WE THE KINGS

 

We catch up with Travis & Hunter from We The Kings to chat about the recent UK tour with You Me At Six, their new album 'Smile Kid' and the joys of English football.

 

VLS:  The last time we spoke to you was back in May, ahead of your first UK headline tour. How did you the tour go?

Hunter: It went awesome, we sold it out. It was smaller venues, but they were packed full of kids

Travis:  We got really lucky because the last time we were here, we had really good support. We had Hey Monday and Out Of Sight. Both those bands are really cool so we lucked out.

VLS:  You played to a sold out Slam Dunk crowd as well?

Travis:  Slam Dunk is definitely our favourite festival. Like, we do a bunch of festivals in the States but Slam Dunk is so crazy; the parties afterwards are insane and there's so many good bands in one show.

VLS: This time round our out with You Me At Six and Forever The Sickest Kids, playing to sold out Academies! How was the tour been going so far?

Hunter: It's awesome, they show's have been great.  I mean You Me At Six were very, very nice to bring us out. Obviously we've been coming over here but we got to tour with them last Warped Tour as well, so we've got to develop a really good bond with them.

Travis:  These venues are insanely big. I mean like, even the venues in the States don't look this nice. Like, you know how this looks like an opera house or something? There are probably not many venues that are like that in the states.  House of Blues, maybe, but even those are really small and compact. These are just massive!

VLS: Reading interview online, both with you and with other bands, it seems you have developed a bit of a reputation for being tour pranksters. Any recent stories you'd like to share?

Travis: Well, if you know Cobra Starship then we threw 150 frozen hot dogs at Gabe whilst he was on stage, playing their last song on the last day of one of the tours we did with them. We've lit somebody on fire. We painted a van - the whole van, the rims the tires the windows, everything - we painted it like a browney-green. It had a lime green stripe all the way down it. We've poured flour on the stage and ruined all a band's the equipment...

VLS: Are you ever worried that this could all come back to haunt you one day?

Travis:  It has!

Hunter:  It definitely has. We'll be on stage and there's people doing stuff to us, but it's just all fun and games.

Travis:  I think the fans like it too because it's just a little different. They're not used to crazy things happening on stage.

VLS:  You released your sophomore album, 'Smile Kid' here on March 8^th, but it's been out in the States for about three months now. How have the fans back home reacted?

Hunter:  Really, really well.

Travis:  It's been insane. You know, our first record took a little while to get going and really jumpstart and this record is already doing better than the first record which is cool to see. It's actually bringing in new fans who are buying the first record and vice versa. We've been really fortunate to be a band who puts out a second record; a lot of bands unfortunately don't even get to that point so, we're just very lucky to be where we're at.

VLS: Did you feel any pressure going into the studio to record this album, given the success of your first?

Hunter:  I don't think so, I mean we just like what we do and I think we do a pretty good job at it. We're pretty confident about it.

Travis:  It was one of those things where...it wasn't "Hey, you guys need to make a record right now". We just had the material ready for a new record so we just went in a recorded it. We really decided just to go in there having everything ready to go. The worst thing is being told that you need to write a record because people didn't like your first record.  We had it really easy

VLS: How would you say your sound and style has progressed on this record?

Travis:  I've always heard that it's your third record that really sets you apart from everybody else and really says "this is We The Kings", so our second record is cool because there's song like 'Skyway Avenue 2.0' and 'Check Yes 2.0'; all those songs that people feel in love with kind of done in a new light. Then there are some songs that we took a chance with, which we really liked and were influenced by different bands. Then it has everything in between. So it's a little more of a dynamic record and I think that's why people really like it.

VLS: What tracks would you say you're personally the most proud of?

Hunter:  There's a lot. We always say that tracks on a record are kind of like when people have kids, so you can't really have a favourite. I like at least one thing about every song on the record.

Travis: The first song that we really did for the record was called 'Heaven Can Wait' so we have an emotional attachment to that, cause that's what really started our second record. Then there's another song called 'We'll Be A Dream' and it has Demi Lovato on it. She has a beautiful voice. Like Hunter said, every track means something to us. Everything was really thought out.

VLS: How did that collaboration with Demi Lovato come about?

Travis:  We've been friends with her for a really long time. I wrote a song that I thought would sound really cool with a female vocal so I just called her and asked her if she wanted to do it. She was already a fan of the band anyway, so it was pretty easy. She got really excited, we did the song and it came out sounding completely amazing.

VLS: Aside from the shows, what things do you enjoy about the UK?

Hunter - I like football a lot; we all like football a lot, so when we come over here we buy a whole bunch of jerseys. We're going to try and go to an Arsenal game when we're in London. 

VLS: Is that your team of choice?

Travis: We're more a fan of the sport...I mean over here it's crazy! If you pick a team you have to like kill for them and stuff! Today I'm wearing a Scotland top and I was told I'd be OK with that!

VLS: Always best to be neutral!

Travis: I like coming over here because it's a completely different culture than America. I like the accents as well; I think everybody's accents are so cool...

Hunter: ...and there are really good looking girls everywhere! I walked around the street today and I was like "woah!" 

Travis: It's really funny because when we start talking everyone just like "Oh my God, you're accent is so sexy" and then they started calling us 'fit' and we didn't really know what that was right away. Then we found out it was good looking so we were stoked.

Hunter: Yeah, some girl was making fun of me today 'cause she was like "Hi" and I was like "Howdy" and she was like "that's so American" and I was like "that's where I'm from, what did you expect?!'

VLS: Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Hunter: Thank you to everyone who comes out to the shows and supports our band!

Travis: Yeah, and if they buy our new record I will give them a personal hug!

 

--Lucy