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You’ve just completed The Idol Dead ‘Happy Now? Tour’. How are the post-tour blues? “This past week has been quite downbeat, and physically I was exhausted, which will have added to it. As we don’t tour for weeks on the go, we’re there for a good time, not a long time. Every night is a party night and eventually it has it’s toll on you! The Happy Now? tour itself was such a positive, life affirming jaunt that I expected to be utterly crushed when we had to all say our goodbyes and get back to normal life, but there was an air in the van on the last drive back to Leeds of triumph and peace. Every night since getting back, I’ve been sat reviewing all the footage we shot, and seeing the memories playing out like that helped soften the blow. By the time this is posted, I’ll have released my thoughts about the whole thing on my blog too. Writing helps me process things, and I’ve got a 5000 word monster essay about the tour coming in hot. You’ll want to put the kettle on for this one.” With the exception of the Glasgow show, all of The Idol Dead dates were booked without a promoter. What was the particular reason for this? Was it logistically difficult doing it yourself? “It’s just how we do things. We never thought to hire a booking agent or promotors: it just seemed natural to start calling around and booking it ourselves. A motto we’ve taken on is ‘DIY Til We Die’ – a phrase I should really start paying Dave McPherson royalties for – as that’s always been our approach to how we run the band. Pretty much everything we do is managed behind the scenes by Nish [Gonsalkorale, drummer] so when we started tossing the idea of a tour round he was the dude that sat down, figured out the logistics, and said ‘Right, I’m booking this, we’re going here on these dates’ and dragged it into existence. I’m not saying for one second it’s actually been easy, but he makes it look easy. Once he got 80% of the work done, the rest of us glory hounds came in and started sticking our nose in to help him with the grunt work and it just became another thing the band was doing as a team. Dan hammered our media contacts, Tim was off arranging hotels, Polly put the feelers out to sort all the van hire, I was getting on with merch. We’ve been doing it that long that we just drop into our roles. We put on our own one-off events (usually our album launches) and they’re always a great success for all involved so tackling a tour just seemed like doing several of those back to back. We were wrong, of course! As we got closer to the event start, our friend Charlie volunteered teching services, then saw a few gaps in our plan and just started helping Nish. She took some of the strain off him and injected some organisation into what we were doing. If Nish and her ever quit their day jobs, they could have a successful tour management company easily. Alex was brought into the fold by PowderKeg. We have a healthy fanbase in Glasgow and we’ve been promising to return for years. However as we had no booking agent, Nish was basically just cold-calling venues to find somewhere for those dates and getting frozen out. PowderKeg put us in contact with Alex [‘Mainy’ Main, Reservoir Droogs Events] as they’d already got a good working relationship with them. We weren’t enthralled at the idea of having outside help but PowderKeg vouched for him and he proved them right at every opportunity. He sorted the venue, covered the costs, organised and promoted the night solidly for months, and was the friendliest, most helpful dude in person. We can count on one severely mangled hand the amount of promotors we’ve seen do a good job of running a show and Alex is one of them. We’ll definitely be meeting up with him again, be it for more shows with the band or as friends.” Three bands for a fiver was cracking quality! “It surprised us how often this was mentioned. It just seemed the right price, and we didn’t want to price people out of a good night out. Ian Mackaye from Fugazi is a big influence on me in terms of how to treat your fans and run a band independent of outside funding, and sticking an extra tenner on each ticket when we didn’t need to didn’t sit right with us. We got full rooms every night of the tour which I think a higher ticket price would have culled a little, and there was still enough money made on presales that we had a big enough pot to pay for all our upfront costs. No one takes home a wage from The Idol Dead so shaking people down for that extra few quid seems insulting to the people that support you. Price yourself fairly and if people wish to give more they will. I’d rather be heard than paid, but in an ideal world I’d be both.” You pulled a double shift on the last three dates when PowderKeg joined the tour and you took on the bass guitar duties. PowderKeg are rather tasty, aren’t they? How did the bass role come about? “Yeah man, I got to have twice the fun! PowderKeg are straight up one of my favourite bands and I’ve been fortunate enough to be on a level where I could introduce myself and become a part of the team. I spotted Jen [Lambie, singer] on Instagram a year and a half ago singing a Static X cover and started chatting to her through that. When they dropped the Make Up Your Mind single my Facebook feed was swamped by it for days and rightly so: it’s a slice of fried gold. I recognised Jen from the video and put two and two together. Three cheers for social media! They were promoting a show last August and – daydrinking at a wedding and feeling in a good mood – I booked a coach up for the next day on a whim. I turned up, said hello to these practical strangers, then ten minutes later was onstage with them covering Silver Ginger 5’s Sonic Shake. It was a wonderful night, and the start of me saying yes to more opportunities in life. When it came to the issue of tour support, I went full dictator and told Idol that PowderKeg were coming with us. Between then and the tour they parted ways with their bassist and had just been playing as a four piece with the occasional stand in. I’d have kicked myself if I’d not said anything, so I started hassling Brian [Kerr, guitarist] to let me join and show me the songs. It took a few goes but eventually I convinced them I was