MillionYears | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:00 Speaker 1: Oh, I love it. That is elevated. The band is Million Years and we have entered our number three new Marrow trace of Matt Connorton unleashed and let's get this up because we had a couple of the guys from the band Million Years here with us via Microsoft teams. Hey, guys, welcome.

0:15 Speaker 2: I am how are you doing?

0:16 Speaker 1: Good? Good good? Please introduce ourselves.

0:20 Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm Steve. I'm the bass player, and we've got our handsome frontman which is Gyms Vocals. It does vocals and the rest of the loads are currently tied up with Funny on the weekend, so we're holding the fault at the moment. But before we jump on, I just want to say Hopy forth of July to use guys.

0:39 Speaker 1: Thank you. Thanks.

0:40 Speaker 2: As a brit it's kind of like okay, but yeah, Hoppy forth of July, well, thank you very much.

0:47 Speaker 1: I'll tell you it's funny. Last night I watched fireworks with British people who happened to be here in the area.

0:55 Speaker 2: We've got a lot of shared volumes only between the US and the okay, which is great. The lone Mayer dot continue, there we go.

1:00 Speaker 1: There we go. Well, I heard it's actually Oasis Day in the UK, is that true?

1:06 Speaker 2: I have no idea is getting a lot of coverage with the World Cup current, you know, because it's one of the theme songs off the back of the matches that England are playing. So we've just got to well, our next match is Mexico is THEECA and then we've got to wait up till one o'clock on Monday morning. So by the times match finishes, that's three o'clock. So I expect no one in the UK be at work whatsoever. Yeah, sometimes, no doubt to do.

1:38 Speaker 1: Now we're exactly in the UK, are you guys? Are you in Durham? Is that correct?

1:42 Speaker 2: Yeah? Just outside of Durham. So for those who don't know, we all don't live in London. Durhams in the northeast of England, just south of new Castle. It's close to the Scottish and a half away from Scottish border, so we're northern, northern. We're no more more than than Manchester.

1:58 Speaker 1: Gotcha, gotcha? Yeah? Now this band million years. You guys haven't been around for that long, right did did you form? Just just last year? Is that correct?

2:08 Speaker 2: So in its current format? Yeah, last year we we picked up our new drummer and an extra guitarist last year and everything you've heard that that chumney you just played there, Elevated is off the back of that. It's our newest guys at the moment. But we started the band years ago. Wasn't about a bit of years ago.

2:30 Speaker 3: It's just a vallopin val It's changed quite a few times and now we've got five of us, so yeah, we're hit on from there.

2:36 Speaker 1: Yeah, gotcha, gotcha. I love the single Elevated now that's that's the newest single.

2:42 Speaker 2: Intact that is. Yeah. That was I released early this year and I believe it. We might have another single at the show, folks there on the show for yourself, which is Circles as well, which was at last last year. But we're just about to we're just about this month July and July about to block ourselves in the studio for a week and we're looking to put together a four truck ap which we're hoping really shows a mark step in our evolution as well with some of the ideas that we got so heavier, faster, more in your face as well.

3:14 Speaker 1: Those riffs outstanding. So tell me about the track elevated and what was the genesis of that in terms of the lyrics of it, because my understanding is there's a little bit of a story here.

3:24 Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, jump. Yeah.

3:26 Speaker 3: It's about when people try to like put your down kind of thing and then showing them who's the boss kind of and coming back and being stronger, stronger for it, and showing people like you're not weak and you're strong.

3:38 Speaker 2: Basically, it's the proverbial middle finger, right, it is. The other The other side of that as well, is you know, all us in the band, they're all mid thirties apart from yourself. I'm the I'm the old man at the band on in my forties. And you know a lot of people say, well, you to all have be doing this. No, no, not at all. It's kind of the mental thing about mentality as well.

4:03 Speaker 1: Yeah, that's that's excellent. Uh No, I can appreciate that. Did like like did someone try to did someone actively try to discourage you guys from from doing this or for that reason.

