Interviews: Better Than The Book
On this new occasion, we have had the opportunity to interview the Pop Punk/Skate Punk artist Better Than The Book from the UK. Check out the interview and follow the band on their FACEBOOK PAGE.
1. Where did you get the idea for the band name? Did you plan it or come out just like that?
Ah! I get this one a lot, though it’s always good to have a refresher! The name “Better Than The Book” comes from that common notion people say about the book always being better than the movie (or similar). I've always hated blanket statements like that, and I thought it was a nice against-the-grain name for an alternative/punk band to say that something was “Better Than The Book”. I actually wrote a book back in my late teen years, and this name came up for a fictional band that was in the story. When I actually came around to making ska punk and pop punk music of my own, I adopted that name, and there’s even a track, “Watching Airships” in the debut EP One Small Step, which makes references to that story. Ironically or funnily enough, my own music has done much better than that book!
2. Why did you want to play this genre?
I’ve always been a sucker for fusion genres of sorts: Ska Punk, Nu-Metal, bands like Gorillaz, etc... Maybe it’s because I’m half Thai, half English? I love that mash-up of cultures and sounds to make something super cool and unique! In my childhood and teen years, I remember being captivated by the sound of ska punk and pop punk from the Digimon cartoon and Sonic Adventure 2 game soundtracks. When I first picked up a guitar at 14, I was more a rocker/metalhead playing Iron Maiden, classic rock, bands from The Matrix Reloaded soundtrack and such, and in my later teen years I got into the more pop punk side of things with Fall Out Boy and blink-182 which brought me back to that sound. Rather than the epic tales of Iron Maiden, these were more songs about life and living, and I think that had a huge influence on my writing when I first started on the One Small Step EP Back in 2012. I also watch a lot of anime and am a big fan of the J-rock scene and so there’s a huge influence of that sound too. You watch a slice of life show and can’t miss some distinctive ska vibes, too! Ska really is the sound of life, and along with that, pop punk, J-rock, metal, rap influences, and more, THIS IS MY LIFE!
3. Did you know each other before the band was formed?
So Better Than The Book as a writing/recording/production project (apart from a few guest features) is really just me, Nick, but after the success of the Hopes and Dreams album, I really wanted to get some peeps together even if just to jam things out for fun, and these three jumped in at the first opportunity!
There’s me on lead vocals and 1st guitar, my twin Eamon on 2nd guitar, one-man horn section harmonica, and backing vocals, Sam on bass and backing vocals, and Andy on the drums! Indeed, we’d all know each other for YEARS before this finally came together. Of course, I knew Eamon from birth, and I met Sam in secondary school where he, Eamon, and I formed our first band (same set-up but with a different Andy on drums, would you believe?)! That was a rock/metal band playing lots of covers and a few originals.
Skip ahead a few years, and (current) Andy and Sam were in a different pop punk band together on the Sussex Brighton scene with Andy on guitar and Sam on bass and backing vocals. I saw them live a load of times and I think that’s how Eamon and I really got to know Andy, though funnily enough we had a much earlier connection than I first thought. I think there’s some wacky back story about Eamon meeting Andy after falling in a river or something, but I first met Andy at the Mid-Sussex Battle Of The Bands finals in 2007. Andy was in one of the other bands, and I was in a power-metal band at the time, both of us guitarists. Andy recalls me asking whether I could borrow his amp for something, though I really can’t remember (sounds like something I’d do). Neither of us won, but I think we both got in the top 3! Flash forward to around 2012 and Eamon and Andy did some collaborative recording which I helped produce, and they kept on jamming one of the Better Than The Book tracks before Better Than The Book was even really a thing, so I ended up inviting Andy to be a guest guitarist on one of the tracks of the One Small Step EP. During the same year, Sam got a job overseas, and I ended up being invited to take his place on bass in that other pop punk band he and Andy were in. We even did an EP together with that band.
Long story short, we’ve been friends and musical collaborators for a heck of a long time before we started jamming the Better Than The Book tracks LIVE in 2019! I can’t imagine another bunch of misfits I’d rather do it with!
4. Each band member's favourite band?
I’ll let the other peeps go first. Here are their responses:
Eamon: “Iron Maiden and blink-182, but I'll always have a soft spot for Queen and Eurythmics as the first CDs I remember as a child. (Pink Floyd’s) The Wall is peak though! It’s my favourite album and what I aspire to as a composer.”
Sam: “God, such a hard question! Here’s just a tiny few: Fightstar, 4 Years Strong, Coheed and Cambria, Fleetwood Mac, Stereophonics, The Eagles, Millencolin, The Police. For now, haha!”
