Fiende Fatale, a North London based rock and roll four-piece, acted as the first of the British bands to take to the stage during Flyjam Creative Agency’s recent Japan vs Britain battle-of-the-bands event, and they kicked things off with a bang. Comprised of singer and guitarist Matthew Magee, guitarist Rolph Angelucci-Edwards, bass guitarist Alex Wright, and drummer Dom Bowman, the band have an incredible presence onstage and played their heart out for the audience. With their catchy tunes and vibrant energy it is clear they could hold their own against the Japanese guests, and MyM Buzz had the chance to talk to them at the show.

All images of the band playing live by Chris Khin

Can you tell our readers a little more about the band?

Matthew Magee: “We’re four lads who went to the same school in North Finchely, and started a band.”

Rolph Angelucci-Edwards: “We’ve been together for about a year and a half.”

MM: “Coming up to two years from when we started rehearsing, and a year and a half gigging.”

Dom Bowman: (indicating Matthew) “We have played since we were about eight. We had a Sex Pistols cover band. We played in our primary school.”

MM: “That was the first album I ever bought, Never Mind the Bollocks. I remember being really nervous in the shop about having to say the word ‘bollocks’.”

DB: “My first album is embarrassing. I bought Robbie Williams’ album on cassette!”

What are some of your musical influences?

DB: “I grew up heavily listening to punk, following on from Robbie Williams who’s about as punk as it gets. The first gig I went to was the Sex Pistols in Finsbury Park with my dad when I was four. Iggy Pop supported them, and I have Steve Jones guitar signed by him from that gig. I saw them again at the Crystal Palace for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, and I went to punk festivals and all that, so I’m mainly influenced by that. I also like The Smiths, and other bands like that, I don’t know, I listen to a bit of a mixture of everything, it’s all mainly rock based.”

MM: “Dom, you’re plugged into a lot of bands that we listen to now. I was like Dom, I was into punk and I was obsessed with the Sex Pistols, and used to go to gigs with his dad. Then when I was a teenager I became obsessed with Marilyn Manson for a very long time. I saw him three times. I love the dark stuff, weird lyrics and that kind of stuff. I also love Roxy Music, Bowie, and Iggy Pop — all the kind of people that do something different and interesting. The last few years I became quite obsessed with drum and bass, though since being in the band I have listened to more rock bands, but that is definitely in my mind.”

Alex Wright: “I’m the complete opposite. I like funk music, jazz.”

DB: “It’s pretty good though, because you can hear it in some of our songs when his bass line comes in.”

MM: “He’s the soul man.”

RA: “I like punk, Iggy Pop, Pulp, Roxy Music, and loads of stuff. Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, just rock and roll.”

What is your band’s style of music?

DB: “Post-Punk?”

MM: “Just rock and roll, really. We are post-post-post punk! All of the singers that I have admired my whole life have always been people who don’t really sing. I don’t know what that says about me, but my first idol as a singer was Johnny Rotten and he cannot sing a note to this day. I slowly did learn, and I had a few lessons but I just like doing my own thing. I guess it’s about trying to inject a bit of an attitude into rock and roll.”

RA: “I always say our music is debauched urban fairy tales.”

MM: “Something that’s a bit more alive, not too polished, not like ‘Daddy and Mummy bought me all my instruments and guitar lessons’.”

RA: “It’s real music, that’s rough around the edges.”

Do you write all your music?

RA: “We write all our stuff.”

MM: “Yeah, Rolph and I do the words and then we all deal with the music.”

DB: “We are quite good with writing, aren’t we?”

MM: “Yeah, it just happens.

DB: “Someone will just come in with a song, and then a couple of rehearsals in we are ready. We do work pretty fast.”

MM: “We just throw something down, and then within three weeks it’s there.”

MM: “We make at least a couple of tracks every month, maybe more.”

DB: “We always bang out a few demos as well. We just go into the rehearsal room and then we record it. Everything on our Soundcloud is from our recordings there.”

Tell us about your latest release.

DB: “It’s called ‘Chelsea Girl’.”

MM: “Yea, a friend of ours did the video, and we did it on a budget of minus pounds… we actually gained money!”

DB: “He heard the track before, and really liked it so the video works really well.”

MM: “It was cut and edited in a Hostel in Mill Hill, it’s kind of rough and ready but it’s been a long time coming.”

DB: “We started recording it in November didn’t we?”

MM: “Yea, and we had the idea for the whole thing a year ago. We let it burn for a while, and our friend started storyboarding it ages ago. We’re excited because it’s our first official recording.”

DB: “Then we are going to be gigging around. We’ve got a show happening in Leicester, and we are hoping to play in Oxford, Newcastle and Manchester. We are also playing the Blank Generation festival in Tottenham, which is all about punk bands.”