360 Degree Music began working with Inwits in September 2009, and the band have been busy writing and rehearsing ever since, breaking only to play the odd show, with a particular highlight being their stunning performance at the Stroll On Christmas Party in December.

On March 28th they head off to Edinburgh to play their biggest gig yet, supporting Idlewild in the 1500 capacity HMV Picturehouse. This gig is actually just one part of the Haddow Festival taking place in venues all over the city on the day, and promises to be a humdinger!

We caught up with the lads for a chat prior to this momentous occasion:

Q1: Where did you get the name from?

Ah well if we were to tell you too much it might defeat the object of its meaning. Our inner wit chose it really. Inwit is a word that’s fallen out of use in the English Language over thousands of years so it’s both old and new – a lot like our musical influences. A certain Irish novelist resurrects it in his novel Ulysses, quite possibly the greatest artistic statement of the last century. The plan is for our record to achieve that status for this one!

Q2: What are you currently up to, and what are your plans and goals for 2010?

Currently shooting the breeze, but the breeze has been colder than usual of late so also making a point of keeping warm in the rehearsal room and learning a few new chords. We’re now on C#m… Our plan and goal and dream will always be to make great music, then release it and hopefully play it to more people. The exciting thing about 2010 is we can actually realise that dream this year, so I guess that’s the first plan and goal. From there we just want to play our instruments more and more till we need a breather.

Q3: Tell us about the four guys in the bands?

Buskers. Schemers. Full-Time Dreamers. The sum is most definitely greater than its parts.

Q4: Who are your influences, musical and otherwise?

Anything or Anyone with Soul. It’s getting harder to find.

Q5: Jazz or Electro?

Both are extremely exciting and there’s nothing like a dirty electro beat to get down to. But programmed beats are one thing, “The Freedom Rider” by Art Blakey is quite another. Jazz was, is, and always will be the coolest genre of music known to man. That’s coming from a guitar band. Socially it’s as important to black America as the blues (and we love the blues), musically it pisses all over most things with still a fair bit left in the tank. Finally, and most importantly, it’s unquestionably the sexiest sound going. Getting sexy to a jazz groove takes the word living to a whole new level. Miles Davis over Little Boots any day.

Q6: England or somewhere else?

England is where we’re from, and is obviously important to us. As an English band you can’t help but inject an element of Englishness into the music you make, especially with the rich musical history Englishness entails, particularly over the last fifty years. We’re all products of our time and place so obviously our songs brim with references to London, because that’s our experience. But at the same time we’re all citizens of the world and there’s much to see! James Joyce wrote masterpieces about his homeland from Paris, Zurich and Trieste. We want to be on stage playing music wherever that stage is. There’s six and a half billion people scattered around this globe and we want to play to as many of them as possible, be they in England or indeed somewhere else.

Q7: On your MySpace page, you claim that ‘attitude breeds creation’. How so?

Attitude channeled in the right manner breeds creation, those who can appreciate that whatever they’re doing in their own life will understand the meaning of that statement. Those who can’t, well essentially their the type who channel their attitude into hitting people with bottles on a Friday night, and spend the majority of their adult lives doing coke in the toilet of the same pub they’ve been drinking in since they were sixteen. We stopped worrying about those people a long time ago.

Q8: Who is David McSherry?

We don’t care he supports Tottenham. Jokes Dave! He’s a good lad from the north side of town with an eye for a garment and an ear for a melody. He and his sidekick Michael Warren have hit on a type of melancholia most of these idiot fashionista bands would remove the entire stitching of their skinniest pair of jeans for.

Q9: Is there ever anything good on the telly? If so, what?

Depends what you’re into. In fairness though some of the documentaries that have hit the small screen in the last few months have been nothing short of superb. Berlin, Making of Modern Britain, The Bible and How Earth Made Us to name but a few. It’s been a while now since it finished but Bruce Parry’s Amazon showed us all what traveling should be about. (No offence to the millions of Brits on tour in Australia). James reckons Gordon Ramsey puts on a good show whatever anyone says about his wrinkles or extra-marital activities, where as Joseph is more of a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall man! But you can’t beat the political parlance of This Week with the unholy triumvirate of Andrew Neil, Dianne Abbot and Michael Portillo late of a Thursday night.

Q10: Name five great movies.

Citizen Kane - Stonewall classic.

Un Prophet – French gangster masterpiece currently up for an Oscar.

The Big Lebowski - Comedy genius from the Coen Brothers.

Apocalypse Now – Vietnam epic based on Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness.

The Last Waltz – Swansong of The Band, with greats like Dylan, Van Morrison, Dr. John, Clapton…

Inwits x

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Q1: Have The Supernovas been back to the studio recently?

Joei: Yeah we were back in Sunshine Corner with Smiley in Fleet at the end of last year. We recorded drums, bass and guitars for 10 tracks so we’ve got plenty of work to be getting on with at the moment!

Q2: How did your debut single do?

Joei: I’m really happy with the progress we’ve as a band as a result of it. We sold around 300 vinyl copies, I’m not sure how many downloads there were on top of that but it was a good start. Just looking forward to the next step now and releasing Slaughter In The Gaza!

Q3: When can we expect that?

Joei: We’re hoping to release Slaughter In The Gaza in March as a Download-only and then follow it up with a full hard copy release of City Of Smoke in the summer.

Q4: The band have been playing all over the country, tell us about that.

Joei: It’s been good over the last year. We’ve really taken it up a gear. No more being stuck in a rut playing the same London shows over and over again. We’ve actually been able to go and visit different places around the country that we wouldn’t have seen otherwise.
I think the main highlights have been the Bournemouth and Portsmouth shows although the Babyshambles supports in Cardiff, Southampton and Manchester were amazing.

Q5: Do you feel any kinship with any other bands or artists currently playing?

Joei: Well, being on the same label as Inwits and Krakatoa has definitely given us a sort of gang mentality when we’re out playing together. David McSherry would definitely be a part of that gang as well.

Q6: Who would you choose to run the country?

Joei: Tony Benn. Hands down winner. Easy choice.

Q7: Do politics have a place in music anymore?

Joei: Most definitely. I think that one of the reasons that music has hit a patch of boredom or mediocrity, or whatever you wanna call it, is that no-one seems to have anything to say anymore. I mean Lady Gaga is supposed to be the most offensive one out there and all I’ve heard her say is that she’s bluffin’ with her muffin! I like to invite her round for a couple of hands of Poker one day – I bet she’d catch a fuckin’ cold!

Q8: Are there any heroes left, musical or otherwise?

Joei: They are few and far between but they’re not all dead yet.

Q9: What are the worst and best things about being in your band?

Joei: The best thing about being in The Supernovas is the belief I have in the music we make and the boys as individuals. The worst thing about being in The Supernovas is the amount of fried chicken we eat when we’re on the road together.

Q10: You go to Austin, Texas in March, what are your plans for your first American trip?

Joei: To cause a fuckin’ stir… I like the fact that we’ll have Slaughter In The Gaza out for then. I think it should turn a few heads out there. I’m hoping that by the end of our first song, half the crowd will have walked out and the remainder will be up for it. That’s like ‘my vision’ of the gig haha!