Band Q&A

Who are you and where do you come from?

The Mighty Roars, post punk pop from London and Sweden but we met in Berlin.

Where does your name come from?

We do a lot of harmony singing like the Andrews Sisters and Lara (singer) saw us in the mirror singing together like roars...

Who's in the band and where did you meet?

Lara Granqvist from Sweden and Europe plays bass and sings, David Pringuer from a pig farm in Wiltshire plays drums temporarily and sings and Martin Pilkington from Blackpool plays lead guitar and sings. Lara and David met in Berlin whilst Lara was on holiday and David was working as a truck driver. They met hitch-hiking.

How would you describe your music?

Loud, energetic and unhinged but pop.

What makes your band unique?

We are the pantomime horse.

Who are your musical influences?

A huge collision of things between Simon and Garfunkel and Sebadoh. Anything with life that sounds like it might burst out of itself.

Tell us a bit about your current album and the inspirations behind it?

This is our second album written after Lara's father died. we were lost for a bit and we toured in America most of it was written in the woods of Pensylvania where we had a disastrous recording session and ended up hiring a car and heading south to the sea to recuperate in South Carolina. We wrote so many songs and we are doing a separate acoustic album.

Where are your favorite places to tour?

As a British band it is really eye opening playing in mainland Europe. They treat you with a respect which is most unusual, especially if you are used to London. People genuinely are into coming out to enjoy themselves unlike the cynical audiences you get used to in London. Italy is fantastic cos of the food.

Where do you look for inspiration when songwriting?

I use the great white telephone quite a lot.

Are there any ways the band try to be DIY or crafty?

I think every band owes it to themselves to be DIY its almost a full time deal promoting yourself these days. Sometimes I wonder if I am a musician or a computer programmer. We always try to get on with promoters and develop relationships. Its all about relationships really and you dont have to be crafty but just interested.

What would you be doing if you weren't in a band?

Lara is an animator (check out some of her stuff at themightyroars on youtube). Martin is a comedian. David would be that grumpy recording engineer who always knows better.

What was the last record you bought?

Official Secrets Act.

Hopes and dreams for this year?

World Peace.

What's next for you?

We aim to finally finish the scale model of the millennium falcon.

Check out more from the band on their MySpace.

Music to craft to? CO+K caught up with Kill It Kid to get the inside scoop.

Who are you and where do you come from?

We are Kill It Kid and we are from Bath, although originally I (Chris) am from Norwich, Steph is from Crawley, Marc is from Guildford, Rich is from Cardiff and Adam is from Loughborough.

Where does your name come from?

We are named after a Blind Willie McTell song. I bought the record of his last known recording session done in the back of a record store in Atlanta I think. The owner first recognised him touting songs in a car lot, and after a couple of attempts, managed to entice him in to his store with a bottle of bourbon to record some songs on his tape reel. Introducing his song 'Kill It Kid' McTell explains that when he was playing the circuit in NY, in one particular bar one of the local barflys would shout "Kill It Kid" as he went up to take the stage.

Who's in the band and where did you meet?

The Band are Chris Turpin (vox and guitar), Stephanie Ward (vox and keys), Richard Jones (violin and bk vox), Marc Jones (drums and perc), Adam Timmins (bass and banjo). We met at Bath Spa University where four-fifths of the us where studying music. Me and Adam started Kill It Kid as a two piece acoustic act, and first we met Rich after we asked him to do a couple of sessions for us on some recordings we were doing. Steph too joined in after I played guitar behind her for a jazz concert she was putting on. I also met Marc relatively early, he approached me after show at The Porter in Bath... a couple of weeks later he was playing a few shows with me! It made sense to bring everyone together, so about Febuary 08' we formed 'Kill It Kid' the 5 piece.

How would you describe your music?

It a mix of heavy country blues and alt rock rooted in the folk tradition.

What makes your band unique?

We are trying to drag roots music back to the fore... especially in a live context. Having violin and heavy drums taking such a leading role is different. Also sharing the lead vocals between two singers who are hooked on early jazz and blues records must be rare.

Who are your musical influences?

Everyone in the band has different musical influences, from Blind Willie McTell to Etta James, Zeplin to Grappelli and Ben Harper to The White Stripes, we all cover a pretty vast area of music, and somehow they weave together!

Tell us a bit about your current album and the inspirations behind it?