Andy: “Blink-182, Saosin, Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Zebrahead, Fightstar.” Great choices from them, I think! As for me, I’ve gotta put Iron Maiden, blink-182, Less Than Jake, and Zebrahead up there too, and I’ll add Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, Goldfinger, and ELLEGARDEN to the mix. I can’t choose JUST ONE favourite band (especially as they didn’t)! There’s a ton of solo artists and composers I love as well, but I’ll keep it to a “bands only” list for now!
5. Who or what inspires you to write songs?
Mainly life, living, and the people, places, and things that come with it: friends and strangers; good and bad. There’s a hefty chunk of my writing that comes as a form of catharsis and collecting my thoughts, so to speak, and I think that’s apparent in the lyrics. One of the tracks from the new album is simply about a cool bird I saw (or is it?)!
6. Where was your last gig?
Still no gigs for BTTB (yet), I’m afraid! We were all practiced up and booked in for a handful of shows at the start of 2020, then the pandemic hit and everything got messed up for a few years... We managed to get back together for some long-overdue jam times last year. Though and while things are more difficult now with life moving forward and us being more spread out distance-wise than we were before, we’re still taking those golden moments to meet up, jam, and get it to work. One day soon, I’m sure!
In terms of gigs I’ve been to, the last gig there was ELLEGARDEN’s first European show EVER in Camden (London) in May, co-headlining with Feeder! One of the best gigs I’ve ever been to. I’ve been a fan of ELLEGARDEN for over 15 years, and to be at their first UK show was a dream come true! Friggin’ fantastic!
7. Where would you like to act?
Aiming medium-big, I would love to play the Concorde 2 in Brighton where I first saw Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake & Zebrahead (I still have a plectrum and setlist from the gig)! There are some great smaller venues too, I’d love to get back to like The Hope and Rui,n where I played a ton of shows with Andy back in the day. Honestly, though, there are some great Sussex bars and halls I’d just love for us to fill. The Brighton Centre would be top notch, but perhaps a bit of a pipe dream at this point! A guy can dream, right?
8. Whom would you like to feature with?
Ah man, dreaming big, I’d LOVE to support Zebrahead, Less Than Jake, or ELLEGARDEN! That’d be SSS tier bucket list material! More realistically, though there are some local Sussex scene bands I’ve grown up with, I’d love to support and play alongside, Look What Happened, Sweet Johnny, or if Andy’s happy pulling double shift, one of his other projects! I really love the Brighton/Sussex pop punk scene, and I’d love to get back to it!
9. Who not?
There are only a very few people I’ve met and significantly interacted with that I would prefer to never see again, but I don’t like to dwell on that stuff, so I’ll save them that embarrassment here (listen to Artificial Ignorance from the Hopes and Dreams album). Generally speaking, I love to hear new music and meet new like-minded people, so I’m pretty easy!
10. Have any of you ever suffered from stage fright? Any tips for beginners on how to beat that?
Oh yes, very much so (listen to Side Character In My Own Life, the title track from the new album). I don’t think there’s a single gig or performance I’ve not been super nervous about, sometimes to the point of wrestling away a panic attack right before going on stage. For the most part, though, I think it’s just the anticipation and that adrenaline that gets me that way. I’d say I’m generally an anxious person, even when I go to the cinema or gigs (to watch), but once the music starts and I’m in the flow, it usually melts away pretty fast, and I can just enjoy the moment and be present for it.
Things I find that help: #1 Practice and prepare. A LOT! Figure out every mistake you can possibly make and iron it out of your system until your body almost feels like it’s moving on its own. The less you have to think, the more you can just enjoy the moment. Also take spares (picks, strings, etc.) Know there’s always some sort of backup in case of mishaps out of your control #2 Some light warm up, deep breaths, and stretches just to get loose and relaxed. It really goes a long way, especially for vocals and widdly guitar licks. #3 Wash your hands (and face if needed), I find it helps just to feel clean and fresh before you go up there on stage (cold water's generally better). Finally #4: I find this helps in any anxious situation, but have a mint! For anxiety and similar things, something that really helps is just taking yourself out of your own head a bit by focusing on your senses. A mint will take up your smell and taste senses, while you can also roll it around on your tongue and click it against your teeth to take up those touch and sound senses. For sight, it can be as simple as staring at a wall and focusing on what different colours you see, etc A few minutes of that can really help ground you, reset your head, so to speak, if you’re feeling anxious (I find it helps at least). I’ll put this out there that I don’t drink alcohol or take drugs or even drink caffeine, but I do have a habit of keeping a mint imperial in my coat pocket!
