ONE ON ONE: AN INTERVIEW WITH CALL ME AMOUR!

I’M DANNI BAKER AND THIS IS HIVE MAGAZINE, I'M HERE TODAY WITH DANNY AND GEOFF FROM CALL ME AMOUR.

Geoff: Hello!

Danny: Hi!

HOW ARE WE DOING TODAY GUYS?

Geoff: Good thank you!

Danny: Brilliant thank you!

OK, FIRSTLY, WELCOME BACK TO MANCHESTER. HOW ARE YOU FINDING THE MALLORY KNOX TOUR SO FAR? IT’S ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH NOW?

Danny: Yeah, yeah, we've got three days to go including today, haven’t we?

Geoff: Three days left, three days left, Manchester and then two in London. So far it's been good not without issues, but I don't think any tour is going to go without issues. We've been lucky for every tour we've done we've not really had any major issues and same with this one really. It's just a little minor things but other than that, yeah.

Danny: Technical stresses, technical stresses on the lead up, in the daily, like on the sound check and all that like it's usually loads of technical issues, but by the time we get up to the stage it’s normally ok.

YOU GUYS DID YOUR FIRST HEADLINE SHOW 3 WEEKS AGO, HOW WAS IT AFTER SO LONG FINALLY DOING A HEADLINE SHOW WHERE THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ARE THERE FOR YOU AND FAMILIAR WITH THE MUSIC?

Geoff: It was weird! We are so used to being told our times like you’re allowed to come into the venue at this time, set up at this time, told what time you’re allowed to go on stage, then all of a sudden it was down to us. We didn’t have to work around anyone's schedule really it was all for us and yeah, it was weird. Another thing was seeing people queueing up outside, there wasn’t a massive queue but there were people outside waiting. 90 percent of the time with our past gigs they’ve been there for the headlining band and don’t really know who you are, but this time they were there for us which was really cool.

YOU GUYS SOLD IT OUT ASWELL!

Geoff: Yeah, it was cool, it was great to see the sold out sign (on the front of the venue). That was the aim, to sell it out. So it felt really good.

HOW WAS IT PLAYING A LONGER SET AS WELL? SINCE YOU GUYS HAVE NEVER DONE A HEADLINE I IMAGINE YOU ARE USED TO PLAYING SHORTER SUPPORT SETS?

Danny: Knackering! Absolutely tiring.

Geoff: Yeah, knackering, tiring, more than I thought. You can’t really prepare for it, I think when you’re rehearsing you aren’t really pushing yourself that much, but when you go on stage with the lights and the people, you kind of like, overdo it. So an hour, hour and ten whatever it was of doing that was a bit, at the end of it we were wheezy messes.

Danny: I was definitely a sweaty mess by the end!

AT THE HEADLINE SHOW YOU ALSO DEBUTED A NEW SONG, ‘GOOD DAY’ FT MIKEY CHAPMAN, BEFORE IT WAS RELEASED. HOW DID THAT SONG COME ABOUT? OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS HAVE KNOWN MIKEY A WHILE AND HE’S PERFORMED WITH YOU BEFORE, BUT WHAT MADE YOU ACTUALLY DECIDE TO RELEASE A SONG TOGETHER?

Danny: It was in the studio wasn't it?

Geoff: Yeah, it was in VADA Studios in Redditch, in this really posh manor house, beautiful setting. We recorded the EP there with a guy called George Perks who’s worked with bands like Enter Shikari. We were there for a week, or just over a week and it was suggested that Mikey comes down. Obviously Mikey is a phenomenal singer, he’s a great songwriter and he knows the music inside out. So he came down and we were just chucking ideas and demos in that we already had and that one tickled his ear, then he said he wouldn’t mind being a part of that one. He put his vocals down and it was amazing.

Danny: Yeah, it was amazing he’s got a great voice.

Geoff: It was great, doing it live was even better, it was great having him come on stage to do it.

I’M HONESTLY REALLY EXCITED TO HEAR IT LIVE AGAIN, IT’S SUCH A GOOD TWO STEPPING, UPBEAT SONG! YOU HAVE PLAYED THIS VENUE BEFORE WHEN YOU TOURED WITH AGAINST THE CURRENT, DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE VENUE THAT YOU’VE PLAYED?

