Kid British interview

I managed to grab Adio Marchant and Sean Mbaya, aka one half of Kid British for a chat just before their set at the union when they played on Halloween.

Jo: So, how are you guys?

Sean: Yeah, we’re good thanks.

J: This is the last night of your uLive tour, how has it been?

S: It’s gone well, we’ve had some fairly good crowds come down, and we’ve done this tour after not really promoting anything, it’s just been good to get out there and the receptions been really good. We’ve been visiting places that we’ve not really tapped into before.

J: Do you like playing to students?

Adio: Yeah, we don’t mind really, we like playing to anyone who appreciates our music really.

J: Do you find you get a better reception from younger people?

A: Yeah, we do. We find that we’ve got a nice little crowd from a younger generation. But we get quite a mixture, one night there can be loads of young girls, and then the next day there can be hardly any girls and loads of guys, it’s just shows we’ve got an eclectic crowd.

J: Ok, so you’re on the new war child single. How did that come about?

A: We got asked by our label if we wanted to be on the track, and the people who are making the song wanted artists who could all come together and put a similar sort of vibe onto it, and we were glad to be a part of it. It’s mainly for the cause more than the song, because I don’t think the songs as good as the original. I think it’s a good take on it, but it’s more about what the cause is all about really.

J: What was it like working with all the other artists? Have you made any good friends?

S: Yeah, we all got on. Obviously when you get that amount of people together there’s bound to be a few ego’s knocking about but to be honest everyone was just really professional and friendly.

J: So it was an enjoyable experience?

A: Yeah, it was fun. The whole experience was fun. Recording the song, meeting the other artists. It was good to see what everyone was like, because I haven’t met most of them before, but I didn’t leave thinking that any of them were idiots, everyone was alright.

J: Are you going to be doing a tour with the other acts on the single?

S: Yeah, Chipmunk and Ironik, it’s called the ... tour and it’s going to be in February, which will be good to play to a completely different audience, because our audience is different to what theirs is. So it’s good to open out, we just like playing to everyone, we’ll let you know how it goes next year.

J: About you guys as a band, how did you all meet?

S: Basically we met about four years ago and Adaio and James were in a band called ‘The Action Mankey’, I was producing at the time, doing my own stuff, and because we were doing stuff together anyway and we had a good relationship, our manager now saw what we were doing and said it was similar and we should form one band. So we did it, and in the space of 6 months we got signed, and from then which was 2 years ago, until now it’s just developed as Kid British, we just stuck with the name. Originally they had a name and I had a name and we just shortened it down to Kid British, and that’s it really.

J: So, for someone who’s never heard of you, how would you describe your music to them?

S: Ooh, er, happy, eclectic pop.

A: It’s pop with a social commentary, anything that’s good is always classed as pop, and we’re not afraid to say that. We’re not going out there, dancing and doing back flips, we’re just a proper band.

S: We just play feel good music. Any aspect for me that’s got a pinch of indie, reggae, ska, you name it, like we said, its eclectic pop.

J: Who would you list as your influences?

S: We could talk for hours but we were range from The Beatles to reggae like Bob Marley.

A: Yeah I mean, I’ve got different influences, as do the other guys. It’s like all 4 of us coming together.

S: Yeah, we all like different stuff.

J: Have you got any plans for next year?

S: The plans are basically, we have another year just to get some more singles out, and other things like getting our name out, so people know what we’re all about. You can’t take over anything in a day, so we’re just trying to build up our reputation.

J: What can we expect from your show tonight?

S: Same as always. Energetic, fireworks, yeah, it’ll be good. We always put on a show. It doesn’t matter if there’s 5 people or 1000 people; it’s like a party on stage. Thing is we’re always knackered by the end of it. (Laughs)

J: Cool, thanks then guys

Both: Thanks.