Well let’s start with you introducing yourself to everyone I guess.
Justin: I’m Justin and I play the Bass. I am also very cool…(everyone else goes silent)
Charlie: I’m Charlie. I play the keyboards and I sing.
Jake: I’m Jake. I play drums.
Michael: I’m Michael and I sing, play guitar and am generally the best member of the band…
Jake: But no one likes him.
When and what made you decide to form a band?
Michael: We started as a covers band with only me, Jake and Justin as we all met at school in Barnet, North London.
Jake: Charlie was a primary school friend of mine and joined two years after we formed.
How did you come up with the name “Minus IQ”?
Jake: Take one look at Charlie and guess.
Charlie: It stands for Men In Naval Uniform Sometimes err
Justin: Irrational Quails.
Do you write your own songs or do you have a songwriter do it for you?
Charlie: We look to the stars…
Jake: Me and Mike mainly write the songs
Justin: Me and Charlie just look damn good….
If yes, what is your inspiration each time?
Charlie: Girls.
Jake: Sex.
Justin: Casual relationships
Mike: We also have a couple of songs about certain people that Jake hates and about Charlie waking up with a hangover.
What is the recording process like?
Charlie: Hard, painful and drunken.
Mike: Laborious.
Jake: For our singer its tedious because he doesn’t know what a note is. For the rest of us its quite relaxed, especially in our rehearsal room, but in a proper recording studio it’s a lot warmer as they have working central heating.
Charlie: It can also get quite serious.
What was your first gig like?
(all laugh)
Jake: At our first gig we played about 25 songs.
Mike: One of which was our own.
Jake: Our singer got drunk outside while we played because he wasn’t in the band back then.
Charlie: High five.
Jake: We played 23 covers.
Mike: Three of the covers we played twice.
Justin: We also played all of the songs at double speed.
Jake: All of the songs were Greenday or Blink 182 covers.
Mike: About four people danced. The other 70 didn’t.
If you could work with anyone or any band, who would it be?
All: MUSE.
Justin: What about producers?
All: Rick Rubin.
Jake: Also Matt Lang.
Charlie: Pink Floyd and Faithless.
Mike: Jack Daniels.
Can you imagine yourself doing anything else apart from being in a band? If yes, what would it be and why?
Jake: Charlie would be a world class bum.
Mike: Jake would be so arrogant that he would try to play drums for Robbie Williams but would end up playing drums for the Mickey Mouse Club’s support band.
What’s the best and worst thing about the business you’re in?
Jake: The worst bit is that everything we do is taking a risk.
Justin: The best bit would have to be playing live.
Jake: And hearing a new song that you’ve written when its recorded properly… We’re still striving for that moment.
When you get up to perform, do you get stage fright?
Jake: Charlie never gets up.
Justin: I don’t.
Mike: Me neither.
Charlie: I still do if its an important gig or a big venue or if there’s drunken irish men heckling.
Mike: In fact Charlie gets scared if there’s ANYONE watching us.
Charlie: DON’T LOOK AT ME. DON’T LOOK AT ME. Actually I practice naked in front of the mirror to combat this fear.
Who are your role models/inspirations when you’re performing or generally recording?
All: MUSE.
Say one line from your songs that describes your emotional state the best right now
Justin: The morning after hits me like a hurricane.
Jake: Leaves On Fire. (all go silent)
Charlie What?.?
Why music? .. Why choose music as a career? What does music have that other things don’t?
Charlie: Because I can’t do Maths.
Jake: Music is a form of expression
Mike: If you do any other job it means your doing the same thing for the rest of your life whereas music is always different and could lead to anything…
Jake: Like bankruptcy.
What are your hopes/wishes for 2007?
Jake: Get signed, record and release an album and go on a tour.
Charlie: Get laid.
Jake: A proper tour, not a tour of all the Irish pubs in London. Actually a support slot with Muse at Wembley Stadium would be awesome. I would french kiss Justin if someone offered it to us.
Charlie: I’ll French kiss everyone.
Minus IQ
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I’ve written a poem and basically it says paradise is basically all the simple things in life that make you happy. What do you think about paradise? Does it exist and what is it?
Mike: Does fame and lots of money count as a simple thing? That would be paradise.
Justin: Paradise is going to a club with lots and lots of free vodka red bulls.
Jake: After playing a gig in front of lots of people.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
Charlie: On the floor being arrested for an unmentionable offence.
Mike: Still in this garage…but with beards.
And here are some random questions:
Jake: So the other questions weren’t random enough?.??. What is paradise?.?.?.
