Photo:
Liverpool is bitter in the sleet and wind of a winter’s day as Gigwise hurries to Alterkicks’ practise room. We are greeted by the unruly locks and vole-like qualities of drummer Oli Hughes, who escorts us upwards in a sardine-tin of a lift which smells of wee. The room itself is cosily unthreatening; a convivial mish-mash of instruments, woolly hats and evidence of a camaraderie which would make the Famous Five proud. Band posters and a Pigs and Goats reference chart line the walls, a photo of the band celebrating their record deal nestles on a cluttered table and two dumpy, moth-eaten sofas demarcate the sitting area. As Gigwise plonks themself down, a coiled guitar string rudely sticks itself into our arse cheek, we pull it out with as much dignity as possible, and commence the interview.
The band have long been a Liverpool favourite, steadily amassing a loyal flock of Alterchicks and dabbling with both Fierce Panda and Moshi Moshi. However, a major record deal eluded them until last year when B-Unique came forward to claim the honour. First question then, how does it feel to be joining a rosta made famous by the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, Bedouin Soundclash, Ordinary Boys and Aqualung? Alterkicks’ lead guitarist, Mike, ingenuously states, “Money. Getting a wage.” Bassist Mark Yari-Gerrard is more reserved: “It’s not money or a wage…it’s because it’s more or less an independent label who’s done so well on their own. The band’s they’ve signed have done so well that they’ve pretty much become a major label now,” he says, restlessly ricocheting a pair of drumsticks against his legs. Rhythm guitarist Gareth Padfield agrees: “They have a good success rate per number of bands, they’ve got a really good track record.”
Do you think they’re taken a risk on you? Gigwise asks over the syconpated backdrop of Mark’s knee-drumming. Again Mike answers without guile: “Yeah, we could be their first big flop – you never know, you just never know.” As everyone chunters at his pessimism, he steadfastly sticks his ground. “In the context of the question, we’re not a guaranteed success just because we’re on B-Unique.” “But,” Oli rationalizes, “whereas a major label might sign 15 bands in the year, they might sign two.” So they get more attention because it’s a smaller label? “Yeah, hopefully,” he says, “it’s a small company – it’s run from one office in their house in London.” Mike agrees: “From what we can tell so far, there’s been a lot of care and attention put into getting the singles out, and the album.”
The band spent the tail end of 2006 on the road with Larrikin Love and label-mates the Automatic. Gigwise wants them to spill the beans and tell us who they liked more. Mark diplomatically asserts: “Venue-size, there was bigger venues with the Automatic, so it was quite cool to play thousand capacity gig venues. But even though we got on with both bands, I think we just clicked better with Larrikin Love. And that was our first proper tour, everything was brand new and we were experiencing stuff like that for the first time.”
So is there one gig which stands out in everyone’s memory? The general consensus lies in Glasgow’s Oran Mor. Oli recalls: “We all got on stage with Larrikin, and were hitting wine bottles, and anything that came to hand – we were all quite drunk. There was a lot more antics on the Larrikin Love tour.” Gareth explains: “The Automatic are a lot more sort of seasoned. They’d already toured for a year solid. I think they got it out of their system a little bit...” Mike concurs, “You can’t take it for a long period of time because you’d just get really ill. There was all this stuff about the Automatic being really crazy and stuff, I think they were, but because it was their first big headline tour, I think they had to take it a bit more seriously.”
Gareth then reminisces over another of his favourite gigs: “Manchester Academy as well, supporting the Automatic.” Mike agrees: “That was where I saw my first ever gig, for me that was amazing.” Amazing maybe, but surely not as good as having 'Do Everything I Taught You' played on Hollyoaks? Oli exclaims, “Mikey and I both clapped when we saw it on Hollyoaks.” Mike adds: “And there’s always pretty people kissing whenever we’re playing – it’s always over a snogging scene.”
