DEVIL'S ISLAND featuring Analog Amara
Welcome to this weeks edition of Devil's Island! Every week we maroon a band or artist on the island and see what they get up to, how they cope with being all alone on a small island in the middle of the ocean. It's not your average desert island and we'll see just how each person copes with the extreme conditions.
This week when we arrived at Devil's Island we find Analog Amara sat on the beach. The island is far from their home, so how did they end up here and how did they cope with life on Devil's Island?
Find out now...
Welcome to The Razors'e Edge and our somewhat lovely, warm desert island. Don't worry about it's name I'm sure it's not as bad as that would suggest.
You're marooned here on this island, but before you ended up shipwrecked you chose one album that you couldn't live without. Which album did you each chose and why?
Jim: That’s the toughest question on planet earth. There is no album I could choose. It’s not possible. Five albums maybe, but one? Never going to happen.
Amanda: I could try and pick one… ummm… probably The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
Jim: How about all my answers are just food? My answer is pepperoni pizza.
Amanda: What’s yours, Max?
Max: What’s mine!? Fuck, that’s hard. It’s either going to be Guns N’ Roses, Reel Big Fish, or Eminem.
Amanda: The Slim Shady LP?
Max: Yeah. I love the songs where he’s poor and a nobody. It’s a classic - I still find new things in that album. Lol. Jim’s face right now is priceless. I’m not sure if he’s struggling with my answer or his.
Jim: OK fine, I’ll pick one — Nine Inch Nails, With Teeth.
Amanda: That’s a good one.
Just behind that palm tree is a shack for each of you to stay in, with enough space for you to put up a poster on the wall of one album cover. What album cover do you each chose?
Max: Let’s not question why this island has shacks. Did we land on Hedonism? Lol!
Amanda: I’d have to say Born in the U.S.A. by Bruce Springsteen. It’s so iconic… or that one Beatles album where they’re walking across the road.
Max: Isn’t that Abbey Road?
Jim: Yeah. When I was in my 20s I bought an album based on the cover alone — Action Action. Turned out to be a really good record. I miss record stores where you go in and sometimes just take a chance based on the artwork.
Max: Even though I’m not a super fan, I’ll take the Pink Floyd album with all the girls’ butts. I mean, I’m stuck on a deserted island, aren’t I?
Jim: I don’t think that was an actual album cover.
Max: Yeah, but the girls had the album covers on their backs, so that should count.
There's also a bar on this here island. But alas each of you only get to choose one drink for the entirety of your stay. What's your tipple of choice?
Jim: Gin & tonic.
Max: Wow! No hesitation.
Amanda: Dirty martini. Up. No vermouth.
Max: Both of you are on it! I’m going piña colada all day. Don’t judge me — I’m gonna live that relaxed island life.
Amanda: Finally, we can give a straight answer — but of course it had to be about alcohol.
Your suitcases were lost when your ship sank, but you each managed to salvage one item of band merch. What’s the merch and for what band?
Jim: I don’t wear band merch.
Amanda: I’d take a vinyl of Taking Back Sunday. And if this island has shacks, I’m betting there’s a record player.
Jim: Oh, I misinterpreted. I’ll say a cup, because Record Thieves sells beer glasses. That way I’ve got something to drink out of.
Max: Nice, practical choice. Then I’ll say a signed acoustic guitar by Frank Turner. That counts as merch, right?
Jim: Sure. But that’s some expensive merch.
You’re sat on the island thinking “I’m stuck here on this island with my bandmates for eternity”… who would you rather have been shipwrecked with?
Amanda: That’s a horrible question!
Jim: Ha. Very revealing question.
Amanda: Honestly, I’d probably rather be alone. Because… men.
Jim: Hahaha. Same answer but opposite — I’d rather be alone because of women. Max, you better pick me.
Max: My dog, Sky. She’s a blue Doberman and people to me.
Amanda: I thought it meant within the band!
Max: No, anyone other than the band.
Amanda: Ok, then my kids.
Jim: Cop-out!
There's a walkman in your pocket, on the tape inside is the recording of the one live show that stands out for you. It could be any show, from any band, anywhere in the world. What show is on that walkman?
