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Plastic Toys are a band on the up. Forming out of the ashes of various local bands, including Karmic Jera, winners of the 2000 Kerrang! International Battle of the Bands, they’ve been working hard for this since 2004. Still on the support circuit, they are beginning to make a name for themselves and forming a dedicated, hardcore fan base. After supporting Mindless Self Indulgence, they caught the eye of Organised Sound, and as a paid up member of the “We Love Plastic Toys” club, as soon as they set foot in Winchester an interview was inevitable.

Catching up with the entire band upstairs at the Railway Inn for my first ever interview on behalf of Organised Sound, they couldn’t have been more accommodating or friendly to allay any fears I may have been harbouring. Spreading out over the large corner sofas, the drinks were in, the mic was on and the laughter was infectious.

27 year old singer Jon Plastic is easily the most vocal of the group, a well chiselled, articulate front man oozing charisma. However, don’t be fooled into thinking this is a one man show; bassist Kitty Brooks, drummer Ben Coley and guitarist Simon Jackson can and do hold their own, and Jon is eager for them all to have their say.

OS: You’ve been a band since 2004, how does it feel to finally be getting recognition?

Jon Plastic [Vocals, Guitars, Synths]: Feels pretty good, not entirely undeserved, as big headed as that sounds, feels like we’ve paid our dues, and things are coming to us, and that feels good. I think if we had only been together for three weeks, then I'd be a little bit worried about things that were happening as I’d be like “shit there’s no real foundation here”. but we have built the foundations up from the ground and now things are working, so…

OS: You guys are off to Italy in January, does it feel like you’re finally getting bigger in Europe?

Si Jackson [Guitars, Vocals, Synths]: We’ve only been out there once, for one day, [laughter and interruption] well, 5 days but one gig, so I suppose we’ll find out really!
Jon: They’re paying for everything so they must think we’re pretty good! No-one pays for everything over here. I think its that thing, you know, in Italy, if they’re an English band then its “wow they’re an English band!”, so yeah we’re pretty lucky, but we’ll just see what happens. I mean, if we play to 20 people a night we won’t be disappointed, because that’s exactly what happened here, and you’ve got to build up from the ground up. If we play to loads more than that will be fucking amazing and we’ll be lucky.

The band aren’t afraid to court controversy either. On their website, Jon is clear and determined about his aims for the band; “I'm thinking big. I want to play two hour sets in the world's biggest stadiums, I want to take over where my heroes have left off, I want big life-size Plastic Toys dolls that you can fuck, so I can have sex with myself”. It is this attitude, coupled with songs that get right in your brain and an incredible work ethic, that is taking Plastic Toys higher and higher, and enables them to gain fans from almost any background.

OS: You support quite a differing range of bands (MSI, My Ruin), how do you find stepping out in front of such differing crowds?

Jon: We haven’t done the My Ruin thing yet so we don’t know what’s going to happen, but yeah on the whole, if you’re in a room playing to an indie crowd, the people who are gonna like us are the people who are gonna like us, there’s a wide mix of people who are into it and you never really know who is going to be into it and the ones who don’t like it go to the bar - but on the whole there’s more who stay and watch you than go to the bar. Every now and then I piss people off a bit, I mean we played up in London and I slagged off Kate Nash, when she was like the media darling of London, but then all the people who actually liked us didn’t care and thought it was funny, and all the people who were at the bar, like thinking about Kate Nash went “BOOO, you can’t take the piss out of her she’s a lyrical genius!”. She’s not, she’s not, like someone’s checking out my bum, badaba, shut up woman!

OS: Kitty, as a female bassist do you get a lot of un-called for comparisons to people like Lyn-Z [bassist of Mindless Self Indulgence?

Kitty Brooks [Bass]: Not that I know of, but I’m sure its probably there in people’s minds. I think being a girl, one of the things is that you’re definitely judged on how you look, quite often above how you play or what you do on stage. But I think, at the moment its becoming quite positive, the music, and there’s a lot more females involved in the rock side of it, I think we’re getting our respect. Which is cool, but I am who I am and I play what I like to play [laughter] and I do what I do onstage, and its me and I don’t feel under any pressure to be like anybody else, and I don’t want to be.

OS: You’re obviously quite an attractive band, do you ever get accused of being style of substance, or more about image than music?

Jon: So far no, we’ve done okay with that, I mean every now and then at a gig you get, “Oh they look like a bunch of fags” and that.

Kitty: JARED!!

Jon: Haha yeah, but, when that happens, they then actually listen to us and like it, so, I don’t think, you know…to be honest, we don’t put like, masses of amount of effort into it, compared to other bands we know [stage whisper] My Passion! We don’t straighten our hair before every gig…Ben re-dreads his hair before every show, it’s like perfect flowing locks before! But no, we don’t get a style over substance type of thing.

