With their British sound fused with unique influences of a wide variation of genres ranging from Country to Hip Hop and lead-singer Brendan Aherne’s smooth vocals, the duo’s music is one of the most exciting acts coming out of the UK right now. As Alexis Kings, Brendan Aherne and Fabio Bocca have imagined dreamy soundscapes that take inspiration from alternative rock with an 80’s feel, a visionary ‘retro meets contemporary’ that does wonders in terms of creating a truly special listening experience.
KALTBLUT caught up with Alexis Kings last December after the release of their latest single “Cali Girls” to discuss the meaning behind their songs and how the pandemic has helped them as a band.
KALTBLUT: Which countries have you toured (pre-pandemic) so far?
Fabio: We haven’t done a lot, France, India, China, Belgium, Netherlands.
Brendan: Ireland, Wales, Scotland.
KALTBLUT: I’ve seen you also played in Asia a couple of years ago.
Brendan: Yes, we played in China and Japan. We haven’t done too badly I guess. We’ve played some really cool shows and we’ll continue to do that. If we had our way we’d be touring 24/7.
KALTBLUT: What were those shows like? Was the crowd different? I already find the crowd differs from Germany to England, for example.
Brendan: When we went over there, we were playing at quite a big festival called Summer Sonic. I don’t even think we had music out in China at the time. It was the biggest stage we’ve ever played. We were like, oh, shit, if no one comes, it’s gonna look really bad. We were first on stage and when we walked out there, there were 1000s of people. We were just blown away. They were a great crowd!
Fabio: They’re really respectful. When we were playing in Japan, the crowd was cheering and as soon as we started playing the song it was dead silent.
KALTBLUT: Does that feel weird while being on stage when you’re used to European crowds being constantly loud?
Brendan: It wasn’t that they were quiet during the show. They were great during the show! After the song we played, they’d have a big roar and then deathly silence. In England, people will be shouting shit and talking nonsense between songs.
KALTBLUT: That’s super interesting. I wanna talk about your latest release, “Cali Girls”. I read that the song is a look into today’s obsession with looks and the pressure of social likability. Can you tell me a little bit more about that?
Brendan: It’s a common thing throughout a few of our songs where only we would know the meaning behind the song. However, lyrically I guess you can interpret the songs in various ways. But with “Cali Girls” specifically we wanted the meaning of the song to be more apparent.
To the common ear, the song may sound like it’s about Cali girls, but deep down when you listen to lyrics, there is a lot more to it.
It’s not just boys singing about girls. It’s us preaching about the fact that so many girls these days want to look like these Instagram Models. When I started writing the song, I realised that a lot of the girls I knew started looking the same. It was insane. Everyone’s looking like Kim Kardashian. I just thought it came out of nowhere. Everyone became so obsessed with looking the same way and spending the money to get there. So, the song is our perception of what goes through a young girl’s head with the social pressures of wanting to look completely different. That’s kind of what the song is about. And it’s our way of putting it across to the people.
KALTBLUT: And for a (potential) music video, what would that look like?
Brendan: There are plenty of things that can be used to accentuate the point we’re talking about. Things aren’t always what they seem. The whole point of what we’re trying to say is there is this huge pressure amongst girls and boys to be something they’re not, external affirmation, it’s insanity. The video would be accentuating the point that happiness doesn’t come in different ways. The majority of the time people pretend to be something that they are not. It’s a little bit deep, I guess. But we’ve got to write deep songs now and then.
KALTBLUT: It’s a very topical phenomenon and has been in the news a lot lately, too. Especially now that the Facebook whistleblower has leaked reports that the company is aware that many young girls are killing themselves because of Instagram and the unrealistic beauty standards the site amplifies.
Brendan: We’re not categorising girls alone. Boys can be the same way. Boys and girls are claiming to be Instagram models, they’re taking pictures of themselves, and so many people are commenting how gorgeous they are. But these people are editing their photos so much that they don’t even look like themselves. It blows my mind how they seem to leave impressions on so many. And these people are making a living from it as well. It’s a false reality, and it’s kind of a sad state of affairs in this day and age, I think.
KALTBLUT: That’s correct. I wanna talk about the style of your music. I find that there are a lot of different influences from different genres, and I’ve read that you two listen to completely different music, which you then put together in a pot to create your unique style. How does that work? I can imagine it getting quite heated.
