Hot off an impressive whirlwind tour and a highly successful top twenty single, we talk with our favourite abbreviation inspired music act on Facebook, red jeans, peasant outfits and Dizzee Rascal's quiche...
OK, so tell us the news.
What? The news? The big news is I'm supporting Lily Allen on her UK tour in November. It's 17 arena dates including four at the Brixton Academy and the Birmingham National indoor arena which will be the biggest place we've played – it's like eight and a half thousand.
How'd you manage to wangle that one then?
I know her drummer and her keyboard player because they used to play for The Streets and I was on The Streets' label, so I just had a nice chat with them and bribed them and they played my new single to her. And then I got a call last week asking if I'd like to tour with her. It's things like this you need to extend the fanbase.
Watch the Sun Come Up was a big moment in extending that fanbase too. What was the final chart position?
The highest it got was 19 but we've been sticking around. We went in at 20 then the week after we were at 19, then another week at 19 and then 25 I think yesterday.
Not bad.
Yeah, well a lot of tracks go in high and then drop off really quickly, which I think says a lot about the fact that I'm not well known yet as the Tinchys and Dizzees but that we've got a good quality song. We haven't done enough units to get in the top ten but the song's hanging around at the same time.
So what do you think it was about that track that captured the public's imagination?
I think everyone connected to it – rather than it just being a generic holiday song about meeting people, going down the beach and getting drunk there was actually a bit of thought in there. Women liked it because it was all, "Oh he's so sweet and men actually care about one night stands" and blokes were like, "Yeah, I've done that – I've fallen in love in the space of three hours".
I think it helped that the girl you had in the video was quite fit.
She was pretty unbelievable. She certainly lights up the screen when she comes on it.
That video's really cool. I liked the illustration.
It was f***ing expensive. It was more expensive than my other six music videos put together. We've halved the budget for this new video we're working on.
Obviously you're a massive Tweeter, MySpacer and Facebooker – do you think all that social networking stuff helps in a big way?
That's how we promote it. Particularly with the iTunes, the first day Watch the Sun Come Up was released we weren't actually available – you couldn't search for us – so we reckon we missed out on a lot of sales there. But I was on Twitter and Facebook saying "here's the direct link to download" and [my label] was like, "We're never going to make it to the top 100" because we weren't searchable the day we came out. But because I had done so much promotion on Facebook and Twitter we ended up somewhere in the top 30 after the first few hours. Everyone
was like, "Woah! How is this possible?" and I was like, "Because I'm
f***ing good at the social networking". I think most of the tickets we
sold on this last tour were bought by people who'd heard about it from Twitter and Facebook. If you're someone like Calvin Harris with 100,000 followers and 100,000 fans on Facebook and you're doing a gig and there's 300 tickets left on the door, you can go on Twitter and Facebook and say, "Tonight, Manchester" and you've got a guarantee sell-out gig.
So, talking about the tour, how was it?
It was actually quite relaxing because the longest drive we did was Edinburgh to Sheffield which was about four hours but other than that all the drives were about 2 hours tops. And we've got a very simple setup so we go straight in, soundcheck, then I usually go straight to the hotel for a sleep. Most nights you're in bed by midnight and we'd check out by 11am so we'd get at least 10/11 hours sleep. Nice bed, nice shower, breakfast – the only bad bit was when we played Nottingham the same night as Dizzee (he was in the big venue next door, we were in the little venue) and as I came off stage I went next door to watch the last twenty minutes of his set and we hung out afterwards. He went to bed early but I was up until seven on his tour bus but I don't think he was there, drinking with his crew.
I imagine they're mental.
They're alright – I think I was probably the naughtiest.
Really? He always comes across as such a nice guy. Like on that video from the GQ Man of the Year Awards with Kate Moss mucking around he seemed very humble, which is unusual I thought.
He's very down-to-earth. I went back stage to his dressing room – I've met him a few times so I don't know him that well – and he was really cool and said, "Yeah bruv, congrats on the single", offering me champagne off his rider and quiche, he eats quiche, so it was quite funny. He's a cool guy.
What's next then, after your successful tour?
We found on this tour that unless you've had a top five single most tickets now are walk-ups. With Dizzee he'll sell out a 3000 capacity in advance whereas we were doing it all on walk-ups. So we learnt that this tour we need to get a couple of top tens. The next single won't go quietly which will go on the radio in a week or two – we're still mixing that actually – and it's going to be out the first week of Jan. We won't put it out at Christmas because you're competing with all the X-Factors. I'm thinking this one will be big, bigger than Watch the Sun because we're building on my profile and I think it's a better song.
What's the aim for the new single?
I'd be pretty annoyed if it didn't go top ten because I think it's a quality pop song; it's a bit dancier and I think if you look at the top ten at the moment everything's dancy and people will find it hard to break into the top ten unless you've got a song that works for the clubs. When the Sun Comes Up had good club mixes even though the song itself wasn't that clubby – it was more of an uplifting chillout song or driving song or radio song than a club song – so I'm thinking the new one will go down a bit better.
So with radio, who are your big targets?
Well everyone's supported me. My radio promoter, who does Tinchy Stryder, Alexandra Burke and a few other peeps, said I'm the only act to get across-the-board love. Jo Wiley, Zane Lowe, Pete Tong, Annie Mac, all the specialists, Mr Jam, Judge Jules – pretty much everyone is playing Watch the Sun Come Up. Chris Moyles said it is one of his favourite songs of the year. Scott Mills goes on about it, on Greg James I was Record of the Week, so we've pretty much cleared up on Radio 1. It's the weekends as well with Sarah Cox and Vernon, and Reggie Yates called me up on the Chart Show the week I went in and the Sunday just gone I text in, "I'm just on the motorway with my band but no-one from the radio let me know where I am in the charts so I'm just listening to the chart show". They didn't believe it was me so the producer called me up and I did an interview with Reggie live on air. Nice bit of fun, right?