OS: You describe yourselves as industrial, but it’s quite a light form of industrial really…

Jon: In some of the reviews we’ve had, people have said our songs are a bit poppy, but that’s just a style of music. They haven’t looked at any photos they’ve just listened to a CD. But I don’t mind that, coz we quite like pop hooks, that’s what we’re doing. Oh yeah, we’re not like Ministry or anything, I really love all those bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails, but musically we are… we’re like bubblegum pop choruses with a bit of a kinda tongue in cheek kinda feel, erm, but wrapped up in a kinda like… Well, we grew up listening to metal bands and stuff, and real high energy stuff, and so when we play live we want to deliver that same exciting, high energy show, but without the erm, embarrassing kind of self parody thing that metal bands can be. And so because of that, you know, we like vocal harmonies, we listen to like the Beach Boys and stuff like that as well. And so all those mixtures go into there, and we have these nice big choruses and everything and then, we’ll also have these real fuzzy guitars and real “four on the floor” industrial drumbeats that you can really dance to.

The band isn’t just getting the attention of the fans either. Nine Inch Nails producer John Fryer has produced some of their earlier work, and forthcoming album “For Tonight Only”, out February 4, has been mastered in LA by Tom Baker, also responsible for mastering NIN.

OS: What was it like to work with Tom Baker?

Jon: Erm, it was cool, it was actually like a financial decision, basically we had a choice when it came to the mastering of the album, it’s a job that has to be done and you can’t get away from it, and you need someone who knows what they’re doing to do it, and because the dollar is so weak against the pound right now, we could spend x amount of money in London on some guy that would probably do an OK job, but hasn’t really got a name or anything, or spend the exactly same amount of money and go to LA and have some real big guy do it, and actually meet someone who’s involved with all those people. He was just a really down to earth, regular family man in his 40s who listens to jazz. Really nice guy, he had a few cool stories - not Tom Baker as in the original Dr Who! - but it was cool, like being sat there as he’s working on it and looking round and there’s like, Nine Inch Nails and Marilyn Manson platinum discs on the wall, and then he’s working on our stuff. He did do a good job.

OS: What did you think of LA?

Jon: I thought LA was fucking horrible. If people love it, they only love it because they think they should, there’s nothing there for you to love… Ben: My sister loved it… Jon: Your sister is WRONG. Even the people who live there don’t like it. It’s like Basingstoke. Basingstoke and LA are the same place essentially.

At this point, the band have to make their excuses and get onto the stage, in order to spend the next half hour blowing the eardrums off of their devoted fan base, and gaining many many new ones in the process (one previously doubting member of the Organised Sound entourage was responsible for sending the text message “I didn’t expect to but I fucking love them!” only two songs into the set). It is this instant appeal that sets Plastic Toys apart - their admittedly hooky, danceable stomp is something you either love or hate, and judging by the amount of people who leave the room grinning, sweating and not interested in the headliners as soon as the foursome finish, the majority of people here tonight are firmly in the love camp. I caught up with the band after the set, and found them not afraid to criticise their performance, yet not beating themselves up over it and generally pleased with the crowd’s reaction. I also took advantage of their benevolent and slightly tired state to probe them with some comic, and unexpected questions, something they took to with gusto, and only served to heighten the feeling of camaraderie between the band.

OS: How did you find tonight’s gig then?

Jon: Erm, I thought it was pretty good, I don’t think we were the tightest we’ve ever been and my voice felt a bit shitty, but you know, it was cool, we tried a different song to open with, we’re trying like loads of different things until Christmas so we can find out what’s best, and then for our tour just, you know, have it perfect. Do the same thing every night and just hammer it out, basically. So yeah, it was cool. Haha, they come to EVERY gig and it’s now got to the stage where it really puts me off, the fact that in like, our serious song, our one like really serious song, they do like a Macarena dance, and they do it everywhere, and I have to just look past them or else I can’t really get into it properly. Bless them. It was good though, I was like, maybe we should do a video or something for that song, and actually just have them dancing.

OS: If you could swap bodies with anyone, who would it be?

Ben Coley [Drums]: I’ll have to put some more thought into that… some real nice bird…IT’S BUSINESS TIME!

Si: John Prescott!

