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saying ‘How can we support UK rock music?’” And, as Thompson points out, with a remit to
attract younger audiences, the Radio 1 management likes the demographic that rock delivers. Snape continues: “There’s a shift in attitude in
the press as well. One of the key titles for Young Guns was Front – and the editor has now moved over to FHM. So now you’re starting to see the lads’ mags – FHM, Loaded, Zoo, Nuts, etc – paying attention to rock bands. They all supported Young Guns, not just with reviews but with features. There’s an understanding that their readers don’t just listen to Noel Gallagher.” So, don’t worry about rock. Don’t feel sorry for
rock. These guys certainly aren’t feeling sorry for themselves, or concerned about the future. They all use words like ‘graft’, ‘foundations’ and
‘patience’ and they place huge importance on the live circuit; connecting with an audience which, if treated properly, can become an evangelical army. But they actually don’t want an easier route to
the top or into the mainstream. They’re perfectly content with the support they get from all quarters, and more than happy to prove themselves – for their acts to earn their stripes. It’s the rock way. They’re also happy to be doing it for themselves,
they had done the Kerrang! tour playing in front of 2,000–3,000 people a night. “They were ready for that main stage because of
the stuff we’d done over the previous couple of years; they were deserving of that sort of crowd and that sort of media attention – and they could pull it off. “That’s what rock bands do and what they’ve
been doing for the last 20 or 30 years. It’s about working at grass roots, that’s what rock bands are and that’s what rock bands do. It’s what makes them rock bands and it’s why people are passionate about them.” For Thompson at PIAS, too, it’s about belief and
patience: “I think we enter a deal with a rock act with a degree of reality. It’s not like an indie band where you can become flavour of the month, and you’re suddenly selling hundreds of thousands of records and you find yourself in a stratosphere that no one’s prepared for. And then the inevitable drop off comes. “With rock, we understand that it’s quite a
young audience, they’re not necessarily going to rush out and buy music. It can take a long time. With Young Guns, on the first album, we wanted to get to between 20,000–30,000 in order to give us a platform for the next one. It was a bit of a slog, but we got there. And the point is we’re all prepared to slog: us, the management, the band, Sean and his team, because that’s how it is with rock.” There’s certainly no resentment about it. None
“Part of the problem is that sometimes people see the terms ‘rock’ and ‘indie’ as interchangeable, whereas actually some very different rules apply” PETER THOMPSON, PIAS
of them mind putting the graft in. Possibly because they enjoy it so much. And it doesn’t sour their view of, or relationships with, the mainstream bastions, that take their own sweet time to get onboard. For Radio 1, they have nothing but praise – and
James points out the part the station played in one of the band’s pivotal moments: “At Reading, they went straight from the main stage to the Radio 1 Introducing area and did a Live Lounge. That was the first time we started getting text messages from people saying ‘We heard your little band on the radio’. Well maybe they’re not so little anymore…” Suggestions that maybe other bands in other
genres wouldn’t have to take such a circuitous and arduous route into the arms of the nation’s favourite are rebutted – or at least not used as a cue for an anti-radio rant. Snape says: “Pop and urban get love at radio, but I think in the last five years rock is the next choice after that – at Radio 1, anyway.” Goulding adds: “I sat in on a Radio 1 discussion
panel, with Dan Carter and various magazine editors and they were proactive, they were basically
TOP RIGHT Read all about it Frontmagazine coverage has led to exposure for the band, which is being repeated across a range of lads’ mags
taking the indie option – even if it’s actually the only option. For whilst some of the genre’s standard bearers are being snapped up by the majors, there isn’t what you would call a feeding frenzy. James reflects: “Had we released the first Young
Guns record on a major label, I don’t even think there’d have been a second one. I know that sounds dramatic, but they just don’t give you the time to develop, or the support you need to develop.” As it is, Bones should get a US release later this
year, the band have just signed a publishing deal with BMG Chrysalis, they’re heading off on a European tour – with eight UK dates as part of the Vans Off The Wall Music Nights set for October – and a third album looks set for 2013. Another rock band slogging their way to the top – and showing considerable signs of life.
DISCOGRAPHY ALL OUR KINGS ARE DEAD : 2010 / UK ALBUMS CHART: 43 / UK ROCK CHART: 3 BONES : 2012 / UK ALBUMS CHART: 19 / UK ROCK CHART: 2
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