Miles Kane: Interview

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Miles Kane certainly isn't a newcomer to the music scene. From fronting Liverpool band The Rascals and joining friend Alex Turner as one half of The Last Shadow Puppets, the twenty five-year-old has already built quite a fan following.

Releasing his debut album 'Colour Of The Trap' earlier this year, Miles Kane is a man in demand. In the midst of the busy festival season, Gigwise caught up with the singer to discuss the album, the Gallagher brothers and future plans for The Last Shadow Puppets.

How have things been?

Yeah I’ve been busy but it feels good. Did a gig supporting Beady Eye at Somerset House earlier this month which was amazing. It was a really good gig, I was really buzzing off it. It was unexpected as it was their crowd but they were well up for it, as we walked on stage Paul Weller was there and he shook my hand. I think that’s what made the gig for me that Weller blessed me.

'Colour Of The Trap' was released earlier this year – was it good to finally get that out?

Yeah I was glad to get it out at last, it’s sort of been in the bag for a while. The good thing about the album was the kind of steady reaction that we had to it, a sort of build. It was number eleven in the charts the week it came out and then since then it’s been given really good radio coverage and people have found out about it in their own time. It’s been a nice build little things keep coming in and people are still only picking up on it, a lot of people hadn’t heard ‘Inhaler’ before and that’s one of the most popular songs on the album. It’s just about getting it out there to more people.

When you’re supporting big acts like Arctic Monkeys and Beady Eye – does that help attract a wider fan base?

Yeah, I think when we did the tour with Beady Eye, six dates in the UK and two in Europe and that was around March time. I think after that my confidence has just been growing, I should thank the boys in the band as they’ve helped me grow so much live. I absolutely love what I do, playing those songs and I love rocking out on stage. When I don’t do it for a night I hate it, I’m just totally so happy at the moment and I just want to continue it. Carry on the steady build that we’re doing.

When did you start work on the album?

I really started sitting down and writing the album about two years ago. It took a while to get going. The actual recording process around two months and it was done in little dribs and drabs; it was all about getting the sound of the album right and what tracks I wanted on it. There was so many songs demoed and written and then it was just about homing it all in.

How did you find the jump to recording an album on your own after being in The Rascals and Last Shadow Puppets?

It was great. I did most of the record with Dan Caret and Gruff Rhys produced two songs. You go in to the studio and the tune is already sort of written, whether it would be Gruff who would play the base or Dan who would play the bass. They’d get a drummer in and the it would just be the three of us and you then just jam around the song that you had at the start. I hadn’t been through the same recording process that I have done with the record, trying things fast and slow and mixing things up. With a lot of these songs they could have gone either way. With ‘Come Closer’ I demoed it a bit like Gary Glitter, with a kind of glam rock feel to it and a bit like Kasabian. I wrote that tune after seeing Kasabian in Liverpool in the mix of writing this record. I knew after seeing them I wanted a tune with a cracking opening like their tunes and that was how that was written. I demoed ‘Come Closer’ so differently to how the final track turned out.

From the past albums you’ve been a part of, did you have a set idea of how you wanted ‘Colour Of The Trap’ to sound like?

I wanted it to be kind of simple in a way of the drums and not to be sort of scatty. I didn’t want a lot of chopping and changing, or jumping around from fast and slow. Whether it was a slow tune or a fast tune, just to keep it really grooving, that was the thing that bound the whole record together. All the tunes on the record are pretty simple.

I’m guessing your musical tastes where a big part of the sound for the album?

Yeah massive. Everything from Paul Weller to Oasis, all my inspirations come from listening to other artists and bands that I admire. Whether it’s lyrics, drums or guitars everything comes from that with me that’s where I get it from. I never had a strong musical background growing up but I know the music that I like, my mum was always playing music when we were kids she loved it.

You’ve been involved in music or a while, do you feel like you’ve kind of done your ‘experience’?

I first started getting into music probably when I was at school and I was in the orchestra and played the saxophone. I can’t play it now but I’ve been thinking about getting back into it, that would be a laugh. When I was thirteen my auntie bought me a guitar and that’s sort of when it all started. Your then in bands in school, jamming with the lads but I remember it was like trying to get blood out of a stone. We’ve got this practice room in Liverpool and after school we’d go over and practice for an hour before tea. It was such a ball ache though as nobody would ever be up for it and I’d have to be the one to collect the rent, so I’d have to go around five lads and my mum would drive me to each of their houses.

The first band that I joined where everyone was up for it and wanted to play music was The Little Flames. I was eighteen when I joined that band and that was the start of it all for me really. It was the first time I had got in a room with four other people and they would all want to stay there for eight hours and play music. When I look back at that it’s great.

Was there ever a huge music scene around in Liverpool when you started?

I think in any town or city there is some kind of a music scene going on. At that time it was djhshkfhs. Even now I may be a bit out of it on what’s going on back in Liverpool. I think you’ve just got to try and do your own thing nowadays no matter where you’re from. Especially with this record, for me I feel like a different lad to what I did before and just for the journey I’ve been on and what you’ve learnt about music and yourself. I’m so glad the album has been received so well so far and it’s on this little slow climb which feels great. I think knowing that you tried so hard on the record that when it was done and in the bag and all in place it was nice to take that step back and think whatever happens here; whether people love it or it’s the last thing you ever do. I know I couldn’t have sang or put in any more of my ability than I did. And that’s the most important thing for me; every record should be like that, like it’s the last you will ever make.

Are you still living up North?

Yeah I’m still in Liverpool. I’m thinking about moving but I’m so undecided. I love it in London but it’s just finding the right area for where I want to live.

You worked with Noel Gallagher on the album – how was that?

Well I think that was the press blowing things out of the water. For me, we’d been hanging out for a bit and I was mixing in the final stages of the album and he came down to the studio for a hang out and a coffee. I was going in to do my vocals and he was like can you just write down the words for me? And then he just went in and did it, which was fucking great. So unreal, me sat at the control desk and I’m telling Noel what to do, just a nice afternoon. That story then got completely changed and people made out like he was all over the album, which wasn’t the case.

Plans for this year?

Got a few festivals coming up, which I’m hoping will be really good. All the European festivals should be a right laugh, top up the tan. There isn’t any plans for us to go over to America at the moment; I’m just looking forward to playing around the UK and Europe I’m still trying to prove myself over here. I want to push on and try and do some more writing before Christmas. I’ve had loads of half ideas, I think me and the band need a solid month or so together to home in on these new ideas and see what they sound like. I want to record with the same band I’ve got not as I think that will make it easier. Whatever the plans are for the next album I just want it be be really upbeat and have ten bangers on it, ten 'Inhaler's or ten 'Come Closer's.

Any more plans to go and do more work with Alex?

Yeah we're always talking about it. It's just one of them things really. We were both talking about it the other day, around how we could work it. At the moment it's hard as we both have stuff out and tours coming up. But for me I think I’d just like to do a second album relatively quickly and I’m sure if we were to do a second Last Shadow Puppets album then that would come soon after.