Your most recent album “In Gold Blood” was the first time you’ve incorporated the styles of the bands that you listen to (into your own music); Do you feel that it’s the album that’s most true to your roots, especially with it being recorded in the studio live?
ANDREW [“Shay” Sheehy, bass]- I don’t know, it’s kind of a hard one to say. We definitely set out to achieve what we did with it; whether that was the right thing to do or not I don’t know, but we went out on the line with that one. It was a lot of fun to record. We feel really comfortable doing it like that; setting up a little room and bashing it out live and seeing what happens. It’s just an album that I think you have to make to move on as a band; I think it’s always been in us to make that album.
“The Best Is Yet To Come” was a song on “DIRT”; do you feel that with every record you are getting better and better?
JOEL [Fisher, guitar]- Yeah, we always like progressing, I don’t think we like turning backwards and going back in time.
SHAY- We don’t like to cover old ground. We’d like to think that we get better with every album, better with age! [laughing].
What else is next for Kids? You’ve changed labels now and as you said are going back into the studio. You worked with Jason Perry on your two previous records; are you going for a hat trick?
JOEL- We’ll be trying to find a new label towards the end of this year and just writing for the rest of this year.
SHAY- Yeah, Jason, we don’t know yet. We loved working with him and he does bring out good things in us.
JOEL- We don’t want to repeat ourselves so we’re not too sure yet.
SHAY- We’re just going to see how it goes. We’ve got a bunch of songs written and really know where we’re going to go with this record.
Will the vibe change again?
BOTH- Yeah!
SHAY- We never want to repeat ourselves and we have a strong idea of where we want to go with this record and we’ll just see what happens and who wants to do it and who’s most keen I guess.
And want to know what you can expect from their live show?
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| Kids In Glass Houses lead singer Aled in the crowd at The Hub |
Thunderous screams erupt from the crowd even before the band takes to the stage and as the distinctive opening chords of “Give Me What I Want” begin they become deafening. Lead singer Aled Phillips is already in amongst the crowd and Kids In Glass Houses aren’t even on the second song; the night is set to be riotous. The audience screams at the opening chords of every song; they know this band inside out and they are guided through classic album tracks such as “Artbreaker I” and “Youngblood [Let It Out]”.
The band then bring things a little more up to date with “Animals”, from the newest album “In Gold Blood”. Typically anthemic and catchy, it however has a noticeably different vibe to songs from previous records; much rawer and grittier but just as captivating. “So far, so good”, announces Aled four songs in and then challenges the crowd to give more; “Let’s see if any of you can f*****g sing”, before bursting into “For Better Or Hearse” using the mic stand as a baton to conduct the audience’s participation.
Older favourites, such as “Undercover Lover”, are played alongside newer offerings including a brand new song which Kids are playing for only the second time. If the twanging guitars and infectious hooks are anything to judge the new album by, then fans are in for a real treat. And after the new song interlude, Aled is raring to kick start the crowd’s energy. “Let’s ruin some smart clothes”, he shouts and as “Fisticuffs” breaks in so does the pit at the front. By the end of the song Aled has the entire crowd kneeling on the floor, ready for the song to kick back in and the crowd to spring back up in unison. The vigour throughout is unrelenting and Kids In Glass Houses deliver an endless amount of catchy choruses. “Let’s just get hot and sweaty” encourages Aled. And by the end of tonight’s set, which concludes with the soaring “Matters At All”, it is fair to say that the audience has obliged Aled’s wish. Kids in Glass Houses delivery a magnetic performance pulling in the entire audience here in The Hub tonight.
Photo credit: Danny Peart Graphics
