Recently I heard of a band from Hebden Bridge, Comedy of Error, who have a reputation for being truly original. This interested me beyond words as any band with a unique sound grabs my attention automatically.
 | | Andy |
We arranged to meet for a chat and I found the band enjoying a small feast at a table which was cluttered with empty beer bottles. This stereotypical band-like behaviour amused me greatly. After a brief introduction between bites and swigs we got down to business. Firstly I wanted to know how they came up with their name as I presumed it linked in somehow with the Shakespeare play. How wrong was I? In fact Comedy of Error was the name of a racehorse they'd seen one day on the television and they thought, "Why not?" Kit, who plays the guitar and supplies the backing vocals pointed out the band don't take themselves seriously, and thought the name reflected their approach. Ben, who plays bass said that the band is "all comedy and no error!" which I found summed them up superbly! The band as they exist today have been together for just over a year but have been writing together for nearly two. | "I joined the band to stop me turning into a horse!" | | Andy, Comedy of Error |
So how did they get together? Andy, the frontman in the band, playing lead guitar and main vocals, spotted Kit playing and invited him to have small jamming sessions until they set their sights higher and decided to form a band. Soon Ben was the third member of the band introducing a heavy bassline into their riffs. As far as drummers go they went through a few until they found Georgina, who is described by her fellow band members as "the most inventive drummer" and also "the sexiest drummer in the West". I asked why they formed a band in the first place and what it does for them? Kit: "Being in a band is about having something else in our lives. I mean, university is OK, I enjoy it, but it's not a great creative outlet. Work is just shocking in terms of creativity, you've got to have something else there and that's what the band is."
Andy: "I joined the band to stop me turning into a horse?!"
Ben: "It means we can take over the world!"
 | | Ben |
I wanted to find out how they defined their style of music which to be honest they found difficult. Eventually they managed to describe their sound as a combination of hardcore punk, metal and ska which is riff-driven. By no means do they want to be described as trendy and a band which follows the current music scene. From hearing the tracks they supplied me with, I would say they were a punch-up between Converge and Less Than Jake. The band said they were more like Converge and Less Than Jake "battering the living daylights out of each other"! I was interested to find out how they felt while performing as I would be terrified to be on stage with an audience. The first thing that all of them said in unison was that they felt liberated. This led me to asking them if they were always comfortable playing in front of a crowd? Kit: "No, not at all. At our first couple of gigs we were really nervous, terrified actually. When you haven't done it before you are trying to concentrate on everything all at once and don't really enjoy the moment in case you screw up."
Ben: "Well, it helped that my parents own a pub so our first few gigs were held there. This allowed us to get used to setting up and playing around with sound levels. But playing in front of people we knew was hard as we felt like we were being judged. It didn't help that they thought we were shouting at them and not playing nice stuff that they appreciate. We got people saying to us that we were good at what we do but that it wasn't their thing!"
 | | Georgina |
The turning point was this year's Battle of the Bands at the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge... Kit: "We were on first which is normally the hardest as you're warming the crowd up and don't really get to see the end results. But within ten seconds of our set beginning they were going crazy; people invading the stage, trying to crowd surf and jumping around and dancing. It was such a confidence boost which led to us playing a remarkable set!'
Ben: "We definitely converted some of the audience that night!" But what about fans? I wanted to know how popular they are. The band claim to听 have quite a large fan base which is growing at a rapid pace. Andy: "Our fans are a hardcore collective and we wouldn't be where we are without them!" And if they each had to sum themselves up in five words? This made them think for a while. Kit described himself as complicated, passionate, fun loving, gorgeous (yes, he did say at one point he had to watch his waistline so I could steal his chips!) and bouncy. Andy didn't really take this seriously, which I thought reflected his personality which I appreciated, but he came up with: "Spirited, yes that's a good one, always hungry [as he licked his plate clean], drunk, enthusiastic and increasingly in need of a girl!" Ben, in his own words is "big, friendly, huggable, a bit of a t*** and slightly scary."
 | | Kit |
I also asked them if they could BE any musical instrument what would it be, and why. I have to admit they sighed and rolled their eyes at this, then went into deep thought before replying. A saxophone was Kit's choice of instrument because "they are sexy as hell!" Ben decided he would be a drum "because you'd get 'hit' all the time". Now, I had to change the words there slightly! After meeting the band I am eager to see if they match up to my expectations when performing live. They have so much energy and I want to see if this is projected through their music. They've played at Rio's in Bradford and their sights are now set on plyaing the Cockpit in Leeds. Kit says:听"We only have short term goals, Rio's being one of them. Now we've done that we want to go larger. It's all about playing at larger venues and getting a larger crowd." Comedy of Error are at the Royal Oak in Halifax on July 14th, 2006 and at Fight!Fest at Fagins in Halifax on July 15th. I'll definitely be there! | 
