“We’ve just always done this kind of music and what we’ve always been in to since we were kids, the bands you’ve grown up on and stuff and there’s been times when guitars have been big and guitars haven’t been big…”
When a band can make a debut album that sounds like they’ve been doing it forever, you get the feeling you’re on to something pretty good. This is the case for UK band All The Young who have just released ‘Welcome Home’ in Australia, a killer guitar driven record full of choruses and just great tunes! So when we were given the chance to chat to these guys we jumped on it.
In Australia for the first time in support of ‘Welcome Home’, prior to their show at The Annandale in Sydney tonight, we sat down with the whole band for a chat about the album and an insight in to a couple of songs, their Australian tour so far and what we can expect from them in the future…
Welcome to Australia, first time here as the band, how are you enjoying it?
Ryan – Yeah it’s great, it’s fantastic. Everyone’s very accommodating, we’ve had lots of fun and met loads of great people, and done some good shows man.
Now you’ve already played a few shows with the mighty King Cannons, how have the shows been so far?
Jack – Really well, we started off with a really small one is where was it? Warrnambool and then we’ve done Melbourne, Canberra, Adelaide and Wollongong, it’s been really busy, the crowds have really been going for King Cannons and going for us as well, so yeah it’s so far so good.
Had you heard of King Cannons before you’d come out?
Jack – Yeah…
Ryan – Yeah, we had, well we’d heard the name mentioned from some of our guys that work for us, and because this was before the tour was even booked, and I looked them up straight away and I heard the song ‘Take The Rock’ and thought it was a fantastic song. After checking them out I got the phone call to come and tour with them, so me and the boys were like ‘That’s not going to happen, there’s no way that’s going to happen’ but lo and behold, we’re here.
I’m looking forward to seeing you play tonight, but for those that haven’t seen you, can you give us an insight into what one of your live shows entails?
Ryan – It’s a pretty high intensity kind of… we don’t like dropping the pace too much…
Jack – We don’t like stopping for long, there’s always noise…
Ryan – Yeah, there’s always something happening. We just go for it, have it, and stick it to people.
Jack – We like to just play the debut record, well as much of it as we can, but way more intense, probably a bit faster and a bit noisier.
Ryan – We sound quite different live than on our album. Our album’s quite slick and live we’re a bit more chaotic.
Jack – Gritty…
I saw you guys say that you came at a time when guitars had all but disappeared from the radio, was that a major catalyst in the creation of All The Young?
Ryan – We’ve just always done this kind of music and what we’ve always been in to since we were kids, the bands you’ve grown up on and stuff and there’s been times when guitars have been big and guitars haven’t been big, by the time we’ve managed to get our act together guitars aren’t big unfortunately. It’s kicked us on a bit more and I don’t think we’d have done some of the things we have done if guitars were big, if it was easy to get on the radio I don’t think we’d have cranked our live shows as much, well we’d have always cranked it, but we’ve really cranked it now, it’s like the things we’re up against, the four of us travelling the world and the crock of music is auto tuned, R&B rubbish, so we don’t mind that, we’ll still stick it to them ha ha.
‘Welcome Home’ is such a great record, and for your debut album it’s unbelievable and sounds like you’ve been doing this forever. What do you put it down to that made this record give it that feel?
Ryan – I think at times it’s felt like we’ve been doing it forever because some of the songs have been written for quite a long time.
Jack – It’s very simple, we did that album and it was literally just us four playing in a room but then it’s been a really big expensive room in Canada…
*all laugh*
Jack – we’ve some journalists talk about string parts or whatever on the album, there’s none of that, it’s all been done on the guitar and it’s all our own ideas…
Will – Lots of effects and stuff…
Ryan – there’s lots of delay pedals and stuff, but it’s the record I always imagined making, really fat sounding guitars and punchy choruses and stuff, and we’re really happy with it and it’s had a great response so far.
Working with GGGarth Richardson and looking at his impressive resume must’ve been something special for you guys. How did you get involved with him and what did he bring to you that you may not have thought to do on the album?
Ryan – We didn’t have it in our minds that we’d go out there and approach GGGarth, he approached us after hearing one of our demos online through a friend of a friend kind of thing and he invited us over there, we went for like ten days, we had no money and he was feeding us and all sorts of stuff, it was mental and we recorded two songs with him and we were like ‘aww we’ve got to go back and do that.’ He really got that vintage Gibson thing we do and that fat British guitar sound we were going for, even though he’s from Canada, he just really got that and we felt like he was getting it. We already knew the bands he had worked with, and they were slightly heavier than us, like the Chili Peppers and stuff like that, but we were really lucky to go out there the first time never mind the rest of the record, it was a no-brainer for us to go out there again you know?
So let’s talk influences, both as musicians and performers who would you site as yours?
Ryan – I’m pretty in to Bob Dylan and stuff like that and old soul records, then a lot of the classic bands that influenced us as a band, like the Manic Street Preachers and The Clash and the early Oasis records and stuff like that.
Jack – I’d say The Clash for both ha ha…
Will – The Clash are my favourite band so it’s hard not to say them, as just the drummer I guess Reni from The Stone Roses or John Bonham, I wish I could be influenced a bit more by John Bonham and play like John Bonham, he’s probably my favourite.
Ryan – I think he’s had an effect on you mate
Jack – He drinks like him as well ha ha
That’s sometimes not a good thing…
*all laugh*
David – Influence wise I’d probably say John Squire from The Stone Roses, a lot of the majory kind of noodling away in the background kind of thing, so yeah… The Stone Roses.
