Reynolds are an excellent band hailing from Wisbech. Their music is the sound of tension and argument building up inside your head. I interviewed Chris and Matt who have to be two of the nicest people I've ever met.
This interview was conducted at the 13th Note Cafe in three parts.

Scene One: Top of the stairs, sitting on the windowsill with Hirameka Hi-Fi soundchecking noisily throughout.

Start by telling us the basic stuff - how you met, how you got the name...
Matt: Met at 6th form college when we were doing our A levels - when we formed originally we were a shit covers band, then we sort of changed drummers a couple of times.
Chris: Just a case of, rather then like get loads of people who are into the same sort of music, we just...Phil was the only bass player and the drummer we had at the time was the only drummer and he was the only person who was singing and stuff so it was just a case of... we don't really like the same kind of music but it kind of came together and the name is just from, erm, we change it every time, every time we tell everybody why the name but at the moment it's 'cos my gran's surname was Reynolds.
Matt: We're also haunted by the name Reynolds. Every time we turn on the TV or open a newspaper the first name we see is Reynolds. Like yesterday in the Observer, there was a police inspector called Reynolds - it said, "Reynolds is part of a new breed".
Chris: Basically, we didn't intend to keep it cos it's such a shit name - it's like the worst name in the world.
m: It's not the worst name in the world
Chris: It's probably as bad a name as Mogwai
Matt: It's better than the Mavericks
Chris: Or...Kenickie's a bad name.
Matt: Kenickie's a shocking name. Faithless.. Did you know Faithless are a christian band? I didn't know that!
Chris: Basically, I wish we had the name Empire Builder. Empire Builder's just such a shit-hot name for a band. Ours is just really bad...

So if you all don't get on - is that why your songs all sound so different?
Chris: Yeah, basically.
Matt: Kind of yeah. Also Chris changes his mind about things
Chris: Yeah, basically I change my mind about what I want us to be every time we..cos we live so far apart - we've all gone to college and things - Matt's in Durham and we're just miles apart so we only get to practice maybe once every three months and by that time I've heard so many different records, I've gone 'I want to be this, I want to be this, I want to be this', so like we'll have one practice and it'll be totally ripping off Dirty Three and we'll be really quiet and stuff and the next time we'll have been listening to Minor Threat or something so it just doesn't make any sense. Maybe it'll sort of flatten out eventually into a decent sound.
Matt: I think it's quite funny - I don't mind if they don't sound the same.
Chris: Well, I don't know (laughs). We're supposed to be doing an album so it's going to be like a compiilation album with different bands.
Matt: NO! All the stuff's been written in a similar space of time - it doesn't sound that different. I reckon it'll be alright. 'Cos the songs on the 7" were all written over a long period of time but the album's been written over a shorter period of time.
Chris: Yeah, the stuff we're going to put on the album's kind of written over the space of a month
Matt: So it's slightly more together
Chris: It's alright. It basically sounds like all the trendy bands at the moment. We used to sound like this trendy band and now we sound like...
Matt: Another trendy band.
Chris: Apparently Slint are very cool at the moment.
Matt: I like Slint. Very good Slint
Chris: Sorry, we've had this the last few days. San Lorenzo have been taking the piss out of us.

How's the single been selling?
Matt: Don't know. It's doing alright I think.
Chris: We sold all ours. When we sell at gigs we have like a little tally sheet and we won at the Garage
Matt: Hahaha
Chris: Really easily - we really won it. We sold about twice as much as anyone else.
Matt: That's only cos Hirameka Hi-Fi aren't allowed to sell their new one though.
Chris: Yeah, but don't say that! Shhhhhh Shhhhhhhh.
Matt laughs
Chris: But we haven't got it distributed yet. We got to wait, um, about another thr ee or four weeks and Southern are going to distribute it with Empire Builder's as well. So we might as well wait for it, it's better than nothing. So. It's selling alright. No-one likes it but it's selling alright. Fracture hated it.
Matt: They didn't hate it...
Chris: Well, I haven't actually read it but they said they hated it, I don't know...
Matt: Who...where did you get that from?
Chris: Well, they said they were really nasty about the first two and they really liked the last one, but they would do wouldn't they 'cos they're a hardcore fanzine so..

