Kinesis

After spending a year touring with the likes of Biffy Clyro, Hundred Reasons, The Beatings, Queen Adreena and Idlewild, we talk to Bolton's finest about record deals, smelly producers and the saviour of modern pop...

You've gone from the Biffy Clyro tour to this one in a very short space of time - does it feel good to be back on the road as you had to take a break during A-level revision, and does it mean you'll be touring/ recording more this year?
Mike: Yeah, it's good to be on the road again. The Biffy tour was the first time we've done a first tour where...
Conor: We haven't gone home...
M: ...gig after gig after gig. It's been really good fun, a lot better than I expected.
C: It beats a normal life.
M: The Biffy tour was good because the fans...all the bands were sort of...
C: contemporaries, our peers.
M: We suited each other on that tour.
Where as this tour...
C: Where as this tour there appears to be a load of Goths!
M: This tour is a challenge, we all like challenges, so we're having equal amounts of fun on this one.
C: At first we didn't know how to react, it doesn't seem as intimate as with Biffy and Hell Is For Heroes but it's teaching us that it's not all going to be nice, some of it's gonna be hard work but it's fun, it's entertaining.
How did you end up touring with Queen Adreena seeing as you don't seem to have much in common?
C: Katie fancied all four of us...
Right....
C: Our manager used to mange Daisy Chainsaw who two of Queen Adreena used to be in, I think it came about through that link.
Tom: Also there's not really anyone else touring in August coz of the festivals....
Which you're not playing any of...did you try to get on any of the bills?
T: We're not big enough yet, that's the thing.
But some of the bands playing, no one's heard of...
C: The thing is, when it was booking, we didn't have any profile but since then we've had NME reviews and people have started paying to see us!
T: Paying attention!
C: People have started listening to us recently.
M: I think in a way that could be a good thing as it means that when we do play them our first festival experience will be better than just 50 people stood around at about lunch time.
So is there going to be more touring this year or are you going to do an album?
M: Hopefully there will be more touring
C: Maybe settle down and do an album by the end of the year, maybe at the very end. But we'll see about the album. Just more touring first.
Do you think you've improved as a live band?
T: Yeah definitely!
C: We used to think we were absolutely amazing live, and now when we look back on it, we were pretty pants!
M: I don't think we were pants, we were always all right but especially the Biffy tour, we toured a lot and I think we got a lot more confidence. The main thing is confidence, we were always a bit nervous and when you're nervous things go wrong. But if you just relax it's just like the practice room and nothing goes wrong in practice.
The new single's produced by Dave Eringa - how did working with him come about?
M: How did it come about?
T: He heard a promo and he liked it, and we really respect him for what he's done before so it just came together, both liked each other's work.
C: Our press company kind of knew him as well.
What's it like working with him?
C: Smelly.
M: It's good, he's a top laugh. Makes you feel really relaxed.
C: Lets you gets on with it at your own pace. He doesn't really hassle you but he brings the best performance out of you.
T: He really bought something out of us in that single, something that wasn't there in the song before.
When writing you seem to pick very 'heavy' topics. Do you think it's important for bands to have knowledge of issues outside their own lives?
C: I think it's important for us to have knowledge, rather than other bands, we can't tell other bands to not write about what they want to coz who are we to judge them. It's just what we're interested in as people.
M: Yeah I agree. I think there's a million bands who write about love and stuff like that. There is a need for love songs but for our band I don't think it would work. Like all bands we just write about what we're interested in at the end of the day.
What sort of audience do you aim to attract? You don't think that the subjects you write about could alienate new fans?
C: I think you can see the music on two levels, at first you can see it as having a nice tune and there's lot of stuff around at the moment that seems to be very angry but doesn't have any melodies and hopefully we've got a few melodies and I think people will be attracted to that. Then there's a core audience that are gonna read up on the lyrics. Say if a band sells 800,000 records, there's probably only going to be 100,000 people who've looked at the lyrics.
M: I think that if you look at Rage Against The Machine who are more political than us, I don't think they've alienated the legions of 10 year olds who go around in their tops. I think people can appreciate the music for the music's sake and if people want to have a closer look at the meaning behind it then that's even better.
Why do you think that the UK is lacking in intelligent, inspiring bands who aren't afraid to say what they think?
M: Coz they're scared they won't sell any albums.
C: I think a lot of it's though the record companies are afraid of signing them. Bands like Miss Black America are signed to tiny independent labels...
M: Yeah but they've said they'll never sign to a major label.
C: In England! There's an awful lot of clauses 'in England', yeah, shhhh!
They've said they'll sign to a major indie label but not a major major label.
C: Yeah, that seems a bit weird. I think they're alienating themselves from record labels if anything. It seems that record labels are moving towards blander music so they can try and capture as many target markets and demographics in the same place. So Linken Park will attract all the angry young kids but because they're inoffensive the parents won't mind them buying it. Try to please everybody all at once.
How does it feel to be described by NME as 'one of the most important and exciting young bands in Britain'?
Neil: It feels a bit weird.