Max: Oh, live recording? That’s interesting.
Jim: Beck at Red Rocks, about 5–7 years ago.
Amanda: Odd you say that, I was going to say Incubus at Red Rocks. Living in Colorado we get spoiled — it’s such an iconic venue.
Max: Yeah, unless it’s one of those crazy Colorado storms with golf-ball hail. Fun fact: Bono wrote Sunday Bloody Sunday after playing Red Rocks on a Sunday night where it hailed.
Jim: Ha! Total BS.
Max: OK, you got me. My real answer is Green Day. I love how they turn 3-minute songs into 10-minute interactive anthems. Once I saw them in Georgia and someone brought a baby to the show. Billie Joe spotted it, said, “Is that a baby!? Pass that baby up here!” And sure enough, the baby gets passed to the stage and he finishes the song holding it.
Amanda: That seems like bad parenting.
Max: No, no, the kid had ear protection.
Jim: Totally reasonable.
You're getting desperate, you decide the only course of action is to put a message in a bottle and hope someone finds it. Your message could be to any member of any band, but should be the most suitable for a rescue attempt. Who is it?
Amanda: Beyoncé — she has the money to fund my rescue.
Jim: Sting. Because it would be ironic.
Max: Dammit, I was trying to work in Sting. Hmm… who’s resourceful?
Jim: Jimmy Fallon!
Max: Haha. “I know what you want… I know what you need…”
Jim: Exactly! It’d end up as a Tonight Show bit.
Max: Sure, Jimmy Fallon then. I forced many of my girlfriends to listen to his song Idiot Boyfriend. Underrated track.
Amanda: Did you bring girls home and put on a romantic movie like The Matrix?
Max: Exactly!
You've been stuck here a while and food supplies are running low. There's only one thing for it... which fellow band member gets sacrificed to help the others survive?
Max: Easy. Jim. He’s big and meaty.
Amanda: OMG!
Jim: Aka I’m the fat guy in the band.
Amanda: No you’re not! I don’t want to be on the island, so sacrifice me and put me out of my misery.
Jim: Yeah, same here.
Amanda: Just kidding. I like you guys, we’d get along.
Jim: Yeah, we’re a pretty undramatic band. We’d probably handle it like songwriting — talk it out and come to a decision we all agree on.
Max: The most democratic and pragmatic sacrifice ever. It would have the emotion of a scene from the Phantom Menace.
Finally, when the ship sank you each managed to save one person from the wreckage. That person is the one musician that has influenced your career the most, shaped your way of thinking and your outlook on life. Who did you save?
Jim: I don’t. There’s not.
Max: Really!? Not Trent Reznor?
Jim: No, not really. I love what he does, but he hasn’t shaped how I live my life. I admire musicians for sure, but we all have different opinions and points of view.
Amanda: Mine would be…
Jim: Beyoncé.
Amanda: No. Definitely not. It would probably be Pink. First hip hop, then pop, then rock. Her vocals influenced me a ton. I like how she parents, lives her life, and speaks up. Her real name is Alicia — she’s a bad bitch.
Max: I’d have to go back to my roots and say Slash. He’s the reason I play guitar. Without it I probably would have gone insane and died a virgin. I met my wife playing guitar.
Amanda: She did not take your V-card!
Max: Maybe not, but it makes for a funnier answer! On our second date I played Sweet Child O’ Mine for her on guitar. She still gives me crap about it. She was like, “Yeah, I get it. You play guitar.” It was cringey looking back.
Jim: Does Slash make your guitar gently weep?
Max: Ha. Hopefully I don’t get hate, but George Harrison isn’t in my top ten. So Jim, who’s most influential for you musically?
Jim: Either Tim “Herb” Alexander from Primus or Jimmy Chamberlin from Smashing Pumpkins. When I first started drumming I thought, “I want to do that!” I was just a punk drummer, and they were so complicated.
Max: Why you gotta go make things so complicated?
The band all break into Avril Lavigne as the sun sets over Devil’s Island and the interview ends.
