People You Need In Your Life. Interview #2: Sheep

"Are you sure he's straight-edge?", the euro boy I'm talking to asks, as he watches Sheep with another of my friends run out of the Belgian club, wearing nothing but a balcava and when I say nothing, I mean NOTHING. I grin and nod as he shakes his head in disbelief.

This was nothing we all hadn't seen before. Sheep has always, and will always, be the life and soul of the party. With more energy than anyone I know, and more passion than most, Sheep is, by far, one of my favourite people on the planet.

A talented photographer, frontman of one of the UKs hardest working bands, Honour Among Thieves, and a good friend, I bothered him whilst he was on tour in Australia to ask him some questions.

You all DEFINITELY need more Sheep in your life.

Name: sheep
Vital Statistics: 28, tall and skinny with a fake beer belly.
Location: Based in London
Current Occupation outside of music: photographer

Describe yourself in 3 sentences. EXACTLY 3.

annoyingly hyperactive northern lad who talks too much. quite likes a
bit of mischief and doing things most people don't do. likes to party.

Hi sheep, How you doing?

not bad. i was up till after 7am, but had to get up at 10 to switch hotel rooms (long story). now i'm up, waiting for the sweet mexican place down the road that does tofu burritos to open so i can get dinner.

You have been an active part of UKHC for a long time. The first time I heard your name was when Sakari Empire was being mentioned. For the younger kids that haven't been around for that long.. would you care to explain what exactly this was, from how you got the name to what was done with it?

sakari empire was a record label i used to run in 2000/2001. sakari empire was originally the name of the edge collective run by the boys from canvas in leeds circa 1997/98, i just pinched it. ironically, i seem to remember nathan bean claiming he had come up with the name or something, but i guess that mustve been before everyone realised he is a total fucktard.
It didn't last very long, i put out 3 records and a few demos... to be honest i don't think it was ever very important in the grand scheme of things, no one really cared about the majority of the records i put out. I guess in the clear were an important band for out scene at the time though, but it was probably more a case of the band making the label, rather than the label making the band.

it's worth noting that the kneejerk record i put out features Frank Turner, who went on to play in million dead with a reasonable amount of success, and now has even more a country/punk/folk singer.

Ian Wiles of In The Clear went on to form the last chance who we all know and love (i hope) and founded dead and gone records, one of the biggest hardcore labels this country has ever had.

the label folded in late 2001 when i moved abroad.... wasnt keen on trying to run it from another country.

You have put on loads of shows in your time. Which would you say was your favourite?

mmmm that's a toughie... so many good ones! the american nightmare/walls of jericho all dayer at josephs well in leeds, 2003 stands out. as does sweatfest in 2004, mainly because everyone was going mental for UK bands. i always get stoked when kids lose their shit for homegrown talent. more recently the pre-ninjafest show last year was a banger for the same reasons.... one of the very early shows i did stands out too, withdrawn, area effect, canvas and vengeance of
gaia, the packhorse, leeds 1997. it broke even (a rarer thing those days), all the bands were rad. i think i foolishly made a tiny speech at the end of the gig about how awesome hardcore was or something like that, but i was only 17 at the time so i'm willing to forgive myself.

As I write out this interview, you are on tour in Australia tourmanaging Bring Me The Horizon. How did this come about?

well i've known the bmth dudes since before they were a band.. they used to come to my shows. i remember ripping oli for wearing a scarfin a roasting hot blood brothers show on the blog i used to keep at the time when he must've been like 16 or something. been TMing them for a little while now. It's neat, i get paid to go to cool countries and hang out with cool people. job does have it's downsides but mostly it's awesome.