OS: Ideal dinner party guests?
Si: Erm… Jon? How many? I don’t know, who would you have?
Ben: Salvador Dali
Jon: Really? Bit boring… wasn’t he a fascist? Falangist… I’d probably have Owen Wilson, and I’d coax him out of his depression… Yeah, I’d have Owen Wilson definitely.
Si: Clive Warren
Jon: Ha, Clive Warren. Ricky Gervais, he’d be pretty funny, and Karl Pilkington. And obviously the rest of the band, Dangerous Dave, and Harry from My Passion.
Kitty: Me?
Jon: Yeah, I’d have you, obviously.
Kitty: Haha, erm, this is a tricky one…Lawrence of Arabia.
Jon: Really?
Kitty: Yeah, I think that would be quite interesting. Dame Diana Rigg, that would be a good one. Aaaand, Ben!
Ben: Aww, what are we having? I’d have Dali, Marilyn Manson, he’d be cool…
OS: Imagine Marilyn Manson, Trent Reznor and Jeordie White in the same room!
Ben: Yeah I’d have Trent as well, I’d have… Danny Carey, from Tool, I’d have…
Jon: We haven’t got any birds!
Ben: Oh shit!
Jon: Loads of birds.
Ben: Errrrrr, but… KITTY! [laughter]

OS: What should you do before you are no longer a teenager?

Kitty: Anal sex. [laughter]

Ben: Pretty much!

Jon: Erm, there’s nothing I did as a teenager that I felt was COMPLETELY necessary. Erm, my advice to you coming up to 20 would be don’t waste your time doing anything, and if there’s something you think, “you know, I’ve always wanted to play guitar a bit, but I just got a guitar but I don’t really play it…” you should play it, because…well you just should, because you’ll suddenly be 23 and you still can’t play, but you could have been really good in those three years. That kind of example, it could be guitar, it could be pasta making, it could be modelling, it could be anorexia, it could be your hobby, I don’t know, but whatever you want to do, go at it hammer and tongs. [laughter]

OS: Who has the worst habits?

Si: Oh, God…

Ben: Haha, Si!

Si: Do you want to tell this one?

Jon: I’ll tell this one…Si’s biggest problem and habit is “sleep homosexuality”! [laughter]. When he’s asleep, he’s really really gay, and erm, basically, when I was asleep in bed with him, we were sharing a hotel bed because we didn’t have much money, in the middle of the night I was laid there awake and I saw him coming in to kiss me, he was completely fast asleep and he pulled out at the last minute, pulled out of the kiss I ought to say, and then when we were in Berlin, he was asleep in a bed with Ben, and Ben woke up to find Si kissing the side of his face…that’s the worst habit!

OS: What would you do if this all went tits up tomorrow and you were left with nothing?

Kitty: Prostitution

Ben: Get really, really pissed.

Jon: Probably just start a new band to be honest!

OS: Would you not have learnt from your mistakes?

Jon: Haha no.

Si: I’d just sleep.

Jon: Well earned rest! But when he’s asleep he’s dangerous! [laughter]

OS: Autobots or Decepticons?

Jon: You’ve got to see Si’s tattoo, he’s got both! [Si displays tattoo of Transformers]. If I had to choose I’d go with the good guys

OS: I don‘t know the difference!

Jon: No, I don’t know which ones the good guys are either, but I’d go for the good guys because they smile.

Ben: With the one in the film, where that robot pisses on that guy! I’d be with them ones.

OS: Britney or Christina?

Ben: Christina

Kitty: Christina

Jon: I would have said Christina a while ago but now Britney’s THAT fucked up I just reckon it would be hilarious, you’d have a great time on that wouldn’t you?!? Although she’s had kids now…so Christina

OS: Christina’s pregnant too, now.

Jon: Is she? Britney! Neither! Kate Beckinsale! [laughter]

OS: Describe each other in 4 words
Jon: I’m going to describe Si… short… sleeping gay predator.

Si: Who am I describing? Ben… is… [laughter]… a very good drummer!

Kitty: I’ll have to do Jon, I can’t be arsed to do myself… erm… hahaha…

Jon: Never knowingly out thrusted! [laughter]

Kitty: Looks like Jared Leto! [laughter]

Ben: Erm… Kitty… girls suck except Kitty!

Jon: Who also sucks!

Ben: Who also sucks! Whey! It’s business time! [laughter]

Jon: You can’t describe Kitty in four words; she’s too subtle!

Ben: Yeah… [laughter]… she’s a female comedian who plays bass… Haha yeah, Kitty is an onion bassist!

And at the end of the day, it is this feeling of teamwork, almost of a family, that makes Plastic Toys the durable band they are going to be. Ben may be the newest member, but it is clear that they have taken him in and made him one of the family, and it is the same as what they do with their fans. As soon as the equipment is packed away, they invite us to stay around and keep them company, and roughly an hour later we go our separate ways, with promises of much more to come. And, to be honest, we can’t wait.