Stereoboard Talk About Touring, Twitter And New Music With Travis Clark Of We The Kings (Interview)
Thursday, 07 February 2013
Written by James Goodall
Backstage at the O2 Academy in Birmingham and there’s a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Members of Blitz Kids and Natives are scattered around putting the final preparations together for their support slot sets and the final sound checks for the evening are taking place. From a small wooden door located at the top of the venue appears Travis Clark, after an introduction and chat I sat down with the We The Kings front-man to ask him about life on tour, upcoming plans and what 2013 has in store for the band.
You’re back in the UK for another headline tour, how have you found the first shows?
They’ve been absolutely incredible! It’s been about a year since we last came over and the UK is a place I love to come and play. It was really nerve-wracking wondering if there would be enough kids who wanted to come out and see us again but most shows have already sold out and it’s been a great experience so far.
You previously supported You Me At Six and you’ve been over here a couple of times since but this tour has seen you take on bigger venues than ever before, what’s it been like to make that step up?
It’s been something I feel we’ve taken to really well. We’ve already played some sold out shows on this tour and it’s been so surreal to see people crammed in to these rooms going crazy for us. Making the step up is something I was originally worried about but it’s been fantastic.
You’ve mentioned that the crowds have been fantastic, how do you find the crowds over here compared to back home in the US?
I’ve always said that the overseas crowds are much better, we only get to come over here once a year if we’re lucky but in the States we get to play the same city four or five times so if they don’t see one show they’ll head out to another. Everybody over in the UK seems a lot more dedicated; I’ve met people this week who have travelled for hundreds of miles just to see us and that’s something that blows my mind.
In 2012 you did a US tour, came over to the UK and Europe, did numerous dates of Warped Tour US and then headed out to Brazil, what does 2013 hold that could go above and beyond what you’ve achieved in the last year?
Damn, I’ve never actually sat down and thought about what I’ve done in 12 months because I’m always so busy but when you put it like that (laughs) – Well we haven’t done Africa yet so that’d be one to tell the kids about! Our touring plans are mainland Europe, Australia, the US, Canada, South America and then Asia. As for a records we’ve just finished a new record literally the day before we traveled over here we finished recording, and I’ve not told anyone this yet but it’s 14 songs and I believe we’ve progressed once again yet still retained the sound that fans will be familiar with. I’m really excited for people to hear it but it’s going to be a little while before that can happen.
You’ve not always had the same line-up throughout all of your studio releases. Charles was obviously really well known for his YouTube content before he joined, how did his inclusion help to further you as a band?
We’ve been friends with Charles since we were kids, we’re all from the same town and it made sense when we needed a bass player to go to him. It was important to us to bring someone in who we knew was right and the friendship factor really was an added bonus. It’s really helped us because as you mentioned he does have a huge YouTube fan-base, Charles films his life every day and now we’re a part of his life so it’s kind of like daily behind-the-scenes footage and it’s nice to have that. We brought Demi Lovato in to a song on our last studio release some of her fans then checked us out and our fan-base grew and with Charles the same thing happened. People will now come to shows to see him as a YouTube personality that they’re a fan of and they’ll also come and see us as a band.
You tweeted a while ago that you’d finished a song for the next Hunger Games movie. Are you able to give any details of the track?
The song is called ‘The Art of War’ and originally I wrote it for the new record and I’m a huge fan of the Hunger Games. When I’d finished the song I was sat there thinking 'wow this would be amazing for that', I spoke to the right people and it was selected for the soundtrack of the next movie and that’s is a massive thing for me.
Social networking has obviously changed the way that bands can interact with their fans and push their product. You started out before many of the popular forms of social media were around, how have you found that social media has helped you expand as a band?
It’s really a pro and con style situation, you have so much music and you can log on to the internet and hear thousands of bands and because you have that it makes the fans want more. As We the Kings we’ll put out a record and then people will turn around and be like “oh this is old to me” and we try to keep their attention! Bands can release a record and tour on that record for three years sometimes, now it’s kind of like a band releases a record and in such a short amount of time tries to keep the fanbase interested. I love using Twitter, I love to interact with fans and that’s the best thing for me. I love having people feel like they’re really involved.
Any last words for fans?
Thank you for supporting us, coming out to shows and giving us the opportunity to continue to do these amazing things. We’ll be back very soon with a new record and we hope to see you guys soon!
We The Kings have recently wrapped-up their largest headline tour to date, the ‘UK Is Forever’ tour, which included a London show at the Scala. They released their ‘Friday Is Forever’ EP last month on S-Curve Records/Warner Bros. Records.
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You’re back in the UK for another headline tour, how have you found the first shows?
