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New Music Friday: King Purple

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Corby trio King Purple have just released their new single, ‘Stuck In The Rough’ b/w ‘I Know You Know’, recorded at RML Studios in Wolverhampton. Progressive indie-rock is the name of the game here, from Callum Connachie [lead guitar and vocals], Luke Carscadden [bass], and Frazer Beattie [drums] . New Boots spoke to the band about their patch of Purple, and listen to ‘Stuck In The Rough’ below.

How/why/where/when did you guys get together?
Callum: So Frazer and I met in college back in the autumn of 2015 where we started playing Drenge covers.
Frazer: Yeah that‟s right, started as a Drenge cover band didn’t we.
Luke: I didn’t even know that up until right now.
Callum: Then at the start of 2016 we “recruited” my long-time friend Luke.
Frazer: And why are we together?
Callum: I think King Purple started on the basis of being bored.
Luke: Yeah, I agree with that.
Callum: Which led to us really gelling as musicians as we started to practice more often.
Luke: When I joined I didn’t really expect it to be taken anywhere, just thought of it as something to do, like a hobby almost.
Frazer: We all set a high ceiling for how we played individually and things just began to click.

How would you describe your sound?
Luke: It’s hard to say actually, I think it has some sort attention-grabbing quality about it. When we write I don’t think we write with any particular sound in mind.
Frazer: There’s never really an aim behind what we’re trying to write.
Callum: We all draw from our own influences which brings so many aspects of different music together since our own music tastes can be so different from one another.
Luke: It’s hard to say where it would sit on the scale for me.
Callum: People that have heard us or seen us live have compared it to things from 90s grunge or said there were influences of 70s funk and/or psychedelia.

Tell us about ‘Stuck In The Rough’/’I Know, You Know’. It’s a progressive indie sound. Early Verve, Soundgarden, The Music, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard all come to mind.
Frazer: I think with ‘Stuck In The Rough’ we went for a more ‘serious’ approach, so to speak.
Callum: It’s definitely a song we consider progressive in terms of where we are with the band. It does carry elements of indie, definitely.
Frazer: Yeah, we wanted to record it to show the development of us as a band.
Luke: You said immediately after we finished the basis of the song that it was the one. I didn’t want to record it to start with.
Callum: We’d only finished it maybe a week before we recorded.
Frazer: It was a risk to be honest, the song wasn’t as finished as we would normally like.
Luke: That’s why I was against recording it initially.
Frazer: Then with ‘I Know, You Know’ it’s a song that’s done the rounds, an old classic if you’re a King Purple fan.
Luke: It was the first song we’d written after recording our first set of songs, kind of like a bridging track for development with our sound I guess.
Frazer: There’s a bit of ‘old’ and a bit of the ‘new’ in there.
Callum: Definitely fits a B-side title, I think it needs to be paired with something at least with a release.
Frazer: Sound-wise it switches between quite dark sections with more major sections in between with a euphoric ending to close it out.

What are your live shows like? Do you stretch things out on stage, or go where the mood takes you?
Luke: I think it’s a bit of both honestly.
Callum: Yeah we definitely plan our sets with an outline of what we want to play but on the other side of things you get so into it that you kind of adapt to the gig and “go where the mood takes us”. And we always try to make it as enjoyable as possible.
Frazer: Recently we have been throwing songs in that we might not have practised in a while or intended to play at any particular gig, but if it fits the mood then yeah we always try to adjust to the situation. We try to show every aspect of our sound through playing different songs and arrange them in a way that makes sense musically with what genres we’d place each song under.

What’s your take on the Corby music scene?
Luke: I think ever since we’ve been more and more involved with it I’ve started to realise how dedicated the people within it are to what they do.
Frazer: There is a lot more live music in Corby right now, with people at the gigs actively going out to see bands they might not have heard of before.
Luke: There’s always people in the White Hart regardless of who is playing.
Frazer: People are beginning to see local bands as well and take something away from gigs that makes them want to start something themselves.
Luke: It’s like hometown bands provide some sort encouragement towards those that are interested in starting something.
Frazer: I think the Corby scene is the best it’s been for a while.
Callum: It’s always been there but had a bigger focus on different types of metal music, whereas now I think there‟s more variety.
Luke: It’s just down to the context of the period of time.

What has been your favourite band moment so far?
Callum: Personally for me it was recording ‘Stuck In The Rough’ and ‘I Know, You Know’ because it was just such a constant buzz the whole time we were in the studio. Certain gigs are always going to hold their weight but there are specific things that take it over a favourite gig.
Frazer: One of my favourite moments was supporting Dream Wife at Bedford Esquires. The place was full of people we didn’t know, almost completely full, and almost every person in there enjoyed themselves. Some gigs just feel so rewarding. Not only that but the band members from the other bands were all sound people, which makes it that much better as well.
Luke: I think mines is probably the same as Frazer’s. It’s crazy to see the enjoyment in everyone’s faces, front to back.

What was the last album/artist you streamed or bought?
Callum: Natty Dread by Bob Marley, released 1974.
Frazer: Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt by Moby.
Luke: Gil Scott Heron Pieces Of A Man.

What plans do you have for the next year?
Callum: Keep playing gigs and keep writing songs.
Luke: We try to keep what momentum you have and run with, carry it throughout everything we do to make sure everything is done to the best of our ability. I think that can be just as useful as having a long term goal because it keeps you focused and encourages a focus on what ‘the next move is’.
Frazer: Meeting new bands as well, getting to know the people you meet along the way.
Luke: Not just for the sole purpose of using the contact to get on another bill with them, but just to meeting new people itself and talking to them about their own progress with their band.
Callum: One plan for next year is to definitely try and continue touring where we can.
Luke: They don’t necessarily have to have loads of dates, but just enough to where we can play a string of shows in quick succession so people start paying attention really and turning some heads along the way.
Callum: We have a tour starting the 26th of May until the 29th of June with a total of eight dates in various towns and cities.

THE ROYAL TOUR [with Monarchs] DATES:
MAY
26 Swan Revived Hotel | Newport Pagnell
27 The Marrs Bar | Worcester
JUNE
2 Phoenix Bar | High Wycombe
8 The Craufurd Arms | Milton Keynes
15 Bedford Esquires | Bedford
22 The Roadmender | Northampton
23 The Cookie | Leicester
29 The White Hart| Corby

 

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