Posted on September 6, 2009 - by Editor

Squat punk = True punk? Moral Dilemma

Moral Dilemma © Imelda Michalczyk

Moral Dilemma is punk as fuck. From their squat scene roots, through to their DIY approach and politically conscious lyrics and beliefs, they can tick the boxes in terms of punk rock authenticity. Their second album “Agree to Disagree” has been recently released and we sat the whole fine band down to explore their roots, the new record and their Radio One session.

Your second album is about to drop. You have worked with Peter Miles as producer previously, how happy were you to secure his services again and what that working relationship like this time around?

Craig: We had worked with Pete alongside Itch from The King Blues when we did our first album “Right To Remain Silent”. Itch’s contribution to the production of that album was an essential part of that record, as he’d been there since day one, and we didn’t really know what we were doing in a studio at the time. But for this record we felt a lot more secure with the recording process and thought it would be best to work with just Pete, and use our own intuition. It made it a bit more of a challenge.
Pete was the only person we wanted to record with. In the studio he is a total genius, and really gets how to record a punk rock album, he’s also got a lot of cool amps to play with!
A major difference since we did “Right To Remain Silent” was Pete has moved into this massive house way out in Devon, where we couldn’t even get phone reception, we slept there and recorded from when we woke up until we went to sleep. He is also constantly making humus, which is always good!

Chloe: I wouldn’t have wanted to record this album with anyone else; I have a lot of respect for Peter Miles and the way he works. We recorded in a similar way as “Right To Remain Silent” with the music live, then adding vocals and second guitar track. We had two extra days this time, which took some of the pressure off (we did the 10 tracks of “Right To Remain Silent” in only 19 hours flat).

Did you feel he understood what you wanted and what input did he provide in making any changes from your debut album?

Craig: I think Pete sees recording us as a bit of a holiday, when compared to some of the other records he has done like any of the Fall of Efrafa records, or the new Crazy Arm record (which are both wicked). There’s a hell of a lot of production, with a lot of overdubs and all sorts going on which really works in their favour. For us its always made more sense to do everything live, it makes you a tighter band, and when you’re a DIY band with very little money it seems to make more sense to spend the money with someone who really knows what they’re doing with a punk band as opposed to having a week with someone who has only ever heard of The Sex Pistols. For the most part we set up, got some great tones, and played until we decided it was done, it’s pretty much a no bullshit approach but it works for us and gives the album a really raw and real quality to it, which seems to go missing on a lot of new punk albums. Some bands end up spending too much time in the studio and end up with an album that’s too polished for what they play. For us we definitely feel that less is more.

I read you were initially battling to secure a label but the album is now being put out through whom? How did you manage to secure a deal?

Craig: We were never battling to secure a label, as such. We were just trying to get a label to put out our album, as we couldn’t really afford to put it out and press it ourselves.
We spent ages trying literally EVERYONE we could think of/ find. Unfortunately in the UK there are very few labels going and the ones that are, are losing so much money that it’s a huge risk putting out an album. So we went to our friends Matt and Bo who run Pumpkin Records based in Devon, who have worked with some great bands like The Extinguishers, Six Fish, and Burnt Cross.
They come from the same place as us musically, and are one of the few DIY punk labels in the country really pushing to get new music out, and were happy to be on a roster of a label that truly believes in us alongside some great bands.

Chloe: Matt and Bo from Pumpkin Records are old friends, we met them in Bideford when they were paying in the Something Something’s and organising gigs. They are great guys, very proactive and enthusiastic. All we had to do was give them a call and they agreed to release our new album, pretty straightforward!

Obvious question, but this being your second full length, what were changes in direction you wanted to make? And how much have things changed since your debut “The Right to remain silent”.

Craig: There wasn’t really a conscious change in direction, we always do what comes naturally to us as a band, I think the main difference is that since the first album we’ve toured all over the place and have become a much tighter band as a result. We’ve also become exposed to a lot of other bands and what else is popular. Sometimes it feels like we do stand out a bit as we don’t sound like a Rancid cover band or because we don’t play ska. Sometimes that works in our favour, sometimes it doesn’t but I think that gave us more determination and confidence to turn things up a notch and make a much more abrasive record, that doesn’t let up at any point. The songs have a lot more going on in them, and a lot more structure, but ultimately we’re proud of the album and that’s all that matters.

Chloe: It’s not so much a change in direction, rather a gradual evolution. I think the song writing has improved. Also Pasty and I have started writing songs. As a band, because we have been touring so much over the past couple years have become a lot tighter.

Pasty, Moral Dilemma © Imelda Michalczyk

The name of the new record is “Agree to Disagree”-referring to anyone/anything in particular?

