It’s all East End charm with Boy Kill Boy. Day one at Oxegen and bassist Kevin Chase and frontman Chris Peck are busily trying to trade a couple of kisses in exchange for an umbrella.
In a bid to ensure that their indie-rock looks aren’t tarnished by the inclement weather, they’ve set upon the Spin FM trailer and a couple of rain-sheltered beauties.
“I’ll speak some Irish for you as well if you like,” says Chase, eager to seal the deal and pilfer their umbrellas. “My mum is from Mullingar and my dad’s from Dublin. I know two phrases – up the stairs is ‘Suas an staighre’ and shut your mouth is ‘Dún do bhéal’.” Obviously two phrases suggestive of a less than happy childhood in the Chase household!
Labelled “the British Killers”, Boy Kill Boy have enjoyed a dramatic rise in profile, from indie outsiders to mainstream contenders, in less than six months. Three top 20 singles and a top 20 album have followed, while their Irish debut (later tonight) will be marked by a prestigious headline slot on the New Band Stage. It’s all happened at a pace even Arctic Monkeys would struggle to keep up with.
“We were always aware that it might come together quite quickly for us,” offers vocalist Peck under the shelter of a horse-stable. “It’s because we all played together before forming this band. So it all gelled very quickly. Perhaps record companies and the media were surprised because normally when they get hold of a band they give it a bit of time to tighten up. But by the time ‘Back Again’ came out we were ready to go.”
The John Cornfield-produced single saw the group storm into the British charts last February. Frantically paced and typically indie, it was to contrast sharply with subsequent singles like the pop-driven ‘Suzie’ and dark synth-led ‘Civil Sin’. Commendably, such variety in sound continued with the release of the group’s debut album Civilian in May.
“That was very much what we were all sort of aiming for,” resumes Peck. “When we started this band the one idea we had was to just plug in and see what happens. All rules went out the window and we decided quite early on that we weren’t going to pin ourselves on one style.”
Albums by U2 and Led Zeppelin were to feed their early creativity.
“People who slag the record off, on the grounds that it’s too varied, are fucking shallow,” spits Peck. “The bands that I was into, such as U2 and Zeppelin, didn’t just have one thing. They weren’t one-trick ponies. You’d buy an album and the variety and mixture of emotions jumped out at you. And on our first album, grabbing that mix of emotions was really important. The label signed us because we stood out from other bands and so that’s what we had to ensure continued on record.”
The band's future plans include a return to Ireland in “hopefully October or November.” Before that, though, is the small matter of tomorrow’s T In The Park festival in Glasgow – and it’s not looking good. With the stormy weather throwing their ferry departure into doubt, their tour manager has provisionally booked a hotel in Dublin.
“We might be stuck in Ireland for a while yet,” reflects Chase, “which is no bad thing. Maybe I’ll even get back to Mullingar!”