At this juncture a friendly repair man comes up to fix a leak. When the interview resumes, the band are still buzzing on gig stories. Oli tops the pride of being featured on Hollyoaks with, “Playing the London Forum. My mum and dad were right at the front. That was really big, that was like 2,000 people or something. My dad was at the back sort of being cool and my mum was at the front looking round taking photos – she wasn’t even looking at the band either – she was just looking all around, looking at the crowd and sort of chatting loads to someone next to her who didn’t even know her.” Mike adds his own parent tale: “I came on stage at Manchester Academy, because that’s the one my parents came to that was a 2,000 [capacity venue] again and my mum and dad were at the back. I knew they were there, so when I came on stage I was looking for them… then some complete stranger came and tapped me on the shoulder and was like 'Your mum’s just round there'. She’d basically introduced herself to everyone in the crowd.”
Gig stories aside, we ask the band if their song-writing has changed in the few years they’ve been together, mentioning an emergent reggae vibe in evidence at their summer 2006 residence at Liverpool’s Korova bar. Mark, dismisses this emphatically: “That was just one song, we’re not going to become a reggae band or anything.” While Oli digresses with thoughts of UB40, asking, “Did you know they’ve sold more albums than Bob Marley? They’ve sold more reggae albums than any other reggae artist – how crazy is that when they’re from Birmingham?!”
Once the UB40 furore has died down, Gigwise ambles to the topic of production, asking how it felt to work with Stephen Street (Strangeways, Here We Come, Parklife, Employment etc). We’re greeted with a happy chorus of “Yeah, that was really good.” Mike explains: “He didn’t pick us to pieces like we’ve have been occasionally by other producers. You know like slow it all down, or do that, and you’re like 'hang on a minute this wasn’t the song we wrote'… he didn’t tell us what to do, but sometimes he’d suggest that we add a few bars. The standard thing is for producers to chop, make things smaller to fit into that 3 minute bracket. But even on the singles, he was like no, it needs a bit of space there.”
Did they have faith in what he was doing, or was there any times when they thought, “this is a big producer I can’t tell him I don’t agree with his ideas”? There’s an resounding “no” from all quarters, and Oli explains: “There’s something about him that’s quite humble, he’s very down to earth and unassuming, you don’t get any Big Producer vibes off him. It’s remarkable what he’s done, and even more remarkable that we should end up doing something with him.” And how did the relationship come about? Mark answers: “He did the Kaiser Chief’s and Ordinary Boys’ first album, so B-Unique have got a relationship with him, and basically gave him our music and he said he wanted to work with us.”
And of the freshly produced tracks, do they share a group favourite? Gareth considers, and answers: “No, I think we’ve all got different ones really.” Oli, touches on Cannibal 'Hitchhiking Disaster': “Cannibal I like a lot. I like what it’s become and how it started so long ago. It was one of our first songs from our little practise room at Crash. It was very basic and we dropped it for a while, we didn’t have any faith in it.” Mikey joins him…”and now it’s become this thing, watching this string section complete it…that’s a good memory that.”
Not wishing to put a spanner in the works, but unable to help ourselves, Gigwise asks if there have been any downsides to being in the band. Are they, for instance, going to do a Razorlight and bitch fight on stage? Oli cocks his mere-cat head and answers: “No, I think we’re all too placid for that!” Does nothing get Alterkicks riled up? “Yes, the 6 o clock news – and bad manners.”
And seemingly Sheffield mincers, the Long Blondes. When asked if they’re nervous about having their impending debut album reviewed, the mild-mannered and sweetly voiced Gareth says: “No, not really, we know that we’ve produced a good album and we’re proud of it.” Oli is similarly philosophical, “To be honest I’d think it was bad if everyone liked it anyway.” “But” Gareth adds “…if the Long Blondes got 9/10 and we only got 7, then I’d be annoyed.” “Yeah, or the Gossip!” Mike adds. And with that, we conclude the interview, disappointed that there doesn’t appear to be any Borrell-esque high jinks in the pipeline, but looking forward to hearing the new album. Let’s just hope the press review it in the giddy stratospheres of a certain sexy five-piece.
.jpg)
