More Than Life

Brit hardcore rockers, More Than Life have taken Europe by storm since the release of their debut EP, Brave Enough To Fail in September '08.  It's not long now until they grace Australia with their melodic-pop lullabies, but until then Joey Bayes has us covered with everything from the parties to fashion tips in the life of More Than Life. 

Yo, first thing's first, where should we shop to pick up some jackets, shoes and jeans like you guys have got?

Vans shoes 4lyfe. Rock a denim jacket with a patch on, or some sweet Fred Perry gear. Skinny jeans from the cheapest place possible, we are all poor.

Alright, ASL, what's your name and what do you do in More Than Life?

My name's Joey Bayes, I'm 19 and I play guitar for More Than Life.

What's a typical 24 hour day in your life?

Well we aren't home that often, but... Wake up late, eat a lot of cereal, try and find some work to do in my familie's restaurant. Hang out with my dogs and little bro, play guitar a lot. Visit friends whenever possible, I live out in the sticks so to speak.

For those who don't know, what made you guys form together, and who've been your top influences in the songwriting process throughout?

We just wanted to play hardcore, didn't realise it would take us this far in a short space of time. We have a wide range dude, we are all from different eras ha. We try not to listen to that much hardcore when we write so we don't accidentally rip something off. Definitely a lot of pop punk influence.

Your debut EP, Brave Enough To Fail gathered a super response in Europe and worldwide for that matter, what are your feelings towards your upcoming 12" - Love Let Me Go?

We really like our new record, although it seems old to me already and it hasn't been released yet ha. It's different, but who wants same old same old for every release. Hopefully everyone will dig.

Gold Coast rockers, Ghost Town are quite the crazy bunch... how was your experience with them and Gold Kids on your November '09 SE Asia tour? Can you name a most memorable experience on that trip?

Well I don't want to drop those guys in it, but a bar named the Crazy Horse and some pay for fun ladies. Those guys are pretty wild, but fuckin' RAD dudes!

So partying seems to be a mutual love within your band, who's your favourite band to tour with and why?

I have currently woken up hungover to having Ben from Dead Swans sharing my bed for the last week. Dead Swans are our boys, touring with them was rad and all the little weekenders we have done ruled, because they are truly our best mates.

At the end of April and through May you guys are storming Europe with Defeater and homeboys Dead Swans, how do you expect that to go down?

I expect Defeater to slay us all, and no one to know our new tunes ha! But we are traveling to new places we have never been before so we are even more stoked than normal.

How does More Than Life go down with the girls and where are your hotspots in Europe for the women?

Hahaha! Girls seem to like our band, I think it's because we play pretty melodic pop hardcore. We aint no players though..but swedish birds rule!

Every band has their own individual characters, who's the leader of the gang, who gets the babes, who's the sissy and who's the most irritating on tour, and why?

Hmm Joel definitely gets the babes/is the sissy, and James just does my nut in as a normal occurrence for being himself. Bobby is called slobby, I think that speaks for itself.

List the favourite foods to eat, games to play, things to read and music to listen to when More Than Life are on the road.

Hmmm we definitely like the cheeky Nandos stop on tour when we wanna treat ourselves, I don't think you have that in Aus… but its a chain of portuguese chicken restaurants though out the UK. Wagamamas (Japanese) also rules!

Music wise, typical summer sing along tunes always so down well, punk anthems etc… Lady Gaga rules.
Reading, can't say I see a lot of that on tour. Mainly just some guys mag with a chick on the front I suspect.

How do you guys go about writing music, as in, can you give us a quick rundown on the typical process to write a song?

Me and Joel write everything, mostly at his house. We wrote the record a week before we recorded ha.
So basically me and Joel will have ideas, if we are at home we usually record them and send them to each other so we don't forget them. Then when we next meet up, we demo them with electric drums etc. and show the others.

We recently heard that you're prolonging your Australian tour that was set for June '10 *sob*, when can we expect to see you guys down here?

We DID have a tour planned, but it fell though. We are hopefully coming end of this year or early next.

Is there anything out of the ordinary Australians should expect when you guys finally make it out here?

I don't think so? Maybe that we will just be super stoked and try to marry all the stunning girls you have and stay forever?

Most importantly, are any of you on Xbox live? If so, what's your gamertag and favourite games?

I have no idea if any of us are, I'm not. I just play that Pure AVT game or Grand Theft Auto... None of which I own.

Hayley Williams or Taylor Swift?

I just googled Taylor Swift, not so keen. Hayley Willams all the way. Crushcrushcrush.

Rice or noodles?

Noodles.

Sweet, so to finish up, are there any last words for the fans in Australia, and tips to kill time while we await your tour down here?

We are eagerly waiting to plan our trip back up, any legit booking agencies would help. Let us know if you like our new tunes, buy our record, get the highest score ever on "doodle jump" if you have an iPhone!