Serpentine Interview with Gareth David Noon (Keyboards) and Gareth Vanstone (Bassist) @ HRH AOR festival 2013
12th April 2013 0 By Matt FarringtonSerpentine Interview with Gareth David Noon (Keyboards) and Gareth Vanstone (Bassist) @ HRH AOR festival 2013 by Matt
Matt – Hi Guys, so have you guys arrived here today?
Gareth(s) – âWe arrived here yesterday and we managed to catch Tesla, FM, Danny Vaughn and Romeos Daughterâ
Matt – And who did you rate?
Gareth(s) – âFM, but we knew they were gonna be good cause weâd just done the tour with them, we already knew how tight they were so we definitely wasnât going to miss that, but yeah FM definitely band of the day yesterday for meâ
Matt – And that was the recent tour in March?
Gareth(s) – âYes  it wasâ
Matt – I missed that I saw the last FM tour as was in New York, I was a bit miffed why you guyâs couldn’t come over there ( laughter )
Gareth(s) – âI would love to go on a tour to New York with FM!â
Matt – How did Tony Mills get involved with you guys?
Gareth(s) – â We got introduced to Tony in 2008/2009 and we had a lot of the music done for the first record and we just had problems trying to  find a singer, I mean we went EVERYWHERE looking for  the right guy and at the time he just didnât exist so we started talking about actual name artists and his name came up cause Chris (guitarist) was engineering a session with a man who happened to be the same for the Drummer from Shy and suggested we send of the music and we were like, yeah right! Anyway we did and  he said yeah and before you knew it weâd recorded an album with him! We made two with Tony and whilst we were doing the second he had a heart attack which was pretty well publicized and it was due to him flying backwards and forwards trying to juggle everything, he was really nice and told us it was time to move one and find another younger singer,. It was nice to end on the note we did, the album was better than the first and it was a nice way to close it. We closed the album off and then we got Matt in just before we released the album. We were looking for a new singer whilst we was  finishing the album, we then toured with Matt which I think for the fans took a little bit of getting used toâ
â we did some rehearsals with Tony but it got pulledâ
â And we did play a concert with Tony in 2011, and we got to be the wedding band for Tonyâs friends wedding in which he was the Best Man for Chris Nelson and we did a few Serpentine songs together and that was a nice closing set, he did some vocals and so did Mattâ
Matt – So I guess Tony gave Matt his blessing, although at the end of the day itâs down to you guyâsÂ
Gareth(s) – âYes it is but there was no animosity there at all, even though people tried to make out there was, it was just even from day one Tony told us we should be looking for someone else, it was nice to close the chapter and it worked  out really well. Matt live now stands on his own merit and I think thatâs normal, a lot of people listen to the cd and itâs one thing and then when itâs live and heavy people are like  – Now I get it!, Iâm like that with some bands, I wonât really get the cd but live I get it, and a lot of people have asked us to re-record the first two records with Matt, which we wonâ be doing.  We may do the odd track, and weâve even managed to record musically today some new stuff, because we are recording a new album in the summer and anything live we can mix together. Tonightâs being recorded so there may be a live cd through the siteâ
Matt – So whatâs the next twelve months hold?
Gareth(s) – âBusy! Lol, we are on the verge of finishing the new record, we are currently doing all the preproduction, luckily for me as keyboard player I donât have to do anymore because Iâve done it already in my house, I can just now grab the beers and sit in the studio telling the guyâs to hurry up! (Laughs) so I canât wait itâs gonna be good. I have to say that the Demos sound really good, weâve been writing it over a year and sometimes it can sound old because you demoâed it back then. Iâm looking forward to it all coming together and people to start to hear them live. Itâs weird the trackâs that people ask for live you wouldnât think, tracks like âHeartbreak Townâ and âBest Daysâ and youâd think others would be more popular. That said itâs gonna be nice to play some new stuff too and Matt will have something thatâs his to sing too.â
Matt – At the minute you guys are receiving a lot of attention how does it feel?
Gareth(s) – âWeâve been really fucking lucky! Lol, we pay our dues though we work hard. Weâre just lucky that everything has snowballed we did a show with Vega and Houston and itâs just got bigger, we then toured with Ten, Romeoâs Daughter then FM so itâs got progressively bigger, Firefest, Rockfest Madrid etc, but we try and make the most of every opportunityâ
Matt – Who do you guys rate then as up and coming bands like yourselves?
Gareth(s) – âNobody, weâre the best! Lol, weâve gigged with Vega like a million times and hatâs off to those guyâs they are doing what we are, working the hell out of it. Plus we like annoying the Martin brothers, just ask them for their top three in any category cause they just ask that constantly. But they are great and good lads to tour with. Weâve got a point now where more and more bands are coming out all the time and itâs great people are embracing it instead of just listening to the same stuff. When we supported FM, people came to watch us and we did wellâ
Matt – I think that musicâs started to get interesting again from a rock point of view, yesterday we just stayed at the main stage as it was so good
Gareth(s) – âYouâd better not do that today! Lolâ
Matt – Donât worry you are definitely on our agenda for today, weâve seen the stuff on youtube and definitely looking forward to it
Gareth(s) – âSometimes itâs hard to impress on youtube, you ask anyone and you have to take the fact that the sound isnât that greatâ
Matt – True but what I saw was good, plus Iâve seen the reviews before  so I expect great things!, what can we expect then and donât just say the hits!
Gareth(s) –Â “We havenât had any! Lol, although we nearly had a hit in Japan, weâve got an hour today so it will be a good mix of the first two albums, I think a nice rocking setâ
Matt – And can you sneak into Download?
Gareth(s) – âThereâs actually a campaign to get us on there on twitter do get on and hammer it!â
Lol, after seeing these guys live think I may just doâŚâŚ
CategoryInterviews
About the author
At least 27 years Rock experience :), my first album was Queen " A Kind Of Magic" before moving onto the mighty Iron Maiden, favourite album from my youth was "Operation Mindcrime" by Queensryche, which I still play regularly. I was lucky enough to experience Metallica at Milton Keynes Bowl, supported by Megadeth, The Almighty and Diamond Head, Queensryche on the "Empire" tour, Maiden on " No Prayer For The Road", had the luck to meet a few heroes, and most embarrassing moment falling asleep during a Slayer concert!