serious. They sent me the songs, I dug out my old bass and learnt them, went up for a rehearsal the week before, then we were out on the road together! I’ve done stand in work before so it didn’t phase me. A couple of years ago I was drafted into Acey Slade’s [Murderdolls/Joan Jett and the Blackhearts/Dope] band as lead guitarist, which I’m absolutely not! We had no rehearsals, I just had the songs and my ears to go on, and I met Acey and Robin [Guy, Rachel Stamp/ The Fiascos/ Sham 69] at the venue two hours before the show. No pressure, right? Robin and I repeated the trick last year at Croydon Rocks festival when he filled in on drums for Idol. No rehearsals, seat of your pants, light the blue touch paper and stand back. That sort of challenge really makes you up your game as a musician. You make a few mistakes but that’s not what anyone remembers. They remember the show and the energy, not your slip up in the second verse.” One of the things that I picked up upon during the Glasgow gig was the great relationship between The Idol Dead and the fans, The Idol Army. There seems to be something special there. “From day one we’ve had a wonderful connection to the people that support us. The internet has broken down that barrier between everyone and it never occurred to us to ‘appear pro’ and stick to the normal artist/fan relationship. When the same people are booking out hotels and turning up at every show you do for years, you get to know each other and become close friends. We stumbled into crowdfunding early on before it took off and that worked for us. Dark Little Hearts [The Idol Dead’s 2012 second album] was paid for by the fans but the site we used didn’t have a social media aspect, so we set up a private group on Facebook to share what was going on with the people paying for it. We didn’t know what we were doing, but we were there everyday talking and answering questions and sharing a bit of what was happening in the studio and behind the scenes in real time, filming videos and posting photos, and the fans reacted really positively to that. It fostered a good relationship from early doors that brought more people into the fold too, which in turn made us work harder to entertain and include everyone. I think that’s the strength of what we have: all our victories are everybody’s victories. When we succeed, everyone is part of that. This past year of the band has really shown us that people care and that we matter. Tension & Release [The Idol Dead’s 2017 fourth album] seems to have connected on a different level with a lot of people, and it seems to be helping. I’ve had messages from fans saying that it’s lifted the curse of some old pains, or just that it’s helped them realise they aren’t alone. We wrote the songs for ourselves and didn’t give a second thought to how people would react to them. The fact is now that they’re out there, part of other people’s stories, and they’re doing some good in the world. If I think about it too much I get a headache. I never thought we would impact others like this. Nothing prepared us for this.” The Idol Dead performed ‘I’m Drowning’ during the Glasgow gig. How pleasing is it that you can play a deeper cut and have people commenting online how lucky those in attendance were for hearing it? “We don’t have a standard set and tailor what we play to the show or how we feel that week. When we started tour prep, we dusted off some of our older and lesser played stuff just so that we’d have different things to play each night and not get bored. A few deep cuts came out on each night, and I’m Drowning was one of the ones resuscitated. Usually it’s overlooked as it’s nearly seven minutes long and we often only get thirty minute slots so there’s a time issue. We did a video for it, we never shied away from playing it when we could, and it’s a fan favourite – we had our first ever moshpit to that song! – so I knew it would make waves when we put it in. It’s always a little bit of a shock when you see the fan’s interacting like that on the fan group. These are just some songs we wrote, yet, as I said earlier, people have really formed attachments to them and as the artist you have to accept that they’re out there and you have no control over them. Whatever connection to the music they have, that’s outside of your control and it’s not up to you which songs are going to be popular and which aren’t. We were confident enough that once we’d written I’m Drowning, we knew we had something monster on our hands. It’s very rewarding as a songwriter to see your music still impacts people like that years down the line. That performance was very special for me. I’m Drowning has always been a hard one to play personally. It’s about a deeply unhappy part of my life; something that still haunts me a little, like a curse. That night we got Jen up to sing with us, and she made it fun, dancing around us, acting the fool, clearly enjoying every second. I’ve watched the videos back and I can spot a moment in the last chorus when everything changed for me. This cloud had followed me around for years but that night, the curse was lifted. I can’t thank her enough for that.” A couple of special moments from the gig that we have to mention: First of all ‘Samsara’, you really seem to let yourself go when you perform that one? “That’s my favourite song from ‘Tension & Release’ and I am a lucky guy to be able to sing it. Despite being a multi-instrumentalist and a gifted composer and arranger, Nish held out on actually penning us a song for four albums. When we finally bullied him into it, he drops the best song I’ve heard in years! We shook up how we wrote when it came to that one: Nish and Polly assembled lyrics, then he took it to Tim to work out the music, then he brought the chunks to me and I arranged everything. Nish has got a gorgeous voice and I sound like rusty chainsaws, but as Polly was away when we wrote it, I ended up shoehorning myself onto vocals to double up with him. He wrote it about the struggles he was having, working away from home and missing his kids and wife, and how ultimately it was worth the suffering he had in his life to provide for them. That’s samsara in action, which is where it got it’s name from. Polly jumped at the chance to take over rhythm duties and