The tour started about a week ago. How has it been?
Jonno – Really well. Loads of people have been coming to the shows, best tour date I think.
When I walked in, there was already a massive queue outside. That must be amazing for you to see your fans turn out like that.
Nic: Yeah it’s great. Obviously we have the core fans but this tour is the first time we’ve seen a big step up in numbers.
Surely you have to attribute that to the last album, which was a great success, coming in at number 5 in the rock charts.
J: We were well happy with that, and now it’s transpired into the live shows. People are actually coming and not just sitting listening to us on Spotify. The fact that they like it enough to come and watch us is great.
So what have the fans been like? Are they a bit tame or have they been getting into it?
N: They’ve been getting rowdier and rowdier.
J: They seem to be loving it. They’re just as enthusiastic as we, and it’s quite an upbeat album so people at the shows just jump around like mad ‘eads.
N: The last couple of days especially. We were in Manchester last night which was practically our hometown show and it was just *makes jesture which I assume means amazing*
J: Night four in Nottingham was amazing as well, and obviously Glasgow tonight where we’ve
sold a lot of tickets so we’re dead excited about it.
You mentioned that it was quite an upbeat album. Is that because you recorded it in L.A?
J: That’s exactly it man. I mean, we’ve written albums before and they were quite downbeat and full of misery. We were writing in our parent’s garage where it was pissing down with rain all the time but you can’t really write that sort of music in the L.A. sun.
N: Especially when all you’re drinking is Starbucks.
That explains the energy on the album then. You’re all just buzzing on caffeine.
N: Yeah man, pure caffeine. Guatamalan beans.
You recently moved to Red Bull Records. What are they like as a label?
N: Fantastic. Obviously they’ve got a lot of… money, basically.
J: They’ve got a lot of resources and everyone who works for them is really passionate about music. It’s like it’s their dream job so they’re all really enthusiastic about our music, and we’re all on the same page, which is good to have with a record label, especially such a f**king massive one like Red Bull.
That must have helped you to spread to a lot of new places then?
N: Yeah, and it’s in ways that you’d never think about as well. Getting featured in the Red Bulletin means that people see it across the globe.
J: They’ve done well for us in Europe as well, because they played our music at the X-Fighters
events. We even went skydiving with the Red Bull skydiving team. The perks are massive. I don’t want money, just throw me out a plane. It’s why I started a band.
What’s the plan now? Take a break after the tour or keep going ‘til you drop?
N: We’ll see how it goes. There’s no definitive plan but we’ve got a meeting tomorrow to decide these kinds of things. We’re writing music just now, but there’s no deadline so we’re getting ahead.
J: The short and concise answer is ‘I haven’t got a f**king clue.
Allah-Las
One last question, Gene Simmons has come out and said that Rock is dead. Is he talking rubbish?
N: He wasn’t that rocking really. Actually, I take that back, he spits fire.
J: He’s an old c**t who hasn’t got a clue. He probably hasn’t listened to a rock band since Nirvana and even then he hated it. His style of rock, with putting on spandex and make up is dead, and thank f**k for that.
By Fraser Bryce
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