Live Review: Kids In Glass Houses @ Southampton Guildhall, 8/10/11

Kids In Glass Houses have been away far too long. In fact it’s been almost a year since they played a headline show. So tonight is a chance to show exactly what they’ve been up to. But first, they have kindly laid on a feast of British talent for tonight’s crowd.

Save Your Breath throw out some joyous pop punk, simple and honest yet hugely effective. Next up is Blitz Kids who have energy by the barrel load but a set that’s as limp as lettuce. Despite having at least a pocketful of great songs – mainly on their EP ‘Scavangers’ – they decide to play their slightly less exciting tracks from debut album Vagrants & Vagabonds. Francesca are also a little bland. Their Noah And The Whale-esqe indie rock pleases the younger fans but holds nothing special, expecially compared to tonight’s main act.

Before Kids In Glass Houses appear, their set is rolled out covered in neon. But far from being a tacky nu-rave affair, as soon as KIGH take to the stage it is transformed into a stunning post-apocalyptic dystopia.  The material from the new album really comes to life with gargantuan sing-a-longs and a supurb brass section. Old songs such as ‘Give Me What I Want’ and ‘Saturday’ are also given a new lease of life with the help of a few trumpets. Tonight’s show proves that Kids In Glass Houses can take on the mainstream, although it would have nice to hear a little more of their pop-punk roots. 

Interview: Kids In Glass Houses

Before their incredible show at Southampton Guildhall, I spoke to Kids In Glass Houses frontman Aled Phillips . It also happened to be the day he was labelled the 15^th Sexiest Man in Wales...

First off, how do you feel about being labelled the 15th Sexiest Man in Wales?

It’s just hilarious really. I don’t know if it’s a true representation of all the handsome men in Wales. I could name a hundred who should be above me. But it’s quite flattering. It keeps my ­­­mum happy anyway.

Which of the tracks from the new album has been your favourite to perform live on this tour?

The song that we’ve most enjoyed playing is probably ‘The Florist’. We’ve brought out a brass section on this tour which we’ve never done before and that’s one of the songs that I think comes across really well live. I think it’s a bit of a new direction for us. And a song called ‘Fire’ as well, because it’s quite different and really stripped back. Plus it has a sax solo which I have been waiting to do for years.

Kids In Glass Houses have toured with a lot of bands over the years, who has been your favourite to tour with?

It was always fun for us doing Lostprophets tours because they were a big inspiration for us when were fifteen. They were one of the bands that kind of shifted our musical direction I guess. They’ve always been like older brothers to us, they’ve always guided and advised us and been really nice like that. And on a personal level, it was huge to do shows with Stereophonics. They were the reason I got into rock music when I was like 10 or 11. We did Cardiff City Stadium with them and it was monumental. There’s also been loads like Fall Out Boy, Paramore, New Found Glory, those tours are crazy. It was just hysteria. It was weird because we were so new it was just really exciting for us.

You’ve chosen three British support acts to take on this tour with you, was that a conscious decision?

Our agent and out management asked us if we wanted to take an American band because kids over here obviously don’t have a lot opportunities to see them. But we think there are so many good bands in Britain that don’t always have a platform that they deserve. We’d much prefer to give our friends and local bands a chance because American bands are always given opportunities. We’ve been meaning to tour with Blitz Kids and we’ve been friends with Francesca for ages but never actually toured with them either. We’ve done Save Your Breath tours before but we love them so much we just thought we’d take them out again.

You played a gig at St Pancras station this summer, how was that?

It was strange but it was a really cool opportunity. It gets a bit tedious because we get asked to do so many acoustic things but that was awesome. We were literally in the main walkway and there were about 400 people there. It was about 5 or 6’oclock so there were loads of people coming through the station and there we announcements going on. We had to be a bit quiet and keep it down but it was really cool. We tried some new songs and they came off quite well.

How was the recording process for In Gold Blood?

