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My Awesome Compilation.
 With a quirky name like My Awesome Compilation, you can bet these British lads are serving a breath of fresh air to England's stale punk-rock scene. "The thing with British bands is that they're always trying to sound American, and we've decided that no, we're just going to sound English and be who we are," bassist/vocalist Darius Cobb announces, "and that is why 'Actions' sounds so much rawer."
While their 2004 CD-EP 'The View Is Amazing' - recorded in the United States - saw the band singing in somewhat awkward American accents and with apparently no set musical direction, their 2005 debut 'Actions' was the beginning of something special.
As Cobb recalls, "We were happy with the EP, we loved the songs we wrote on it and it was generally good, but we were still trying to find our own sound at that time, we weren't sure what that was yet. American music is just so big over in England, and when you grow up listening to it so much, there's just this tendency to think about music like that."
Until 'Actions', that is. With the aid of 100 Reasons' guitarist Larry Hibbitt as producer, the band was not only able to finally pin-point the honesty and intensity of British rock but also discover their own musical identity.
"We completely found our sound with this record and we hope to continue to stick to it as we go. Over here Larry's band 100 Reasons is doing really damn well, so he was an absolutely amazing guy to work with - he's the one who gave 'Actions' a very British feel when we were recording, and to be honest, we couldn't have imagined it to sound anywhere near as good as it does. He was like 'please, just sound like who you are,' and as a result the people that have come out to see us live just respect us a hell of a lot more for doing it that way."
While most punters tend to be long-time followers of the Lester quartet, many also show up just to check out 'that band with the weird name'.
Cobb explains, "My Awesome Compilation... well, there aren't many people who would call themselves that, is there?" he laughs. "That's why we went for it! Our drummer [Andy Driver] walked into his brother's room one day [Chris Driver, guitar/vocals] and saw this tape of different songs on it. So he started checking it out and he looked at the side of it where Chris wrote 'my awesome compilation'. The next time we all had band practice Andy came in and said 'what about this for a name', and we were all going 'yeah, that's original', and so the name stuck!"
When it comes to the band's live show, Cobb claims that most people often walk away quite surprised.
"The crowd that comes to check us out don't expect our live act to be how it is, I don't think they expect the energy. But it's most amazing when they do know your songs and sing them back at your gigs."
Speaking of energy, that's one thing the band is certainly not lacking in: this year has already seen them out on the road back in their home country with Fall Out Boy and Funeral For A Friend, while the next couple of months will take them to Japan as well as over to our own shores.
"We're currently getting ready to jet off to Japan in two days, and we'll be touring there for about a week, then we're off to see you guys in Australia, so it's all obviously going really well for us right now! We've been to America before, obviously because of the EP, and we've also been around Europe a couple of times, but we've never been to Australia before, that's why it's going to be great and we're going to give it a 107 percent. I've been quite excited to come over actually because I've got relatives over in Perth. And then there's stuff like Ayer's Rock, that's what I think of first," Cobb laughs, "and the spiders: the poisonous ones that kill you! Yeah, I can't wait to get over there!"
Nina Bertok
 | My Awesome Compilation support Funeral For A Friend at Thebarton Theatre with Fightstar and Behind Crimson Eyes, and 'Actions' is out now through Liberation. |
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