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Interview: Secret Rivals
Secret Rivals are an Oxford based 4-piece indie pop outfit, and their upcoming single, the double A-side Once More With Heart / I Know Something is due out at the beginning of 2012. We managed to catch up with them this week to have a chat about the new single, and generally pick their brains.
How did you guys all meet?
The band formed in 2008, after Clouds and myself moved to Oxford from Southport. We answered an ad from fellow (early) Idlewild fanatic Andrew, who was keen to start up a band in the city having recently moved from Boston. We found Reece through advertising for a drummer pretty much straight away. We've been living out of each other's pockets ever since.
Where does the band name come from?
My friend is a film reviewer/blogger, and he was reviewing cult martial arts cinema at the time. I took the name from the article he was writing about a film of the same name.
Who/what would you say has influenced you the most as musicians?
The people we love, the people we loathe, our crappy day jobs, our over inflated sense of purpose, our relationships.
2011 has been an amazing year for you guys. How did it feel getting so much attention for your single, Tonight, Matthew?
It was unexpected and totally overwhelming! We've been very lucky in terms of radio support from the off. Our debut EP, Start Fires, was picked up by Steve Lamacq and Tom Robinson, who have always been really supportive of us. When we were recording Make Do And Mend, there was no big plan of action; we didn't have a publicist or a manager or even a label to release it on at that point, we just recorded it and sent it out. It was when Rob Da Bank played Tonight, Matthew on BBC Radio 1 that things really started to happen: we were approached by a London record label who released the single, Rob invited us to play Bestival (which blew us away - I literally couldn't get my head around it, I remember thinking it was a trap
Meeting and talking shop with Tom Robinson and Steve Lamacq et al is amazing, you cant put a price on that kind of thing. They're the types of situations you reflect on when you get home and think 'did that really just happen?'.
We played with Summer Camp last night, for example, whom I've been in love with since their record release. I've just been told today we're opening for Big Pink next week (whom we love!). It's all a bit silly really.
Tell us about the new single, Once More With Heart / I Know Something.
It's a double A-Side and we're really, really happy with it. We think it's the perfect follow up to our album, Make Do And Mend. Once More With Heart has been getting a great live reception since we introduced it into our set and it's probably the most fun to play. We're over the moon with how it sounds on record,
Have you got any plans to tour it?
Yeah, we'll definitely be putting together a string of dates across the UK.
What else can we expect in 2012?
More gigs, more releases, more shouting! We've already started writing the next record and we'll more than likely tour at the start of the year before recording an EP prior to the Festival season. We want to hit the festivals hard this year. (We'd love a jolly abroad as well).
Finally, a meteorite is about to hit the planet, destroying it completely - you have one hour. What album do you listen to?
What! an hour! Why, what's going on? Why am I reaching for a cd...? Can this not be stopped!? Quick, someone do something!!!!
Once More With Heart / I Know Something will be released via It’s All Happening! on 16th January 2012.