It was really free and quite adventurous for everyone. We spent three weeks in Brussels in Belgium. We’d never recorded in that way before. We just sat in this big live room and mic’d everything up as if it was a live show or rehearsal, and the boys just kind of jammed I guess. We knew the songs but a few of them were not exactly 100% finished, not that our record label knew anything about that. Jason Perry, who produced ‘Dirt’ as well, was really keen on the idea of doing the whole thing live. We were using all the 80s keyboards and all the gear that they had there, creating all these really rich sounds. So as far as that was concerned it was really cool. But I never really enjoy doing vocals as such, I always find it a bit of a chore. But it was actually really fun and a lot more rewarding than the other albums. Its usually just a really stale way of doing it but when you get to do it live you actually feel like you’re achieving something.

How did it differ from the recording process for ‘Dirt’?

‘Dirt’ was a lot of fun but obviously we had a lot less time to do it. Even though, ironically, it took longer to finish. I think it took 9 days to record in El Paso. We just did it as we’d worked before. ‘Dirt’ was big stress, we had that nine days but then it took from August to December to get everything finished. But ‘In Gold Blood’ was wrapped up in about a month and a half, so it was a lot easier and a lot more relaxed.

You’ve been sporting a new look since the release of the new album, who’s decision was that?

That was me. Some of the boys weren’t happy because Ian is a devout Fred Perry fan and we had quite a nice little hook up with them because he wears it all the time. He’s always seen in it so they were happy to give us loads of new stuff. But then I told him ‘not anymore! You’re going to be wearing feathers and leather’. We had this apocalyptic theme so I thought we might as well just ham it up on stage as well. You can’t write a dramatic album and then pussy out and just wear t-shirts and jeans on stage. So we kind of dived in. To be fair everyone really worked to do it. It’s just that warriors kind of vibe, like Lord Of The Flies and this dystopian concept. It was fun, I still don’t know how most people feel about it but I have a laugh with it. It feels powerful!

How is your relationship with Roadrunner Records going after three albums?

We were a bit dubious to start because it was a metal label so we thought ‘what the fuck are we doing?’ But no, we’re quite a shy bunch of boys and we’re always a bit awkward with these business things. So for ‘Smart Casual’ we were just sort of sitting back and didn’t really know what was going on, but as the relationship grew they started to trust us a lot more. With ‘Dirt’ they let us shoot of to Texas and we barely heard anything. They’ve been really supportive of us and I think with the last album more so than ever they just let us do our thing. They let us wear feathers and rally around on bikes. Especially now when record labels are on their arse, they’re still supporting us. I don’t think many other labels would be as willing to let us get away with what we do.

You’ve never toured America before, do you have any plans to go out there?

It’s really difficult because it’s such a big territory to try and break. You need a lot of money and you need the support out there. Roadrunner do have the option to send us out there because we have an international deal with them but I think they’ve had such a hard run of attempts with bands from Britain. They tried doing Biffy Clyro a few years ago and despite the fact that they were in arenas over here, they were nowhere near that in America. So a band like us is a huge risk for them. You could easily spend about £50,000 and play to no one. So it’s just a waiting game.  We’d love to go over there, we just can’t really afford it at the moment. We just need something to happen, like if we have a song on the radio over there then we can go over there. If the right opportunity comes up, we’ll do it.  

Interview: Blitz Kids

Things are finally coming together for Blitz Kids and they’ve come a long way from their spooky beginning.

Under the name Rig Up Explosive, they formed on the night of Halloween in 2005. ‘That wasn’t planned but it just so happened that our first practice was on Halloween’ says frontman Joe James. ‘It was just me, Eddie (Hawks – drums), Billy (Evanson – guitar) and another guy on bass’. After a year went by, bassist Nic Montgomery and guitarist Jono Yates joined and the group decided it was time for a name change. ‘Everybody kept thinking I was saying ‘Big Duck Explosion’ or ‘Ripped Up Explosives’. Everyone used to spell our name wrong or wouldn’t be able to pronounce it so it felt like the right time to change it. Plus we were changing our musical style so it made sense’ says Joe.

The band are not afraid to admit that they were a little naïve when starting out. ‘Tours were fun because we didn’t really know what was going on. We just sort of rolled with it’ says Joe. ‘No one came to the shows but we thought that was what it was like for bands like us. All of five people would turn up and the promoter would be like ‘oh yea, we’re not paying you any money’ and we’d just be like ‘ok, bye!’ We just didn’t realise, but it was fun anyway.’