What qualities do you look for in a girl?
Charlie: Money.
Jake: She’s got to be supportive of the band.
Mike: Someone who’s funny.
Justin: A girl who’s really hott.
What’s your ideal date?
Jake: Me and Justin curled up on the sofa in my house watching the Jackass 2 movie.
Justin: *gives Jake a weird look*
Mike: Me and Charlie walking along a beach whilst I make sure that Charlie doesn’t fall over and drown in the sea…
Charlie: Going to a keyboard museum and making sweet love on a Moog.
What type of movies do you like and can you name any of your favourites?
Justin: Jackass 1 and 2.
Jake: Taladega Nights and Anchorman.
Justin: ANCHORMAN.
Mike: ANCHORMAN.
Charlie: I like independent French cinema.
Mike: No you don’t. Name one independent French film?.
Charlie: Err…
Jake: We also love Family Guy.
Mike: And anything with Will Ferrel, Ben Stiller or Vince Vaughan.
Jake: Or Jenna Jameson…
What type of music do you like and who are your favourite bands/singers?
All: MUSE.
Jake: Led Zeppelin
Justin: Thom Yorke and Radiohead
Charlie: We like Foo Fighters
Jake: We also like Panic. At The Disco.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
Justin: Reading Festival in general.
Charlie: Riding a fire truck through the Reading Festival campsite whilst very drunk.
Jake: When Charlie lied on national TV about not losing his virginity for a programme about sex.
Mike: He’d already had sex about six months before hand.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?
Jake: Charlie getting caught by a van full of police men whilst urinating in public.
Mike: When Jake threw up on his 16th birthday.
Justin: He was so drunk that he tried to clean it up with a dog leash.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
Mike: America.
Jake: Hawaii.
Justin: Carribean.
Charlie: CARRIBEAN.
Justin: I want to go on tour to Japan
Mike: Yeah that would be awesome.
Charlie: Yeah TOKYO.
Jake: Imagine playing a stadium in Rio. Brazilian women, Mike, I know you would.
Mike: Yes. Yes I would.
Justin: Hell yeah.
If you could do anything for one day, what would it be?
Charlie: MUSE.
Jake: Be a woman.
Justin: Go on tour.
Jake: You can’t go on a tour for one day. Play a stadium more like.
If you were stuck on a desert island with only three things, what would they be and why?
Charlie: 3 Mojitos.
Mike: A guitar, a beautiful woman and a cocktail shaker that never empties.
Charlie: Basically booze, sex and music.
All: YEAH.
Tell us a random fact about you.
Charlie: I only have three nipples. Actually, as a child I was born with the umbilical chord wrapped around my head. Which explains a lot…
Mike: I was dropped down the stairs as a young child.
Justin: I nearly fell out of a window when I was a baby.
Charlie: I did fall out of a window when I was a baby.
Mike: Which explains a lot…
Charlie: It was orchestrated by my sister who opened a window and ushered me out.
Mike: Jake?
Jake: Err…I listen to classical music when I drive.
Mike: Wow. That’s rubbish.
Jake: Actually. I did a poo in my mums hand when I was a baby.
Have you seen a movie and just started crying? If yes, which one?
Jake: Jackass 2 – I was in tears.
Charlie: I cried at Evita. It was really sad when…err…some stuff happened.
Justin. I cried at Edward Scissor Hands. It was quite scary actually.
Mike: I cried at the Green Mile.
Jake: Because Michael’s a woman…
Mike: Jake never cries because he’s a BALL OF STONE. A BALL OF STONE.. Yeah I’m a woman OK. I have feelings and needs.…….err… next question?
Would you rather jump into a pool with a bike from the second floor or eat 20 cockroaches?
Charlie: The bike.
Jake: Yeah the first one.
Justin: The pool thing except I’d have an Aston Martin instead of a bike.
Charlie: However, if there was a nuclear holocaust I might prefer the cockroaches as they would burrow within my stomach.
Justin: What?.?. So they would eat from the insides and you would die anyway?
How many grapes can you stuff in your mouth before exploding (or choking)?
Jake: About 15?
Mike: I’d say about 10. Not many.
Charlie: Depends if they have seeds. If they don’t, that’s fine. If they do, SCREW YOU. I only eat Merlot grapes anyways…because I’m cultured.
Justin: I reckon about 20.
Thanks so much for doing this interview with me. Any last message you want to pass to your fans and generally the world?
Mike: We love New Zealand…..
Charlie: You have really nice wine……
Jake: My favourite colour used to be red. Now its metallic blue.
Justin: I really like Lord of the Rings.
