Ricky: Hi Sean.

S: How are you?

R: I’m very well yeah. I’m in New York, and I’ve got a really good room, my favorite room in a nice hotel.

S: You’re playing somewhere there Friday or Saturday, right?

R: Yeah, uhhh Saturday I think. I hope so anyway. Otherwise, if I don’t turn up…well. Yeah Saturday.

S: Yeah that could be a problem for the rest of the band if you aren’t there.

R: Yeah well a lot of people are paying us money so it’s wrong not to turn up [Laughs]

S: You know I actually DJ’d with Ricky Haley a few years ago.

R: Oh yeah, from Liars Club.

S: I think he said you and Nick used to DJ.

R: Yeah, I mean, I kind of just stood in the DJ booth so I’d look cool. But I never really DJ’d. Nick DJ’d. We used to have a club called Piggs and Ricky Haley would come over sometimes and he’d DJ. It was good.

S: Does Nick still DJ?

R: I think he’s going to do something on Saturday night after the gig, we’re having a party. But I don’t know any information on that. Yeah, Ricky, I think I burned him some CD’s the other day. But yeah, I dunno. We don’t have that much time. The thing, ya know, everyone in the band is into being in the band still. Which is a good thing, know what I mean? When you go out now, because we’re working all the time - and it’s good and it’s enjoyable - but you go out for a night out you don’t really want to step behind a DJ booth do ya? So not so much now, but sometimes it’s quite cool. Ya know, I think we’ve all got big egos, so ya know, when we go to a party we need to show off. That was a joke, ya know. A joke.

S: [Laughs] Yeah, I figued that. Ya know, given the DJ background and that so many singles from the first album were remixed, what do you think of remixes in general?

R: Uhhh…sometimes they can be brilliant, sometimes they can be shoddy. I like it really. I like it when someone does it, and you hear it without knowing anything about it because it’s a sort of like a compliment. Record companies don’t like it because they don’t get any money for it. I must say, that I don’t like the kind of ones where, ya know, I mean some are alright but where you spend $20,000 to get a remix from someone for Ibiza. I think that’s a bit pointless. But I love it when people just pick up a song and do something with it. It’s a big compliment. There’s loads of people covering our songs, and sometimes it’s a compliment, we really like it and then sometimes we don’t like the person covering it and we get really annoyed. You can’t stop people covering your songs, that’s the thing. We hadn’t thought about it at all when we started being in a band, that anyone could cover your songs.

S: Did you guys like the Lily Allen cover?

R: I think that one’s one of my favorites. It’s so good. The Mark Ronson one, yeah. It’s so good because after I’d heard it a few times, I started fucking up at our gigs and playing, like singing it in her tune. Cause she sings a different tune ya know? And I started just falling into hers, and I thought ‘Oh shit’. Ya know? Maybe that’s good. Besides, I’m going to be singing it with, Mark Ronson is doing this gig in the UK in a few weeks time and I’m going to be going on singing it with him, so that’ll be fun. The thing is, I think I’ve got to learn her version and if I properly learn it there’s no going back from that. I’ll be screwed.

S: You’ll just have to play her version from now on.

R: Yeah. Well see, I’m not a great musician you see, I can’t even learn cover versions of other people’s songs, I can only learn ours. It’s kind of easy with one’s you’ve had a part in writing.

S: I was going to ask you if you guys had any favorite covers you like to throw in at shows.

R: We never really have done that, and I don’t really know why. It’s probably because, well we’ve had a few, but I never really enjoyed playing them. I suppose it’s because, well I’m going to sound like a…well, why not. I’ll sound like a bigot. Because it’s usually people who are trying to bolster up their own lack of songs. And I’ve seen bands before where my favorite song of the set is a cover. It’s not something you want to start off with is it?

S: I’ve been to those shows myself.

R: Yeah, and it’s weird because you come away and say ‘Wasn’t it brilliant when they did that” and then you think ahhh hang on. I know that one, I like it more than their songs.

S: You don’t even remember their original material.

R: Exactly. But I think now we’ve kind of like established that we’ve got some hits of our own. We might start doing some. But yeah, we’ve played a few in our time. We did ‘What Time Is Love’ by the KLF. That was good. We did that, and it was really great because in the UK they do this radio show with Jo Whiley. I like her, she’s kind of, for a mainstream DJ she’s quite cool I think. And she has this thing when you come on you do a session, and you have to do a cover version. And we did ‘What Time Is Love’ but I’d mis-practiced. I didn’t know what we were doing. And I came in and the band had all learned it. And I’m going ‘What the fuck? I’m going to have to rap!’, right? And this is on Radio 1 in front of millions of people right? And I’m rapping, and look, I’m not the best rapper in the world. In fact I’m probably the worst rapper in the world. I sound like, you know that kind of 80’s, white-boy rapping? Halfway through I start laughing, ’cause I’m just thinking I can’t believe I’m in this position. You know? I get that feeling a lot, it’s quite funny. I think that’s why we’re still enjoying it. Because we still, every day are thinking ‘I can’t believe I’m in this position’. It’s like today, I’m in New York and I’m walking down the street going to my favorite diner, right? And then I suddenly thought ‘Shit man, I’ve got a favorite diner in New York!’ That’s pretty cool in my head, know what I mean? And also I’ve got a dodgy ankle right, because I fell over in Austin last week, and so I’m like limpin and I thought ‘It looks like I’ve got some kind of cool walk going on!’ So I started thinking it was quite funny.

