To Kill A King
To Kill A King aren't the same band we spoke to in 2011. A line-up change which has seen two members leave and two new ones join along with a successful album and a re-release on the cards is just the tip of the iceberg it would seem.
We got the chance to chat to Ralph Pelleymounter about the new members, new tracks and headline tour.
We last spoke to you in 2011, how much has changed since then?
Quite a lot. Everything's changed. We've now got an album out, I feel like we've got a fanbase which is small but very loyal. We've had a line-up change.
So, with the line-up shake-up, how did that actually come about?
We just signed to Xtra Mile and basically our timetable from now until probably this time next year is pretty much full. So, I mean we have the odd two days when we're not touring here and there but pretty much it's full-on from now on in. I think we all had to have a long, serious talk about what we wanted and that sort of thing.
I think for Ian - he is at a point where he really wanted to start doing his own thing.
I write the songs in the group and I think he wants to write his own songs so he's gonna start out on that venture which is very exciting. There's no sort of hard feelings - me and him have been making music together for nearly a decade in various different bands, so we're close friends and there's no, sort of, hard feelings there.
I think for Jon - I think it was time that he wanted to just be in one place and not sort of - I mean last week we were in Switzerland, last weekend we were in Germany, we're in Holland this weekend and then we go off with Bastille for the next two or three months.
I think he's at a point where he just wants to be at one place which is fair enough. I think the lifestyle is a lot of fun - obviously you get to meet lots of people and that sort of thing - but I think it's also very difficult to maintain a normal life, and so I think for him that's what he's really wanting right now.
The great news is we spent all Summer auditioning and finding new people - it was very important as we're working on the second album now - so it was important to me that these musicians were people I can really see myself writing with and having a long-term musical relationship with and that's been great. We've found Grant and found Josh - Josh number two - and they're fantastic.
As you touched upon, you've just got back from Germany and Switzerland - how was that experience?
Brilliant.
Switzerland was our first time ever going there and we did a headline tour and basically three of the dates sold out which was amazing.
It's really strange going to a country where you've never played a gig before, and there's an audience there - already waiting for you.
They treated us really well - we did our first TV show over there and our first national radio over there - I suppose you spend years building a fanbase in England and then it's really crazy when you go somewhere for the first time and they're just there.
With Germany, we've been a few times and they seem to go for English music really - they're very much into it - so again that was great, that was all sold out.
Your re-release is out next week - what can listeners expect from the new tracks?
I kind of wanted to keep all the tracks that were on it from the same sort of time, so they're all songs that were written that for whatever reason didn't make it on the album. I'm so please that they've got on.
One of them is 'Howling' which was on a live EP beforehand and is one of our most popular tracks live, I'd say, just by not being on the actual album - it was on a previous EP - so I'm really pleased that's on it now, but it's a new recording - an acoustic version - of it.
Then there's 'Protest' - was on our first ever EP - but since then and now we've completely changed the style we play it, so it sounds a lot more like us now, and people really like that.
Then there's one of my favourite songs to play live which was never recorded before: 'Standing In Front Of The Mirror'.
It sounds a bit of a 'prestige' song - I sort of wrote it in mind of those 1920s films where people are constantly running for a train and having an intimate kiss with a cigarette before they go off to war, or something like that. It's got very-much barber shop harmonies. Hopefully we pull it off.
Then there's also the full version of 'Cannibals With Cutlery', which is only a little snippet on the original album. Now we've recorded the full version and also we've put some Josh Clapham - our bass players arranged some amazing strings for it, so it's great.
It is now a hell of a long album - 17 songs long - and the first time we're putting it on vinyl. I can't believe our first vinyl release is gonna be a double vinyl - with four sides worth of music. I think it's about an hour and 20 minutes long, which is long!
Where did the name 'Cannibals With Cutlery' actually come from?
It's a song about when you're with someone that you've been with for a long time and realised you're not in love with them anymore, but the trouble is that they were the person that you always used to speak to about everything - all your problems - but this is the one problem you can't really discuss with them.
The line itself is about seeing people for what they really are - as in you can dress someone up but they're still gonna be the same person.
With you touring again later this month what should attendees expect?
It's gonna be great we're gonna play some songs we didn't get to play on the last tour.
We've also got our biggest headline show in London - so we've got a few little surprises up our sleeves for that but I don't want to divulge them.
We're also gonna be touring with Keston Cobblers' Club who are good friends of ours and a really great band. They play brass, so we're gonna get some brass in our set which'll be really cool.
Are there any further projects in the pipeline?
I've been doing the second season of 'Brown's Balcony' which has just come out. We did a charity release of all the songs we did. Last year we did it with Bastille and people like that - and the idea last year was that we covered each other's songs and recorded them.
Season two, I wanted to be different so I'm meeting up with artists that I like and we're writing a song together in a day - and then we'll record it - so that's going up gradually online as a sideline thing.
They're up now on YouTube but as with the last one we'll do some sort of release once they're all collectives.
The deluxe LP of 'Cannibals With Cutlery' is out October 7.