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MM - Introduce
the band members to us and explain what each member’s role is.
Alex - Gem Watson plays bass, Dan Whiting plays drums and electronic
percussion. I’m Alexander King and I play guitar, synth and
sing. I also “write” the “songs”.
Dan - My role, to muck about and upset Alex as much as possible.
MM - How long have the band been together and
how did you all come to join forces in the first place?
Alex - I formed the band in 1999 as a side project of a band I was
in at the time. When that band ended, AKP became my main focus. I went
through a lot (and I mean a lot) of musicians until I found the right
people to do this with. I firmly believe that any band is first and
foremost a collection of people, and if you don’t “gel” you’re
wasting your time.
Dan - Alex and I met in Baby Rawsonators outfit; Circadian
Rhythm.
MM - Where does the band’s name 'AKP' come from? What does it
represent, and why did you decide to use this name as opposed to
something else?
Alex - AKP originally stood for “Alexander King Project” which
is precisely what it was. Over time, the meaning has become irrelevant
and we put AKP forward as a word in itself, albeit a difficult to
pronounce one. We’ve billed ourselves as “All Kinds of Problems”
occasionally, because that’s usually closer to the mark. We’ve been
toying with the idea of renaming the band “The AKPs” in order to
garner more commercial success.
MM - Who writes the songs that you perform? Is it a solo or a joint
effort?
Alex - I write the songs, lyrics, chord structures and melodies,
then bring them into the rehearsal room and Gem and Dan’s input
changes them, often dramatically. The meanings of the songs come from
me, but what you hear and see is a group effort, definitely.
Dan - Alex does 90 % I decide how fast it goes.
MM - Who are you aiming your music towards? Who is your target
audience?
Alex - Basically, we don’t care who likes us (or who doesn’t),
so you could say that our target audience is “people who like AKP”.
I very strongly believe that you should make music (or any creative endeavor)
for yourself, and if other people like it, that’s a bonus.
Chasing trends, trying to second guess the public etc. is pathetic. As
soon as you stand on a stage or get in a recording studio you have a
responsibility to be true to yourself. You won’t be if you’re trying
to plug your sound into a niche you think already exists.
Dan - Ourselves.
MM - What
bands/artists have influenced you the most over the years?
Alex -
Personally, there are a few bands, artists and individuals who have
profoundly shaped the way I live my life and approach everything I do.
Valor Kand from Christian Death, Genesis P-Orridge from Psychic TV, a
variety of Symbolist artists, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen etc.
I don’t really like anything being produced musically at the moment
– it’s all so derivative right down to the production. If I
wanted to listen to the Stooges I’ll listen to the Stooges, not some
band from Rhyl singing in American accents.
Gem - Old and new such as Muse, My Vitriol, Deep Purple, Guns and
Roses, Motley Crue, Radiohead. Could go on forever ever so ill stop
there.
Dan - The Cure, RATM, Mansun
MM - Are you signed/unsigned at the moment?
Alex - Technically, we’re signed to our own label “Essence
Recordings” which I set up to release AKP material, and stuff from my
power-noise side project “Seppuku”.
In time we hope to grow and be able to release material from other
bands, we know a lot of excellent bands who need some backup. The beauty
of this arrangement is that we have complete freedom to record and
release anything we want within an established framework. We also run a
rehearsal room and we have our own studio, so we’re completely
independent in the truest sense.
Dan - Are you offering?
MM -The band has a 4 track EP currently available called “The Joy
Of Desire”. Would you like to tell us a little bit of background about
the EP and also explain briefly what each song is about?
Alex -
The EP is a story – not quite a “concept” album, but there is a
narrative thread going through if you read the lyrics. It’s subtitled
“What happens to your dreams when you wake up?” and it’s mainly
about how achieving your dreams can be just the start of your problems.
It deals with subjects such as betrayal and dishonesty.
The title of the EP relates to the fact that often wanting something is
better than actually getting it. I’d like the people who listen to it
to make their own minds up regarding the interpretations of the
individual songs as well.
MM - Hailing from York which can at times be a
hotbed of new and promising talent, have you found it to be a bonus or a
hindrance to your career so far?
Alex
-
I’ve found it largely irrelevant. We’ve sold more CDs in Arizona
than we have in York by a factor of 3. From the start we wanted to be an
international concern, and we are. The global philosophy/discussion site
affiliated with the band (http://www.akpcep.com)
has over 500 members from most countries on the planet. I think it’s
tremendously limiting to think of yourself as a “York band” or a
“Newcastle band” or whatever. It doesn’t really mean anything.
Gem - Don't think it matters where you are from really! If you
are a good band and people like you, you will do well. I think if
you’re talking about hitting the big time, you need connections and
LUCK!!!!!
Dan - York is a bit small-minded about music. When we first
started AKP we tried to push the boundaries of alternative rock, for
example, we'd put loads of rhythm changes in the songs and I think it
threw a lot of people, maybe put them off. We'd be supporting really
mediocre indie bands and 90 % of the people in the room would just be
totally confused, preferring more regular types of bands.
MM - Do you
generally feel there is enough support out there for new talent to break
out of the local scene and into the bigger scheme of things?
