The Days
With a new album out next year and a debut single poised to smash the top 40 chart in October, The Days are one of those bands who you can’t help tapping your feet to, even if you don’t know the words.I caught up with the band after their gig in rainy Blackpool to find out what it’s like being on tour with Elliot Minor, if it sucks leaving their girlfriends at home and what they’ll do if it all goes pear-shaped.
How did you guys meet?
Dan Simpkins (Bass Guitar): Luke and I are brothers and one day we bumped into Harry who we knew from school and we just started hanging out and playing together, then we decided to try and make a go of the band and moved to London together to play some gigs and try and get noticed.
When we visited our hometown of Devon again the following summer we met up with another old school friend Tim Ayers and asked him to join us in our quest of world domination.
Where is the band name from?
It came from the song of the same name and we just wanted something simple for the name. Where we come there is nothing to do at night time, so most of the most exciting things happen during the days rather than the nights, so that’s why we thought The Days was appropriate.
For anyone who hasn’t heard of you how would you describe your music?
Luke Simpkins (Lead singer, Keys, Guitar): I think it’s hard to put us into a category, but if we had to choose it would probably be pop-rock, we get compared to loads of different bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, The Kooks and Incubus, so I don’t know if we fit into a certain genre, we all just have different influences.
There are so many new bands trying to make it onto the music scene at the moment, what makes you stand out from the rest?
Tim Ayers (Guitar): Well I think we’re quite easy going and laid back, but at the same time we’re really driven and want to do well so we make sure all the songs are really catchy and our song writing is really key to that and we have some cracking songs on the album as each song is really good.
Luke: We’re also not really part of a scene either; our music is at the forefront of what we’re doing rather than the image. It’s so easy to pull on a pair of skinny jeans and fit in with the London scene, or music speaks for itself so we’ll just stay the way we are and a lot of bands jump on the bandwagon like the Indie scene but quite a lot bands emerge and they‘re too late for that scene because it’s moved on, our music is timeless.
Do you get compared to a lot of Indie bands?
Dan: Not really, I think tonight people might have seen a different side of us because the venue was very small and it was very loud in there.
Harry Meads (Drums): We get compared to all sorts of different bands though, not just Indie.
Such as?
All: Scouting for girls, Keane, The Kooks, Incubus, The Verve, it really does vary.
Tim: I think we have elements of loads of different people. I wouldn’t like to say we were an Indie band at all, I think we’re a pop rock band, we like what we are and people are always going to pigeon hole us.
Who do you look up to within the music industry?
Harry: We have a really eclectic taste in music, I’m a big fan of Dave Grohl and everything he’s done; Foo Fighters, Nirvana and all that stuff.
Luke: That goes for all of us; I saw Kings Of Leon at Reading last year and I was blown away by how good they were as musicians and I went and bought all their albums, Harry is into the more metal bands too, so our different interests come out in our music.
Dan: Part of the thing is that me and Luke have been brought up listening to American Pianists and that’s piano based pop rock but it isn’t pop or rock.
Tim: We get really good songs and add a bit of punch to them, we make songs really energetic.
Is there anyone you don’t really like?
All: We don’t really want to slag anyone off.
Tim: You never really know what other people actually do, they might be amazing classical musicians but you go to one of their gigs and they’re playing in a rock band.
Harry: There are some bands that you can listen to and think their music is really good but then you watch them in concert and they might not be very good live or be really arrogant on stage so it’s quite hard to judge a band on just one thing. What might sound bad on the radio might sound amazing in a small, smoky club in London, or might sound great on a big stage.
If you could work alongside another band or musician who would it be and why?
Tim: Maybe Buena Vista Social Club who are an absolutely amazing and really soulful band, we should definitely remix one of their tracks!
Luke: Someone like Stevie Wonder who is absolutely incredible would be quite interesting. We should also get Jack on one of our tracks, or Prince.
Well start at the bottom and aim upwards guys…what is it like being on tour with the guys from Elliot Minor and are you getting a good reaction from their fans?
