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 Southampton's Plastic Toys are about to release their debut album onto the world, you can already check out a review of the single that's going to precede the albums release in the Komodo Rock reviews section.
So what can fans expect from the South Coast Industrial tinged Glam Power Pop Rockers? We caught up with frontman Jon Plastic to find out.
Komodo Rock: For those that are new to Plastic Toys, can you give us a little background on the band?
Jon Plastic: We're formed from the remains of a couple of old bands, Karmic Jera, DNA Doll and Lucid. Basically our aim is to be the band we wish existed, so we found eachother over time through being into the same music and having similar lifestyles.
How did the name come about?
A huge piece of paper and brain storming session. As many names as we could come up with in 20 minutes, then listen to the songs we had just recorded and see which one felt right.
We all voted for Plastic Toys. About the only thing that's ever been easy! haha
Put on the spot, which 3 bands have influenced the band the most?
Growing up Metallica had a massive influence on me and Si (guitar player), he can play just about every song they ever recorded so it must have rubbed off onto our own style.
Then there's White Zombie who introduced me to rock music that was simple, but had a danceable groove and samples without sounding like German industrial which i always found too cold.
The 3rd is definitely NIN. Amazing songs, amazing production, single minded vision and a no compromise attitude towards striving for quality in everything he/they do. Its inspiring in more ways than just the music. Like White Zombie, Trent manages to make industrial and electro sound human and organic as well as have fucking huge hooks you scream along to drunk at a club.
What's the biggest gig you've ever played?
In terms of numbers I'd say the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth. About 400 people i guess. It was an incredible show and it seemed everyone there knew the words to every song....we were blown away as 2 nights before we'd played to about 10 people and were wondering what we were doing wrong.
If you could put together your dream 3 band tour, who'd you pick?
NIN, White Zombie (they'd have to re-form obviously) and us.
We'd all get onstage at the end of the night and jam Head Like a Hole until the sun came up.
 What's the highest point of your career so far?
Career? Fuck you have to make money to call it that surely? The high points for me are the gigs, when we play our hometown, or somewhere that has a big PT army we always buzz for days afterwards. Playing shows to people loving what we do is what i dreamed about growing up and when it happens there is no greater high.
And the lowest?
When you feel taken advantage of. Being in a band is really competitive, there are just so many bands around that only a few can really make it. This means promoters sometimes promise you a good gig and you offer to play for free just to get the exposure. So you turn up in a van that cost £60 to hire, cost £30 to get there and the promoter changes his mind and puts you on 2 mins after the doors open meaning you play to no-one and have paid for the privilege. Then to really piss you off he'll still charge your fans £5 each on the door even though he put you on earlier than advertised and our fans miss our set. Every band i know has had this happen time and time again. It kills bands which kills the scene.
God bless honest promoters!
In 12 months time, where do you see the band being, and what will you be doing?
I hope we'll be touring the UK and Europe in support of our album still....just getting out there playing shows to bigger and bigger audiences every night.
I also hope I'll be maintaining a casual sexual relationship with Kate Beckinsale.
Your single for "Let Me Feel The Love" is released on July 23rd. Can you tell us a little more about it?
This was one of the 1st songs we wrote as Plastic toys and it really seemed to define our sound. It is one of only 2 songs on the album mixed by Andy Gray, (Korn, U2, Tori Amos) not me, so has a slightly different sound. It just seemed like an obvious choice for the single.
Check out the B-side though, its called Superfreak and is a live favourite. It didn't really seem right on the album but we wanted to get it released as so many people love that song. Its a simple dancey rock song you can sing along too. Nice.
 The single will also include the video for the song. Can you tell us a bit about the ideas behind the video?
We had some grand ideas but no budget, so the director said "why don't we just get so many half dressed girls in the video its almost a joke", so that's what we did. They all did it for free and put up with doing hundreds of takes and Si's wandering hands.....we thank them!
For those who haven't seen it i can recommend watching it with the lights down low and a box of tissues nearby.
Your debut album is set for release in September. What can we expect from it?
An actual album! By that i mean not just a collection of singles. Most albums these days have 3 singles right at the start and then it just kinda gets shittier and shittier as it goes on. We wanted to make and album that ran more like a live show, hence the name For Tonight Only....
There are some growers on there that some people originally wondered why we put on when we had songs like Superfreak (the Let Me Feel The Love b-side), but we really wanted to show our more experimental side as well as the more obvious rock tracks.
Who's the best band you've ever played with?
Shit, tough question. Trashlight Vision, Shiny Toy Guns, and My Passion, all spring to mind, but there are others i have forgotten.
Other than yourselves, who do you rate as the best up and coming rock 'n' roll band out there?
Tough question again mainly because i don't think a lot of what is going on right now in music. Although saying that My Passion are a great band who you'd be mad to miss seeing....other than them my favourite new band of the last 2 years is The Raconteurs and they are hardly unknowns.
Let us know any important web links and where we can buy your stuff.
Ok you can pre-order our single from:
www.amazon.co.uk
www.hmv.co.uk
www.recordstore.co.uk
Or you can pre-order the download by texting PLASTIC to 82822.
And if you want the chance of winning an iPOD with our album on text TOYS to 82822.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Jon.
No worries mate.
If you haven't had the chance to see the Plastic Toys Live yet, we'd highly recommend it. Check out the Live Review right here from their recent support slot with Spit Like This and find out what you've been missing. The band are back in Southampton supporting Acey Slade and Trashlight Vision on August 9th.
Big thank you again to Jon for talking with us, and we'll all be sat here hoping that you and Kate find a way to make it work!
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