Very nice. Does getting all those big names guarantee you a big hit if they support you in the same way with the next one?
There's no guarantees but obviously you need support – we've had support from Kiss, Capital, Radio 1, Galaxy – they're the four big dogs basically. If you get on the playlists with them it really helps and if the next single gets played on all of them then you're in with a good shout.
Is it the sort of track that sticks in people's minds after a night in the club?
Well Watch the Sun Come Up wasn't a club track whereas this new one is so dancy but at the same time the chorus is massive – it's an even bigger chorus than Watch the Sun. And it's about a femme fatale and crazy women so we've got all the angles covered. And there's a story there as well.
A nice one for the girls then...
Well it's about crazy women but I'm not that rude in it – it's more about how I couldn't keep my hands off her but she's a nutter...like most women.
Now for a couple of silly quick-fire questions. What's your desert island dinner?
I'm just a lover of Steak-Frites you know. A nice bit of rump steak or sirloin with chips. That's my favourite food but if you want to go a bit posh I'd say Beef Wellington – Wellington it up a bit – and get the sauce on the pastry going on. That's pretty much what I eat whenever I go out – meat and chips.
Nothing wrong with that.
And I think I'd go for [embarrassed silence] tomato and mozzarella to start. I like my simple pleasures.
What's the single most important piece of advice you've ever been given?
My dad always used to say to me, "Don't push your granny while she's shaving". I don't actually know what that means but I think it means don't push your luck.
What would the soundtrack to your life be thus far?
One of my favourite songs of all time is "It's a Man's World" by James Brown. The title suggests it's a real misogynist pig sort of song but it's not. It makes me emotional.
And what's the one song you wish you'd written?
Probably that. Or Dirty Diana. It's a f***ing banging song – so is Man in the Mirror.
Where in the world do you feel most at home?
At my Mum and Dad's in Australia. They moved there a couple of years ago and I go there every Christmas. They live on the Gold Coast so I work all year in England then go there for a month. With the single this year I'll only be able to get away for a week or ten days.
Is the glass half full or half empty?
Hall full.
What's your music tip for winter (apart from you)?
Miike Snow. I got their album sampler a couple of months ago. Their album's amazing – lyrically, production-wise it's incredible. One of the best albums I've heard this year. And Sub Focus's album's just come out. He's a drum and bass guy but really accessible – it's spacey, futuristic sounding electro drum and bass. It's f***ing amazing.
Is it really banging?
Some of them are but it's really interesting. It's dirty but the production values are so high that it's really accessible. I highly recommend that. There's a song on the album called Let the Story Begin which we start our show with.
What's your ultimate style rule?
Always have a collar. For some reason I just don't suit t-shirts. I used to wear them and then one day some people told me, "don't wear t-shirts". But I'm quite lucky I work with any colour and most things. It doesn't matter whether they're smart or casual there has to be a collar on there so it doesn't accentuate my bottom lip.
What's the one item of clothing you couldn't live without?
I buy a new Barbour jacket every year, whether it's a duffle coat or waxed jacket. So it'd be either that or a really nice Hugo Boss leather jacket I've had for years. It was so expensive – it was about three grand and made of gold – and that just completes any outfit. When I go out for dinner my girlfriend tells me to wear my Hugo Boss jacket. You can kick it like a rock star but look like a banker as well depending on what you've got on underneath.
What's your ultimate fashion faux-pas?
When I was at university I was obsessed with Moschino, Iceberg and Versace and Valentino – we're talking late Nineties UK Garage days – and once when I used to MC on stage at the Garage nights and university Summer Balls I wore red Moschino jeans, which were those old Moschino cut like skinny 501s, with a long sleeve beige t-shirt. Red and beige. That's the worst thing I've ever done. And I was probably wearing brown Patrick Cox loafers. Sorry. People always used to take the p*** out of me at Uni because at one stage I had blonde hair, which is a faux-pas in itself, with dark roots coming through in a student crop top sort of thing. It was horrible. And once I bought some Nike Air trainers with a sunset on them. They were f***ing wicked. And even the rude boys at Uni were like, "Bruv, you can't wear no f***ing sunset trainers".
So you ditched the sunset Nike trainers but how would you describe your style at the moment?
I think because my music's very accessible – it's very everyday music, not outlandish – it basically comes from my performance and when I do my hair up whenever I'm on stage. I like these April 77 jeans because they're my favourite cut. I like space round the arse because I wear them low and fitted lower down. I've been rocking a lot of boat shoes lately. I'm very much a polo shirt and shirt person – I've got about 30 checked shirts at the moment from every brand you can imagine.
What's your next favourite fashion item going to be?
If I could I'd go everywhere in tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt but no-one would talk to me, no-one would give me free clothes and my record label would f*** me over. I've had some massive disasters in previous music videos. The You Can't Rap video was like a pantomime or play and I'm dressed like a weird peasant boy which is obviously not a great marketing angle. There's the Monkey Magic video for Who Needs Sunshine where I'm dressed up as a monkey and then the I Don't Want to video I was in a tracksuit where the tracksuit changes colour every scene which was disgusting. I think in the Watch the Sun Come Up video and the Me & Mandy video is what I look like normally but I've been working with video directors recently who decided it would be a good idea for me to dress like a complete ****.
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