Andy interviewed Kids in Glass Houses in their entirety backstage before their set at the Concorde2 last night, supporting Hundred Reasons.
PT: Introduce yourselves!
Aled: Hi I’m Aled and I sing.
Joel: I’m Joel and I play guitar.
Shay: I’m Shay, I play bass.
Iain: I’m Iain and I play guitar.
PT: So how’s the tour been going?
All In unison: Awesome!
Shay: This is the seventh date now; it’s getting better and better everyday.
Aled: It’s been great to get back out there and get back into the swing of things. Getting back out in front of people has been amazing.
PT: Any tour stories to share?
Hah, well it was my 21st the other day in Birmingham, that was an event in itself! We were playing the Academy, and all the guys got on stage in these catsuits. It was really mad!
PT: You guys are no strangers to touring with big bands. You’ve done LostProphets, Hundred Reasons and some dates on the Taste of Chaos tour too. Still being a young band, how daunting is that?
Aled: As far as touring goes, this is really our first proper tour. All the other dates we’ve played have been like one date here, and a few dates there. It’s a bit daunting because I wouldn’t automatically say Hundred Reasons fans would be fans of ours. It’s a different crowd altogether, so from that point of view, from the first week we were all kind of nervous, but we just wanted to come out and play our songs the way we wrote them.
Shay: We just came out with a sort of ‘Fuck you’ attitude, like if people don’t like us then that’s cool.
PT: You come from the same neck of the woods as LP and Funeral and all those guys. Do you feel you’ve got some big boots to fill, or has it been an advantage?
Shay: It’s given us a lot of ambition definitely. Seeing bands from where we live go out and sell fucking millions of records. I don’t feel we have to compare ourselves to them, or live up to what they’ve accomplished.
Iain: It gives you as many opportunities as it can, because automatically we get lumped in with Funeral for a Friend, even though we don’t sound a thing like them. At the same time, it’s not a bad thing.
PT: Like you say, you don’t sound like Funeral or Prophets and such. Was it hard to stick to your guns, and continue making music in the vein that you do, and not be sucked into sounding the same as all the other bands in the scene?
Joel: It just came really naturally really. It just happened.
Iain: We just want to write good songs.
Aled: We write songs that we would want to listen to, and that’s what we’re all about.
I’m not ashamed to say that when I got the CD back, I wore it around on me. We’re my favourite band, and I think that’s really important.
PT: There’s no hiding from the fact that you guys have had a lot of hype from the press. Radio One have been bigging you up, and Kerrang as well.
Shay: Yeah it’s been great, we’ve got a few features coming out in Kerrang! this year as well.
Joel: We’ve been taking it in our stride really, just not getting too above ourselves over it all.
PT: What bands have you guys got your eyes on this year?
Joel: Gallows!
Aled: Gallows!
Shay: Gallows!
Iain: Gallows!
Phil: Gallows!
Aled: They’ve got to be one of my favourite bands from the last ten years.
Joel: There are a lot of other bands as well, bands that we’ve played with. I was a Cub Scout are brilliant, and there’s a bunch of bands back at home that should be getting out there this year too.
PT: So what have you guys got instore this year? There’s been little news of a tour or album or label
Aled: Yeah we’re still unsigned. We’ve got some good shows coming up, and set to record at some point soon too.
PT: Cool, well I think you guys are going to have a brilliant year, and we’re all really looking forward to the album.
Aled: The last year has already blown me away so far, what with having done a Maida Vale session, and being on tour with a band we all listen to, and have all paid money to go and see live.
PT: Well best of luck in 2007!