MAXIM: Hello chaps! You are all from Essex, but you are nothing like the idiots currently seen on a certain unnamed television show. This may frighten and confuse the rest of the country so please explain how you all met?
STEVE: I met Phil, the bass player, at school when I was 11, we were jamming in bands and stuff, I met Chad in college when I was 16, we just used to go to gigs. Ben and Andy were in different bands from the local area and I'd done side projects with both of them before, so we knew we wanted to form a band with them.
CHAD: It just came together thanks to the right timing really! Everyone elses bands weren't going too well, so we just had a bit of a chat and off we went. One rehearsal, went really well, and we knew that was it.
MAXIM: We won't do a standard band interview with you, because we're sure you've had enough of those already. What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen?
STEVE: -laughing- When we got here, yesterday, we were sitting in a train station and there was a guy out the window who would spark two cigarettes, smoke them halfway down, put them in the bin, instantly spark another two and repeat. When he got to eight he'd walk over to the railings and throw two cigarettes on the tracks.
CHAD: He'd then take another two, throw the box on the tracks, smoked those two and walked off, we presume to buy some more cigarettes, came back and got on the bus then fucked off. Took about 20 minutes.
MAXIM: Sounds like someone we know. What's been your top moment so far?
CHAD: Shepherd's Bush was a good moment for us, just because it's so historical and important to us.
STEVE: You spend most of your teenage years wanting to be in a band, and we saw so many great acts there, so to actually get to play on that stage was definitely a top moment for us. That and our first London show was really good.
CHAD: We played The Water Rats at the beginning of the year, we hit capacity! My brother came and couldn't get in.
STEVE: I played there years ago in a previous band and we didn't bring anyone, and the promoter turned around to us and said we were never gonna play there again, so it was really nice to go back with a new project and sell the place out.
MAXIM: What do you have to take with you on tour?
STEVE: Essentials... ginger and lemon are always a must. I have a lot of 'condiments'. Need to look after my voice.
CHAD: Laptops. We all play games and watch movies on downtime... gotta keep yourself entertained. Eyedrops as well.
STEVE: If you're hanging, eyedrops will save you.
MAXIM: What's usually on the rider?
CHAD: If we get one! Water and beer. Fruit as well. We always try and keep healthy. Oh, and cheese and ham sandwiches!
STEVE: The problem with the fruit is, we played in Brighton a while ago on the pier, and most of it just ended up in the sea. Phil was trying to throw it at seagulls.
CHAD: We had a little basket of apples on the pier and within 2 minutes we were under attack by the seagulls so we were lobbing fruit at them trying to get them dirty buggars to piss off.
MAXIM: Musicially, who would you say the world couldn't do or could not have done without?
STEVE: Radiohead. It's so simple. They just opened doors for everybody. Pioneers of progessive rock... in my lifetime anyway.
CHAD: Absoloutely. If you wanna go old skool then The Beatles. Such a classic answer, but they made such a big impact.
MAXIM: And on the flip side, a chance for you to dig the boot in, who is everywhere that shouldn't be?
CHAD: Anyone from X Factor. I hate X Factor. It's just... the downfall of music.
STEVE: It's got a place... sort of. But it should just fuck off really. The impact it has on real artists is a shame and the most important thing to note is; NOBODY WINS. Except Simon Cowell.
MAXIM: What are your favourite things to watch on the tellybox then? Apart from X Factor, obviously.
CHAD: At the moment of been watching Brian Cox's Wonders of the Universe, I love all that stuff, documentaries about space and the like.
STEVE: For a minute I thought you were gonna say Masters of the Universe like He-Man! The best thing about He-Man is he's got this blonde mullet and walks around wearing purple pants all the time, while still being Master of the Universe.
MAXIM: Purple fluffy pants may we add...
STEVEN: You gotta have big balls to do something like that. Those pants are probably just there to hold his balls. I don't really watch a great deal of TV though, if I do it's normally when I'm home with my girlfriend and she likes watching 'Take Me Out'. I'm sure it's been on once or twice in the dressing room.
CHAD: I'm single, so I just watch epic things that satisfy my brain.
MAXIM: Ok, well send us off with the best piece of advice you've ever been given?
CHAD: I'd say always stay positive. Negativity is pointless and doesn't help anyone, always smile and dance, life isn't that bad.
STEVEN: Bill Cosby's quote is probably the best. "I don't know what the key to success is, but the key to not having success is trying to please everybody."
CHAD: -grabbing a David Icke book- "The dissenter is every human being at those moments of his life when he resigns momentarily from the herd and thinks for himself." Now that's epic.
STEVEN: We've only been in Denmark for two days and we're already going mental.
You can find out more about Morning Parade, including where to see them live on their spiffing little website, which you can find by clicking HERE
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