallica, why try to be another one?”
There are five in The Mirimar Disaster They all, as any good metal band should, have beards. Not only that but they have suitably differing beards. Slomo, the drummer’s, looks as if someone has thrown a doughnut at his face and it’s stuck. Nick, the bassist, who is the most old school-metally looking of the bunch has a nice death metally one. Frank, the very quiet guitarist’s, is quite understated, elegant even. Stocky, the hyperactive singer, is relatively conventional whilst my personal favourite is the other guitarist Dean’s which is trimmed in such a way that, if you turned his head upside down, it would make little discernable difference in the way he looks.

Slomo and I have been having the same argument for ages. Why doesn’t Sandman cover more metal he asks? Why don’t more people want to write about metal I invariably reply? There’s a bit of resentment about Sandman’s perceived dislike about the genre – would the interview be a touch snarly I wonder?

Inevitably they turn out to be a bunch of extremely likeable lads, opinionated, funny and pretty thoughtful about the process of making music. As is so often the case the more ferocious the music a band makes the more pleasant they are as folk.

“There’s loads of people in bands who are dicks playing all kinds of different music. It’s one of the factors of meeting a band - how you remember them - and so far we seem to make loads of friends out of helping people with gear and just generally being respectful. There’s no point slagging people off, it just gets back to them.”
Nick will make the point during the evening that every month in Sandman there’ll be a review that enrages him so much that he can’t read the rest of the magazine but the interview is as good natured as Mirimar appear to be.

As mentioned before The Mirimar Disaster are a metal band. They don’t, however, sound like Metallica. Trying to describe what they do sound is a bit tricky since they cram a lot into their songs – about the six minute mark seems to be the average. They all cite Mastodon – the huge, grinding metal beast - as a shared inspiration if not as an influence but there are elements of what they do, particularly in the guitar lines which sometimes hint at Mars Volta or sometimes more post rock outfits like Explosions. Stocky it turns out likes Prince, though you wouldn’t guess it from listening to the band. Maybe it’s best left to the band themselves to describe it.

“The Mirimar Sound is probably a mix of big riffs, big chugging, soft clean sections, loads of rhythm. Blatantly hitting the groove when it needs to be done and mixing it up with the off kilter sections. It’s a bit of a free for all. None of our songs have ever had a predetermined layout. They just happen as and when they start and finish.

Why metal as your staring point?

“I think metal appeals to a listener for many various reasons. There’s the obvious parental rebellion as with punk music and other non mainstreamed music. As a musician there’s a lot you can get out of it. People can go 'it’s just a noisy mess' but if you listen to bands like At The Gates, a lot of their sound is derived from Classical guitar playing. You also get an interesting blend of time signatures in metal.
Metal always gets subdivided into genres but ends up at the root point. How can one genre cover say the likes of Entombed, Iron Maiden, Metallica and Mastodon?

“All four bands are metal. But they all come under different headers. Metallica started out as Thrash Metal, Entombed were classed originally as Death and Roll ( due to the low tuning and similar musical comparisons to early death metal with stoner grooves), Iron Maiden are 'British Metal' and you can still hear their sound in a lot of bands today and Mastodon come under the Unfuckingbelievablyshithot subgenre of metal. There’s a lot of aggression in the music due to the distorted guitars, but you can find comparisons in things like Aphex Twin and dark drum n bass.”

They’ve been playing a lot with 65 Days Of Static who they’re massive fans of (they also cite the mighty 3 Stages Of Pain as a top Sheffield outfit) and while, to the uninitiated, it might seem a disparate pairing, the two bands certainly seem to share similar approaches to music.

They’ll tell you about the sheer amount of time they’ve spent getting the sound they wanted - “We spent a lot of time finding our sound. Probably the best part of a year, a lot of equipment and level settings. From when we started I think there’s only the toms on the drum kit that are the same as well as a few pedals.” What are they singing about I wonder, it’s not always clear?

“Well, they're kind of cryptic, or at least I've tried to make them that way. They all initially had really specific meanings to me, but I'd like to think that other folk can get there own alternative interpretations. I suppose they're generally about personal experience. Whether it’s something that directly happened to me, or my own social commentaries. 'Ten Fifty' for example is about how the world is pretty much one big car crash. People slow down to have a look, but never actually stop to help. Some of the other songs are about addiction. Some are about the mental strains of relationships. One was even inspired by a Roman quote, that I saw on a computer game...'he conquers who endures'.... a statement that applies to everyone’s life, in my humble opinion. But then it got twisted into being a song about the band itself, and how things don't always come as easily as you would hope. I suppose I'm still being quite cryptic now. I don't think I could pin down exactly what they're all about anymore. Even for me, some of the meanings to the lyrics have changed since they were first written. I've even changed sections all together, because I've found ideas that seemed more relevant to the point I was trying to make.

Solo also has some lyrical ideas, which helps when I can't get exactly what I want. He also adds things at later dates too. I think partly because it can take him a while to work out exactly what the songs are about. He's especially good at getting the delivery of words right. Rhythmically, he's streets ahead of the rest of us. And to be honest, I think we both try and use our voices as instruments, and make them fit into the bigger picture. For me, the sounds are equally as important, if not more so, than the words we're actually singing....screaming ....etc. “

Rash things sometimes get said in interviews, challenges are made which should never be taken up, and people make mistakes. This interview was no different.

The Mirimar Disaster has laid a challenge at the feet of Sandman Magazine. Manu a Manu, face to face warfare at Laser Quest is the battleground. If TMD are victorious they will take over editing Sandman for an edition, if, as seems likely, Sandman come out the winners we shall be writing a 15 minute indiepop epic that will make Tallulah Gosh look like Slayer and TMD will be obliged to play it at a gig.
We shall see….


http://www.themirimardisaster.com
http://www.myspac.com/themirimardisaster