Splinter’s Click. Swipe. Buy. is a furious, satirical swipe at modern consumerism, digital decay, and societal hypocrisy—an album that demands you laugh, rage, and rethink the world around you.
1.
‘Click. Swipe. Buy.’ is packed with sharp social commentary. What was the first
spark that ignited the concept for this album?
It started with a walk down a high street that looked more like a graveyard for
real life. Everyone glued to screens, ads screaming at us, shops shut, but
still somehow everything’s “on sale.” The title Click. Swipe. Buy. came first,
like a sarcastic mantra to be chanted by the hypnotised human revenue streams
that keep the monster of consumerism fed but not satisfied.
2. The lead single ‘Get A Job’ skewers both fame culture and the devaluation
of honest work. What do you hope listeners take away from this track
specifically?
That we’ve all been sold a lie. Be famous, go viral, sell yourself at any
price, meanwhile people doing the real graft get sneered at. This is the
manipulation, of all your aspirations. ‘Get A Job’ is us holding up that
hypocrisy and lighting it on fire. Hopefully people laugh, then feel slightly
sick when they are faced with what society is becoming.
3. The album artwork uses rats as symbols of societal decay. How did this
imagery come about, and what does it represent to you personally?
Rats survive anything. They thrive in filth. The image of rats shopping in a
rubbish dump just made us laugh. To us, they’re not just symbols of decay,
they’re symbols of how the worst systems seem to survive and always bring their
friends to pick over the decomposing reminants of what was once good.
4. You’ve described the album as “a mirror to society’s obsession with
getting more, faster, cheaper.” In your view, what are the most dangerous
consequences of this obsession?
People become products. Attention spans vanish. Empathy gets priced out.
Everything is temporary and disposable, including us. When you live for the
next dopamine hit, what happens when the WiFi goes down or your battery runs
out? We all get caught up in it, including ourselves.
5. With songs like ‘Modern Recipe’ tackling online dating and ‘Arms Race’
confronting corporate greed, was there ever a point where you thought, “Are we
going too far?” Or is that the point?
There’s never really a master plan. Marv just scribbles down whatever’s
rattling round his head; bits of news, weird observations, stuff that winds him
up and eventually some of those thoughts morph into songs. So, when you put
them side by side, it might feel intense or chaotic, but that’s just how it
comes out. We don’t worry about going too far. If anything, we’re probably not
going far enough.
6. Splinter has a stripped-down trio format—vocals, bass, and drums. How do
you manage to achieve such a full and furious sound with such a lean setup?
We like the challenge. There’s something exciting about having limited tools
and still trying to make it sound as massive as possible. It forces you to get
creative. We run the bass through several different amps and effects to make it
growl, rumble, and punch through everything and the vocals get pumped up by a
Roland space echo, giving depth and texture dialled in on the fly . We like it
beefy and we’ll wring every ounce of noise out of what we’ve got.
7. Let’s talk production. With Andy Hughes engineering, Caesar Edmunds mixing, and Katie Tavini mastering, how did that dream team help bring your raw energy to life in the studio?
They added so much. It just wouldn’t have been what it is without them. Andy caught the chaos, Caesar carved it into a weapon, and Katie made sure it punched in the gut on every speaker. Each of them got what we were doing and made it hit harder.
8. How does the underground London scene influence the music and message of Splinter today? Do you still feel connected to that world, or have things changed as the band has grown?
I’m sure it influences us in someway. Couldn’t tell you how…just in the same way that living anywhere changes and shapes the way you see the world. Making noise is the fun part, whether it’s in London or the middle of nowhere. Just give us a stage (or a floor) and we’re in.
9. ‘Fruit Machine Scum’ dives deep into trauma, addiction, and anger. How important is it for you to explore not just social issues, but the personal toll those issues can take?
Life’s loud, messy, and rarely plays out how we want, if it ever does at all. There’s a lot to be angry about, and most of us know someone who’s burned out or stopped seeing the point in anything. Fruit Machine Scum is just one story about one of those people.
10. Mark mentioned the album reflects the absurdity we’re living through. In that absurdity, do you still see hope? Or is Splinter here more to scream into the void?
Nothing wrong at screaming into a void. If nothing else, it’s something to do. We have already got some new material cooking away so we must still have some hope left!
11. Your live shows have a fierce reputation. How does the intensity of performing live compare to recording in the studio, especially for an album this aggressive and urgent?
It’s very different, but we love both. Live shows are chaos, sweat, noise, connection. It’s unpredictable, and that’s what makes it special.
Studio’s a different beast. It’s more controlled, but that lets you zoom in on every detail and push its limits. With Click. Swipe. Buy., we wanted to make sure everything was cranked as much as it could be.
12. Finally, if listeners walk away from Click. Swipe. Buy. questioning just one thing about modern culture, what do you want that to be?
Who’s selling me all this stuff and why do I keep buying it? Unplug yourself and go outside, free your mind, get off the ride...
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