Pasty: We tackle many issues on this album from war, to religion to the money making farce of the Olympics. And just what the general government is trying to achieve with London and the whole country.
There is an element of disagreement with everything at the moment, so the title suggests social protest. Like minded people coming together to disagree. That’s what creates change

Craig: It just felt like the common theme for the album is wanting change, the album to us sounds like a call to arms and we wanted the title to represent that, society is becoming far more complacent, from literally letting policemen get away with murder to passing laws such as S.O.C.P.A to paralyze the protest movement in this country. Britain has such a stiff upper lip / grin and bear it attitude, and the more we can destroy that mentality the better.

Chloe: When we were trying to think of a name for the album, Pasty came up with that. I think it sums up our political views/relation to society, and to an extent it fits us as people as all of us are quite argumentative and confrontational

Do you have any secret favorites on the new record?

Craig: I genuinely think there is no filler on the album, but ‘Our inheritance’, and ‘Under Surveillance’ are definite live favourites for me.

Chloe: I am very proud of the song I wrote ‘Scars.’ It means a lot to me and I love Pasty’s drumming on it. Another favourite is ‘Someone Else’s Lies,’ that’s a song I always enjoy playing live.

Pasty: I really like ‘Scars’, the intro sounds like a smack in the mouth.

You often are touring in support of bands with a political consciousness, is that core to the band?

Craig: Definitely, I don’t want to force my political opinions on anyone, but I have an opinion and I want to express it through lyrics. Dissatisfaction with the world we live in and the western agenda, tends to be what inspires me to write lyrics and if I didn’t write about it, then I would feel dishonest.
We’re up for touring with most bands whether they have a political message or not, it depends on the band but it sometimes does feel a lot more effective if your with a band that comes from a similar place in their approach to music and what they express in their lyrics.

Chloe: Definitely. Whilst I enjoy fun and jokey bands, for me as a musician punk has to have a political consciousness, make people think, show them there’s a different way to live. That’s the reason why I got into it over 10 years ago, and it still makes sense now.

Craig, Moral Dilemma © Imelda Michalczyk

You seem to have your roots in the London Squat scene a as band, how did things start and why the squat scene?

Craig: It was the only place that would have us in the beginning! We knew one promoter Aisha, from Your Mum promo, the only other shows we could really get back in the day were ones that our mates Ram Raid The Offy, and The King Blues (when they were just a two piece) would manage to bully promoters into letting us play after they had got booked for it.
Squat shows at the time where happening all the time all over London, to the point that I would find it hard to take a London based punk band seriously if they emerged at that time and hadn’t ever been to or played a squat show. There was one in Dalston called The Poison Club where some really amazing gigs went down, usually running until 6am or so. The Restarts where practically the resident band, so we asked one of the guys who put on gigs there if we could play and he ended up getting us a few squat shows around London. They were always mental and much more fun than most gigs in venues, so we kept playing them and still do, its where we built a name for ourselves. A lot of them were well organised but often something would happen which would mean we ended up having to piece together a backline usually by putting vocals through a guitar amp, and gaffa-taping mics to cymbal stands or hanging them from pipes, and we thought that was great at the time and definitely prepared us for the worst. It’s the most grassroots part of punk rock in a way and really makes it stand alone from most other forms of rock n roll, how every fine detail involved in putting a gig together can be run by people out of passion not profit resulting in creating a very genuine communal and creative atmosphere and attitude that is like none other, and ultimately very inspiring. Whilst the squat scene will always be a part of who we are as a band and where we come from, we want to expand our audience and play to as many people we can, not just to get our own message out, but to also expose people to the kind of sounds that come from this scene which is often overlooked.

What plans have you got to support the new record?

Chloe: A whole lot of touring, hopefully going to places we’ve never been before. As well as playing a few gigs in London, we are going to Ireland in October and to Europe for two weeks in November.

Craig: We will definitely tour around the UK again in the very near future but we don’t have anything booked at the moment, so keep your eyes peeled, and check our Myspace page for more information.

Chloe, Moral Dilemma © Imelda Michalczyk

Finally, you have posted that you recorded a Radio 1 Live session for Mike Davies- how honored were you to do that?

Craig: The whole day was mental. It really felt like we were completely out of our element and couldn’t figure out how we managed to get booked for a session. I genuinely never would have thought we’d ever end up recording a Radio 1 session when we started the band. The guys who recorded us where cool, one of them was an older guy and was telling us about other bands he had done for Peele back in the day, which was cool, and we caught him rocking out whilst recording. Which you don’t really expect from someone who appears to be a quite straight laced recording engineer in their 50’s. It was an amazing experience to record there and I’m really proud to say we did it. Mike Davies has been really supportive over the past year giving us airplay, and getting the band name about, and we are eternally grateful for his help, and giving us this opportunity.

Chloe: It was such an honour; I couldn’t believe it when we got asked to do the session for Mike Davies. It was amazing walking around the BBC studios in Maida Vale. We recorded in the room where John Peel used to do his sessions; you’d get a kick just imagining all the bands that were in that room before! It felt pretty special.