Alex - Yes and no. There are some awesome promoters out there,
independent people who just love putting on shows. A lot of bands
put a lot of hard work into organising things, I think at a grass roots
level it’s all there for the taking.
It’s a bit depressing the way some venues want you to bring 30 people
to fill their club up for them before they’ll consider giving you a
support slot with an “up and coming” band, but we just don’t play
those kind of venues. I think if you look towards record labels and so
on for support you’ll not get any apart from on their terms, and
it’s not in their best interest to take risks so you’d better hope
you fit into the current trend. I’d like to see the local scenes
becoming the bigger scheme.
Gem - No, there is no support, you play gigs and do everything
off your own back and if people pick up on it then Bob’s your uncle!!
Dan - If there is, I haven't witnessed it. Sure some people have
been really supportive. Tim from Fibbers likes us, we can always get a
gig with York Arts Forum and Radio Humberside keep pestering us for new
material and to do sessions etc but they’re all small scale. The only
time I’ve heard of there being a scout in Fibbers was when he’d been
chased down the street by a bunch of Girl Guides.
MM - Which ONE band do you dream of touring/performing with?
Alex - I’d like to tour with Dido, putting her bottom of the bill
and giving her a portaloo for a dressing room.
Gem - I Don't.
Dan - I'd love to support Muse I find their energy and creativity
unmatched by any other mainstream band at the moment. I’m told we
sound a bit like them. As long as no one thinks we're just copying them
I’ll take that as a compliment.
MM - If you could ask one of your heroes/someone who's inspired you a
question, who would it be and what would you ask them?
Alex - It would be Fernand Khnopff, and I’d ask him “How did you
really feel towards your sister?”.
Gem - Um ......don't know I would probably go quiet and shy.
Dan - I'd ask Robert Smith what he uses on his hair.
MM - With all the changes that music has gone through over the years,
what do you personally think of the current music scene?
Alex - I think as always there are some great unsigned bands playing
all over the country. Regarding the charts, it’s as shitty and trivial
as it always has been, and always will be.
Nothing will change that. I find the current trend for retro bands
extremely tiresome… It’s like recycling has become so trendy people
have started applying it to music.
Gem - Um it's not really my musically taste the new music scene,
it's all garage rock stuff and it's not my thing. The only new band to
really inspire me that's new are Interpol. Not into Franz Ferdinand, or
the Raveonettes etc
Dan - I think it's great in many ways; rock music is making a
comeback. Most guitar bands of the last few years like Travis, Coldplay
and Oasis have just been really dull, the same three chords, the
whiney/depressing voice and the uninspiring drum beats. Then along come
Funeral For A Friend, Lost Prophets and Muse and once again rock music
is exiting, dynamic and spontaneous.
MM - What's the 'grand plan' for your band? Are you aiming for
anything like fame, fortune, artistic acceptance etc?
Alex - The only aim for this band is to get our stuff heard and
appreciated by as many people as possible. I don’t care if I get rich
or not, famous or not.
We make music we like and to find a large amount of people who happened
to like it too would be great. We love the process – writing,
rehearsing, recording, playing shows, and as long as we can get booked
or get distribution we’ll be relatively happy. The music and the
messages within it are bigger than anything else, and we’ll be as big
as they are whether we like it or not.
Gem - I just like playing my bass and getting better at it. If we do
well in the future that's cool. If we don't that's cool too.
Dan - AKP will lead all other bands in to what will be known in
years to come as the 'Rock Revolution.' Probably.
MM - How do you feel about the internet and the effect it is having
on bands and independent music? In particular how do you feel about
music sharing programmes such as WinMX and Kazaa?
Alex - The only people file sharing is hurting is the majors. It
doesn’t affect independent music one bit. As a result I think it’s
great. It means major labels have less money to pump out shit like
Justin Timberlake. Sure, the teenaged girl demographic may suffer but
you never know they might start going to local gigs instead.
Our first release was absolutely free, and we encouraged people in the
liner notes to share the music. We even included mp3 versions of the
tracks on the CD. We recouped costs many times over and probably spread
the music twice as wide as a result.
If the majors weren’t so greedy and closed minded they would have
embraced the technology when it was in it’s infancy and compromised.
Things like iTunes would have a real foothold by now and they’d be
making serious money. Instead they choose to make criminals out of 12
year olds. It’s because they’re scared.
Gem - I work in an independent record shop and I haven't seen an
affect yet, it's always busy. I personally would much rather own a
product with the art work than a download.
Dan - I think it's great, I just wish people would stop putting
really bad rips in their shares folder. It can take loads of failed
attempts to get a good copy of a song. I wouldn't mind having our own
stuff downloaded either. If it's good music, people will buy it. If it's
not, they'll buy even more of it
MM - How can people keep in touch with what the band are currently up
to?
Alex
- We
have a website at http://www.akp.org.uk
where people can sign up to our mailing list etc. We keep it fully up to
date with gigs, news, pre-release mp3s etc.
MM - Lastly, is there anything you would like to say to all our
readers out there?
Alex - Keep going to gigs, keep supporting bands you like, because
it’s the audiences that make the bands. Spend that £3 on a demo CD,
pass out flyers, spread the word, do what you can and we can start to
take ownership of the music industry.
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