4:16 Speaker 3: There's been a fair few, like in the last few years, like people saying you tobal like stuff like that, But obviously I don't listen to them.

4:24 Speaker 2: I keep on pushing forward.

4:26 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely, Yeah. You can't let other people define what you can do and what you're capable of. And uh, you know, I feel like there's less I feel like there's just generally less ageism though than there used to be when it comes to music. Uh yeah, but.

4:41 Speaker 2: Well you'll you look across the scene. You've got bonds like Kiss Keep doing the Ready, Last Two whatever, you know, Iron Maiden, the Edge of those guys, nor Metallic. It is just a number anything you do see it in the industry though that you know. Yeah, of course we haven't got the side of youth on our side. She was saying. There's a lot of in our there's a lot of younger bands that are coming through and automatically get some more of that attention because of the youthful looks and the way they go about things.

5:13 Speaker 2: But I mean, at the end of the day, we love it. We don't really care what other people say in that regard. It's nice to get good feedback, it's nice to take I get the feedback and just from that as well, but it's always nice to put the middle finger up and steal what we love.

5:27 Speaker 1: Absolutely I agree, I can get on board without one hundred percent. Are you guys playing a lot of shows.

5:36 Speaker 2: We've gone into a slight into a slight remit while we're a bit of a break and we focused on the apace, so plenty of practice and showing them down on that, make sure it's tight as a dux bumball should be there and and make sure I don't breach the watershed or anything like that. So yeah, late, but we've got a couple of smaller festivals in the north of England coming up in August. Off we come out of all EP session which is quite nice, and you know we are working with a few people with plans for the EP release sure, and some bigger gigs as we moved through the year in the next year as well.

6:17 Speaker 2: So yeah, there's plenty of foot, plenty of foot. We've got plenty of gigs over the past year and a half all over the Northeast and we're just starting to spread further afield now and hopefully trying to get down at the middle of the could be and you never know, go up the big smoke which is London and maybe it's May. I'm marked on there at some point.

6:33 Speaker 1: Excellent. I'm glad too that You're gonna be doing a couple of festivals because I always say those are such fantastic opportunities, not only to expand your audience because you get in front of a crowd that might not know you or might not be familiar with you yet, but also too just the connections that you make, you know, backstage, the industry people that you meet. You know, it can really be the festival experience can really be helpful.

6:55 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's not networking, isn't it. It's it's not put your ands on and you try and network. At the same time, it's so nice to make other people make and strike of friendships with people are similar like ideas and and focus, and it's it's nice. It's nice to see the other bands as well at these these gigs and festivals because you know, there's there's a lot of bands on and there's you know, differentially, it's across the day, who was playing, what what kind of genre? We do generally sit in that rock, alternative rock, post hardcore punk genre, yeah in that right, So, but there are you know what bands at these festivals that sit down the alternative or even grunge.

7:36 Speaker 2: You know, there's a lot of that's still kicking around even though we're thirty years past it, you know what I mean. It's cyclic as well. Let's say the music come round in cycles. Yeah.

7:47 Speaker 1: I had a guest tell me recently, a guest from the UK tell me that grunge is actually really big there right now. Is that true?

7:56 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's kind of it's what we've seen with the grunge scene is and I personally so and I'll go not only to festivals and stuff, I go to a lot of local shows, you know, on with old band cards and badgers and and pot and just to say a lot of people and really trust the saying. But with grunge, it's kind of it's kind of meshed with shoe gears. Yeah as well. So there's that that that's dreamy shoe gears grunge element that's going off, which is like a modern take I believe on grunge, which is quite interesting here.

8:28 Speaker 2: And it's it's quite nice. I mean, obviously you can't be the old guys like Nevana and Pearl Jarman and all that, you know, yeah, Allison Chairmans except so, but it's nice and it's it's yeah again, it's that cyclic will come back round, trends as come back round, and that's that's where we feel. We often feel sometimes some of the stuff that we've released and that we're doing that if we've been around in the early two thousands, maybies we'd be more on the platform now. But with the you know, with with the way the music industry is, we feel as though we're with niche at the moment, but we're fully expecting that might hopefully expand out further as people come back to listening.

