Interview: David Dooley
Photos: Sean Conroy
Our man David skipped school early to drop down to Twisted Pepper before Runaround Kids took to the stage with We Are Losers ahead of the release of their split E.P. which is released today July 9th.
How would you describe yourselves?
Jack: Eh.
George: Always a difficult one really, trying to describe yourself. Fast, energetic, melody based, pop rock. I don’t like the term pop rock
Jack: Yeah but you said it didn’t you.
George: Yeah. Something like that, in between. Pop songs done rock style
Jack: Oh god. I can’t think of an answer to that question
How did the double release with We Are Losers come about?
Jack: We’ve known We Are Losers for over a year now. We’re both involved with the Leeds label That’s the Radio and we end up both playing Live at Leeds and Leeds festival last year, ending up camping with them at Leeds festival. We’ve been talking about doing a tour with them for about a year and it’s finally come about.
So you’ve said you played Leeds, would you say that was a turning point for you as a band or was it something you took in your stride?
Jack: We did Leeds and Reading in 2010 and then Leeds festival again in 2011. Those gigs did give us a massive boost. Especially the 2010 one, when you say that was early it was very, very early. It was good to have the chance to go back again and by the time we’d gone back we’d recorded an album with loads of new songs. So yeah, biggest things we’ve done, definately. It’s all part of the bigger picture
Is this the first tour you’ve done outside the UK?
Jack: Yeah it is, tonight will be our first gig outside of England
And what are your aspirations for Irelands tour?
George : Enjoy some Guinness, it tastes better over here
Jack : We each had our first pint of Irish Guinness a couple of hours ago
And where did you go for it? Cos with Guinness it can be very tricky, it can go very wrong or very right
Jack: I’ve got it written down
For your Guinness endorsement tour
Jack: Grogans!
Ah very good, we’ll let them know you enjoyed their Guinness
Jack: It was very nice
So what’s the worst thing that could happen on this tour?
Rob: Miss the ferry back
Jack: Yeah we had a bit of nightmare getting here. We were travelling from Liverpool and the road signs were poor to say the least and after about three hours of driving around Liverpool we were half an hour late for our ferry and we just managed to get on
George: Or going to the wrong place for a Guinness! If we get a bad one
Jack: That puts it all into perspective
So how does the songwriting dynamic work in the band?
Jack: I don’t know. It starts off and someone will bring a melody or some kind of motif for a song and we’ll work on it from there. Sometimes bring half finished songs, sometimes we’ll bring a full song and switch it around.
And would you all have equal say in the songwriting
Jack: I’d say so. Once it’s out there and we’re showing what we’ve got then it’s kind of a group effort. I don’t think we really have a set formula for how it happens. I think it’s better that way, we can still bring new things to the table and mix it up a bit.
George: In some ways there’s one person who brings in an idea and once it’s within us three everyone gets involved.
Jack: I think if you’re writing a song the same way every time then you’re not really learning anything from it cos you’re doing the same thing,
George: You don’t wanna do things by numbers
So would any of you bring in an almost finished song and see what the other guys think or would it be the case of “I’ve got one riff”
George: A bit of both
Jack: Yeah. like George said it changes all the time. We don’t have a set formula like we’ve had songs where we brought in full structures and it’s just arranging that needs to be worked out. Other times we’ll come in with like a verse with no lyrics.
George: Some things get pushed to the side for like a year or so and then come back and get used again.
Who do you think is the most exciting artist around today.
Jack: I’ve been listening to this American folk singer called Paleo and his album ‘A View of the Sky’ which I have been listening to a lot recently. It’s an amazing record. He played in Wakefield a couple of months ago downstairs in a little pub with not many people paying attention.
One of them amazing gigs that you stumble upon and has you wonder why this person isn’t bigger.
Jack: Yeah, yeah. There’s The Spills. It sounds like we’re just endorsing them cos we’re friends with them and they’re from Wakefield as well and they’re on the same label as us. You genuinely, really do have to listen to The Spills.
George: Yeah The Spills are amazing.
Jack: After the release we’re doing with We Are Losers on 12 inch it’s part of the little series we’re doing of singles. The last one in the series is a tape with The Spills but definitely ones to look out for.
And then what are your plans for the future?
Jack: When we go back after this tour we’ve got a few gigs in the UK. We’re doing Beacons festival in August then the idea is to stay quiet for a bit and write some songs.
Then back for album number two?
Jack: Possibly.
With the internet and the way people put songs up, you can write a song and put it up the next day do you think you’ll stick with albums or go for smaller releases?
Rob: I always find EPs more exciting than albums, i don’t know why.
George: Whatever suits the songs really. If you’re doing an album for the sake of doing an album you write 10/12 songs that haven’t really been crafted or put together as an album then it shows on the record but if you record 5 songs in a short space of time that are good then you may as well release them
So you’d rather the album has a concept instead of “here’s a collection of then songs”. There’s nothing worse than an album you put on shuffle and it makes the same amount of sense as if you played it with the tracklisting the way it’s supposed to be,
Jack
I think that’s the thing we’ve been doing with these singles this year. We did an album last year and then we kind of broke it up a bit with this. It’s never going to be quiet, we’re always going to have something coming up. It’s a different way of doing things.
It’s like a snapshot of where you are right now then.
Jack: Yeah, definitely.