Est.1987 Future Talent is back; meet The LaFontaines, the Scottish five-piece have just been on tour with America's Bad Rabbits and have been taking the UK by storm with their unique blend of hip-hop, rock and pop.
We sat down with for a chat with front-man Kerr Okan to chat about touring, their unique sound and why there isn't any party like a Fontaine party...
You guys have just finished supporting Bad Rabbits-
how was it? Have you got the post tour blues?
Most definitely! It was a relatively short tour in comparison to others we’ve done, but we still managed to play pretty much every major city in the UK. Actually when I think of it, twelve days on the trot, no time off and a final ten-hour drive on the Sunday night after the show, from Southampton to Glasgow for work on the Monday morning…we didn't do bad. We’ve also matured a little bit through experience, so there wasn’t as many hangovers and wild nights as usual. I think ‘Bad Rabbits’ had something to do with that to be fair. The first show in Glasgow, we had a shared dressing room, with both riders laid out for the bands. There were some comments made about how quickly we dispersed of our beers...
Most definitely! It was a relatively short tour in comparison to others we’ve done, but we still managed to play pretty much every major city in the UK. Actually when I think of it, twelve days on the trot, no time off and a final ten-hour drive on the Sunday night after the show, from Southampton to Glasgow for work on the Monday morning…we didn't do bad. We’ve also matured a little bit through experience, so there wasn’t as many hangovers and wild nights as usual. I think ‘Bad Rabbits’ had something to do with that to be fair. The first show in Glasgow, we had a shared dressing room, with both riders laid out for the bands. There were some comments made about how quickly we dispersed of our beers...
Totally. When you’re the support band there’s really no pressure. The majority of people generally aren’t there to see you, they’ve come to see one of their favourite bands and you’re just there to fill the time. That’s why it’s always been our favourite; there is nothing more enjoyable than stealing other band's fans.
‘Under The Storm’ is the new single- can you tell us a bit about it.
Yeah. It has been a joy from start to finish. Since we first wrote 'Under The Storm' we knew we wanted it to be a single, so it’s pretty cool to see it all finally come together. Our music lyrically is often based around what we’re going through at the time, or what’s happening round about us: A sort of social commentary. So when we wrote ‘Under The Storm’, we were skint, poor and financially struggling as a band… Maybe we should write ‘Under The Storm 2’ about how we’re still dealing with the same issues?!
In the video for it you parodied a few famous music videos. Was it fun to make- something about gambling the budget away?!
Making the video for it was originally the most stressful period we’ve ever had as a band. (We blew the whole budget we got from our label, with one single bet at the casino) But after coming to terms with what we’d done, going round various types of people trying to use our charm to acquire things like, speedboats, Clydesdale horses and free roller-skates was great. We got so much more than we could have hoped for, and we can’t thank those involved in making it happen enough. I will however never, ever get on a horse again…
Your sound is quite bold- it mixes hip-hop, rock and pop; is it a culmination of all your different musical tastes?
Bold is a pretty good way to describe ‘The LaFontaines’ I think. We don’t really do subtleties. But it’s hard to try and describe something that doesn’t really exist anywhere else. It’s the gift and the curse of what we do. If we were to try fitting it around the industry’s given framework, I almost feel that it would do us an injustice. People really need to see and hear this band live to understand what we’re all about.
You’re working on your debut album- what can we expect?
A more mature sound I think. We’ve been doing this for over three years now, been together almost everyday throughout that time, be it in the studio, in a van, playing shows or at the pub. So we’ve learned just through experience what works and what doesn’t. As I said earlier, when you’re first through the door its pretty tough, we’ve never had a blueprint to follow, we just try to map it out for ourselves and see where it takes us. In saying that, we’ve not suddenly got our slippers on. You can still expect a good fuckin’ time. Ain’t no party like a Fontaine Party is what they say.
And when can we expect the album?
This year! We’re recording it over the summer in between festivals.
You’ve been busy out in America with Nina Nesbitt, the Bad Rabbits tour and releasing the single- what’s next in The LaFontaines camp?
Our biggest headline show in Glasgow at the 02 ABC, on the 31st of October. Summer festivals – T in The Park, Redfest etc and getting this album recorded and put out for the world to illegally download. That’s the plan anyway!
Thanks guys!