9:08 Speaker 1: Right right, no doubt. I mean, how do you how do you kind of everyone always hay, it's a question, but how do you kind of define your sound or categorize your sound? Because I hear you know, I mean it's it's some hardcore elements certainly, but also there's some groove there. And see if I'm a bass player myself, so I pay attention to.

9:25 Speaker 2: You know, you're picking the base line up. That's quite hard. We've been so many times we've gone from alternative rock? Are we in punk?

9:36 Speaker 3: There's a few people compare us to Rise Against. I think that would be quite a close ish band, but not the same, if that makes sense.

9:44 Speaker 2: Yeah, But I think also because the five members of the Lads Away and we've got Enders on drum, We've got Dono guitars and vocals, and Andrew is the second guitarist. We've all got different genres ours that were brought up on and what we like. Jim, you like the Cure and stuff like that. Yeah, I was brought up on matewall f, led Zeppelin and all that classics from the lower the lads that are in the more scale, and you kind of find that that sits in. And that's why when we get asked we say we can't pigeons haul ourselves because it points there is thrash, it points there is a bit of groove and a bit of funk, and it's it's you know, and the points there is a punk vibe there and the pigeonholes is a bit hard.

10:35 Speaker 2: However, we'll take that as a compliment because that means that we're doing something different hopefully.

10:42 Speaker 1: Absolutely. Yeah, it's a good problem to have, you know. I mean, in the industry we always try to categorize and label everything, but and you know, and there's practical reasons for doing that, but but yeah, for you to be able to not be easily pigeonholder labeled. Is is definitely a good thing helps you stand out. And yeah, I was are there any because I would imagine it's a pretty high energy show, right. Are there any videos of your on YouTube? Any videos of you guys playing live?

11:08 Speaker 2: Yeah's so we've got some basic stuff on YouTube, but a lot of our stuff is on our social media, so people can check us out on a million years official on Instagram or Facebook, TikTok as well, million years Official. There's some good lengthy videos there of some of the gigs, and yeah, it's high energy. It's you know, there's none of these awkward sciences gaps. There's always something going off. Yeah, there's plenty of sweat, plenty of being a being drunk, and plenty of head banging and saw our heads and anie to sit down usually afterwards a nice cup of tea British.

11:43 Speaker 1: Way right, right?

11:45 Speaker 2: Is it check us out on social media's?

11:48 Speaker 1: Yeah, definitely, yeah, excellent, excellent. Jim, is it hard to sing this style because you know you're pretty intense on the vocals. Is that?

11:56 Speaker 2: You know?

11:56 Speaker 1: Because Steve mentioned having some tea, I was wondering, I mean, do you do that to like, do you do anything to take care of your throat Jakemans.

12:03 Speaker 3: I don't know if you have them in America, but there's a there's a coffs we called Jakemans, which I have every show and it just makes lose my throat a bit instead of drinking like like syrup.

12:15 Speaker 2: Or how would everyone like or whiskey.

12:18 Speaker 1: Yeah, but.

12:20 Speaker 3: It really helps with me screaming quite a lot. And then after I've played it, my voice is usually quite normal, so really good.

12:26 Speaker 1: Yeah.

12:27 Speaker 2: The thing that I've noticed about your your screens gimmers, and I've heard other people who will scream when you turn that microphone off. It's like a hissed scream from some other artists, you know, it's that force back of the north. This is what Gym's doing is generally a scream. He could actually turn the mic off and it'd still be loud enough. So yeah, yeah, so he's got some lungs on the lab.

12:50 Speaker 1: I know that sounds like, yeah, no, that's that's excellent. So h an obvious question, but where does the name come from? Million years It was from Maya.