with Nish behind the kit, I was let off the leash. I get four minutes without a guitar strapped to me and I’m gonna make the most of it. Samsara is a joyous song with a positive message and I made a point in the changeover every night to explain something I was thankful for that has helped me climb out of the hole I was in. Not only is it good for the people concerned to hear it, but puts me in the right mindset for that song – full of love. Everything afterwards, that’s just me being a fan of my band’s music and singing something I believe in. When you’re duetting with Nish, you can’t even come close. Just enjoy the ride. I don’t understand people that look bored onstage. Tired, pissed off, ill, sure; but bored? If you are doing it right, you are emitting songs you believe in with your every atom, and it is the most fun thing of all the fun things. There was no ‘letting go’ really. That was just me having a much fun as I could singing a fantastic song written by one of my best friends.” Secondly, ‘Heart On Sleeve’, a very personal statement, on not only brotherhood, but also struggles with mental health. Is it a hard one to play, or is it more of a celebration? “Fuck them all. I’m still breathing” “It’s never hard; it’s always defiant, jubilant fun. Every night I hear Polly sing those words I’m reminded of how strong he is, how we get through something as a band that could have ended us, and how much I love doing this with these guys. From the first time the fans heard that song, it took on a life of it’s own live and just makes me feel like a small boat being tossed about on a stormy sea. They were singing every single word after the album had only been out a few days – that’s incredible. I started writing Sleeve sat on my bed worrying about my friend, and now two years later we’re blasting it out side by side as a celebration of life. I’ve never hidden who I am when I write, and Polly defiantly puts it all out there for the world to see. It’s freeing, and incredibly cathartic. If I could bottle that feeling, I could make depression as easy to treat as a headache. I wrote about the back story to Sleeve recently. It seemed the right time for it, with it being Mental Health Awareness Week. Polly helped me so much with Blue Skies; that song fuelled me to get better for the people around me. When he was laid low, writing music was the natural response, and with the song being released (unintentionally) that week, I wanted people to know what it meant. Polly is family to me, and we look after our own. Sleeve is our victory song, not our defeat.” In light of the tragic suicide of Scott Hutchison from Frightened Rabbit, the issue of mental health amongst musicians reared its head. The pressures, the highs and lows, people might not realise how difficult they are when all they see is that performer on stage for ninety minutes once a year… “What happened to Scott is an utter tragedy and an all too common situation. I was out promoting a festival as that search was happening and Frightened Rabbit were on the bill. I can usually go about my day happily ignorant of a lot of what is going on in the world, but I was on edge all that day thinking I might be promoting a show he’d never get to play. It really grinds on me when you hear of ‘he seemed so happy, he never reached out’ reports from the people around them. Bullshit. Read his lyrics: the guy was in pain for years. The same thing happened with Chester Bennington. At his last interview he was asked about his struggles with mental health and he said rather plainly that he had thought about suicide in the last month. That’s a red card right there: go to your GP to get a MH assessment and that is word for word one of the questions you are asked. No one acted on it, and now the world is a little darker for it. I learnt to scream from Linkin Park. Our music wouldn’t sound like it does without Chester. That thought leaves a hole in me. I think there’s a preconceived idea that’s about forty years out of date about how being in a band is, particularly when you’re touring a lot and playing some large shows and festivals. That hour you’re onstage is the easiest hour of your day and the rest is hard work. When you’re not on the road you always have something you’re working on in preparation for your next move as a band. Your time is taken up on this labour of love, and you still have to find time and energy to get to work to pay your bills and have a family and social life. You’re pulled in a lot of different directions and the strain shows. You argue, you upset each other, you compromise, you pull together, then when something finally goes right you show it to the world and they just see that final result. I’m beyond lucky that I have Tim, Dan, Nish and Polly in this band. They’re my best friends and when I’ve fallen they’ve always caught me and looked after me. I can imagine that if it had happened in a band I wasn’t as tight and supported by, things could have gone differently. Up until recently, I kept that part of myself quiet and away from the public. I was ashamed of my mental health problems, the toll it had taken, the stigma I got from it, how it affected the people around me. It’s only these past few months I’ve been able to let people see behind the curtain, break down the walls I put up, and let people in. For me, it’s been a universally positive and loving response, and in turn I’ve had some bittersweet messages from people saying that reading what I put down about where I am and where I’ve been has helped them come to terms with their own issues. One guy went back to therapy; one is healing some emotional wounds from a family suicide after hearing Heart on Sleeve; it’s having a knock on effect and I’m thankful that something positive came of it. One of my best friends, who I’ve always seen as a rock in all hard times, publicly stated that he could accept and deal with his own problems with anxiety because I’d talked about my own problems with him. When that popped up on screen, I just stared at it for maybe five minutes in amazement. He’d never told me that. You cannot predict or control the effect you have on the world around you. You’ve just got to try and make it a positive one.” Part two of our interview with KC is available here]]>