You have been in several bands.. The earliest I remember being 12th Angel Calling.. Whats your favourite memory of being onstage?

i never really regarded myself as being a band dude. 12th angel calling never really did anything and no one liked us anyways, so i dunno if i'd even count them. the 1st real band i was in that did anything was seventh cross, i joined them in late 2005... so i'd been going to shows for a decade before i was in a proper band.

like i said, no one cared about 12th angel so i don't really have any cool onstage memories with them, just the chill outs and tour shit. i have a good story about the aftermath of a gig in grimsby but that wasn't onstage so i guess it doesn't count.

playing with seventh cross was fun.. i guess the highlights would be the one show we played in sweden, ghostfest and the last 2 shows, they were both pretty mental. i suppose the shows where kids went mental are always gonna be the standout ones for me.

i think the best ever would probably be the demo 7" release show for HAT last year... so many kids singing along. i was uber stoked. nothing is like that feeling at all.....


Your "new" band, Honour Among Thieves. Tell us a little about it?

um... if you're after some kind of summary (the type band members hate having to do) then i'd say we're a melodic hardcore band with an aggressive edge and socially aware lyrics and topics..... we've only been going about a year so it's early days at the moment but we're
having a lot of fun.

When you first started, I asked you to describe your sound.. You said it was a mixture of comeback kid and someone else who I cant remember. The sound that you guys developed is not really a sound adopted by many hardcore bands here in the UK. Do you think that has benefited or hindered you guys?

to be honest i'd say it has hindered us. if we had more breakdowns and moshy bits i'm sure kids would dig us more.... but when we started out we didn't want to be just another moshy band. i'm glad we're maybe doing something a little bit different, even if no one cares that
much.

You have done a number of uk tours, a russian tour, played mainland europe...your band seem very driven, to be doing this off a back of a 3 track demo?

well most of us in the band have been around for a while and have a few friends here and there, so we just utilised those connections.... we should've put something else out by now but cuz we've been touring a fair bit it hasn't happened... the band is pretty much the only reason i still live in england, so i wanna make the most of it while it's going... so i guess driven is a word that's fairly accurate. we just wanna play everywhere and anywhere we can.

Congratulations on the signing to GSR by the way...

cheers. we've known rob and theo for a long time, and they actually approached us back in october, but it took a little while to get it all ironed out. we don't really fit in on their roster but it makes an interesting challenge! i can't wait to put the full length out with them...


Lets move on a bit. You and Sean Oxley are possibly two of the most famous stagedivers due to that picture. How do you feel when you hear that people you dont know have blown up the pic to cover a wall or put you on their credit card?

ha i dunno if i would agree.. in recent times maybe, but there are quite a few classic 80s dive pics (the swazzi on the balaclava diver for example) that have that pic beat hands down. it's kinda funny that the pic travelled so far and wide. when i saw the pic of that dude who
had it blown up on his wall i just laughed. it's funny. i never saw the credit card but i heard about it, that's pretty funny too. i bet ryan wishes he was scoring some kind of royalties for all the use his pic has seen!

As a photographer, do you sometimes wish you had taken the pic?

it's funny that you should ask that as a lot of people actually get confused and think that i took it rather than being in it. it would be a sweet pic to have taken, but life is about living not watching so i'm glad it's the way it is.


Plug your photography here...

err.... pay me to take pictures of stuff? i'm dead good, honest.

and now please plug a UK band that you feel everyone has to listen to.

well i'd normally say dead swans cuz they are the shizznizz but they're blowing up so they don't need any help right now.. where as MORE THAN LIFE from bristol are amazing and are looking for a label.they just recorded a new MCD and it's smoking. so good. hook them up
if you're a label dude! www.myspace.com/morethanlifehardcore

What does the rest of 2008 hold for you?

a whole lot of touring.. i'm supposed to fly home from oz on the 10th, but think i might stay to tech for the ghost inside who are on the road here till the 22nd... then i get back, and bmth have some euro fests to do. then probably warped tour with them. then i guess we have
to record an album... then touring some more. so mostly touring.... although when i get home i'm definitely looking forward to riding my bike. it's been too long....


THANKS DUDE. We miss you x