The One Hundred

The One Hundred are something else... in the best way possible! Combining the best bit of hardcore, elecotnrica, EDM, Dubstep, Uk Grind, Rap, Hip Hop and plenty of other genres, these London boys have a sparkling future. We caught up with vocalist Jacob Field to discuss the band's sporadic sound and their debut EP 'Subculture'.

How are you finding the reception to 'Subculture' so far?

It's wicked because we’re a new band in the sense we don’t follow generic mainstream sounds. It’s cool to see people digging it.

How would you describe it in terms of sounds, its very sporadic and out there isn’t it?

Yeah, it is. This is the hardest question. It is a mixture of so many different sounds and genres and we’ve taken so many different artists across the entire spectrum. Our music really reflects that. You’ve got the big beats and the English grind rap with it, I would describe it as a bit of everything.

Are you guys fans of bands like Enter Shikari and Hactivist?

Oh, definitely. We’re actually going on tour with Hactivist later this year. And I mean, Enter Shikari are incredible. They’ve been going for so long and they’re right at the top of spectrum of it all so we’re big fans.

Would you say they influenced you at all to do this sound?

Obviously when I was younger, Shikari influenced me to start a band in the first place probably. I mean naturally we take influence as they’re pretty similar but we don’t base sound of off them or Hacktivist, more so pay homage.

Why do you think more bands aren't experimenting with this kind of mixture of genres?

To be honest, I think it’s that bands don’t want to step out of their comfort zone. If bands have an album that’s really good or people really like, they’re scared to step away from that. The fans then turn on them and go “Why did you write something completely different? Why have you gone too far out? It doesn’t follow the genre guidelines. We kind of just wanna do it, if people like then great, if not…okay then! We know people aren’t always going to love us. We’d rather risk being different then regret never doing it.

So it was more about creating your own comfort zone that you didn't have to move out of?

Exactly. That’s the aim. We knew that our sound was so different, we were combing stuff that should got together with the rap and electronics and heaviness of the hardcore. We weren’t going to just be stamped as generic. We were in that advantage of doing something different.

Will you guys keep with this sound or will it be mixed up down the track?

I’m not too sure. We had so many tracks for the EP and obviously that got cut down so we do have others that were all done in the same way and sound similar. Between songs it might change slightly. But it will always be the same idea and the sound we got, it will always be around that. it might be more melodic or hardcore but I think the synths and that will always be there.

How do you find the crowds response to it live? I could imagine there's some intense shows.

We’ve always played songs from the EP so people have always heard it as a live thing but people seem to like it. We’ve played some festivals and people just get it. It’s got that uplifting dance element so you can’t help but not do anything and with the nu-metally riffs it’s a bit nostalgic and people get into it that way. But we feed off people’s energy and they feed off ours so it works really well when we’re all just going nuts.

How do you go about transferring the songs into the live settng?

Well, we of course have the pads and the synths live and what not and we use those to our advantage to help replicate the songs. I mean we also have the other instruments a bit louder live so you’ve got some really beefy guitar riffs that just fill the room and the sound and the drums really help that too but yeah, the songs will sound the same live as they do on the record.

When you first started, did you think that more people were going to hate it because it was so different, or did you think more people would like it because it is that way?

I think it was a bit of both. We knew we weren’t going to be loved by everyone. It can’t be categorised, you can’t pigeon-hole us as metalcore or whatever. I think part of the issue is that most people don’t get it. they sort of question as to why we did this or why we mixed these genres but we knew that would happen and thankfully that seems to be happening less than people enjoying it.

When did you first learn to rap, if one does learn to do so...

(Laughs) Yeah, you do actually. Well, before I was into a lot of heavier stuff I was really into Eminem. I would watch that 8 Mile DVD all the time and would rap along to his little spits and bits in there. I eventually realised I could talk really fast I thought, “Shit, I might give this a go.” So I really practised at it. When it came time to start making some song, this rapping would end up being such a crucial thing to our sound.

So why the name, 'The One Hundred?'

Well, we had a shit tonne of names down and we were going through them and whenever someone said one, we all just looked at each other and cringed. We came to The One Hundred because it really described us I think. We had so many different genres and styles, it as like one hundred things were happening at once. It was the first name to stick for longer than three seconds!

'Subculture' is out now and available on iTunes and here.