S: Wait, so you fell down on stage in Austin?

R: Yeah yeah, it was like, I’m always falling over. But I think I was just enthused. We put ourselves into it quite a lot. Which is a good thing. I’ve never wanted to be in one of those bands where the gig is like a warmup to everything after the tour. You see that a lot in bands. Know what I mean? For us, the gig is it, the gig is what everything is geared towards. All the flights, all the interviews, all the whatever…even the writing of the songs and recording. It’s all pointing toward the gig. And then you see these bands at festivals and you see a lot of them, and it’s almost like the gig is just the beforehand to all the drug-taking and shaggin’. Know what I mean?

S: Yeah [haha] that sounds about right.

R: Well, and you know, drug-taking and shaggin isn’t that hard.

S: You shouldn’t have to practice at those.

R: Nah, anyone can do it. [Laughs]

S: Speaking of festivals, you guys did Coachella right?

R: Yeah, it was hot. I really enjoyed it, but it was just too hot so I couldn’t really take it. I mean, I really enjoyed it, I mean, I think we played badly. But that didn’t really matter because we did a good gig. We aren’t one of those bands, I mean other bands…I mean the other day I saw the Arctic Monkeys and they’re really fucking tight. It’s amazing. You see other bands but they’re really tight. I think we’re really a bit looser. But I think, both have their merits. A band that’s a bit more, I mean we’re not…wait, I’m kind of slagging us off now aren’t I? But I think at times it can be good to be a bit looser.

S: Yeah you’re being a bit self-deprecating there.

R: Well it’s a positive thing, I think, to walk on stage and not know where you’re going. It’s not going to sound like the record, that’s what I’m saying.

S: More spontaneous.

R: A little yeah. But in the same respect, I’m not putting down the Arctic Monkeys for being fucking on it. Oh, oh, I’m always getting into these kind of traps.

S: [Laughs] I promise not to misquote.

R: [Laughs] So yeah, that’s the deal with that. Coachella though, it was weird because it’s not often you get those kind of people backstage, your Cameron Diaz’s and so on.

S: Yeah, Coachella has become a big celebrity trap.

R: Yeah, it was kind of, I kind of enjoyed it. You never get bored of seeing celebrities. I like it. I think the day that, you know, I see Courtney Love and I don’t have like, a little giggle, that’ll be the day I’ve kind of lost my starry-eyed uhh….

S: Innocence.

R: Yeah exactly, and whatever I mean, it’s like the day being in New York is boring is the day I should give up or anyone else should. I still find it quite, really quite exciting travelling around the world.

S: Did you see any bands at Coachella that you were impressed by?

R: No, I just sat in the air-conditioned caravan all day! Haha. Well, did I see any bands that impressed me? No no…well this is going to sound really bad right? When I go to these festivals I very rarely watch bands, right? Before we go on, I can’t really watch anyone because I get really nervous, seeing the crowd and that. And if someone’s done really well I think ‘Fucking hell, that’s to beat’ and if someone’s done really badly I think ‘Fucking hell, they didn’t get received very well’ so I don’t really watch things before we go on and now that we’ve gotten bigger we go on later and later and I’m just trying to see fucking anything. So yeah I did check some stuff out after we’ve gone on but no, no one really impressed me that much.

S: Festivals are hard because the sound is never that good either.

R: Yeah, the sound is bad and it’s blurting all over the place. Ya know what I mean? But I think festivals are more about enjoying being at the festival rather than thinking you’re going to get the most sonically brilliant experience of your life, know what I mean? And playing them it’s hard to get into it because there’s that wandering around a bit drunk, but thinking about doing a gig, ya know?

S: Well and it’s probably harder for you because you really get interactive at shows, jumping into the crowd and so on.

R: Well, I dunno. I enjoy all sorts of shows. I enjoy really big shows. I enjoy big shows and festivals when it’s not your audience because you kind of have to work harder. They aren’t going to scream all the words and jump up and down everytime, you kind of have got to make them do that.

S: You have to earn it.

R: Yeah. And I perfer that. I mean, this might sound weird, but the bigger we got the more and more fans we got and you kind of get a bit complacent about it and you think ‘Oh they’ll enjoy it’, whatever. So you’ve kind of got to, this is why we wanted to write some new songs last week. We went home and we wrote some new songs. And we uhh, it’s not because, I mean we just kind of want to constantly inject life into everything we do. Know what I mean? Not get complacent and not get bored ourselves and not let the audience get bored. I mean you see bands touring albums for 2 years. That’s just ridiculous. We did that with the first record and by the end of the tour we were playing hour-and-a-half sets and our album was only like 45 minutes long. You’re playing shitty B-sides, you’re playing the ‘Heard it Through the Grapevine’ cover [laughs] you get what I’m saying? So we want to keep injecting the good stuff in there.

S: Keeping it fresh.

R: Yeah.

S: Well thank you very much for your time, Ricky.

This has happened before and everytime the doctors have been unable to pin down the cause. In the past it has been written off as nervous exhaustion, but this time the doctors think there might be something else and they’re trying to figure it out. He has been moved to another hospital and today underwent exploratory surgery.

Unfortunately all this means we are left with no option but to cancel our North American tour. We are deeply sorry to anyone who was planning to come and see us, we’d been looking forward to this one for awhile and its a damn shame this had to happen when it did. Hopefully the doctors can figure out what is going wrong this time so Joel can make a full recovery.
Our thoughts are with his family.

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