The subject of their live sound met with a collective agreement that it is naturally ”rawer than the album”. Given the anger that is apparent in one or two of the songs such as the laments about lost love ‘Simple Fact’ & ‘Hanging Around’, it intrigued me as to whom or what evoked that anger in them? “That is too personal a question” asserted Brian, giving as good an indication as any to the heart on sleeve nature of the group. Seeing the embarrassed and perplexed look on my face, Joey took pity on me and saved the day by stating “things like the people you have been in relationships with and the stupid things you do”. Given the fickle nature of the modern music industry the topic of hype was raised with interest. Anton who seemed to be speaking for the whole group added “we’re sick of it all really”, going on to agree that hype can be destructive and that they have had a pat on the back rather than having been hyped up like The Kings Of Leon. Joey clad in a Biffy Clyro t-shirt went on to express admiration for them and REM who “Worked hard and had no press push for their first album” and that “Respect and loyalty was their steady, steady route to success”. When engaged as to their future plans the guys declared with fondness an Irish tour in December, culminating in a hometown gig on four days before Christmas. A sombre, reflective and an almost disillusioned mood appeared, as the band announced that they have a license to market their album in Japan and are heading over their briefly to promote their debut album. Also, they are looking to head to America, with the front man admitting “It is so hard to get off the ground over here…. Our sound is more suited to the USA”. Having completed my pre-planned questions I was invited to “stay as long as you want sir”. The amiable Irishmen chatted with me about life, sport, anything and everything. The changing nature of national anthems and the possibility of FKOS writing an alternative national anthem was debated, they soon warmed to the idea, so watch out! Bryan, who demonstrated he would make a great quiz team member, had a sly, but well meaning dig at the British national anthem by pointing out “ It’s quite funny that Lichtenstein before the Euro Champs Qualifier Lichtenstein V England, when they played the Lichtenstein national anthem it was the same tune as God Save The Queen”. Now they were all relaxed I decided to finish by playing the name game, where on earth did their band’s emerge from? They all emitted wry smiles and fobbed it off as nothing important before Joey Revealed “I was reading two unrelated articles at once and I lined up the words Future Kings on one side and of Spain on the other. I didn’t think these guys would buy it cos we were toying with many names at the time, but they did”. Instead wrapping up with a Royal pun, I would just like to finish with a simple plea to protect out heritage of down to earth bands who love what they do instead of losing them to Japan. For more information go to www.fkos.com or www.redflagrecords.com Future Kings Of Spain DECEMBER IRISH TOUR:
December 11 - Katie Daly's, Belfast
December 12 - Nerve Centre, Derry
December 13 - Spirit Store, Dundalk
December 17 - The Half Moon, Cork
December 18 - The Forum, Waterford
December 19 - Cuba, Galway
December 20 - The Zoo Club, Kilkenny
December 21 - Whelan's, Dublin David Adair |
