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British Invasion: The Sherlocks Talk First U.S. Tour, Debut Album Charting in the U.K.
The Sherlocks
The Sherlocks' debut album certainly made a splash on British listeners -- Live for the Moment peaked at number six on the U.K. Albums Chart -- and now the hype is headed over to the States.
Frontman Kiaran Crook couldn't be happier with the response to the alt-rock band's debut LP. Speaking with Billboard
recently, Crook was sure to thank the band's fans before signing off.
"I'd like to say thank you to everybody who bought the album. That's the
main thing that we're all thinking at the minute," he offered. "We
can't believe we got a Top 10 album -- not just scraped the top ten
either, I think we got No. 6. We're very proud of that, and just want to
say cheers to everyone who bought it."
The band makes their NYC live debut at Baby's All Right on Nov. 6. See the rest of their tour dates here, and read Billboard's conversation with Crook below.
The Sherlocks are coming to the U.S. for the first time ever -
are you prepping for this tour any differently than your gigs in the
U.K.?
No different as the U.K. tour, really, just going in with the same attitude and same work ethic. Just try our best every night and put on a rock show for the fans.
In an interview with NME, you mentioned that you thought The Sherlocks "could be the pioneers of guitar music when this album drops." Did you set out to fill the sort of void we've been seeing in indie rock, with a serious downtick in guitars on the charts, or did this happen naturally?
I mean, when we started this band, we didn't really plan anything. Even down to being a band. We never planned to be a band. If you didn't know, it's two sets of brothers -- and the other brothers, Josh and Andy [Davidson], they moved pretty close to where me and [my brother] Brandon lived, so we naturally became friends... we used to play football together and stuff, and then after so many games of football you start looking at what else you can do to fill your time up.
Josh had a guitar, I had a guitar, Brandon had a drum kit. So we just used to get together and make noise for fun. Then we started progressing and started doing more gigs, and Andy learned the bass, and then before we knew it we were a band. We definitely never said, "Do you want to be a band?" So setting out to be pioneers of guitar music, we never thought, "Oh, we'll one day be that." [Laughs.]
But I think it just comes with being in a band. Obviously the longer we're in this band, the bigger the band seems to be getting, and then the more obstacles in front of you and targets become more reachable, I think. So what may sound like a daft quote this year, in two years' time doesn't actually sound that daft anymore. It becomes reality. Like if we said, "In three years time we want to be headlining [festivals like] Leeds and Reading," we might get laughed at -- but when it actually comes to it, we probably will be headlining Leeds and Reading or something like that. It's just opinions, isn't it?
Who are some of your musical inspirations?
We're influenced by predominantly guitar music, 100 percent. We like the sound of guitars so we'll forever be having guitars in our music. We listen to a lot of different stuff when we're on the road. I like a band called Gems. There's an Australian band called DMA's who are on the same label as us. Older bands like The Clash, The Jam. The Killers, we like The Killers. We like Kings of Leon. Just guitar music, really, that's the main thing that interests us.
What has been your favorite song to record? To play live?
Personally, probably the same for both for me. A song called "Nobody Knows," which I think is halfway through the album, like track six. We had a lot of fun recording that. It's the longest song on the album. And my favorite to play live is probably that one.
Live for the Moment, your debut album, was a long time coming -- three years since your first released demo. Do you have any plans for a quick follow-up, or are you planning to just let this breathe for awhile?
I've started writing the second album ages ago. We've got like half a second album done already. Not recorded, but wrote. Sounds good, sounds mega. It sounds slightly different than the first album but it's not too much of a jump where people won't recognize it so. We're cracking on the second album, hoping there should be another single coming soon from the album. Obviously the fans will know it, but we'll make it a single.
With the recent phenomenon of attacks on concerts, and a general decrease in safety at music venues especially in the UK, have your feelings changed about playing live?
I don't know, really. Speaking for all the band, [concerts are] something that makes us feel safe, really. If you took it back a few years, you'd never thought at a concert or a gig would be anything to do with something like that. It's something that upsets our band, but we're not going to sit crying in a corner over it. But it is something that really gets under our skin. Obviously we're on the other side of the barrier to other people, and we're providing the entertainment to our fans and we see how much it means to our fans just for them to turn up and listen to us play our songs.