I wanted to ask about a couple of tracks specifically. ‘Welcome Home’ the albums namesake, incidentally, the final and longest track on the album, what was it that resonated about that song?
Ryan – It’s kind of like, the whole album’s about breaking free but the song is right at the end and sums it all up nicely for me because it’s about, we grew up in Stoke on Trent, you look out your window there’s nothing it’s just a grey street, there’s nothing really going on and that was the whole focus on writing the record and writing the songs that way but it was really nice to wrap it up with an acceptance, well not an acceptance, kind of feeling proud about where you’ve come from and the fact that Stoke is such a boring town, a one horse town and there’s not much going on it’s kind of inspired us to make nine tracks previous to it, so it’s good to have that at the end to be proud of the whole event and the whole record being, it was the breaking out of Stoke on Trent that made it happen, but you know if we weren’t trying to break out of Stoke on Trent we wouldn’t have made the record, so that’s the kind of story behind that song.
The other was ‘Another Miracle’ a song that I find myself humming at really weird times, which to me means you’ve done well as its stuck there ha ha. Is there a story behind that song?
Ryan – Excellent! Yeah that’s kind of a bit like what I was saying about wanting to break out and stuff but also if you’re going to do something, do it, when you walk out to your front doorstep in England especially, there’s grey clouds and it’s terrible but it’s what you make of it. You can walk down the street whistling or you can let it get to you, focus too much on your job or you can just, if the blue skies aren’t there they can be in your head, you know what I mean?
Performing with some I’d say huge artists in the UK such as, I don’t know Morrissey and the likes of Kaiser Chiefs, did you at any time look to these guys to hone your shows or pick up any ideas to then use?
Jack – You can’t help but be a bit inspired when you’ve played with a big band and you’ve watched the way they get the crowd together and the way they get the crowd going, you can’t help but take a lot of that on board, but we’re quite a different band, a lot of the bands we’ve toured with are established and do different things than we need to do at the moment, we need to get up there, play the songs loud and proud, we’re not going to be clapping our hands up there anytime soon, maybe in a few albums time, but you can’t help but pick up little pointers and tips off the bigger acts.
Ryan –Kaiser Chiefs, I’ve liked Kaiser Chiefs records in the past but I’d never seen them live in the past, they were always a band who I’d see at set festivals and I wouldn’t go out of my way to see them, but when we toured with them, I think they’re one of the best live bands I’ve ever seen now, they’re absolutely just wild, proper intense and they’re such a good show Kaiser Chiefs are. I’ve got to see them loads of times now and if I ever see them on a bill we’re on I’m going to go watch them cause they’re just so entertaining, they’re such a good band.
What about King Cannons, have you had a chance to watch those guys?
Jack – Yeah they put on a really awesome show, ally good show.
Ryan – Luke’s really good on the mic with the crowd and stuff.
I saw you guys got up and jammed with the band in Geelong…
Jack – Yeah we’ve done that twice now, Geelong and Melbourne
Will – Yeah Melbourne as well…
Jack – That’s been a lot of fun each time…
Ryan – It nearly happened in Canberra last night as well, but it was just a sea of girls blocking the stage and Luke looked at the crowd and said “All The Young, if you fancy taking this on, get on stage” so Jack got in there…
*all laugh*
Jack – I stayed with the girls.
Let’s see how we go for tonight…
Jack – I think tonight could be the night where the magic could happen again I’m feeling it.
Ryan – There’s a good chance, yeah…
What does the remainder of 2012 hold for you?
Jack – We’re going to get back from Australia, recover from jetlag and then tour the UK mainly, we’re also writing the second album so, we’re constantly doing that.
Ryan – Doing lots of demos and recording for the next record.
When do you think we’ll see that?
Ryan – I don’t know, but what we will do is we’re definitely going to release a song; I’d like to think at the start of next year that’s not on the album, just kind of release it to put it out there, got to do some tracking and I don’t want to say too much about that, but we’ve got another maybe one or two singles off this album and try and push it in to corners of the world we haven’t been to, we’re in Australia now, we might go to Japan next or something like that.
Everyone’s huge in Japan so you’ll be OK there…
Ryan – All four of us walk off the plane in sunglasses and we’ve done it haven’t we ha ha ha
*all laugh*
Although you’ll all need to wear all black (Jack was in a white shirt, the rest in all black)
Jack – ha ha ha I’m trying to brighten us up on stage…
Well thanks for your time guys, hopefully we’ll see you back here sooner rather than later and best of luck with everything.
All – Thanks so much.
Catch All The Young at their remaining shows with King Cannons
Friday 7th September 2012 – The Annandale, SYDNEY, NSW
www.annandalehotel.com / 02 9550 1078
Saturday 8th September 2012 – Hotel Great Northern, NEWCASTLE, NSW
www.oztix.com.au / 1300 762 545
Thursday 13th September 2012, BIG SOUND, BRISBANE, QLD
www.oztix.com.au / 1300 762 545
Friday 14th September 2012 – Miami Shark Bar, GOLD COAST, QLD
www.oztix.com.au / 1300 762 545
Saturday 15th September – The Northern, BYRON BAY, NSW
www.oztix.com.au / 1300 762 545 / Available at the venue
Essential Information
From: Stoke on Trent, UK
Band members: Ryan Dooley – vox/guitar, David Cartwright – lead guitar, Jack Dooley – bass/vox, Will Heaney – drums
Website: www.alltheyoung.co.uk
Latest release: Welcome Home (31 August – Warner Music Australia)
