The Chapman Family Interview: SXSW 2010

Aside from being nervous about obtaining their American visa and fending off hate mail from people in Liverpool because they are named after John Lennon's assassin, the Chapman Family are just back from playing live in Italy and are holed up in a Newcastle studio recording their self-titled debut album. The post-punk lads are one of last year's NME Radar stars and described by NME as making "music that can change your life." Spinner caught up with singer Kingsley on the eve of his American embassy immigration interview, when he hoped none of his answers would stop him boarding a plane for four shows at SXSW 2010.

Describe your sound in your own words.

I always get told off by other members of the band for not describing us right. Noisy. Kind of disaffected. Post-apocalyptic, with moments of melody!

How did your band form?

It was after me and guitarist Paul going to indie clubs where we live in the North of England, and getting very tired and bored of seeing the same old bands week after week. Not necessarily the same bands, but the same sounding bands. Everyone was trying to ape the Libertines and everyone wanted to be Pete Doherty. We were just sick of watching that, and thinking we could do better. We wanted to create something that was exciting for us to play and hopefully exciting for people to watch, instead of just ram-shackling through songs about getting drunk in a nightclub.


What are your musical influences?

Sonic Youth, Joy Division, the Cure, they're the usual ones -- I bet every band has put that! A Place to Bury Strangers I love. Generally things that are noisy and aggressive, but from time to time have an element of romance. As far as songwriters go, David Bowie and Adam Green.

How did you come up with your band name?

If we're going to try and get our visa, I'm not sure I should answer this! I find it really difficult to come up with band names. I really like '70s band names like the Osmonds, the Jacksons -- family band names, even though we're not strictly speaking related -- I thought it would be nice to have a family band name. It's better than a statement about what we actually sound like. There's no mystery to a band called Extreme Noise Terror. You know exactly what you're going to get from that band. I don't want people to come with any preconceptions. The Chapman bit is from the bloke who shot John Lennon -- in interviews early doors we used to pretend we were his b------ offspring -- I got a few relatively threatening messages from bands in Liverpool. It was just a joke ...

What's your biggest vice?

As a band, just trying not to get drunk before going on stage.

What's in your festival survival kit?

An inflatable bed is pretty much a given. You always think you don't really need it when you go to festivals, maybe you're a bit of a lightweight. But no, it's a necessity. Also get to festival early and getting a decent camping spot. You want to be near the gates, near the action. You don't want to be traipsing around the camp in the middle of the night. For SXSW, I might pack an Obama t-shirt. The last time I went to America it was Disneyland with my mum, so maybe a Mickey Mouse t-shirt.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Jet out of 'Gladiators.' We're from Stockton, and she's from a place called Billingham, only about a mile away. She was probably the first local-ish person I saw on television. In her own way she was pretty fit in both senses of the word. She was good on 'Hang Tough!'

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I think I possibly have too many of them. Frank Sinatra, he's pretty cool, and '70s Elvis. I don't like the stuff that everyone else thinks is really good. I like it when he's fat and in his nudey suit doing 'Suspicious Minds' and handing scarves out to the front row and kissing them. He was a proper showman. I like his bellies and his cheeseburgers and his suits. As a last chapter of your life you can't fault playing in Las Vegas dressed in sequins.

Beatles or Stones?

It's actually the Beatles, even though I don't like either group. I genuinely hate how bands ape on about how influential the Beatles are. I understand that they were good, I understand that they were popular, I just don't like them. But as far as the Rolling Stones are concerned, they appear to have forgotten how to write a song since 'Exile' in '71 or something. I don't understand how they tour the world continually releasing a live set every two years. At least David Bowie, a contemporary of theirs tries. It doesn't always work, but at least he tries doing something new and different.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Ha! I'm not sure what I can say. I don't want to get us thrown out of SXSW like we were thrown out of Pukkelpop. I didn't do anything! I was being a good boy. Our guitarist and our bass player, just a bit too much vodka, they started dismantling various bits out of the dressing room, one of them ended up getting stitches in his hand -- it just wasn't very pretty. We got told off by various Belgians in the morning.