Interview: Cover Drive attempt British accents and talk Nando’s, Netflix and Elephants [Part Two]

As seen on Yahoo! omg! UK. Bajan hit makers Cover Drive recently sat down with me for an exclusive interview about all things music, touring, dream collaborations, their new EP ‘Liming in Limbo’ and getting advice from superstar singer Rihanna.

[PART ONE: Exclusive interview: Cover Drive talks touring, new single, EP, Rihanna and more!]

After releasing numerous singles, the band are in the studio day-in, day-out working on their sophomore album, if not touring and performing across the world, but the question is, what do Cover Drive get up to when they’re not working? Find out what in the final segment of their exclusive interview with Yahoo! OMG below, or take a listen to the full interview here:

So Cover Drive, what do you guys do in your spare time?

T-Ray: We’re actually very boring (laughs), they’re all like, “Oh you’re a band, you probably go partying” but we like to sit at home and watch Netflix. We’re big TV show watchers.

Amanda: Yeah we’re big Netflix fans, truth be told music consumes like our entire life, even when we’re not onstage performing, we’re in the studio or writing, jamming or rehearsing. There’s always something to do with music that we’re doing. And if it’s the rare occasion that we’re not doing something to do with music, we are just watching Netflix or playing Monopoly or something.

Yeah I’m like addicted to Netflix, it’s gonna’ ruin my life. I watched one entire series of Heroes in like a week and a half.

Amanda: Have you watched that show called “Orange Is The New Black”, it’s so good!

T-Ray: One more thing, before you watch that watch Breaking Bad! All the episodes are on Netflix it’s absolutely incredible!

Jamar: We’re gonna give you a list and we’re not gonna’ see you again, you’re gonna’ be in your house watching Netflix.

Amanda: What about Scandal? You have to watch that! And Revenge? (I say yes), can you tell them how good revenge is?

Revenge is awesome, it’s actually really cool.

Amanda: It’s not like a girly flick,

T-Ray: No I’ve watched some of it, I watched some of it with her.

Amanda: I think it’s on series three.

Jamar: Do you watch true blood?

Yes, but I stopped watching it after a while..

Jamar: Aw come on! You have to watch that!

T-Ray: Oh okay there’s way too many TV shows!

Amanda: I told you we’re Netflix geeks! (Laughs)

What would be your advice to any up-and-coming artists?

Amanda: I think most importantly, you have to make sure you’re doing what you can and what you love. Be in the music business because you love music, because it’s hard work and if you’re good to the music it’ll be good to you, that’s what Eddy Grant always tells us. And I think that also, work hard and believe in yourself, because you have to believe in yourself before anyone can believe in you.

That’s very true. Okay, so let’s talk about Nando’s? ’cause I know you guys love Nando’s! So what’s the spiciest you have your food, who can handle the heat?

Jamar: I can actually eat extra-hot, I love spicy food!

Amanda: T-Ray’s dad, who’s on your with us and is also our fitness trainer. He loves spicy food! He has a bald head but whenever he eats spicy food, his head starts to sweat. You can just see his head pouring, like it’s raining but you can’t see the rain. I think out of us, Jamar definitely can handle the spiciest.

T-Ray: I definitely can’t take any spice, I think lemon and herb is too spicy for me so I usually get peri-tamer which is like their barbecue sauce, which is pretty tasty.

Amanda: I like hot on occasions but I like peri-tamer.

Barry: And I go for medium, because it’s like hot for me.

See, I was on medium for like a year and a half, and then I finally moved onto hot. But anyway, so I’ve heard you guys can do really good British accents?

T-Ray: Oh nooooooo

Amanda: Well which type of British accent? Because there’s so many!

(All start trying out various different accents, take a listen below)

Barry: We all do British accents, innit for you.

Amanda: My British accent is alright sometimes, I have to work really hard at getting it out properly but it can come out okay, just a little bit.

T-Ray: I think actually the American is coming out a little bit

Barry: A little bit…

All: So we’ve recently learnt what a Birmingham accent is, they say Birmingham, I’m from Birmingham. And then we learnt what a Liverpool accent is, they say Chicken! Chicken! And I’m going to work! Going to see me ma! So chicken, you’s lot la? You know how they say that.

