Mikey Chapman - Mallory Knox (11/11/2013)
It’s nearing noon as Mikey Chapman, vocalist of the U.K. alt-rock quintet Mallory Knox begins our chat. It’s just two days until they go forth on two of the most intense months in the history of the band, what with a sell-out U.K. tour and the upcoming Australian Warped tour. Still, Mikey seems to be taking the time before all this peacefully, as he knows just how intense the next couple of months will be.
"It’s going to be tough, I’m not going to lie. We’ve got two weeks touring the U.K. and then we have two days off and after those two days we jump on a flight and we head down to you guys."
He takes a brief pause.
"But you know what? We can’t wait."
It turns out Mikey has travelled down under before and has been wanting to come back ever since.
"I was lucky enough to visit about two or three years ago for a couple of months and I had the best time there with you guys and the Kiwis, it’s just incredible. I thought, oh, I’m not going to have a chance to go back and with the Aussies again and for quite a while. Really it’s a fantastic end to such an amazing year and we can’t wait to come down again and hang out with as many of you guys as possible."
It truly has been an amazing year for Mikey and the boys, with their signing to Sony’s Search and Destroy Records and the release of their debut LP Signals, which reached #33 on the U.K. charts.
"It’s kind of hard to put into words," Mikey says. "It’s one of those things you always hope you can achieve as a band, after starting out playing along in your living room with a couple of friends and making music. And so with all of this happening to us now it’s all very weird because you remember how you were at the start, you remember the shit times and you remember the empty shows and to go from something like that to something like the present is just the most incredible thing."
Still, Mikey recalls his humble beginnings in the English countryside, long before Mallory Knox had begun to form inside the members heads.
"There were some farm houses and country houses but there wasn’t like malls or cinemas that we could just turn up to, and even if there was we couldn’t afford it, so music was like a way for us to do something, and it got us out of a few lessons at school."
He’d been playing for a good couple of years before the boys and himself formed Mallory, but they never expected the kind of welcoming they received.
"We’d been playing for a long time and wanted to get somewhere, but with Mallory it was just “ok, let’s just make some music that we love” and just fuck everyone else who doesn’t like it. We stopped trying to fit in with everyone else. I think that reflected in the music and our performance and in turn sort of attracted people to it. It’s been a long journey with a lot of different input as to why we set on that but it’s been a cool sort of rise."
Mikey is extremely happy with the content of Signals, and you can hear pride in his voice as he talks of it diversity as a record and why it has been so well received. "I think when we sat down to write the album, we didn’t want there to be like one or two songs that we all like. Like, these are the best songs, the rest of them are to just sit back in the shadows so to speak."
Still, everyone has their favourites, and Mikey is no different.
"Mine personally is the title track Signals, which was a great thing for me to write about lyrically. Signals could have very easily been a more sort of…not so much happier song, but a lot less downtrodden and less sombre, but that’s what it needed to be. It’s kind of hard to explain, but that’s what it sort of told us it was going to be. I think they worked out better for that and as an album, it makes it a bit more exciting when it comes back up with a heavier song."
There was a jolt of energy in his voice when Mikey was asked who he was most excited to be sharing the stage with on the Australian leg of the Warped tour. In particular, he’s ecstatic to be joined by fresh Aussie faces Tonight Alive. "Well, our good friends in Tonight Alive are obviously like Aussie heroes. They’re so busy and they’re going everywhere and anywhere which is amazing for them but it means we don’t get to hang out a whole bunch and since they’re based in Australia it’s even harder to hang out, so the fact that we’re going to be over there at the same time is just a very exciting thing."
With such a blockbuster line-up it’d be nearly impossible not to be starstruck, something Mikey addresses without any shame.
"I know there’s going to be a couple of moments where I’m standing a few feet away from some people and debating to get a fan photo with them, so it’s a very cool experience. If it’s anything like the festivals that in the UK that we played this year it’ll just be phenomenal. We can’t wait to come on down."
Ben Spencer
"It’s going to be tough, I’m not going to lie. We’ve got two weeks touring the U.K. and then we have two days off and after those two days we jump on a flight and we head down to you guys."
He takes a brief pause.
"But you know what? We can’t wait."
It turns out Mikey has travelled down under before and has been wanting to come back ever since.
"I was lucky enough to visit about two or three years ago for a couple of months and I had the best time there with you guys and the Kiwis, it’s just incredible. I thought, oh, I’m not going to have a chance to go back and with the Aussies again and for quite a while. Really it’s a fantastic end to such an amazing year and we can’t wait to come down again and hang out with as many of you guys as possible."
It truly has been an amazing year for Mikey and the boys, with their signing to Sony’s Search and Destroy Records and the release of their debut LP Signals, which reached #33 on the U.K. charts.
"It’s kind of hard to put into words," Mikey says. "It’s one of those things you always hope you can achieve as a band, after starting out playing along in your living room with a couple of friends and making music. And so with all of this happening to us now it’s all very weird because you remember how you were at the start, you remember the shit times and you remember the empty shows and to go from something like that to something like the present is just the most incredible thing."
Still, Mikey recalls his humble beginnings in the English countryside, long before Mallory Knox had begun to form inside the members heads.
"There were some farm houses and country houses but there wasn’t like malls or cinemas that we could just turn up to, and even if there was we couldn’t afford it, so music was like a way for us to do something, and it got us out of a few lessons at school."
He’d been playing for a good couple of years before the boys and himself formed Mallory, but they never expected the kind of welcoming they received.
"We’d been playing for a long time and wanted to get somewhere, but with Mallory it was just “ok, let’s just make some music that we love” and just fuck everyone else who doesn’t like it. We stopped trying to fit in with everyone else. I think that reflected in the music and our performance and in turn sort of attracted people to it. It’s been a long journey with a lot of different input as to why we set on that but it’s been a cool sort of rise."
Mikey is extremely happy with the content of Signals, and you can hear pride in his voice as he talks of it diversity as a record and why it has been so well received. "I think when we sat down to write the album, we didn’t want there to be like one or two songs that we all like. Like, these are the best songs, the rest of them are to just sit back in the shadows so to speak."
Still, everyone has their favourites, and Mikey is no different.
"Mine personally is the title track Signals, which was a great thing for me to write about lyrically. Signals could have very easily been a more sort of…not so much happier song, but a lot less downtrodden and less sombre, but that’s what it needed to be. It’s kind of hard to explain, but that’s what it sort of told us it was going to be. I think they worked out better for that and as an album, it makes it a bit more exciting when it comes back up with a heavier song."
There was a jolt of energy in his voice when Mikey was asked who he was most excited to be sharing the stage with on the Australian leg of the Warped tour. In particular, he’s ecstatic to be joined by fresh Aussie faces Tonight Alive. "Well, our good friends in Tonight Alive are obviously like Aussie heroes. They’re so busy and they’re going everywhere and anywhere which is amazing for them but it means we don’t get to hang out a whole bunch and since they’re based in Australia it’s even harder to hang out, so the fact that we’re going to be over there at the same time is just a very exciting thing."
With such a blockbuster line-up it’d be nearly impossible not to be starstruck, something Mikey addresses without any shame.
"I know there’s going to be a couple of moments where I’m standing a few feet away from some people and debating to get a fan photo with them, so it’s a very cool experience. If it’s anything like the festivals that in the UK that we played this year it’ll just be phenomenal. We can’t wait to come on down."
Ben Spencer