Geoff: I have two, Rock City in Nottingham because I lived there for a while and used to go there every weekend, I’m also a Nottingham Forest fan as well with football. I just love the city and that place. Also The Bataclan in Paris just because it’s such a beautiful venue but it’s an eerie kind of place because of what happened there. When everyone loaded in it was all kind of sombre, you don’t know where to look. There’s still bullet holes in the walls and some of the people that worked there were there on the night, but it is still such a beautiful place.

Danny: Melkweg in Amsterdam was a really good one aswell.

Geoff: That was really good yeah, that’s just because you wanted to smoke a load of weed though, nothing to do with the venue!

AS WELL AS FAVOURITE VENUE, DO YOU HAVE A FAVOURITE CITY OR FAVOURITE CROWD THAT YOU’VE PLAYED TO?

Danny: European crowds are always really fun

Geoff: Yeah, the European crowds are fun, I remember playing The Dome in London and there was a family we met after who had been to Europe to watch a band, then came back and watched us, and they said “oh I hear you’re going to Europe tomorrow, it’s completely different there it’s really sombre, they aren't really up for it there”. The first day was at the Trabendo in Paris and we were backstage and peeked through the curtain and everyone was sat down, no music in the background just talking and we were on in like 15 minutes and we were like “Oh my god”, but then when we went on the place went fucking mental. The crowd seemed to be way more receptive in Europe. As far as the UK goes I think most places are cool.

Danny: Yeah, it’s always nice to play in the home country, Manchester is always great, I went to uni here, or Salford at least anyway, so not quite Manchester but close.

DO YOU GUYS HAVE A DREAM VENUE TO PLAY IN THE FUTURE AS WELL?

Danny: The Apollo (Manchester), never played there but that would be really cool.

Geoff: Yeah, I’ve only ever been there once but would really like to play there.

Danny: I saw the Foo Fighters there in 1997 and it was amazing, they played ‘Everlong’ and ‘The Colour And The Shape’ album and it was my favourite gig ever so I’d love to play there.

THAT SOUNDS AMAZING! DID YOU CATCH THEM ON THEIR RECENT TOUR TOO?

Danny: I didn’t, they’re still fucking brilliant but they’re not like cutting edge anymore are they?

Geoff: Dave Grohl might hear this!

Danny: Oh yeah, I love Dave Grohl he’s my idol! It’s such a shame though, everything going on with him, with the affair and having a kid. Everyone hates him now and it’s so sad because he seemed like such a nice guy.

DEFINITELY ONE OF THE LAST PEOPLE ANYONE EXPECTED SOMETHING LIKE THAT FROM. I’VE SEEN YOU GUYS PERFORM A FEW TIMES NOW, YOU ALWAYS SEEM TO END UP SUPPORTING ON SO MANY GIGS THAT I GO TO. WHEN YOU ARE PERFORMING ON STAGE YOU ALL ALWAYS GO FOR IT, DOES THAT HIGH ENERGY COME NATURALLY, OR DO YOU PUT IT ON MORE WHEN YOU GO ON STAGE?

Danny: It’s like performance mode really, we’ve been doing this so many years so when you go on stage you accidentally go into this zone and it’s like “ok I’m here to do this and this is what’s coming out of me”. We don’t try it’s just what happens when you get into the zone.

Geoff: Yeah it is definitely organic, you can’t help it when there’s a crowd of people in front of you. If you stand still they’re gonna be a little bit less receptive, but I don’t think we do it to make them move, automatically you’re playing music in a venue with loads of people it’s gonna happen.

Danny: You’re just chuffed to be there so you’re moving around loads anyway!

HOW DO YOU FIND IT PERFORMING FOR AUDIENCES WHO AREN’T NECESSARILY FAMILIAR WITH YOUR MUSIC SINCE YOU HAVE MAINLY DONE SUPPORT SHOWS SO FAR?

Danny: It can be tough, because everyone wants to listen but they don’t necessarily know when to move or boogie. The older people usually just listen and then the younger people go crazy. It’s tough but also it’s fun because you’re trying to almost win them over.

Geoff: Yeah and then when you do see them moving and reacting to the music, it’s such a buzz, especially when it’s people who have never heard you play before.

Danny: Yeah and then when they go out of their way to say something to you. I’m the drummer so nobody ever knows me, so when they come and talk to me I’m always like “thanks for seeing me mate!” it’s really nice.

DO YOU GUYS HAVE A FAVOURITE BAND THAT YOU’VE TOURED WITH?

