…but mainly Kings. Alvarez Kings, that is. We sent our hardest working pawn out to put Simon (guitar/vocals), & Paul Thompson (bass) and Richard Walker (drums) in check before they set off to tour deepest, darkest Europe.
Words: Sam Briggs
Photography: Justin Thompson Photography
It’s been somewhat windy out. How’s everyone holding up?
Simon: Just about recovering from all the alcohol and overindulgence of Christmas and new year.
Rich: Yeah. It’s gone too quick, though.
Paul: It’s been nice and quiet, you know: family, girlfriend.
Simon: [to Rich] It’s the first time I’ve seen you since the last gig.
Rich: Yeah it is, isn’t it?
Paul: We’ve had a healthy break.
How did you fellas come to form the Alvarez Kings?
P: Me and Simon are brothers.
S: I met him through our Mum and Dad. [laughs]
P: Our Dad encouraged us to pick up instruments so we ended up playing. I play bass. I always wanted to play bass.
S: I always wanted to be a guitarist, not so much a singer but then we started having guitar lessons from Dave Sanderson, [producer at 2fly Studios], always have done. Then we met Rich when our old drummer broke his collarbone and we needed a replacement for a few gigs. We can’t get rid of him. [laughs]
R: I just kept turning up.
P: It was a natural transition. It wasn’t planned, it just made us a better band so it stuck.
The press have lovely things to say about you. What’s the best and worst things that have been said?
P: For me, when we were fairly new, writing songs and stuff, we got slated quite a bit. It was never positive anyway.
S: I think we once got slated for how we dressed. One magazine said we looked like Topman models, but I suppose you could take that as a compliment in some respects. The best thing was when we did the South By Southwest thing; we got a lot of good feedback for that. All the American press were saying, ‘here’s another English band coming over showing American bands how to do it.’
P: Shakespeare magazine said, ‘If these don’t get picked up by major press or labels this year then there’s something wrong with music.’ I thought that was a massive compliment for us.
R: Things like that just give us the motivation to keep playing.
When you get some down time, how do you spend it? Anyone have any hidden talents?
S: I’m probably the most talented one, aren’t I? [all laugh]
P: For me, when I have got time off, I like to relax.
S: He likes to get on the sofa with his girlfriend.
R: Watch a Rom-Com. With some tissues.
S: And a box of chocolates. I play football when I’m not with the band.
R: I play pool in a league. [They laugh] Every tuesday when we’re not gigging.
S: What would you do if it was the final of the pool league and we had a gig?
R: Fuck the band. Nah, I’ve have to give pool a miss.
You’ve achieved success with you previous releases, the debut single selling out for example. That’s got to be a great feeling, right?
S: Yeah, we didn’t intend for that to be physical. We were just going to do a digital to test the water, then people were asking for a physical copy. So we got some made, but then we had a shed load of pre-orders and had to get more made.
P: When the label were shipping them out, it was mad to see some of the places they were going.
S: It cost the label a fortune to post ‘cos it said free postage and packaging.
P: Loads were getting shipped to Brazil. There’s actually a girl in Brazil who’s a massive fan. She came all the way to see us at Tramlines Festival. We actually met her, it was crazy.
S: We gave her loads of merchandise and she thought it was christmas.
P: It was really humbling for us.
You’ve played SXSW and Isle of Wight festival. Got any festivals lined up for 2012?
P: There’s a few in the pipeline but none have been confirmed yet, it’s a little early. We don’t want to jinx it.
S: The start of the year is always a bit dull. January comes along and we tend not to do anything. We’ve just got our fingers crossed that we’ll get the same opportunities as last year. We’d love to go back and do South by Southwest again; we’ve been invited back but it’s in March and its not financially feasible.
R: Remember last year with the Visas? That was our fault, we’re last minute kings.
P: They came the day before we left.
S: I’ve never been as nervous as at the embassy. You go down and you don’t even know if you’ll get accepted. We felt like criminals all sat there wondering if we’d been good boys.
P: We were lucky ‘cos we got some funding front arts councils and things.
R: We just have to remember that’s not going to happen every time.
You’re touring Europe in February, that’s fun, surely?
P: The last one we did was probably the best few weeks we’ve had. We did mainly Germany and Italy, but this year we’ve got the opportunity to go to Belgium, France, Austria and Switzerland as well.
S: Most of the shows are in Germany again – Berlin, Stuttgart, which was probably the best gig of the tour last year.
P: Best thing about going to Europe for us is how we get treated. Over there, there’s a real passion for music, especially UK music. We’re put up in nice hotels with good food, you get really well looked after as a band.
S: They can’t do enough for you. The venues we’re getting asked to play are better. We’re just hoping to get bigger and bigger.
P: We don’t make money on English tours but we go over there and we’re like, ‘woah.’ We played one gig in Italy, that was right next to a vineyard and we just sat out and had a drink. I thought, ‘I’d be happy here, doing this for a living.’
S: Some bands do, don’t they? A lot struggle to cut it in the UK and get treated a lot worse. That’s why Europe is so appealing to us.
Tell us a little about this new release you have coming soon?
P: We’ve got a new single coming out, in early March. Basically what we’re doing this year is a singles club. So we have about four singles lined up that we’re going to release throughout the year, digitally. Each single is going to have a B-side which will be a remix of the single done by some of our favourite Sheffield DJs. Hopefully it will raise awareness for them and it will be something a little different to give to fans that they might not have previously thought about listening to.
S: Rather than giving fans everything at one, it’s better to spread it out and keep them interested. Bands will release an album then wait three years before they bring anything else out, some band get forgotten about that way.
P: Thing is, the industry has changed so much I think what we’re doing is the sensible thing to do. Another reason we’ve done them separately is because our song writing has progressed and we feel like each of them could be a single.
S: They needed to be represented separately.
Apart from winning Toast’s ‘Best Band’ award, what’s your proudest achievement as a band so far?
R: Being asked to play SXSW for me.
P: That one stands out for me as well ‘cos when I first started in a band, that’s the one festival I always wanted to play.
R: For me, I’ve always wanted to play in America. I’d have played in someone’s shed in Alabama, I don’t care. [laughs] Getting that opportunity to play in America, if I died tomorrow, I’d be happy.
S: I’d agree, but Isle of Wight festival was great. With SXSW the whole experience made it. We did three gigs across the week and got to see some great bands. It was a crazy week. On one of the days we went kayaking down one of the main rivers in Austin. This guy told us to go to this place called Jenny’s Longhorn and we ended up in this shack in the middle of nowhere with all the famous country and western people on.
R: Willie Nelson was playing while we were there.
S: They had this thing called Chicken Shit Bingo where a chicken was in a cage over a board of numbers. People were betting dollars on which number the chicken would shit on next.
P: We went line dancing as well. When we first rocked up to this bar with our skinny jeans and long hair, it was full of bikers with Harley Davidsons. We thought we were going to get beaten up but they were the nicest people we’ve ever met. They all bought us drinks and one of them played our EP on his Harley. It was crazy.
Check out Alvarez Kings’ EP ‘Patience Is Strength’ here. Then go buy it from here or somewhere.