"I RIPPED THINGS APART"
Bassist Jamie Mathias on home-schooling, side-project Shadow Addict and, er, the return of Changing Rooms
WHAT WAS IT LIKE MAKING AN ALBUM DURING THE PANDEMIC?
“It was weird, but you just get on with it. Everyone was doing it, it wasn’t just us.
But it meant we had more time to work on music. When we could get together, we were down Padge’s. It turned out brilliantly.”
HOW HAVE THE LAST 18 MONTHS BEEN FOR YOU PERSONALLY?
“It’s been hard, like for everybody, but you take the positives, like spending time with the family. I’ve got a boy of six, so I was at home with him, trying to home-school him. He was teaching me more than I was teaching him!”
WHERE DID YOU FIRST MEET THE BULLET GUYS?
“Well, I was a massive fan, and I got to know Padge through my old band, Revoker. We started doing a bit of writing together, then one day I got a text off him saying, ‘We’re looking for a new member, do you fancy auditioning?’ Things with the old band were slowing down, so I thought, ‘Why not?’”
ASIDE FROM WORKING ON THE NEW ALBUM, HOW DID YOU SPEND THE LAST 18 MONTHS?
“I kept myself busy. I always write music in my own time. Me and Jase [Bowld] did a side thing, Shadow Addict – a classic lockdown project. We ended up writing some stuff for Sky TV, but I’ve no idea where it will end up. And I was renovating houses as well.”
RENOVATING HOUSES? YOU MUST BE EXCITED BY THE RETURN OF CHANGING ROOMS…
“Ha ha! Yes. I wasn’t renovating them myself. I’d rip things apart, then my mates would come in and do all the work!”
WHAT’S BEEN THE BEST THING ABOUT BEING IN BULLET?
“It’s gotta be Download. It was one of the first festivals I went to, so to headline that and have our friends and family there made it even more special. When you’re a kid in your room, that’s what you dream of.”