Dan: Yeah, it’s been really good, Elliot Minor obviously have quite a young following and it’s quite rewarding to see that we‘re going down really well with them, but we’ve just been on tour with The Fray and they’ve got a slightly older audience and we also went down really well with them so it’s nice to see it go down well with different crowds.
Luke: We played with Supergrass too and went down really well with their fans. We’re not going to be stupid and stick ourselves on a bill with someone like the Nine Inch Nails.
How do you end up supporting such great bands?
Luke: Unfortunately the times when we’ve been going out touring there’s not been that many other bands out on tour at the same time.
Harry: There’s been all the festivals and stuff so it’s been hard to get on a tour, but usually the management finds things for us and then talks to us about it, so we do have quite a big input on who we play with. The tour with Elliot Minor has been really fun and we’re having a really great time, they’re really nice guys.
So are you planning on painting Blackpool red after the show tonight?
Luke: [Laughs] We’ve been out pretty much every night but Blackpool isn’t going to be one of them! It’s our mum’s 50th birthday tomorrow so we have to make the sacrifice.
Where are you next then? Have you done Manchester yet?
Tim: We’ve played the Night and Day in Manchester a few months ago and then the Apollo with the Fray.
Harry: We also played at a Strip Club called The Ruby Lounge.
Classy way to promote yourselves boys! Were there naked people there?
Harry: No, there were like two people there!
Dan: But we shared our dressing room with strippers. We went into the dressing room and they were all sat there in their pants and were saying things like ‘Hi guys, what you doing in a minute?’
Harry: We didn’t choose to play the strip club, it just sort of happened. It turned into a strip club after we played.
Where would you like to be in 10 years time?
Harry: Doing a world tour probably, and playing a gig then going back to my island and mansion somewhere.
Luke: I’d like to be in a position where we made it big and had a strong fan base and enjoy life and put out a record and spend a long time in (our own) studio recording songs and playing music every day and really enjoying it every day.
Tim: I’d like to be in a position to be able to keep doing what we’re doing now every day, because we really are happy.
Loads of bands at the moment keep naming their songs after women; we have Paolo Nutini’s Jenny, The Zutons Valerie and Elliot Minor’s Jessica, so who’s your Jane?
Dan: I think every band has a ‘Jane.’ Jenny is Paolo Nutini’s Girl…Jenny Don’t be Hasty. Jane for us is always like the girlfriend you leave behind when you’re on tour, and the line is; ‘Jane, look at what you’ve done now, Jane’ it kind of just means we’re out stuck on the road thinking of you when we have to keep doing what we’re doing but wishing we were with you.
So is it hard being on tour when your women are back home?
All: Yes, really hard.
Tim: It’s good to know that when you get back you have someone to talk to and be with, but of course it’s also very good to know you’re going to get some!
What’s your favourite song from the forthcoming album?
Harry: Mine would probably be no ties as well, and Confession too.
Dan: I like playing Jane, we like all the songs; I don’t have a favourite at all.
If you could cover another bands song what would it be?
Harry: We actually just did a cover of Usher’s Love In This Club, it might be on MySpace at some point but it’s not going to be out to buy I don’t think! It’s such a funny song with no meaning whatsoever, it’s just hilarious.
What’s in the near future for you?
Dan: We’re looking into a few things at the moment, we want to go out touring again and we going on a fresher’s tour round the universities so that should be cool. In between that we’re making music videos and then after that we’re looking to go on tour with another big band.
Luke: Our first single is out in October and so we’re just trying to get everything ready for it.
Are you excited about the new single and when is the album coming out?
Dan: We’re very very excited about the new single because we’ve been working towards this for 10 years. Me and Luke started the band when we were 11 and 13 and have always had that dream of being ‘popstars’ and releasing an album so it’s great that it’s finally happened.
We ask everyone we interview to come up with a question for the next person we interview....and Mark from The Levellers wants to know; “Do you have an alternative career in mind in case it all goes pear-shaped?”
