Review: Launch Control — Behind Redacted Lines
Originally published on AltReading on 11th November 2016
Our hometown punkists have been busy this year sowing the Launch Control seeds of love, alongside working on their brand new ‘Redacted Lines’ EP. We catch up with their bassist and vocalist Lee Switzer for a chat, and to guide us through their latest release.
How have you guys been in general this year?
We’ve been having a great year, mainly focusing on finishing the EP, alongside playing at some sweet shows as well. Alex has been busy in the studio producing some awesome punk rock music such as a new project for our buddies Tape it Shut, Seb our drummer has been all over Europe with his other band Confessions of a Traitor.
We hear through our sources that the Launch Control family has been expanding this year with some new arrivals on the scene? Was this the result of a cosy Saturday night kinky couples meet up?
Haha, yeah and the twelve week difference between our babies speaks volumes about the difference in our sexual stamina. In all seriousness though it’s been amazing so far, Alex’s daughter Ava and my son Castle are awesome and we’ve been having the best time with them.
It appears that we never hear much from your drummer Seb in recent interviews you’ve done with Reading Unplugged on the radio, or in print? Why is this?
He’s an international man of mystery; we wouldn’t want to break the enigma.
Tell us a bit more about your new EP, i.e. how it came to be, the purpose of it, and what you hope to achieve from it?
We’ve been working on Behind Redacted Lines for some time now, and we’re super proud of it. Everything we do we’re essentially doing it for ourselves, because we love it, and we want to make good music. If we can get it out there and if it can mean something to someone else too then that would be amazing. We have the support of Umlaut Records this time around, an independent label based in London, who have been incredible so far.
Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a seasonal offering from Launch Control. Have you got anything in the pipeline for this year?
We do have a new track for this year that we’re currently recording, we love our Christmas songs and the shows are always great fun. Expect to see something special at the start of December.
Any plans next year to branch out and make songs for Easter, Halloween, Guy Fawkes?
Don’t tempt us. I think we’ll keep the novelty songs to Christmas for now, give us chance to actually play our EP in between.
What’s next for Launch Control? Are you happy with how things are going? Or are you looking to push yourself for recognition on a national level?
We’re really happy with how things are going, we’ve been quiet gig wise due to finishing off the EP and starting our families, but we’re going to be getting back out there more.
The next step for us really is going to be playing more shows further afield, we’ve been quite Reading centric for the last couple of years. We’re just going to keep doing what we do, we want to push Behind Redacted Lines as far as we can, and we also have new tracks to start work on and of course Christmas.
Have you got any gigs lined up to promote your new EP?
We launched our EP with a wicked gig at The Unicorn in Camden for Umlaut Records recently, and we have a launch gig happening in Reading very soon too.
No pun intended, but the stage is yours, can you guide us through your new EP?
Cloak & Dagger Part 2 — is about control through misdirection and destabilization. “You never have to win if you keep changing the rules of the fight”. It’s basically everything we seen over the last couple of years from politicians in this country, and their close ties to the press.
The Perfect Murder — A story of death by mediocrity which talks about the subconscious greed that comes from the comfort that we’re all too accustomed to, that leads us to overlook so much wrongdoing — whether it’s the way we’re used or mistreated in our own lives, or injustice or inequality that exists in the world around us.
False Witness — continues in the same vein, essentially asking the question “are you blind to what is happening around you or are you wilfully turning your back for an easy life?”
Dying Echo — an interlude in the middle the EP, which is something that has become a feature of our releases and our live sets. It is a simple spoken word link that echoes the themes of the EP, bolstering this idea of being trapped in a narrative that’s not your own.
Moving Targets — This track focuses on the viewpoint of politicians working for us, and not the other way round. They rely on our support that gives us the power to engage and have our voices heard. It’s not just about encouraging people to vote when they have the opportunity; it’s about being vocal in your community.
A Highly Classified Lie — This song is all about standing up and being counted. Thematically we like to think it ties everything together, while also adding a more personal spin. It’s about finding the will to break free from a routine or situation that you feel trapped in.
Behind Redacted Lines is available now