What bands have you been compared to?
Matt: We got compared to These Animal Men once didn't we? (laughs madly)
Chris: These Animal Men, we get compared to Devo, I don't mind Devo but we get compared to Devo all the time, we get compared to Wire all the time. We've been compared to Shellac
Matt: That's alright - we don't mind - that's fine. We can handle that.
Chris: Erm, Fugazi, and Sonic Youth's a really lazy comparison 'cos everyone goes 'loads of guitars: Sonic Youth' which is fair enough you know.
Matt: Yeah
Chris: Um, who else do we get compared to? I guess the fact that no-one likes our singer means we get compared to Bob Tilton loads but that's just because...
Matt: I am the new Miles Hunt.
Chris: Yeah, basically everyone hates our singer.
Matt: I can't think who else we get compared to...
Chris: Yeah, we just get compared to loads of shit bands basically who we really don't like.
Matt: I think maybe they're trying to tell us something.
Chris: Yeah.

What are you studying at University and with what aims?
Looooong pause. Everyone laughs.
Matt: I'm doing chemistry at Durham but my aim is to not do chemistry cos I hate it.
Chris: I'm doing graphics at Northampton but...
Matt: We don't like talking about university do we?
Chris: Not doing very well 'cos we spend so much time away - not just doing the band but doing other things and helping put things on.
Matt: Some people in the band are really thick and choose stupid subjects to do. I mean, what kind of twat chooses to do Chemistry?
Chris: You.
Matt: Me, oh yeah (laughs).
Chris: Basically, we're not doing very well at the moment.
m: Well, I almost failed my first year and did fail my second year...
Chris: god..
Matt: I did fail my first year - had to do a resit. And I just scraped it by the skin of my teeth
Chris: Basically, I'm going to fail, he's going to fail... Actaully, my teachers are alright about it. I was in Barcelona last week with college and all we got to do was do whatever you want - go out and get drunk and see architecture and things.
Matt: They told Chris to be a cultural sponge but he mistook sponge for beer...soaked up beer.
Chris: Ah, er (laughs)

How was the first interview you did for the fanzine?
Chris: For the fanzine - Mogwai.
Matt: Yeah, I did Mogwai in Newcastle - absolutely terrified 'cos I did it with John and he was absolutely shitfaced - he was drinking vodka out of this huge great bottle and he had to hide behind this great big speaker stack. Absolutely terrified but he was so drunk he doesn't remember doing the interview which is good.
Chris: I've never ever done a face..like all the interviews I've done I do by e-mail. I've never ever done a face-to-face one 'cos I absolutely can't do it. The first one I ever did was Guy from Fugazi - that was brilliant. He answered all my questions and he was a really nice bloke.
m: All the interviews I've done the people have always been really nice.
Matt: Well, I did an interview with Arab Strap and Aidan wasn't very nice. I think he was in a bad mood and wanted to go home though.
Chris: I did one with Jim O'Rourke and he was like, he wasn't nasty, he was mental.
Matt: Bob from Pavement.
Chris: Yeah Bob from Pavement - he was mental as well. He's really mental - he kept going on about horse racing. He'd been to Hull and he had a 'It's never dull in Hull' t-shirt on. He was a really nice bloke though.
m: My sister just interviewed Mad Paul from Dawn of the Replicants
Chris: He used to do SunZoomSpark
[okay, so I tell my 'We got a half a page more than bis' story...Reynolds are touchingly impressed/amused though - cheers!]
Chris: No Comment. No comment on any bands. Especially no comment on Six By Seven.
Matt: No comment on any bands or any Scottish bands that are ever in Scotland.
Chris: Yeah, we've basically fallen out with loads of bands - we're..
Matt: We say things for comic effect sometimes and they get taken all seriously - we haven't quite learned how to be tactful yet.
Chris: Like.....Sourtooth
Matt: Ooooooooooohh, Shhhhhhhh.
Anyone who wants to know the ins and outs of The Sourtooth Saga, go read Chris' interview with Collective.

It's become suspiciously quiet so Chris nips off downstairs to see if they're wanted for soundcheck. "You wait here", he says to Matt.

How exciting was it hearing your record on the radio?
Matt: Oh, it was absolutely outstanding, it was one of the greatest moments of my life. It was just unbelievable. Not that we think it's the be all and end all, getting played by Steve Lamacq or anything like that but it was really exciting. I got this phone call and it was Chris going (makes mad over-excitable noises) so I put it down and turned on the radio and it was just really really strange. Quite scary - I had a kind of of sick feeling in my stomach. Really exciting.

Chris re-appears to tell us they are wanted to we adjourn downstairs.

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