Having two vocalists is one of the many interesting aspects of Louie's music and both Gaz Tomlinson and Jordan Smith caught up with Room Thirteen to set the world to rights. With an upcoming performance at Download to look forward to, the guys waxed lyrical about their musical roots, the World Cup and Andy Weatheralls interesting moustache.
R13 Your debut single 'Trees' had an unbelievable amount of influences packed into one song. Who would you say are the key influences on the band?
GT: Its so hard to say, there are 6 different people in this band. The music I've listened to all my life has been indie so that's me but for the rest of the band, its all different.
JS: Its like theres an Iron Maiden riff here, the drums have got a ska feel and everyones telling us theres a Johnny Thunders sound. I hadn't heard of Johnny Thunders before this band, so its all good that everyone pitches in.
R13 Does this manifest itself in how the band comes up with new songs?
JS:It changes all the time, sometimes someone will have a riff and we'll start from there. We spend a lot of time in the studio and it all comes together. 'Trees' had a really good storytelling rhythm and the music had to work with that, and it does.
R13 Follow up single 'The Curve and The Bends' was lyrically interesting with its tales of young modern life. Did the band receive any flak for some of the lines?
JS:Its funny as a second single we maybe didn't go for the most commercial sounding song but we want to be a band that people notice and make statements. Its not all about drinking and life....we are that type of band but we write songs and we're glad that people question things.
GT:It means that people are listening to the songs and taking stuff in, I would hate to be a middle of the road band, its not all about living for the weekend its just what life is for some people.
JS:I suppose they are the lines that you can hear the most on the song as well but yeah, we've been talked about for that song.
R13 New single 'Dead Man' is out on the 22nd of May, how would you describe that song?
GT:Its got a lot of lyrics, its interesting.
JS:It's a step up for us, its more out there.
GT:Yeah, one great thing about doing these limited edition singles is we can experiment a lot. And its great that kids are going out and buying these limited edition things, its what music is all about.
R13 Theres a live version of Dead Man that was recorded in Glasgow's King Tuts. Do you have any other favourite venues around the country?
GT:Not just saying this because we are up here but King Tuts was amazing, probably the best, it just has a feel.
JS:We got treated really nicely, the staff were great and chilled, we had a proper hot meal. But we love some of the places where you go and theres maybe only one or two venues so the kids come out and make sure they enjoy themselves, we've had some wild nights in places like Exeter.
R13 Going from small places with one or two venues, you recently played the Camden Crawl, how was that?
GT:We live around the corner from Camden and had a great time. You don't really get a feel of what its like for the fans but we loved it. Theres quite a lot of queuing up isn't there?
JS:We played two gigs. At first I looked out from the stage and it seemed empty but then later on it was mobbed, so you get the feel that people are dotting from bar to bar with their timetables. That's good. It was a good line-up. We were on the Kerrang stage but it wasn't all metal.
R13 Last years was really good and varied, even after the bands were on, they had djs. Andy Weatherall played a great set, did you see anything like that?
GT:Hes cool Andy isn't he? Hes a mate of ours, he wears some great gear and sometimes he has that moustache.
R13 He had that one night in Glasgow and you were looking at him thinking, that looks like Weatherall but what's the moustache all about?
JS:Its when he sits there twirling it, its just not right! Hes a genius, at one point he was going to remix 'Trees' but it just didn't happen.
R13 Is it true that you've got involved in an England World Cup song, and would you have the nerve to play it in Scotland?
JS:No way.
GT:Yeah, we're on that. It was engineered to introduce us to Graham Coxon and hopefully set things up for later but it was his band who laid down the backing track. Stephen Street got us involved, it happened during the Camden Crawl and it was a good day. We'll see what happens later on.
R13 Are you looking forward to the World Cup?
JS:I cant wait. Stephens going over there and we were thinking of trying for tickets but theres not much. As long as we're not playing during the games but yeah, really looking forward to it. Its going to be amazing.
R13 With regards to festival plans you are playing Download and O2 Wireless. Two very different festivals, how are you looking to them?
JS:It'll be great. We're on a more punky stage at Download so we're not totally with the heavy metal but its going to be great. Our stage has a cracking line-up, Killing Joke are playing so that's going to be good. Quite looking forward to Download.
GT:Definitely but Wireless is great as well. Completely different vibe but we played that last year and had a cracking time and we're looking forward to that as well. You should get yourself down to that one, guaranteed fun for all.
With all that festival fun and a debut album in the can, things are looking good for Louie. Be sure to check out their chaos and energy if you are making the trip to Download or just keep an ear open for the debut album.