Page 8 - Black Velvet Magazine Issue 106

BV108 pg08-09 Fonzy and Company.qxp_BV106 pg08 09/05/2022 23:54 Page 1

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What’s My Age Again
What’s My Age Agai

une sees the release of Bristol quintet Fonzy & Company’s new EP, ‘Touché’. It’s an
JEP that instantly lifts your mood, as upbeat tunes such as ‘The Kids Stay Home’
and ‘No Way (Man You’re Old)’ are so upbeat and vibrant. Being particularly inspired by
‘No Way (Man You’re Old)’, Black Velvet decided to get in touch and asked frontman
Adam, AKA Fonzy, a few questions in relation to age, older artists and feeling old.

Black Velvet: What inspired the song ‘No drums. Hitting stuff - who doesn't like that? My BV: Is there anything you’d like to achieve
Way (Man You’re Old)’? Has anyone actu- first band I wanted to be a hybrid of all the third by a certain age?
ally said ‘No way. Man, you’re old’ to you? wave punk bands I loved; Sum 41, Blink 182, F: To be able to retire on making music is def-
Fonzy: We played a show recently where the Matchbox Twenty - any band that was a word initely on the list. We try and just make it a goal
other stage had a show on. When we finished followed by a number, really. But we sucked so to do as much as possible before we all start
there was a line of kids just looking at us like hard; can you imagine a band covering Limp adulting too hard and having kids and a mort-
we were ancient. Two of us are in our early Bizkit's 'Take A Look Around', followed by Plain gage and have no time to be Fonzy & Com-
30s, calm your NFT, TikTok ass down! The White T's 'Hey There Delilah'? It made no pany anymore.
song is reflecting a time when we were ar- sense then and it makes no sense now.
guably the last generation to have to go and BV: Has your taste in music and the style of
buy physical copies of music if you wanted to BV: Do you think your songs on new EP music you like to play changed as you’ve
listen to it, and that is what made it so special. ‘Touché’ will stand the test of time? Will you gotten older?
Not that there aren't kids today listening to still be proud of them when you’re old? Fonzy: I can't speak for her, but I swear Olivia
good music, but there is a much more domi- F: They are literally written to stand the test of (vocals) hasn't changed her collection since
nating presence of shit trending an atheistic time, that's what this band is about - keeping Busted were a thing. Sam Bennett (drums) has
outlook. There are about 15-20 references of rock intact and relevant. If Machine Gun Kelly been a metalhead as far back as a kid and they
tracks from the 90s backwards in the lyrics of is supposed to be the representation of what both still embrace that which is just awesome
‘No Way (Man You're Old)’ … for you boomers rock is today, we're all doomed. There is a to me. It shows the quality of the music, not just
out there. habit of listening to something you wrote years a passing fancy or a gesture of what's popular,
later and thinking 'Damn, what was I thinking?' it genuinely makes you feel good years and
BV: How old were you when you first But we are borderlining three years since the years down the line. I'm the same. Whilst we
picked up an instrument and how did that first release 'Last Birth' and still very happy, all listen to new bands, the old ones always
progress to joining your first band? even though we now tend to hit it a little harder, keep coming back, which keeps us young at
F: I was chatting to Sam Lane (bass) about this genre-wise. The Proclaimers still love their heart.
on our podcast a few months back. Lauren song 'I'm Gonna Be (500 miles)' three-odd
(lead guitar) has pictures of her as a nipper decades later - we aspire to be that enthusias- BV: Do you think, in general, people’s pas-
with a guitar - whereas we only discovered gui- tic. sion for music fades as they get older?
tar and bass in our teens. We all love the And, as someone with a dayjob, do you find

FONZY & COMPANY