T: I mean there's still a lot of work to do. We don't want to be one of the most exciting young bands, we want to be the most exciting band. That's the level we want to reach and we're not on that yet, so that therefore it doesn't go to our heads. We've got much more vision than just that.
C: We probably criticise ourselves more than the NME ever will but hopefully we're able to take a step back and see that just because they've said that, it doesn't mean we've made it, by any standards. Nobody buys our records yet!
M: No matter if one week you get a shit review and the next you get a great review, you're still the same band.
Apparently you've got a 'London buzz' about you at the moment. Do you think this interest from the media and industry types could be potentially damaging as we seem to have a 'build 'em up, knock 'em down' culture at the moment with a lot of bands? Would you ever consider relocating down to London?
M: Personally I don't like London very much.
C: I used to really like it coz I'd never been to London before, but each time you go down there it looks a bit more shitty.
M: The first time we all went down a few summers ago in Tom's Fiesta to play some gigs and we were looking at all the landmarks, awestruck by it all, but then you get to see the real bullshit side of it.
You're currently with Hall Or Nothing's label but you've also signed a deal with Ministry...
M: That's publishing
It does seem an odd label to sign to though as it's mainly dance bands and you don't seem to strike me as a Fisherspooner type.
M: The thing with Ministry is that at the moment they're trying to diversify and stuff and as we're the most exciting young band in Britain we wanted to do something exciting and new!
C: With Ministry, because they haven't done in before we're the only rock band they've got, it's like they're gonna put they're full effort into it. Rather than be one of 30 guitar bands on like a publishing deal, we're gonna get some priority. Hopefully they'll be trying to prove themselves as much as we're trying to prove ourselves. They're gonna try extra hard.
But they didn't give you $2 million like Fisherspooner though?
C: But we don't have cocaine habits!
You could add a Fisherspooner element to the live show....
C: We need go go dancers!
And gold pants...
C: We've got those!
What's the ultimate goal of Kinesis as a band?
C: Wembley, cup final!
N: I don't think there's one goal.
M: I think it's to do what's needed. At the moment I think we need to make our debut album. After that I hope we'll be inspired enough to write another album, maybe even better. As long as we've still got a drive to do what we wanna do, that's our ultimate goal.
C: To be relevant for as long as possible.
T: Failing that my own goal is to challenge as many people as possible into free thought and keep challenging ourselves, challenging other people. Our ultimate goal.
Name one album everyone should own?
C: Can we do one each?
Yeah
C: Neil?
N: Trail Of Dead
M: Which one?
N: Second album
T: Dead Pres - Lets Get Free
M: Jeff Buckley - Grace
C: Pixies - Dolittle
What was the last album you bought and who are your favourite new bands at the moment?
C: I don't buy any albums any more...
N: Yeah, we get given them!
C: Probably Bell Rays or something?
M: Quick say something!
What's the best one you've been given then?
M: Latest one you've been given?
C: Queens Of The Stoneage on promo, that's top. Oh, and I bought Idlewild's new album, Idlewild's new album is really, really, really good. What new bands have we been listening to?
M: Hell Is For Heroes, Biffy Clyro!
C: Fisherspooner!
Which bands or artists currently piss you off?
M: I'm not being really diplomatic or anything but no band really pisses me off to make a fuss over it coz if I don't like them I don't listen to them, I don't even look at their faces but I would say that Fred Durst pisses me off a bit, that's a bit of a cliché.
N: It's just the whole thing, the song My Generation...if he's singing about his generation he should have people in suits in the video instead of whatever it was.
C: Gareth Gates...dart board. Tom?
T: I hate a lot of things but there's so much I could go through.....there's no ending!
C: You look angry today Tom!
T: I am angry, the angriest white man in Rochdale!
N: But you're not white...
C: Neil, do you hate anyone?
N: No, I love everything, I love the world...I love Buddha.....
Darius, the Peter Mandleson of pop, discuss.
M: What are you implying by Peter Mandleson?
C: (enthusiastically) Peter Mandleson, Peter Mandleson man, he was ousted by like the critics, he's a gay man but he still won that election...
M: Are you implying that Darius is gay?
C: No, no, Darius was dissed by all the judges but he still went to number one this week.
You have thought about this far too much...
T: Yeah, but Peter Mandleson was the architect of the modern Labour Party and....
C: Darius was the architect of modern pop!
M: I reckon Darius is an all right guy and that's the difference.
C: I think Peter Mandleson's all right.
T: I think he's a bit of a cunt.
C: You reckon?
T: Yeah, he bought all the American politics over here...he was the architect.
C: I don't think he's as much of a cunt as people would like, I think there was a lot of spin put on it.
T: Yeah but he introduced the spin...
M: I thought Darius was all right, I wanted him to win.
T: Yeah, I wanted him to win too, but only coz the other two were proper cunts...they were though weren't they?
M: I think Will Young's really crap and he's got no charisma.
C: He's got no charisma at all!
N: At least Gareth Gates had a stutter!
M: Yeah, Gareth Gates had something you could pick up on! I reckon when Gareth's performing he's got slightly more charisma.
C: He's got a good voice.
M: Well they've all got good voices.
C: I don't think Will Young's voice is even that good, and also his face is bad.
M: He's got a really shit face?
N: He looks about 30 years older than he is!
C: He also acts about 30 years older...for pop stars I want, I dunno, Fisherspooner! If you're gonna be a pop star at least do it properly!

Kinesis have since signed to Independiente and the Dave Eringa produced album, 'Handshakes For Bullets' was released in October 2003.