Gigs should be a fun place, somewhere you release. You go to have a good time, and for some people it's a massive deal even coming to a gig. It's not just the ticket price, it's the train ride there, and a lot of people stay in hotels 'cause it's easiest and there's a lot of money involved in coming to see a band. It's an investment. So to turn up and get injured or be involved in something like that is terrible. But, I don't know, what can you do. You just gotta stay positive.
No different as the U.K. tour, really, just going in with the same attitude and same work ethic. Just try our best every night and put on a rock show for the fans.
In an interview with NME, you mentioned that you thought The Sherlocks "could be the pioneers of guitar music when this album drops." Did you set out to fill the sort of void we've been seeing in indie rock, with a serious downtick in guitars on the charts, or did this happen naturally?
I mean, when we started this band, we didn't really plan anything. Even down to being a band. We never planned to be a band. If you didn't know, it's two sets of brothers -- and the other brothers, Josh and Andy [Davidson], they moved pretty close to where me and [my brother] Brandon lived, so we naturally became friends... we used to play football together and stuff, and then after so many games of football you start looking at what else you can do to fill your time up.
Josh had a guitar, I had a guitar, Brandon had a drum kit. So we just used to get together and make noise for fun. Then we started progressing and started doing more gigs, and Andy learned the bass, and then before we knew it we were a band. We definitely never said, "Do you want to be a band?" So setting out to be pioneers of guitar music, we never thought, "Oh, we'll one day be that." [Laughs.]
But I think it just comes with being in a band. Obviously the longer we're in this band, the bigger the band seems to be getting, and then the more obstacles in front of you and targets become more reachable, I think. So what may sound like a daft quote this year, in two years' time doesn't actually sound that daft anymore. It becomes reality. Like if we said, "In three years time we want to be headlining [festivals like] Leeds and Reading," we might get laughed at -- but when it actually comes to it, we probably will be headlining Leeds and Reading or something like that. It's just opinions, isn't it?
Who are some of your musical inspirations?
We're influenced by predominantly guitar music, 100 percent. We like the sound of guitars so we'll forever be having guitars in our music. We listen to a lot of different stuff when we're on the road. I like a band called Gems. There's an Australian band called DMA's who are on the same label as us. Older bands like The Clash, The Jam. The Killers, we like The Killers. We like Kings of Leon. Just guitar music, really, that's the main thing that interests us.
What has been your favorite song to record? To play live?
Personally, probably the same for both for me. A song called "Nobody Knows," which I think is halfway through the album, like track six. We had a lot of fun recording that. It's the longest song on the album. And my favorite to play live is probably that one.
Live for the Moment, your debut album, was a long time coming -- three years since your first released demo. Do you have any plans for a quick follow-up, or are you planning to just let this breathe for awhile?
I've started writing the second album ages ago. We've got like half a second album done already. Not recorded, but wrote. Sounds good, sounds mega. It sounds slightly different than the first album but it's not too much of a jump where people won't recognize it so. We're cracking on the second album, hoping there should be another single coming soon from the album. Obviously the fans will know it, but we'll make it a single.
With the recent phenomenon of attacks on concerts, and a general decrease in safety at music venues especially in the UK, have your feelings changed about playing live?
I don't know, really. Speaking for all the band, [concerts are] something that makes us feel safe, really. If you took it back a few years, you'd never thought at a concert or a gig would be anything to do with something like that. It's something that upsets our band, but we're not going to sit crying in a corner over it. But it is something that really gets under our skin. Obviously we're on the other side of the barrier to other people, and we're providing the entertainment to our fans and we see how much it means to our fans just for them to turn up and listen to us play our songs.
Gigs should be a fun place, somewhere you release. You go to have a good time, and for some people it's a massive deal even coming to a gig. It's not just the ticket price, it's the train ride there, and a lot of people stay in hotels 'cause it's easiest and there's a lot of money involved in coming to see a band. It's an investment. So to turn up and get injured or be involved in something like that is terrible. But, I don't know, what can you do. You just gotta stay positive.
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