T-Ray: We’ve been trying for years, it’s just not sticking! Our friends be like “How come you guys don’t have a London accent?” but we just can’t get the hang of it!

Amanda: If we were on our own here individually, I think we’d pick it up but because we’re all around each other all the time, the Bajan accent still keeps resurfacing.

T-Ray: And I can’t seem to shake this American accent, I’m half American, even though I was born in Barbados, but I just cannot shake this accent! No matter how hard I try. I’m a hybrid, so I be like “I’m going to go and do that!”

Ours is pretty boring to be honest…

Amanda: … No! You guys have a great accent!

Now it’s time for some fan questions… Are you going to be performing in Barbados anytime soon?

Amanda: Yes! We performed at the beginning of the year, we did a show in Barbados for 5000 people, it was insane and we’re definitely looking to do that again.

T-Ray: Follow us on Twitter to find out! @WeAreCoverDrive

Do you think in years to come, you’ll make a movie together?

Jamar: Definitely!

Amanda: Yeah of course! We’re working on making our journey really interesting,

T-Ray: Our movie won’t be like those other celebrity movies; you know when they say, “Oh, this is my life! I got to do this, I got to do that!”

I was watching your skit ‘Weekend Lime’ on Youtube…

Amanda: Which one were you watching?

It was the previous one, you were sat there with some mug and some glasses on, and people were like “this is what Amanda does!”

Amanda: Ohhh (laughs) okay I have to explain myself, they put the worst videos up of me, but it’s true I’m a big daydreamer, so I would just honestly, I wouldn’t even know that I’m doing it but I’d sit and stare into space.

Barry: You’d be there for like two minutes.

Amanda: Yeah, longer than like five minutes and I wouldn’t even know that I’m doing it. I get caught up in it.

T-Ray: It’s a joke that we have with our fans, like whenever we have an episode we talk through or host our episodes, and whenever Amanda isn’t there because she’s sick or away, our fans are always like “Where’s Amanda! We want Amanda on Weekend Lime”, so we were like, this is what Amanda’s been doing.

Amanda: I’m a big daydreamer, that’s why I have it tattooed on my arm.

T-Ray: You did that in the middle of conversation, one time I was asking you a question and you started staring.

Amanda: I was daydreaming!

T-Ray: We’ve been doing it for the last two years; if you ever want to know anything about us, just watch Weekend Lime.

Amanda: We do it for our fans, we just want our fans to be a part of our journey, we love them, so we want them to see what we do. Our fans watch it and they know everything about us so we get candy and other presents, I even get gluten-free snacks, because I’m allergic to gluten and my fans, they know that! Which is pretty awesome.

Talking about tattoos, are you going to get anymore?

Amanda: Yeah Jamar’s tattoo isn’t finished yet (shows me his tattoo)

Barry: Yeah I was thinking of getting one, I want a script or something I’m not sure yet.

T-Ray: I have eight already, I think I’m done for now.

Amanda: Yeah right now I’m happy with my tattoos, if there’s anything else I want it’ll come later, but right now I’m happy…

T-Ray: I’ll get something on my eyebrow, or I’ll get a teardrop here.

Amanda: No you won’t! (laughs)

In terms of random questions (you’re going to be like what the hell haha), but if I were to give you an elephant, where would you hide it?

Jamar: I’d take it out for walks.

Amanda: If you gave us an elephant, we’d probably put some cat ears or dog ears on it and tell everyone it’s a dog, and say oh! My dog has hormonal problems!

T-Ray: My dog has elephant-itis!

Amanda: That’s what we’d say, we’d just pretend it’s a dog.

T-Ray: Rawrrrrr (does an Elephant-dog impression)

So finally, what we can expect from you in 2014?

Amanda: In 2014, you can expect more music, we’re definitely working on getting that music to all of our fans, and we’re gonna’ be in the US, doing some university shows over there, so we’re excited for that. Just expect some new music from Cover Drive.

Take a listen to the full interview below…

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