11th June 2010
Hitchin Football Club
'Sleep On The Floor Single Launch UV Rave Party'
Interview with Josh Clarke from Blonde Louis
Blonde Louis
A four piece indie-pop band consisting of Josh Clarke (Vocals/Guitar), Harvey Downes (Guitar), Jack Cherry (Bass) and Jack Cox (Drums) from Letchworth, Hertfordshire. With their upbeat and catchy riffs, Josh’s powerful vocals and the good feeling vibes from their songs; for people who enjoy the sounds of Two Door Cinema Club and The Kooks. Blonde Louis have developed a lot as a band from starting with gigs down the road from their home town in Hitchin to going on their first tour a couple of months ago covering places from the likes of Southampton, London and Birmingham. Their new EP release ‘Sleep on the Floor’ is now on iTunes for download.
How did the band name come across? As I saw from your You Tube video there was several different ideas.
Josh: To be honest, there is no genuinely interesting answer! We made the video you mentioned to poke fun at ourselves really. We were simply sitting around a table putting random words together and finally settled on “Blonde Louis”.
What bands are your main influences?
Josh: I suppose we are quite diverse in what music we enjoy and are inspired by. Alot of our influences are within mainstream pop, idolising acts like Kings Of Leon, Pixie Lott, and Lady Gaga, partially because we appreciate the incredible success they’ve managed to generate. But we also have alot of inspiration from indie/guitar acts also, like The Killers, Friendly Fires, Yeasayer, Bloc Party and many others.
How did the band come together - How did you all meet?
Josh: Our story is very organic really. It began with me, and Jack Cherry as we went to school together. In 2004 we began to jam together in a small rehearsal room in the school grounds, and we gradually built from there. Jack Cox (our drummer), also went to the same school and Joined in 2006, and Josh’s Cousin Harvey joined in 2008 to make the line up complete.
If you could collaborate with any band/solo artist, who would it be and why?
Josh: I think the rest of the band would be split on this question, but I will answer from my perspective! I would really like to work with someone like “N-Dubz”. They’ve produced many collaborations, and have worked successully with a diverse set of artists. I really value the fact they create fantastic pop tracks, and see a collaboration with them as a great platform for us, also using their target market which would certainly be similar to ours.
What bands are your main influences?
Josh: I suppose we are quite diverse in what music we enjoy and are inspired by. Alot of our influences are within mainstream pop, idolising acts like Kings Of Leon, Pixie Lott, and Lady Gaga, partially because we appreciate the incredible success they’ve managed to generate. But we also have alot of inspiration from indie/guitar acts also, like The Killers, Friendly Fires, Yeasayer, Bloc Party and many others.
How did the band come together - How did you all meet?
Josh: Our story is very organic really. It began with me, and Jack Cherry as we went to school together. In 2004 we began to jam together in a small rehearsal room in the school grounds, and we gradually built from there. Jack Cox (our drummer), also went to the same school and Joined in 2006, and Josh’s Cousin Harvey joined in 2008 to make the line up complete.
If you could collaborate with any band/solo artist, who would it be and why?
Josh: I think the rest of the band would be split on this question, but I will answer from my perspective! I would really like to work with someone like “N-Dubz”. They’ve produced many collaborations, and have worked successully with a diverse set of artists. I really value the fact they create fantastic pop tracks, and see a collaboration with them as a great platform for us, also using their target market which would certainly be similar to ours.
What was it like being on your first tour?
Josh: Our first tour was certainly an experience! We always spoke about going on tour and what it would be like, but to actually go out there and play in venues across the country was great. We did 6 dates from Nottingham down to Brighton, and aimed to get our name about, and understand what it meant to go on tour and what to expect in the future. It has certainly improved our musicianship, and made us stronger as a group.
What influenced you into getting your first musical instrument?
Josh: I seem to remember when I was around 10 years old, watching “Teenage Dirtbag” by Wheatus on MTV, looking at them performing in front of 1000’s of people and simply thinking “That is what I want to do with my life”.
Was it hard getting gigs when you first started off?
Josh: At first it was difficult. We had no connections with local promoters, and being 14/15 years old it was very hard to go out and make it happen. We had alot of help from our school, and they managed to get us a gig at our local venue “Club 85”, and straight after that we were gigging around the local scene on a regular basis.
What was the best gig you’ve played so far?
Josh: We’ve had many incredible shows of late, playing at Rockness festival in Scotland, our single launch, but I think our gig back in February at Plinston Hall wins. It was our first local show in around 6 months, and we played to around 300 devoted fans. It was fantastic show on all fronts, in terms of their resp
onse to us, how we played, and the general vibe of the whole night.
Where do you see yourselves in five years time?
Josh: We see ourselves playing tours around the world, and having had a string of hits in the UK charts. But if it doesn’t get to that we would love to get a chance to see the world and experience things that wouldn’t be possible in everyday life.
What do you do to get ready before going on stage?
Josh: We don’t really have any rituals or superstitions before we perform, but we have around 5 minutes of time by ourselves doing erratic vocal warm ups, and psyching ourselves up to be buzzing by the time we get on stage. Although I do believe our bassist wears the same socks for every performance! Not very nice considering we had to share a modestly sized tour van with him for a week!
How do you feel about groupies/over-crazed fans?
Josh: We absoulutely adore our fans. They are mostly girls aged 13-17, but they are very loving and supportive, and without them we certainly wouldn’t be where we are now.
What’s the craziest thing you’ve done on tour?
Josh: When we were playing in Southampton during our tour in February, the door on our van fell off whilst we were driving. We had to jump out and hold this door outside Pizza Express, whilst our driver drove the van to the venue to ask for help. We ending up standing there for around half an hour before we could finally managed to put the door back on. It was highly embarassing, but memorable at the same time.
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