Elviss

Upcoming London based band Elviss are currently supporting Pitchshifter on their farewell tour. I recently got the chance to catch up with them at their Wolverhampton gig. After watching their set (which was brilliant!) I met their tour manager who took me backstage to meet the band. Here’s what lead singer Karl and bassist Drew had to say.

How has the start of the tour been?

Karl: Wicked, man. Yeah, it’s been good. We haven’t played since the end of last year when we came off tour with InMe, so we’ve had Christmas, we’ve all been getting fat, and I think the cobwebs are all off now, yeah.

Is this the fourth show?

Karl: This is the fourth show of the fourth tour.
Drew: Yeah.

When and how did the band form?

Karl: We formed about 2 years ago, was it 2 years ago?
Drew: Bet it’s a bit more than that.
Karl: Yeah, 2, 2 and a half years ago. A couple of us, me and Geoff were already in London and we started a little studio rehearsal room, as we were sick of paying for other people’s, hiring, things like that, you know. And basically, our circle of friends, to cut a long story short, we put a band together, and along came Drew and Ed at various times, and since then it’s just been going on like that.

How did you come up with the name Elviss? Am I right in thinking it’s nothing to do with Elvis Presley?

Karl: Who’s that?
Drew: Who? It’s after Elvis Costello. We’re all just big Elvis Costello fans.

So it’s got nothing to do with...

Karl: Elvis Presley, did you say? No...

Is it something to do with plane tracking?

Karl: Well, yeah it’s also to do with that.

Does it stand for something?

Karl: Yeah, Electronic Low-light Level Visible Infrared Surveillance System.

Were you a fan of Pitchshifter before this tour?

Karl: To be totally honest, I’ve never heard any of their stuff, ever. But Drew has.
Drew: They’re one of those bands that you hear their name all the time, you know. I saw them once at Reading in ’95 or something when I was a kid, and yeah I thought they were pretty cool, I’ve never heard any of their albums or anything, but yeah we are now.

Who have been your main musical influences?

Karl: We’ve all got different ones, I think. That’s why I enjoy what we do because everyone brings a different ingredient in. I think we all like the same kind of nucleus of bands, but each one of us brings in something from a different area, so there’s lots and lots of influences. Mainly English kind of punk, stuff like the Sex Pistols and that kind of thing.

Last November you co-headlined the "Krank’d Up Tour" with InMe, how did you get along with them?

Karl: Brilliant. In fact we’ve got some hot off-the-press news for you! We’re going out with InMe on another tour, a bigger one, in about a month or so, 2 weeks after this finishes.
Drew: April sometime.

Just with InMe?

Karl: Just us and InMe, yeah, again. We got on really well and it was just a brilliant tour.
Drew: The music’s kind of different too, so it makes the show more interesting, so it’s not just an InMe clone band, it’s something a bit different.

What do you usually do after you’ve just played a gig?

Karl: Do an interview!

Get drunk?

Karl: Erm, no, not really. Well I’d like to, but this tour’s 16 dates back to back, and there’s no nights off. In fact there is one night off but our manager’s put another gig in for us, we have to do an XFM live radio show for the Barfly Club, so thanks!

So there’s no time to get drunk?

Karl: No, no, I can’t. Well the lads maybe can more than me, but...
Drew: See that’s in theory. In theory we have no time to get drunk, in theory we should be eating healthy, and in theory we should be looking after ourselves, but none of these things really happen.
Karl: That’s it, yeah. Obviously, I’ll not be getting drunk if we’ve got a gig tomorrow. I say with a beer in my hand…

You’re about to release your new single "Radio (Kill It)". Tell me about the video, it’s pretty interesting. (The video involves all 4 members of Elviss playing in different coloured boxes while a giant naked woman plays with them and does things like stick pins in Karl’s head!)

Karl: Mad, ain’t it? Well it was directed by a guy named John...
Drew: Clements.
Karl: Clements, who’s a kind of arty director, he’s done stuff before for Skinny I think, and quite a lot of people. And he came up with this idea. There were a lot of ideas for the video, that one we liked straight away. It was odd, just a mad idea! We did that at a big studio, it was a major thing for us. We did the video before (D-Change) ourselves really, but this one was brilliant, really enjoyable.

Which celebrity would you most like to beat up and why?

Karl: Beat up?
Drew: How long have you got?!
Karl: I don’t know, I don’t condone violence!
Drew: Probably J.S Clayden (lead singer of Pitchshifter)
(Laughing from Karl, Drew and Geoff the drummer who has just come into the dressing room.
Drew: Not really!
Geoff: Which celebrity? You mean anyone famous?

Anyone you really hate.

Geoff: Simon Cowell.
Karl: You know you can’t really say anything without meeting them, just on appearances. But any boy band, mainly 'Blue'.
Drew: Come on, Blue are the best band in the world! Why do you think I’ve died my hair this colour, man? Why do you think I’m wearing this colour?
Karl: Yeah! I just can’t believe that shit goes on.
Drew: I know, it’s disgusting. It’s the death of culture. But somehow it’s ok because they’re cute.

If you could be in any other band, which band would it be?

Karl: Past or present, anything? I don’t know…some of my favourite bands ever, if I was in it, they’d be probably not as good… Woah, what can I be a part of? Loads of things, the Sex Pistols would be a gas, wouldn’t it?
Drew: Black Flag.
Karl: Yeah, Black Flag. There’s loads of stuff.

Have you ever done anything you’ve regretted while drunk and on tour?

Karl: Not yet, I haven’t been that drunk yet.
Drew: He’s done lots of things that I’ve regretted!

You just can’t remember?

Drew: I remember them all...but...
Karl: I’m not admitting to anything!

Will you be releasing an album anytime soon?

Karl: Yeah, well I wouldn’t say soon. What’s happened is we’ve got this tour, we’ve got another tour afterwards, we’ve got dates coming in for festivals and dates coming all through the summer, really. We could now go and record the album, or we could carry on playing, and we want to carry on playing. So I reckon towards the end of the year, end of Summer? After the festivals and stuff, we’ll probably do it then.

So which festivals will you be playing?

Karl: We just keep getting calls on the phone saying possible this, possible that, we’re shifting things. So possibly Donington and there’s talk of the V festivals, not sure which yet. Is there anything else? There’s a sort of extreme sports skateboard one we’re doing.
Drew: Oh yeah, we’re doing an Eastpak tour. Eastpak are doing a tour to raise money for skate parks. They’re doing a tour where they’ll bring out a mini ramp and there’ll be pro skaters doing demonstrations, BMXing and skating and stuff in the day and then at night time they’ll be us, Mahumodo, and other bands so that should be good. It’ll be in May sometime.

So have you got anything else planned for this year? Apart from festivals and making an album?!

Karl: We haven’t got time for anything else! Hopefully we’ll be able to get a couple of days off somewhere but no, just playing and playing and playing and recording the album. We’re just going to go full on at it this year, get the album done by the end of the year and maybe have a couple of days off next Christmas.

To get drunk?

Karl: To get drunk, yeah!

That’s all my questions. Is there anything else you want to say?

Karl: No, but thanks for the interview and rock on!
Drew: And come and see us with InMe, man. It should be a good show!

I want to say thanks to Elviss, especially Karl and Drew! They’re really nice guys and great live so if you get a chance, go and see them! You can find out more about them on their website www.elviss.net

Originally conducted for www.justwannarock.com