Interview with Gavin of Dividers

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Dividers are a great punk band out of Swansea, UK. Their sound are very Get Bent/Yo Man Go influenced, though they maintain a degree of originality to their sound. If you haven't already heard of/listened to Dividers, you're fucking up. DIVIDERS/TEN SPEED BICYCLE CLUB SPLIT and DIVIDERS - DEMO 2010. Download/Donate and enjoy! This shit sounds so goddamn good.
Hopefully they do another 7" or DEBUT ALBUM or maybe split with another sweet band in the near future.
Well, new interview with Gavin! Read up on it below! woohooo! 
Blink 182 sucks/DIVIDERS RULES!

 Me. You. Len. On A Boat. Faliraki '09 by Dividers 
 Brian Fallon Stole My Dress Sense by Dividers 

Hey Gavin! how are you? how's Wales?

I am very well thanks dude! Wales is great too, bar the shitty weather, but I guess that's something to be expected really

Right then, first things first, please introduce yourselves and members of the band to our readers.

Umm, well I play guitar and shout a lot, Zach plays bass and also shouts a lot, Scotty plays guitar and shouts on at least one occasion, and Gaz plays drums and just stays quiet for a large majority of the time. 

When did Dividers start and how did it begin? Why did you choose the band name Dividers?

Me and Zach thought it would be cool to start a band that sounded like The Ramones. We'd both been in bands that had split up, or weren't up to much and we just needed to do something to pass the time. We asked Scott to join, and he knew this guy Gaz from a past band he was in and soon after we were in my living room writing songs. It all came together pretty quickly, really. We ended up sounding nothing like the Ramones, but I figure it was for the best really. 

I could lie and say that the name Dividers is a reference to the social divide within the "scene" we're in, but the reality is we just thought it was a cool name.

What made you decide to form this band?

Like I said earlier, we just needed something to do. There was no purpose or message we wanted to give out, we just wanted to have fun ourselves, and if other people liked it, that was a bonus.

What does Dividers mean to you?

It means I can do something positive with my best friends and visit places I'd never have seen, and make friends I never would have known. It's great. It's also a cool way to vent my frustration at certain topics of everyday life. 

Can you briefly summarise what the band has been up to since the release of your Split with Ten Speed Bicycle?

We just did a two week tour of the uk, but other than that we've been pretty quiet really. It's a bit difficult because both Gaz in Zach have University commitments that definitely restrict what we can and can't do. I mean, Gaz is studying in Liverpool University which is a bit too far away from Swansea to practice, really. 

Could you please talk about your involvement with the DIY punk community, how you got involved in it and how it affects your lives (putting out your music, going on tours and playing shows, etc)

I come from a village that is basically in the middle of nowhere, and despite wanting to be in a band since I was in high school, there was hardly anyone who was in to the same thing as me which made it a bit difficult to follow through with it. Eventually I got older and started going to shows, and finally started meeting people who were in to the same thing. Eventually I started putting on shows with a few friends. Probably because I still didn't know anyone who wanted to be in a band with me, and putting on DIY shows seemed like the next best thing to being in a band. Now I play in a band, and the people I met through putting on shows were the first people to help out, and return the favor for my band. These people I now consider to be friends. I mean, I've got people hundreds of miles away that I consider to be friends, something I never thought would happen while I was in high school. I guess that's the best thing about being involved in the DIY punk community. It's cool to go somewhere far away for home, and be welcomed with open arms.

What is your take on the current state of the punk/diy scene locally in Swansea and nationally within Wales?

Swansea is pretty great. There's a small handful of people who put loads and loads of effort in to keeping the scene alive, and into putting on shows. I mean, pretty much monthly there's something great going on in Swansea. A Skatepark has just opened, which apparently is going to have a screen-printing shop located in it which is cool too. There's just a really cool vibe in Swansea, which was one of the main reasons I originally moved there. Apparently Trev from Swansea Collective is going to stop putting on shows soon, which will be devastating if he does, but I'm fairly certain someone else will step up to the mark and put on shows instead, at least I hope they do anyways! I guess we'll just wait and see. South Wales as a whole has so many great bands coming from it. The Arteries, Harbour, Bedford Falls, 33, Facel Vega, Saturdays Kids, Pipedream, Forrest... I could go on forever! It's a pretty cool place to be living right now.

What are your favorite recent music releases?

The new Caves record is seriously great. Like seriously! Since Minty's joined the band they've been going from strength to strength! The record is filled to the rim with hooks, and the boy / girl vocals are to die for! I don't think I can say enough good things about it! Other than that, Bangers totally exceeded my expectations with "Small Pleasures" too, and the new How Do We Jump This High? 7 inch has been in constant rotation in my house at the moment. Crow Bait's demo is really good as well... 

 What's your biggest gripe with the punk/hardcore scene?

Sometimes the whole punk scene reminds me of being in secondary school, like it's one big fucking popularity contest, which is the last thing you'd expect from a "punk" scene. For a scene that prides itself on positivity it seems at times that there's so much backstabbing and bullshit. But then, I think for every one elitist douuchebag there are about 5 nice genuine people who are not in it for cool or punk points, but because they feel a sense of worth, and feel like they belong. I just wish that all people would treat others kindly and not like lesser just because it's "cool" to act that way..

With the emergence of the internet, bands and ideas seem to be more assessable; speaking from my own experience I've had the opportunity to interview bands from U.S., Canada, France, Germany etc. over the past six months thanks in part to the internet. It also seems that almost every band has a facebook/myspace/bandcamp or something page. What is your opinion on the effect of the internet on the punk rock scene?

I think the internet is a very powerful thing. I doubt that without the internet Dividers would even exist, let alone would anyone have heard us! We wouldn't have listened to the bands we listen to, wouldn't have played with the bands we've played with... hell we probably wouldn't even know each other. I very much doubt I'd be doing this interview with you now if it wasn't for the internet too! So I guess the internet has had nothing but a positive impact on the punk scene, really!

What are the upcoming plans of the band?

We're probably going to write some new songs, and hopefully do an album or a lengthy EP at some point. We're submitting two tracks for this Samiam tribute series thing too, but other than that, we're just going to be playing the odd show here and there, nothing big though! We don't really plan things in advance.

Thanks for doing this interview Gavin! And finally, is there anything else that you want people to know, that you want the readers to know.

I think everyone in the world should listen to Pipedream from Cardiff, South Wales. They're possibly my favorite South Wales band at the moment. If you dig Jawbreaker and realmo you'll be all over that shit!