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Loaded Guns. This trio from West London are determined to prove that girls can rock punk just as well as boys. Here are Nade, Molly and Katie introducing their debut album Love What You’ve Done With The Place which is just as honest and straight-talking as they are.
 
Well let’s start with the obvious - when and how did you meet?
Molly: It’s not your average “we were best mates at college so we thought why not” band if that makes it more interesting?! Actually me and Katie were at school together but we hated each other at the beginning. (laughs)
Katie: Yeah, it’s true. But it was hard not to hate you. (sticks tongue out at Molly)
Molly: It was only because I was so much better at art than you. (laughs)
Katie: B*tch.

Katie and Molly both attended the University of Arts in London studying fine art for two years before dropping out to start the band.

Nade cuts over the playful banter: I met those two at a gig when I was working as a merch girl for City of the Damned, a local band. Me and Katie were wearing the same Velvet Underground t-shirt and we had a long chat about old records and bands that we love. Molly overheard us talking about Ghost Mice, who she can’t stand, and joined the debate.
Katie: Anyway long story short, we met up a couple of times and start jamming as it turned out we could all play guitars and something just clicked. After one week we had made a song and a strong concept for our first album.
Molly: Yeah things, moved pretty fast because we were so excited about the possibilities. But if it hadn’t have been for those Velvet Underground t-shirts, Loaded Guns would not have happened. (laughs)

Thank God for Velvet Underground! You haven’t gone for any male members was there any reason behind this?
Molly: No, we didn’t deliberately avoid involving male band members it was just how it panned out.
Nade: We did, in very early days, include Katie’s boyfriend Tom in the lineup but we didn’t seem to work as well with the male company so we did on our own.
Katie: Yeah, also me and Tom ended up arguing too much about little things which p*ssed these guys off, so we kept it to us three.

Four’s a crowd.
Katie: (laughs) Exactly.

So I know how you got into a band but how did you get into punk…Nade: I was introduced to punk quite late on. I was about 13 - all my friends were into pop and boy bands, so I thought I had to be too. Then in class I was moved next to the “bad-lad”. I guess I was suppose to be a good influence on him but instead he introduced me to the Sex Pistols. Listening to the lyrics and anti-authority mood of the whole punk scene made me question why I always did as I was told. From then on I never looked back.
Molly: For me it was a rebellious outlet, my parents hated it - they were soft rock fans in their day and they couldn’t stand the “irate tuneless garble” as my dad called it - so it became my ultimate weapon in my early teenage years. I used to turn “My Way” up to full volume and scratch lyrics onto my walls whenever I was f*cked off.

Guessing they don’t regularly attend your gigs then.
Molly: (laughs) No. I might send them a copy of our debut album and see what they think… (grins)
Katie: It was the complete opposite for me, not really a rebellious outlet at all.(laughs) My dad introduced me to tons of old rock music, he is a huge music fanatic and his record collection is insane - it ranges from Queen to Black Sabbath and took up so much space we had to move the car out of the garage (laughs). I think me and my dad grew closer through our love of music because he used to spend hours hanging in our garage educating me. Sometimes we got so carried away I’d forget I was meant to be at school (grins).
Some of his stuff was crap but there were some amazing records too like The Clash. I found myself drawn to his more heavier aggressive sounding vinyls at first, it wasn’t the whole anti-authority thing but the fact that I could connect with my dad and his youth.

You actually recorded your first song in that garage - am I right?
Katie: Yeah, yeah we did. We were struggling to find a studio and our budget was very small at the beginning, and these guys came over to mine for Christmas two years ago, I was still living with my dad then - so rock’n’roll (laughs) We hung out in our garage and liked the vibe so much that we recorded “Peace Talks” there just after New Year.

So specifically what music are you inspired by?Nade: God, how long have you got?! There are so many that inspired me - and us - to get into punk music. I remember being amazed by Joan Jett when I first heard her, being able to gain success in a predominantly male scene was fantastic, I’d say she was my main influence in life.
(Others nod in agreement)
Katie: Yeah, definitely. I would claim a lot of classic punk bands are inspirational to me, both in my lifestyle and music. Also being able to say “Fuck you, I won’t do what you tell me” really helps you stay true to yourself and get where you want to be, especially in the music industry.
Mollly: I think our content is influenced by the likes of Dead Kennedys and the Sex Pistols and with the anti-establishment, anti-government concept and lyrics but with modern day issues and protest.

Your debut album “Love What You’ve Done With the Place” is out soon? Tell us about it…
Molly: Our upcoming album has a very profound message about the state of the modern world, politics being a strong theme behind it. There is a lot of anger about today towards the government about the economy, wars and the general hierarchy system. Which is what our album explains.
Katie: Nobody likes being told what to do and I think our songs express that in a very “honest and if you don’t like it fuck you” way. We have quite a sarcastic sense of humour which I think comes across in this album, especially in “Promises Look Like Lies” which is centred around the recent tuition fees… balls-up, for lack of a better word - from Nick Clegg’s point of view.
Nade: It was a lot of fun to make, even though the messages are serious, it was really great to get into a studio and just express ourselves and our feelings knowing that soon they will be out there for the world to hear.

On that note, are you concerned about how people will react, some think new bands don’t have a right to “relive” the old days that they didn’t experience?In unison: Nahh.
Molly: We try to avoid comparisons because we’re not a tribute band, we’re not trying to copy what those bands did back then. We have our own sound not saying that the concept is completely individual because nowadays no-one is truly unique. It’s easy to link bands’ style and sounds to something someone has already done but our lyrics and melody are our own and in that way we are unique.
Nade: To be fair, we’ve had more hostility to our genre rather than our music style.

Really?!
Katie: Yeah, we’ve had a few d*cks say to us “Oh, what do girls know about punk” or “They obviously only make angry feminist music” but to be honest, we don’t want those sort of people as fans so it doesn’t bother us. Come to our gigs or listen to our music and you will know what we’re about.
Nade: We’ve always said if you judge us by looking rather than listening you can f*ck off, it’s your loss.

Loaded Guns debut album Love What You’ve Done With The Place is out 8^th March