Well, we had about 5 months to put the album together. We were picked up by our label at such an early point in the bands development that what people will hear on the record is literally what we had at the birth of the band, we had no opportunity to overthink it, it's what the five of us were doing at that point in time... which is quite liberating but also absolutely terrifying! We wanted to pull a new sound out of the old country blues and jazz records of the 1920s to 1940s, trying to build on this anthology of music but approaching it with a aim to make it our own. Recently I became fascinated with the wealth of music in the 'Great American Songbook', and I became totally absorbed and immersed myself in their songwriting. A lot of our songs, just like the blues or country ballads, focus on love and loss. However I wanted the protagonist to take an assertive, almost aggressive tone placing them in a position of power. It lifts the songs out of the typical 'I've been hard done by, but I still love her' mindset that dogs people coming out of relationships.. and It sounds pretty scary.

Where are your favorite places to tour?

We will tell you at the end of this summer!

Where do you look for inspiration when songwriting?

It usually comes to you... focussing on what's aroud you, what you read. Often when you begin to play a new piece of music, words begin to form that fit around what your playing... You have an idea that forms and you just wait for the right music to come to you.

Are there anyways the band try to be DIY or crafty?

We sleep on a lot of people's floors rather than hotels! Also, we were going to try and use a home made trailer to cart our gear around, but after some thought we figured it wasnt the best idea.

What would you be doing if you weren't in a band?

We don't dare think about it, we could have been graduating about now!

What was the last record you bought?

'The Boatman's call' - Nic Cave Hopes and dreams for this year? To take this as far as it will go!

What's next for you?

Watching this album and our singles being released and touring touring touring.

Check out the band on their MySpace.

Music to craft to? CO+K chatted with Glasgow based, We Were Promised Jetpacks to find out about the band. 

Who are you and where do you come from?

We are We Were Promised Jetpacks from Glasgow.

Where does your name come from?

We spent ages trying to decide and this is the one we settled on.

Who's in the band and where did you meet?

We're Adam, Sean, Darren and Michael. Ee're all from Edinburgh and met at school, where we starting playing music together.

How would you describe your music?

It's kind of loud and quiet at the same time. It's loud guitars but playing melodies. Hopefully it's pretty heartfelt and soulful too.

What makes your band unique?

We're not sure! We get this question quite a lot and can never answer it properly. Hopefully we are, but it's really difficult to tell from our end. You could argue we're totally unique as it's the four of us playing in a room; or not at all unique as it's essentially pop music!

Who are your musical influences?

Frightened Rabbit, Twilight Sad, Born Ruffians, The National. Lots of "current" bands, rarely anything old.

Tell us a bit about your current album and the inspirations behind it?

It's called "These Four Walls". We recorded it in late November with Ken and Jolyon Thomas, and it was mixed by Peter Katis. It is our debut album. It's basically all of The songs we had up until this point in our lives. It's all about beginnings and starting points and it's out in june!

Where are your favorite places to tour?

We've only been on one little tour, but we loved Brighton. Our label is based there and we had a lovely day off by the sea. Can't wait to go back there!

Where do you look for inspiration when songwriting?

We write all the music as a band, together in a room. It's usually about making it sound better than the last song we wrote. Well, maybe not "better", but at least more exciting for us. And we sometimes have an idea beforehand, like "lets make this one sound huge" or "lets try and rock out as much as we can". But then they all sound the same in the end anyway!

Are there any ways the band try to be DIY or crafty?

No not at all! We're really bad at that, which is a shame. All the information on the back of our album artwork is handwritten, and we struggled to even do that, we made dlt the artwork guy do it for us! I remember once in school we were supposed to make something in art out of paper, and I made these great glasses. They were just white paper cut out so they sat on my face like glasses do. They were great.

What would you be doing if you weren't in a band?

Very very little. Three of us are still at university, so doing that, and they having a little panic once we leave about having to get a proper job.

What was the last record you bought?

The Sky Larkin album. I've listened to it once and it sounds good. The song "Matador" is glorious.

Hopes and dreams for this year?

That the album does ok, well enough that we get to make another one in a year or so. We're all really looking forward to just being in a band for as long as we can.

What's next for you?

Our first single comes out in May, then our first headline tour in June, with the album release, then some summer festivals. who knows about after that...

Check out the band on their MySpace.