11. What bands have inspired you the most?
As a songwriter and producer for Better Than The Book, my biggest influences have to be Less Than Jake, Zebrahead, Goldfinger, ELLEGARDEN, blink-182, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Reel Big Fish, Fall Out Boy, Green Day, and Kishida Kyoudan & The Akeboshi Rockets (to name a few)! As a guitar/bass player, on top of the people above, add in the guitar boys from Iron Maiden (especially Dave Murray), Steve Vai, Jennifer Batten, Yui Hirasawa, and T-cophony!
12. What's the weirdest thing a fan has ever asked you for?
Eamon, do you count as a fan? Lol! Seriously, though, this crazy guy right here asked for some instrumentals and vocal-only versions of some of the BTTB tracks to do his best impression of me singing one of the songs, “Homecoming”, but with all the lyrics replaced with Flo Rida’s “Low” (Apple Bottom Jeans)! It’s uncanny! Next, and even more impressive, Eamon made a complete mashup EP of Better Than The Book songs mixed with various Sonic the Hedgehog songs and media clips! It was a fantastic birthday present! Eamon aside, I have been asked by people if they can use songs in their games and animations, and that’s super cool, though I do think Eamon takes the cake for the weirdest “fan contribution”!
13. What do you think of your fans?
It’s a big question to ask and a complicated one to answer. It’d be easy to say “they’re great”, “I’m super grateful” and leave it at that but it’s not quite that simple and I’ll be brutally honest here because I think it’s something important that needs to be talked about (and I've already sung about it anyways).
I’m very much an introvert and not a super social person either, but I love to make music and for people to listen to it, so there’s a bit of a paradoxical relationship I have with the idea of “fans”. For me, I love to connect with people on a personal level, and I often feel like the idea of fandom puts one party up on a pedestal, which is a little uncomfortable to me and comes with some strange behaviours sometimes. When Hopes and Dreams came out, I was flooded with lots of messages, comments, etc, and while it was great to receive attention for something I worked so hard on and put my heart and soul into, it did start to get a bit intense too, just from a few people. While most of it was great, I’d also have a few people messaging me repeatedly why I hadn’t answered their message or talking to me about me as if they know me and I’m getting very uncomfortable thinking, “hang on I’ve only just met you, I haven’t even been on my computer today and you’re already getting angry at me for not replying? And that definitely was not what that song was about too, please don’t infer my life experience from that”. There are also the people who reach out seemingly nicely but then you realise they’re just trying to sell you something to “boost your career” etc... (Other bands you can relate to this right?). It can get pretty exhausting sifting through all that, but I realise that’s something that comes as part of the territory. To everyone out there, please try not to be like that... we’re all just human, and being genuinely nice goes a long way (Listen to Mood Swings from the new album for a pretty candid summery of things).
That said the kind of people above make up only the smallest percentage of people who have reached out, and for everyone else, what I would say is that there has been not only some amazing encouragement but also I’ve met some lovely and amazing people through Better Than The Book and my other music too. Some have gone on to become lifelong friends, others even collaborators, heck, there were even a few people who reached out when this latest album dropped just to say congrats, hi, and catch up about life and stuff. What I really love is building these (equal) relationships in a community, much like what you guys are doing here at Breathing The Core! We hype each other up, get excited for each other, and grow together. I’ve had some amazing shout-outs and at the same time some sometimes brutal (but constructive) reviews from people I’ve grown to care about, and it’s how we get better as musicians and people, and I’d do the same for them! These are the “fans” I love, and they are amazing! Whether you’re dropping by in a comment just to share a word of encouragement or getting involved with a project together, you are the folks who really make sharing this music a world of fun! Thanks so much for being a part of my life!
14. What do you think of our site?
What can I say! The last time I was interviewed here was back in 2019, and it’s still going strong, which is a huge testament to the quality, hard work and community you bring together here. You guys rock! Thanks so much for having me back!
15. Something to add?
Shameless self-promotion time, lol! Better Than The Book just released its 3rd full-length album Side Character In My Own Life on Friday, 13th June 2025: 10 tracks + 4 bonus tracks + 4 radio edits for playlisting convenience! I even managed to get it onto CD and Vinyl this time! Listen and grab a copy over on Bandcamp or elasticStage, and if you’re a fan of any of the bands mentioned above, I think it’s gonna blow your socks off! Thanks so much for reading my ramblings above, and I hope you enjoy the new tunes!
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