Interview : Rocket Kings on 'Paving the Way'

1) Please introduce us to your latest single 'She's Going To Mars' and your album 'Paving The Way'? 

Dave: Bex is an astronaut!

Bex: On our last album, ‘Everyday Adventures’, there was a song called ‘Space Camp’, which Dave wrote about my visit to NASA’s US Space and Rocket Centre where I participated in an astronaut training programme. The song talked about all the activities that I did on that trip. Whenever we play ‘Space Camp’ live, Dave has always joked about what I will do next after my space training.

Dave: Bex is going to Mars of course.

Bex: Exactly! Dave was really excited when he played this song to us in the studio. He hadn’t recorded a demo of it, which he normally does, so none of us had heard it before. He cleverly wrote the song so that my backing vocals on ‘She’s Going to Mars’ are actually some of the chorus lyrics from the original ‘Space Camp’ song. I also really like that Dave picked a woman as the focus in the lyrics on the final chorus. The ‘Valentina’ he refers to is Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, who, in 1963, became the first woman to fly in space.

Dave: I like putting interesting references into song lyrics.

Bex: Now I want to know what adventures I might get up to on the next album.

Jess: The whole album was fun to record.

David: I took this one more seriously because I actually knew what was going on. The first album was a hobby, but Dave made this one more of a chore… (band laughter: hahahahaha). I really enjoyed it as I really thought about how the drums should sound on this album rather than slightly rushing things on the first album.

2) What is your philosophy or approach to the music you create and play live? 

Jess: Have fun whilst you are doing it.

Dave: I am a big fan of three-minute pop songs with big hooks. Not everything has to be like this, but ‘She’s Going to Mars’ is very much in that style and fits very much into the whole ‘feel’ of how Rocket Kings sound. Some songs end up being rockier than others – we make decisions on the combinations of sounds that we want from the ukes in terms of how noisy or more acoustic we feel the song should be. This one was just asking to be quite rocky.

Bex: This is one of the rockier songs on the album, but it also fits into the band’s unique ukepop sound. David’s drumming is brilliant on this song; we particularly like the drum roll at the end of the song.

Dave: I also think that the drum roll that David plays at the end of the bridge of this song is one of the greatest drum rolls of all time!

3) How did you all come to work together?   

Dave: Separately by car.

Bex: I don’t think that is what the question means!

Dave: Oh I see! This is the origins of the band: This is the way things normally work:

“Form a band. Choose band name. Write songs. Practice lots with band. Book a gig. Play gig.”

There isn’t much that is normal about Rocket Kings. Our journey went something like this:

“Write songs. Record songs. Book a gig. Realise you need to form a band for the gig. One practice with band. Choose band name due to impending gig. Play gig.”

Jess then joined a couple of years after we started and then Yoshiko became our bass player after this album had been recorded. Yoshiko has been amazing. I love how she has put her own spin on the songs.

4)  Is this release quite different or similar to your previous album?

David: It is different and similar. There are more drums in it. Numerically, as I actually set up my tom toms this time, and generally in the way I played as I really put a lot of thought into what I was playing. I even I learnt 3/4 time in order to play ‘Dream Undream’ (the band laughs in the background: they knew he could play 3/4  time but he had a book in his house called something like ‘How to learn to play the drums’ and the pages on drumming in 3/4 time had been printed blank!)

Bex: It was amazing to spend time collaborating on the whole album with the band. A lot of the songs on this album developed in the studio rather than coming in fully formed. When we were practising for our album launch gig, we realised that we had never actually played some of the songs as a band.

5)  How have the artists you've interacted with or the music you love influenced the way you create, release or consume music today? 

Dave: I listen to music all the time and many of the influences accidentally seep into my songwriting but it is hard to pinpoint people that we specifically sound like, partly because my chosen instrument to write on and to play is the ukulele but most of the artists who have influenced me are guitar-based, so the songs sound naturally different to them.

6) If you could perform with any artist, living or dead, who would it be and why? If you could collaborate with another artist, living or dead, who would it be?

Yoshiko: Mr Children… they are a Japanese pop rock band formed in 1989 and are one of the best-selling artists in Japan, having sold over 75 million records.

Jess: Rufus Wainwright. I’d love to do ‘I’m Going to a Town’ whilst sitting on his lap as he played the piano at the Royal Albert Hall.

Dave: I just love playing with this band and to be honest, much as I have many musical ‘heroes’, I’m not sure I’d want them messing with the amazing formula of musicians that we have in Rocket Kings!

7) What is your favourite thing about performing for people in a live environment? Do you prefer festivals or venue-based gigs?

David and Jess (in unison): venues

Bex: I quite like festivals.

Jess: Venues are great as you get people coming along who love your band already and want to hear you play. Festivals are fun as people discover you for the first time.

Bex: And it is a fun day out.

Dave: A day out for drinking and socialising.

Dave: I love playing music with the band wherever we play and it is great that people seem to really enjoy what we do and have as much fun as we have.

Bex: Yes, the adrenaline of a big gig is always exciting, and I also love it when people at gigs sing your songs back to you.

8)  Would you say that the reason you began making music is still the reason that you are still making music today? Please explain.

Jess: I make music because I can’t afford therapy.

Dave: To quote a well-known phrase: ‘Music is life. Life is music.’

9)  Are you also involved with other music projects apart from Rocket Kings?  

Dave: I teach ukulele for a living. I teach in schools, I teach various groups and I teach 1:1. I lead three other bands that gig: a 22-piece band called The Small Strings, a 25ish-piece band called Riverside Jukes and a 30ish-piece band called Get Plucky. Each band is slightly different but all play cover versions. I am very lucky that I get to gig a lot and get to play music all day every day. Bex also plays in The Small Strings. Yoshiko also plays in Get Plucky. Jess also plays solo gigs and has recorded a solo album that is going to be released at some point further down the line. David also plays in another band called The Dead Sea Pirates. We all love playing music as much as we can.

10)  Can you share anything about your plans for the next year or so that fans can look forward to?

Jess: Play gigs.

Dave: We have a couple of festival appearances already confirmed and will be playing some gigs in our hometown too. If anyone else is out there reading this and would like to book us, just shout – we love to play gigs.

David: I’m going to decorate my house and do some wallpapering. Will the fans be excited by that?

You can listen to ‘Paving the Way’ by Rocket Kings here :