Danny: Dinosaur Pile-Up they are such an amazing band to watch live and the songs are great, I really enjoyed watching them

Geoff: Yeah, Dinosaur Pile-Up definitely, we loved their music before we played with them, and Mallory Knox I suppose. They are friends of ours, and it’s so much better when it’s like that. I’m not saying we don’t get on with other bands we’ve gone out on tour with, we get to meet them and everything, but we knew these (Mallory Knox) beforehand so it’s like going on a holiday with your mates and playing some songs.

YEAH, ESPECIALLY WITH IT BEING SO LONG SINCE MALLORY KNOX HAVE TOURED AND PLAYED SHOWS I CAN IMAGINE IT’S GREAT SEEING THEM BACK TOO!

Geoff: Yeah, we played Birmingham last night and Mikey obviously comes on for ‘Good Day’ during our set, and I know when he comes on, he usually runs on but he must’ve come on early and there was a gang of people in front of me all like “Oh my god!” going mental and I was so happy, then I saw Mikey come on and was like “Oh fuck off!”

WAS THAT SIMILAR ON THE AGAINST THE CURRENT TOUR EVERY TIME HE CAME OUT TO PERFORM ‘IMFKD’ WITH YOU?

Geoff: Yeah so he covered LinaDrae’s part who usually features on the song, and he was TMing us on that tour so while he was there we thought he may as well sing with us. So he came out each night for that song and the crowd would be going mental and then he’d go off stage and it would be like “Oh back to Call Me Amour then”.

FOR THIS TOUR YOU OBVIOUSLY HAD A SHORTER SET COMPARED TO YOUR HEADLINE RUN, HOW DID YOU DECIDE ON THE SETLIST? YOU HAVE SO MANY GREAT SONGS HOW DO YOU NARROW THEM DOWN FOR THE SHORTER SETS?

Danny: I suppose we just go through the ones we’ve played the most, choose the ones that are slightly fresher to people as well.

Geoff: Yeah we obviously have to play the newer songs as well, we’ve just recorded them so need to put those ones out there but also people do want to hear the older stuff as well. I think with any band there’s always gonna be people wishing you were playing certain songs but with a short set we just have to pack in as much as we possibly can.

YOU HAVE JUST RELEASED ‘GOOD DAY’ WITH MIKEY, ‘BLOOM’ FEATURING SCOTT KENNEDY (BLEED FROM WITHIN), DO YOU HAVE A DREAM FEATURE OR DREAM COLLAB?

Danny: That’s a tough one, alive or dead?

Geoff: Mikey Chapman!

Danny: Yeah, Mikey Chapman! No I’d love to do one with Dave Grohl, or Kurt Cobain but it’s a bit late for that one

Geoff: All the ones we’d want to do are all dead so Mikey Chapman is next I guess!

LINKING TO THAT, WHO ARE YOUR BIGGEST INSPIRATIONS IN SONGWRITING AND ALSO IN TERMS OF THE INSTRUMENT YOU PLAY, SO DRUMS FOR DANNY AND GUITAR FOR GEOFF?

Danny: My answer is boring it’s Dave Grohl again, he’s the reason I play drums. When I was in school I copied ‘Nevermind’ and then that set me off and since then I’ve played in 8 bands. Dave Grohl is the reason I play the drums. Loads of death metal drummers are amazing as well. I’d love to be a drum tech for one that would be great.

Geoff: I’d say the person that turned me onto guitar would be Slash, Guns N’ Roses yeah. I’m not really a fan of like guitar solos or anything like that, not bothered too much about that but it was definitely him I’d look at and be like “He’s fucking incredible, I wanna be that cool!”. Songwriting is an open book there’s so many good ones out there even back to The Beatles. Yesterday someone was talking about how The Beatles are the most overrated band and they’re not. They’re great songwriters, they had perfect pop sensibilities. So them and Nirvana I’d say.

YOU HAVE RELEASED A FEW SINGLES RECENTLY FOR THE NEXT EP, IS THERE POTENTIALLY AN ALBUM COMING? ANY PROJECTS YOU CAN TELL ME ABOUT?

Geoff: Well, we have talked about it definitely, whether we should do an album or just keep releasing singles, whether we do an EP or push it all together into an album. It depends is the market still there for albums really?

Danny: Not really, it’s all Spotify and everything now, people just pick individual songs they want to listen to rather than a whole concept album with like a big meaning from start to end and everything.