Blitz Kids come from Crewe & Nantwich in South Cheshie, an area where, they admit, the music scene is ‘non-existent’. ‘There’s load of bands but no one is really going for it, and they all have missive egos.’ says Billy. ‘We’re a lot different because we’re all really sound people and none of us have really got egos’ adds Jono. ‘Whereas all of these kids now who are doing it, they’re all in competition with each other. There’s no support there at all, it’s every man for himself. There’s no unity.’ In fact, Blitz Kids are probably the only ones to have made it from their hometown. ‘It’s really weird’ says Jono, ‘We’re the only band from there that ever got to this sort of level. And back home, to all these bands its like ‘oh my god!’ They think were massive and its hilarious because we’re really not.’

They may not be massive just yet but they’ve been working hard at fine tuning their sound. ‘We’ve just got better at writing songs I think, just by practising every day’ says Eddie. ‘When we first started we were put down as an experimental band when really we were only like that because we didn’t know how to write songs. It wasn’t because we wanted to be experimental. And then as time went by we just figured out how to write songs properly and make them sound a lot better. We take the bits people seem to like, which are the choruses, and do more of them and make then bigger. Then we just fill them in with some nice verses’. Joe adds; ‘We just have riffs and then stick them all together. It’s very cut and paste!’

After releasing two EPs the guys were finally ready to record their debut album 'Vagrants and Vagabonds', and according to Joe, it was a quick process. 'We went in for two days and then we were done' he exclaims. They decided to record the album 'as live', just playing through each track instead of recording the different parts and layering them together. 'The only song that took loads of attempts we didn't actually use' says Joe, who managed to do all of his vocals in just two takes. 'The most takes on the album was four, which was for 'Bye Bye Blackbird'' adds Jono. 

'Vagrants and Vagabonds' also featured guest vocals from Aled Phillips, lead singer of Kids In Glass Houses. But who approached who for the collaboration on the track 'Story'? 'Aled said 'Joe, please let me sing on that song!'' jokes the frontman. 'No, we played T In The Park the year before last and we just saw him there. At that time Kids in Glass Houses were just doing their ‘Dirt’ album which was full of key changes and was very 80s inspired. And we’d just written a song with a key change. We we’re just having a drink with him and I said ‘I’d like you to sing on a song we’ve got with a key change, I think it would be fun’. Then he said yes and it just happened.’

Now Blitz Kids are supporting Kids In Glass Houses on their UK tour. ‘It’s the best tour we’ve ever done’ says Joe. ‘The crowds have been the best, the bands have been the best and the venues have been really cool’. Today’s venue is Southampton Guildhall, and the boys have had the opportunity to get out their skateboards and explore. ‘I had a really nice frappuccino for the first time ever’ exclaims Joe. ‘And the girl behind the counter was so nice, she swapped my drink for free so I gave her guest list for tonight’s show’.

Once the UK tour is over, the band will be jetting off to LA to record with John Feldman, big time record producer and lead singer of Goldfinger. ‘It’s going to be the biggest selling album of all time ever’ jokes Joe, ‘Its going to sell 18 million copies!’ Well I guess we’ll just have to wait and see about that, but if Feldman’s work for Panic! At The Disco and The Used is anything to go by, this could just be the album to look out for in 2012. 

Album Review: In Gold Blood - Kids In Glass Houses

The third album from Welsh outfit Kids In Glass Houses is like an enchanting treasure hunt - there are moments of superbly produced brilliance in there, you just have to search for them. From the vintage undertones delivered by the brass section in ‘The Florist’ and ‘Only The Brave Die Free’ to the monster riff in ‘Animals’, and the magical hooks of ‘Teenage Wonderland’ to the beautiful bridge and bizarre saxophone solo of ‘Fire’, this LP has some bite. Experimentation aside, ‘In Gold Blood’ has some refreshingly heavy moments, and anthemic sing-a-longs we’ve come to expect from KIGH. As for the rest of the record, well there’s enough of your standard foot tapping and memorable hooks for the teenage fans to be getting on with.