Fabio: I think speaking on behalf of myself, now we’ve found that this works the best. We were a band before, and now it’s just me and Brendan. But now I feel Brendan and I are on the same wavelength. We never had a proper conversation about changing our style or trying to make certain music, it just happened. We vibe well together. And because we’re so close now, he can tell me if something is shit straight away, and I’m not going to get offended, and I can do the same to him. There’s a really good work ethic now.
Brendan: Absolutely.
KALTBLUT: And what role has the pandemic played for you musically? Has it shifted your approach to music?
Brendan: It forced us into the fact that we became a tuple which was completely different to anything that we had done in the past. It made us realise that the music we were making was randomly coming together. There hasn’t been one point in the songs that we’ve been making where we’ve even had a confrontation or disagreement as to what should go where. Everything has fallen into place. The best thing that has come out of the pandemic is the fact that we’ve got this set up now that we can make songs.
I’ve previously written all the songs and done a lot of the production myself but having Fabio there as someone I can trust is invaluable as a writer. You want to be able to trust whoever you’ve got around you, especially with something so particular as a song you love.
A lot of writers don’t have that. That, for us as a band, has been huge. And I guess the songs we’ve written, for example, “Sundaze”, which is specifically about lust within the pandemic. I think it’s been a good thing for us to take a step back, see things for what they are, and give you time to write some new songs.
Fabio: Clearly. Embracing change a little bit and proving yourself to show that you can adapt. I think we’ve done that. We’ve always sort of worked remotely anyway. We’d meet up for band practice and to write, but the fact that we knew that we couldn’t meet up changed things a little bit. Brendan’s a great songwriter, and everyone knows that. Whereas, I focus more on the music/ instrumental side. Being able to come up with ideas at home, and then ping them to Brendan so he can structure a soul around it has been seamless. Nothing has held us up at all. It’s been smooth the whole time.
KALTBLUT: You’ve already touched on it, but how come there’s now only the two of you in the band?
Brendan: When the band originally started it was just me and our old guitarist. Then a bassist came on board for a little while. We have had quite a few people come and go, but the music in itself has always been the same. Sam (guitarist) got ill before we went on our India tour, which is why he had to take a step back and decided to make a change. Everything happens for a reason. We still love all the guys that have come and gone but for me, this is the first time I felt comfortable in what Alexis Kings is as a band. There can be too many voices trying to add their value. The importance is to find an equilibrium that works.
KALTBLUT: And what’s next for Alexis Kings? Are you releasing more music?
Brendan: Our next single is called “Cosmo”. The song is about when we were in Amsterdam, on our European tour. I think we were in like the red light district. We were walking and kept seeing some old boys with young girls. It was creeping me out a little bit. I love the place, but this night was particularly weird.
So that was actually where “Cosmo” came from. Wondering who these young girls were and where they came from, how they got here. It’s kind of my song for them in hope that they eventually find a better way.
KALTBLUT: It’s interesting, I find both songs carry a feministic message to some degree, which is cool.
Brendan: It’s actually far from, primarily the new tunes have deeper undertones. Fabio used to give me so much stick about all my songs being about the typical sex, drugs, and rock and roll. They can become obvious lyrics. I have a passion for songwriting and lyrics so I wanted to dive deep with simplicity. Lyrically the industry is in a really bad place. Artists are more worried about making a good pop song than writing a poem or a story. But I think the age of good songwriting will come back again. For these songs, we really wanted to spend time on the story side of the songs, paint the picture in your mind as you listen.
Fabio: When you add depth to lyrics, it extends the song’s longevity. People would listen longer. I don’t know how to describe it, but I would say the other kind of starter song is like fast food, whereas like, you lap it up, bam, you know what it’s about, and that’s it. You get bored of it after a while. Whereas with the songs, you’re always trying to figure out what Brendan’s singing about. Then it’s a more interesting song that people will listen to longer.
Brendan: Fabio always goes on about how you can relate music and songs to a good film. Some songs come and go so quickly. But if you watch a good film, it sticks with you. We want our songs to be a good story. And it’s not just you put it on, listen to it, and it’s a melody. We want people to think about everything going on in a song from the lyrics to the sound.
KALTBLUT: Are you working on an album right now?
Brendan: No, we’re not. We’re not. We live in a time now, as I’m sure you know yourself, where people don’t have the attention span for an album anymore.
Buy/ Stream Alexis Kings’ music here.
Cover photo by Jack Bridgland (@jack_bridgland_studio)
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@alexiskingsmusic
Interview by Johanna Urbancik