Luke: Cheeky man! To be honest I studied music at university and Dan worked at EMI for a while and I think we’d hopefully go into the music industry in some capacity.
Harry: I’d like to teach kids how to play guitar and help create the next generation of musicians.
And what would you like to ask my next interviewee?
Would you buy your own music?
Find out if Eliza Dolittle would buy her own music here
FemaleFirst - Ruth Harrison
With a new album out next year and a debut single poised to smash the top 40 chart in October, The Days are one of those bands who you can’t help tapping your feet to, even if you don’t know the words.I caught up with the band after their gig in rainy Blackpool to find out what it’s like being on tour with Elliot Minor, if it sucks leaving their girlfriends at home and what they’ll do if it all goes pear-shaped.How did you guys meet?
Dan Simpkins (Bass Guitar): Luke and I are brothers and one day we bumped into Harry who we knew from school and we just started hanging out and playing together, then we decided to try and make a go of the band and moved to London together to play some gigs and try and get noticed.
When we visited our hometown of Devon again the following summer we met up with another old school friend Tim Ayers and asked him to join us in our quest of world domination.
Where is the band name from?
It came from the song of the same name and we just wanted something simple for the name. Where we come there is nothing to do at night time, so most of the most exciting things happen during the days rather than the nights, so that’s why we thought The Days was appropriate.
For anyone who hasn’t heard of you how would you describe your music?
Luke Simpkins (Lead singer, Keys, Guitar): I think it’s hard to put us into a category, but if we had to choose it would probably be pop-rock, we get compared to loads of different bands such as Queens of the Stone Age, The Kooks and Incubus, so I don’t know if we fit into a certain genre, we all just have different influences.
There are so many new bands trying to make it onto the music scene at the moment, what makes you stand out from the rest?
Tim Ayers (Guitar): Well I think we’re quite easy going and laid back, but at the same time we’re really driven and want to do well so we make sure all the songs are really catchy and our song writing is really key to that and we have some cracking songs on the album as each song is really good.
Luke: We’re also not really part of a scene either; our music is at the forefront of what we’re doing rather than the image. It’s so easy to pull on a pair of skinny jeans and fit in with the London scene, or music speaks for itself so we’ll just stay the way we are and a lot of bands jump on the bandwagon like the Indie scene but quite a lot bands emerge and they‘re too late for that scene because it’s moved on, our music is timeless.
Do you get compared to a lot of Indie bands?
Dan: Not really, I think tonight people might have seen a different side of us because the venue was very small and it was very loud in there.
Harry Meads (Drums): We get compared to all sorts of different bands though, not just Indie.
Such as?
All: Scouting for girls, Keane, The Kooks, Incubus, The Verve, it really does vary.
Tim: I think we have elements of loads of different people. I wouldn’t like to say we were an Indie band at all, I think we’re a pop rock band, we like what we are and people are always going to pigeon hole us.
Who do you look up to within the music industry?
Harry: We have a really eclectic taste in music, I’m a big fan of Dave Grohl and everything he’s done; Foo Fighters, Nirvana and all that stuff.
Luke: That goes for all of us; I saw Kings Of Leon at Reading last year and I was blown away by how good they were as musicians and I went and bought all their albums, Harry is into the more metal bands too, so our different interests come out in our music.
Dan: Part of the thing is that me and Luke have been brought up listening to American Pianists and that’s piano based pop rock but it isn’t pop or rock.
Tim: We get really good songs and add a bit of punch to them, we make songs really energetic.
Is there anyone you don’t really like?
All: We don’t really want to slag anyone off.
Tim: You never really know what other people actually do, they might be amazing classical musicians but you go to one of their gigs and they’re playing in a rock band.
Harry: There are some bands that you can listen to and think their music is really good but then you watch them in concert and they might not be very good live or be really arrogant on stage so it’s quite hard to judge a band on just one thing. What might sound bad on the radio might sound amazing in a small, smoky club in London, or might sound great on a big stage.