Throwing up, sleeping on cold floors and travelling all across the US in beat up 90s Dodge Caravan. Charlie Spicer, the hardcore break-down God, talks about the shenanigans and tour pranks from before Apothis hit the spot-light.
Charlie Spicer formed Apothis with members Drew Baudains, Zav Pike, Elliot Scambler and Toby Beasley in 2010. The band had a slow start, gaining a small following in their home town of Guernsey. It was only after 4 years when they released their debut full length album and people started to notice them. “Being in the studio recording that first album was so much fun, we just locked ourselves in a house and banged it out in like a week. It was so sick” Charlie recalls. After that album was released Apothis were invited on tour with Knocked Loose all over the US.
“The most notable thing from that tour was our van” Charlie explains with a grin. “We didn’t want to take one over on the boat so we organised to pick up this beat up 90s Dodge Caravan when we got there. It was risky ‘cause we didn’t really know what we were buying.” All members of Apothis, including their newly found manager Eddie Crawford, a long time friend of drummer Toby Beasley, had to live in that van together with all their gear for 5 long weeks of shows every night. “It was a tight fit. We’d had enough of each other by week 4 that was for sure” Charlie cringes. Being rebellious, wide eyed young adults, the pranks through-out the tour just seemed to get worse and even more extreme. Charlie notes with a cheeky laugh that for legal reasons he cannot disclose every detail of what went down over the weeks. He does however go on to reminisce on the prank war between himself and bass player Elliot Scambler. “It started off with little things like, hiding each other’s clean boxers for the next day while we were asleep. However, we quickly realised that living in that van meant hygiene was very important. It got to the point where people were throwing up on the side of the free way mid drive to the next town. So that ended pretty quickly” Spicer added. Another highlight of the prank war was when lead singer zav pike needed the toilet at a service station 20 minutes away from entering the town. “He insisted that he couldn’t wait any longer and needed to go. We decided it would be funny after parking up and letting him out the car to just leave him there and head down to the hotel. We made him walk the rest of the way. To say he was p**sed would be an understatement!” I wanted to find out from Charlie what it was like living on the road in a country where they’ve never been before. Charlie tells me that there were many nights sleeping on ‘beer soaked floors’ of venues they just played. “We ate a selection of fast food and crispy cream donuts from service stations on long car journeys going from town to town. It wasn’t healthy at all but playing a bad-ass show every night kept us going!”
Spicer tells me that Apothis do have another tour planned for may 2021, assuming live shows are allowed by then. The tour will be promoting their 4th full length album where they are experimenting with new sound but still sticking to their hardcore roots.
Charlie clearly looks fondly on these times and tells me that “nothing will ever beat this experience with my boys! I’m truly grateful for all the new fans and support since then and hope to continue to grow. See you in the pit!”
Things I need to change for second draft:
- Keep in the same tense
- Capitol letters for ‘Zav Pike’
- Correct punctuation
Second Draft
APOTHIS: UNTOLD TRUTHS
Charlie Spicer unlocks the vault of APOTHIS’ first US tour.
Throwing up, sleeping on cold floors and travelling all across the US in beat up 90s Dodge Caravan, Charlie Spicer, the hardcore break-down God, talks about the shenanigans and tour pranks from before Apothis hit the spot-light.
Charlie formed Apothis with members Drew Baudains, Zav Pike, Elliot Scambler and Toby Beasley in 2010. The band had a slow start, gaining a small following in their home town of Guernsey. It was only after 4 years when they released their debut full length album ‘Foresight’ and people started to notice them. “Being in the studio recording that first album was so much fun, we just locked ourselves in a house and banged it out in like a week. It was so sick”, Charlie recalls. After that album was released Apothis were invited on tour with Knocked Loose all over the US.
“The most notable thing from that tour was our van”, Charlie explained with a grin. “We didn’t want to take one over on the boat so we organised to pick up this beat up 90s Dodge Caravan when we got there. It was risky ‘cause we didn’t really know what we were buying.” All members of Apothis, including their newly found manager Eddie Crawford, a long time friend of drummer Toby Beasley, had to live in that van together with all their gear for 5 long weeks of shows every night. “It was a tight fit. We’d had enough of each other by week 4 that was for sure”, Charlie cringes. Being rebellious, wide eyed young adults, the pranks throughout the tour just seemed to get worse and even more extreme. Charlie notes with a cheeky laugh that for legal reasons he cannot disclose every detail of what went down over the weeks. He does however go on to reminisce on the prank war between himself and bass player Elliot Scambler. “It started off with little things like, hiding each other’s clean boxers for the next day while we were asleep. However, we quickly realised that living in that van meant hygiene was very important. It got to the point where people were throwing up on the side of the free way mid-drive to the next town. So that ended pretty quickly”, Spicer added. Another highlight of the prank war was when lead singer Zav Pike needed the toilet at a service station 20 minutes away from entering the town. “He insisted that he couldn’t wait any longer and needed to go. We decided it would be funny after parking up and letting him out the car to just leave him there and head down to the hotel. We made him walk the rest of the way. To say he was p**sed would be an understatement!”
BREAKDOWN Magazine wanted to find out from Charlie what it was like living on the road in a country where they’ve never been before. Charlie tells me that there were many nights sleeping on ‘beer soaked floors’ of venues they just played. “We ate a selection of fast food and crispy cream donuts from service stations on long car journeys going from town to town. It wasn’t healthy at all but playing a bad-ass show every night kept us going!”
Spicer tells me that Apothis do have another tour planned for May 2021, assuming live shows are allowed by then. The tour will be promoting their 4th full length album where they are experimenting with new sound but still sticking to their hardcore roots.
Charlie clearly looks fondly on these times and tells me that, “nothing will ever beat this experience with my boys! I’m truly grateful for all the new fans and support since then and hope to continue to grow. See you in the pit!”