The artwork (front/back) for 'London' is really great, can you tell us a bit about what the idea was behind it, and how it all came together? The artwork was done by emiloumakes.co.uk who has done all our previous artwork. With the album being called 'London' she based all the illustrations around key points in London, either places that are mentioned in the songs, or places that have particular relevance to the band. It's quite dark and gloomy which seems to fit in well with most peoples view of London as a city, but brightens up on the inside cover which is fitting I think to how us as a band view London. The lettering is taken from my guitar cab which I sprayed a few years ago to make it seem like I was more of a big deal than I am.
You guys have been compared to Against Me! but what do you guys think about this comparison, are you happy with that or? Yeah I'm happy with that. We love Against Me! and when we first started Apologies they were a big influence on Dan and I so it's definitely a fair comparison. With our more recent stuff there is less of a similarity but I think some people will probably still make that comparison and that's fine.
What bands would you say have influenced you in the writing and recording process for 'London'? So many it's hard to really say but for the songs I wrote there were at least a few things I was aware of when writing them. I love the vocal melodies that Brian Fallon comes up with, they're very classic sounding and obviously influenced heavily by timeless rock and pop songs and I very much wanted to get some of that in. Grade is a very big influence, there is a sort of desperation in their sound that I definitely wanted to steal, particularly Kyle Bishop's vocals. It's hard to describe but it's almost like an angsty urgency (I can't really find better words to describe it), I'm not too sure how much filtered into our songs but it was certainly a factor. I've been listening to a lot of Ghetts for the past few years and that has had a big influence I think. Some of the stuff he does lyrically is just outstanding and the way he constructs sentences, sits on rhymes, and pushes or pulls a line by the rhythm he delivers it with just blows my mind at times. The second verse of '60 Miles' where everything cuts out and just the vocals come in was completely lifted from Ghetts' verse on a song called 'Hunting We Will Go' from Kano's 140 Grime St album. Dan was listening to a lot of big female pop singers while writing the record, stuff like Beyonce and Adele. I think that that comes across quite a bit on 'London' as a lot of the choruses are poppy and quite 'big' sounding.
What tour have you enjoyed the most since your formation and why? We've done a lot of good tours with great bands (Crazy Arm, Great Cynics, Sam Russo to name a few) but I think my favourite tour was with I Am The Avalanche, mainly because I learned so much from watching them each night that I felt we became a much better band from doing the tour. They play with a kind of intensity that I rarely see when watching a lot of bands, and it's real. That's not to say that all bands need to play in this way, for instance the bands that I mentioned earlier all do what they do amazingly, and are great because of the way they excel in their styles, but it's the intense passion that got me with I Am The Avalanche, it's what I want to come across with Apologies and touring with them brought us closer to that.
How excited are you for your upcoming slot on the Lock Up Stage? We're very excited. I used to go to Reading when I was quite a lot younger but I haven't been for many years due to never having enough money so I'm very excited about just being able to be there as a punter, but getting to play it is just amazing. We're playing first so attending 'fans' should probably expect to have a headache if they've gotten up early from the night before to see us, and possibly ringing ears as I think we're going to take the opportunity of playing on a large stage to turn our amps up as loud as possible.
What else does 2012 hold for you guys? We are touring the UK and Europe in September/October with a band from the US called Joyce Manor which we can't wait for. Our long time friends Bangers are along for the UK leg of that also which makes it even better. We are going to be sorting out a new video very soon with the same person who did the Clapton Pond one, so I'm sure that will be good. We're also trying to work out some new stuff to record, so hopefully we'll have something else out by the end of the year but we'll have to see how that goes. Lastly we'll be going back into Europe again around November time and then possibly some more UK shows to end the year with in December.