Geoff: We have plans to go into the studio again next year, and then what we will do with that I don’t know, whether we keep doing what we’ve been doing or put it all together for an album.

I THINK A LOT MORE PEOPLE ARE BUYING PHYSICAL MEDIA AGAIN, NOWHERE NEAR WHAT THEY USED TO OF COURSE, BUT THERE HAS BEEN A RISE IN IT AGAIN. DO YOU GUYS HAVE ANY PHYSICAL MEDIA? IS IT SOMETHING YOU ARE PLANNING ON DOING OR WOULD WANT TO RELEASE?

Geoff: Working on it, we don’t have CDs but we are getting some vinyl made up soon. I think we are in the process of sorting that now after this tour we are gonna sort it for the next tour we are on. So we will be selling that in February when we are on tour again.

ARE YOU GOING FOR DIFFERENT VARIANTS AND COLOURFUL VINYLS OR JUST BASIC BLACK ONES FOR NOW?

Geoff: I think coloured, we haven’t finalised yet but I think it’s like a translucent blue with red drops on it.

SO WILL THAT BE THE REVOLUTION EP WITH THE RED AND BLUE THEME? OR A NEW ONE?

Geoff: No, it’s a new EP… I think? I don’t know that’s a good question!

Danny: We should really know the answer to that!

Geoff: Again, I think we did discuss having two discs or two sides with ‘Revolution’ on one side and then the new one on the other side, that’s a possibility that’s been talked about.

Danny: If we do that is that not just an album at that point?

Geoff: Ok, yeah so we’re doing an album! Delete this whole part before this!

WHILST WE ARE TALKING ABOUT FUTURE PLANS, I BELIEVE YOU HAVEN’T PLAYED ANY FESTIVALS YET? ARE THERE ANY PLANS FOR THAT SOON?

Geoff: We haven’t played any yet no, maybe a few minor ones at most but none of the main ones. Next year I think we are looking at doing some whether it’s Download or Reading or something like that.

I’M GUESSING YOU CAN’T TELL ME IF THOSE ARE CONFIRMED OR NOT YET?

Geoff: No they’re not confirmed yet sadly.

Danny: Wishful thinking!

ARE THERE POTENTIALLY MORE HEADLINE SHOWS COMING? MAYBE A FULL TOUR THIS TIME?

Danny: I suppose we haven’t even thought about that yet really, we are still laying the foundations down, we’re still quite new and trying to get our name out there as much as possible. We don’t wanna jump the gun and then it fail.

Geoff: You’ve gotta put yourself out there and I think the good thing about supporting bands is their fans coming to see them, who you can then make an impression on, then they’ll tell their mates and everything.

YOU GUYS HAVE HAD SOME GREAT SUPPORT TOURS ASWELL YOU’VE HAD BANDS LIKE THE HARA, YOU ME AT SIX, AGAINST THE CURRENT ETC.

Danny: It sounds so cool when you put it like that!

EVEN BEFORE SEEING YOU LIVE I DEFINITELY REMEMBER SEEING THE BAND’S NAME ON TOUR POSTERS, I THINK EVEN SOMETHING AS SIMPLE AS THAT WILL MAKE PEOPLE REMEBER YOU, AND PROBABLY BE MORE LIKELY TO SEE YOU IF YOU END UP ON OTHER TOURS AND FESTIVALS SINCE THEY ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE BAND IN A WAY.

Geoff: Yeah any sort of exposure, even just the visual exposure like that is good.

ONE LAST QUESTION, WHAT IS ONE THING YOU WOULD HAVE LIKED TO ACHIEVE BY THIS TIME NEXT YEAR?

Danny: A drum endorsement.

Geoff: Wembley Stadium?

Danny: I’d say 3 years, maybe 7 years, maybe 25 years.

Geoff: It could be quicker with what we’ve been talking about… can’t say what that is! Festivals would be another thing as well.

Danny: Festivals, new music and new tours, just kind of moving up the ladder is the goal.

NOW I’M GONNA HAVE TO INTERVIEW YOU AGAIN IN A YEAR AND SEE IF YOU DID IT!

Geoff: But it’ll just be like “did you do it?” “no”.

I GUESS WE WILL SEE! THANK YOU SO MUCH AGAIN FOR TALKING TO ME TODAY! I’M EXCITED TO SEE YOUR SET LATER ON!

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