O. Children, the band who rose from the ashes of the departed Bono Must Die are gearing up to become a great addition to British music with the velocity of a shooting star. Formed in 2008, they are preparing to propel themselves into the public’s conscience as one of the most exciting bands not only this year but since the Arctic Monkeys emergence with ‘Fake Tales of San Francisco’ back in early 2005.
Following last Summer’s debut single ‘Dead Disco Dancer’, it’s obvious to see that their gestation period is bearing great fruit. ‘Ruins’, produced by Jas Shaw of Simian Mobile Disco is an assured stride toward the big league and after a tentitive but great debut, the resulting leap in confidence, sound and progression is shocking.
The brooding Joy Division meets the Adams Family sthick has been replaced with a bombastic gothic disco number that doesn’t have a discernable chorus, makes you involuntarily furrow your brow, heaps on the ansgt ridden bluster with very little subtlety with Tobi O Kandi’s warm baritone warning that “The ruins are no place for you to play, they’ll kill you if you come back here again”. ‘Ruins’ sounds strangely reminiscent of preposterous 80’s goth rockers The Mission with the shimmering guitar sound of shoegaze legends Ride….these are good things.
With most current music prefixed with the word 80s these days, it’s warming to see that not everyone shares the same unfortunate record collection as La Roux and bands are prepared to be influenced by less hip sounds preferring to look for something slightly left of centre and reinterpret it making something sounding current and familiar at the same time.
If it takes a scraggy bunch of kids barely out of their teens to teach people how music sounded pretty much before they were even born, then so be it. The fact that O.Children have had the audacity to throw out an anthem as titanic as this so early in their career, let along pull it off with an effortless shrug can only be commended.
‘Ruins’ is released on April 19th on Deadly Recordings. The band will be performing live at the single’s launch at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen on Thursday 22nd April with support from Megaphonic Thrift.
O. Children – Ruins
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The band take to the road in May so we thought we’d ask them about their attitude to touring and just how to survive life on the road for a special ‘Live Talking’ interview.
Are you a band that records to tour, or that tours to record? Or do you not see the two as separate parts of what you do?
I guess at the moment we’re recording to tour, not necessarily out of choice, it just seems to have happened that way. We haven’t actually been on a real tour yet. For the last few months we’ve been in Kent recording the album and we’ll be touring after it’s finished.
Do you feel you translate well as a live act, perhaps better than on record, or have live shows been a bigger learning process than writing/recording?
We definitely come into our own as a live act. There is a lot of energy in our live show and we try to convey that on record as well. We have evolved our live sound a lot since the early days of O. Children and we are going to try and emulate that on our new album.
To date, what show stands out in your memory as the best you’ve played?
We played at Koko and that has so far been the best experience we’ve had. Everything just went so smoothly. The sound. The lights the crowd. It was all perfect. It made us realise how to do it properly. Hopefully a taste of things to come.
And what about the worst show? By yourselves… is there a venue/town you’ll happily never return to?
The worst show has to be Camden Barfly in late 2008. It was probably our 3rd or 4th show and all these industry people came down to watch us. Everything just fell apart. But we learnt from it. So when we ever play that venue it will be a personal vendetta. We will set that place on fire.
Say you’ve the budget to put on your ultimate four-band bill, featuring yourselves – who plays and in what order? No bringing anyone back from the dead, here, but defunct bands can count.
My Bloody Valentine. Queens of The Stoneage. Sonic Youth. and Boris.
How does the band keep itself entertained on the road? Any bus games you break out for motorway gridlock?
We tell good stories. Made up jokes. I spy. The usual.
What tips would you give a new other new bands about to embark on their first ‘proper’ tour?
We’ve haven’t done it yet. But we asked for wine and brie on our rider. Do that.
Words by Chris Todd