13:03 Speaker 2: Wasn't an expert. So after you made Gym first start of the band, we actually there's a festival in the UK called download festival, you guys might have heard. Yeah, yes, quite quite a large festival. We were there about what three four years four a year, and we you know, we got drunk and Jim ended up with kiss makeup on his face, get removed the entire week and spent loads of money, and we said, came away with it, and we formed a friendship, and we're like, look, Jim, you know that art played in the band twenty years ago.

13:34 Speaker 2: Jim's always been into his music. Who was it your front Turn? And the Rattlesnakes you've actually played alongside and stuff as well in the previous lives. Yeah, long, a long time ago. So we're both from the musical bat and we just said why not. We enjoyed watching and we always enjoyed this. Let's go for it. So we actually started out and the band name was Pim wasn't It was called Portly Emotion. It's a bit too softball likings, we eventually so we shifted that and Maya Maya on million years is actually abbreviated to my it's a it's a measurement of unit of time.

14:08 Speaker 2: Okay, there you go. It's also something to do with the ancient Egyptian.

14:12 Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot of things a million years and over England people say never in a million years and stuff, and that so quite a catchy as well.

14:21 Speaker 2: So yeah, every time they say that the same.

14:22 Speaker 1: Talking about there you go, we say that here too. Yeah, it's a common expression.

14:27 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, never in a million years, there you go exactly.

14:32 Speaker 1: So what's what's so? So? So what's next for you guys? What what should we be looking out for?

14:38 Speaker 2: Well, the EPP is the one that we hope is the next step up, our next evolution, and the hope really defines our direction, you know, working with the various people we want to start getting, you know, hence taught me yourself the day we want to get, you know, with our cousins over the US and and and get get hurt over there as well. Well, and you know, we're still slowly starting a little, but we think the AP is going to be the yeah, the catalyst to really kick on. And we're very hopeful with it. So we're excited, we're excited to record it.

15:11 Speaker 2: We've been working really hard and I think when that comes out really defined and we hope it gets the right responses we feel it will. Yeah, never know it's as crazy, well, isn't it.

15:22 Speaker 1: Forgive me if you mentioned it already and I'm just forgetting, but was there any kind of an ETA on when the EP might be done or any kind of a timetable?

15:31 Speaker 2: So I spink with management. We believe that the way it's going to bear out is or I think we're looking into just the beginning the next year for the release of the AP, which is going to do us quite nice. Sometimes you don't want to rush these things and sometimes you don't take too long. We feel that's probably the right time frame, so at the beginn of twenty twenty seven. But in the meantime, once we come out of that recording session and the master and everything else will be back working hard on our live shows and what it's it never stops.

16:04 Speaker 1: Excellent, Yeah, outstanding, outstanding. Well before before we let you guys go, because in a moment, I'm gonna play I'm gonna play Circles, another great track. I love this, So we're gonna we're gonna hit that in a minute after we conclude our conversation. But I want to make sure that our listeners know where's the best place to go online to keep up with everything that you guys are doing, with everything that Million Years is doing.

16:29 Speaker 2: Yeah, the best place to catches is on the social media, so on Instagram and Facebook there's a lot of content and there I handles is a million Years official. You can find us both on Facebook and Instagram without handle.

16:42 Speaker 1: Okay, okay, outstanding. Well listen, guys, thank you so much, Steve and Jim really thank.

16:48 Speaker 2: You for your time, and I'll be forth of July the years. Guys enjoy it.

16:52 Speaker 1: Thank you, thank you, and if you ever want.

16:55 Speaker 2: To come back, we'll have a way with the King, don't worry.

16:58 Speaker 1: Very good, very good. We'll definitely we'll definitely have you back on in the future because you guys, it sounds like you had a lot going on and some good stuff coming. So congratulations on everything. And like I said, I love that track elevated and uh, we're gonna hit this track circles. So we'll let you go for now. But guys, thank you again, take care you you got it, Bye bye? All right. Excellent. So that is Steve and Jim from the band Million Years, and uh, this is another great track from them.

17:26 Speaker 1: I really like this a lot. Check it out. This is called circles,