Jake Longhurst
Impact’s Jake Longhurst chatted to Jack Wilson (vocals, guitars) of Kid Kapichi, about their new album ‘Here’s What You Could Have Won’. They discussed its reception and also how it compares to previous albums. The interview also explores touring and playing live, especially in regards to Jack’s experience as the artist and Jake’s as a member of the audience.
For an interview with a member of a band, the interview with Jack Wilson that I led in late January started with a rather unmusical theme. As the band (and specifically Jack) are known to be Arsenal fans, who are flying clear at the top of the Premier League table, we chatted first about how excited he was to see his team soaring at the pinnacle of club football (and as a fan of Manchester United I was a little gutted about the more recent game between the teams, but still glad we’ve beaten them this season).
Then moving quite swiftly onto more musical matters, I asked Jack about the reception of the group’s new album ‘Here’s What You Could Have Won’. Having talked to them previously for The Mic Magazine just before the release of the album, it was very interesting to compare the thoughts of the band pre-album release to now. Jack was very vocal about how much he loved the album, and did go as far as to say “we knew it would be well-received”, albeit clarifying he did not want to seem too arrogant at all. Frankly, an album this good deserves a little bit of arrogance, and I can imagine the amount of blood sweat and tears that went into it more than justify the ego boost the band may have had. Obviously, a band is nothing without its fans, and Kid Kapichi is no different, so Jack was keen to say how pleased he was that “everyone liked it as much as [the band] did”, which has been very easy to see. Plenty of people (myself included) have put the album into the upper echelons of their end of year album lists, from individuals to established alternative magazines.
Each show is imbued with Kid Kapichi’s trademark raucous energy and punk aggression
We talked about a few of the other particularly well-received albums in the same kind of scene, from Ithaca to Nova Twins, and how wonderful it was to see these bands, along with Kid Kapichi, gaining serious recognition outside of their home crowds and their immediate family and friends. This led us down the road of live performances, to the times I’ve seen Kid Kapichi most recently, which includes their performances at 2000Trees festival, Reading Festival, and at Rough Trade in Nottingham to celebrate the release of the album. All three were phenomenal shows, with different setlists each time and different friends with me, from punk lovers with me at Trees to my younger brother at Reading (first time listener, who really enjoyed the band!) and then some friends from Nottingham at Rough Trade. Each show is imbued with Kid Kapichi’s trademark raucous energy and punk aggression, making every gig a thrill.
The plan is currently to play the entire second album at every show, which Jack is over the moon about, and can’t wait to see the crowd’s reaction. The band were, at first, gutted to not be able to do a proper tour in September/October time to celebrate the release of the album, but having given their fans this much time to learn the words and really get into the album may well come as an enormous win for the tour, causing somehow even more riotous, joyous evenings on tour. To put it into Jack’s own words “this is the second birth of the album… it’s the reward now”.
Speaking again about live shows, I asked Jack about his favourite songs on the album and he instantly came out first with Smash The Gaff, which is “really, really really fun to play live” and “does what it says on the tin”. I’ll happily confirm that this is entirely the case, it goes off live! Jack also had two other favourites, in New England and Rob The Supermarket. Both are excellent songs, and his two favourites on the album, although that isn’t meant in a reductive manner by any means – “they’re both also really fun to play live”. However, part of his love of the songs is about the lyricism and how satisfied he is with how the band conveyed the message they intended to. Both songs are pointedly anti-establishment in one way or another and are thoroughly scathing lyrically. To be able to look back now, a year after the release of New England as a single, and still feel so content with how it turned out, is absolutely a measure of success to the song and the band. The song is also incredibly catchy too, having been an instant hit with one of my friend’s mums!
‘TTNY’ was recorded in a much less impressive way, being done in basements and dingy rooms
On the theme of being happy with how something has turned out, Jack did say that he won’t listen to his own stuff too often but when he does it’s mostly the new album, which is truly a hallmark of success if you can enjoy your own music after hearing it this much! I then reiterated my previous question, but about their first album ‘This Time Next Year’, to hear his favourites off of that, and also to get his opinion on the differences between the two. We first trod the line of the differences between each album, specifically in their sound and the way they were recorded, as ‘TTNY’ was recorded in a much less impressive way, being done in basements and dingy rooms. This sound is arguably a quintessential part of the album, and fits the themes debated within it to perfection, which is countered by the more upmarket sound and production on ‘HWYCHW’ that allows the band to widen their scope and style of music whilst still keeping within the Kid Kapichi sound.
Taking a detour away from the sounds of each album and the band’s stylistic tendencies, we talked his favourite songs off of album one. First out the gate was Working Man’s Town, a song that is undeniably still a fan favourite at each and every live show. Next up was Fomo Sapiens closely followed by Sardines and Hope’s A Never Ending Funeral, which I’m an enormous fan of. Jack did mention that whilst he loves playing the slower songs like Hope’s A Never Ending Funeral and Never Really Had You off of the new album, George doesn’t mind either way but Ben and Eddie (guitar and bass respectively) prefer to go straight through with the more intense tracks, so the band may decide to only bring one of the ballads on tour with them.
Speaking of the ballads, I love a band who can mix it up on an album whilst still keeping a recognisable sound and that is exactly what Kid Kapichi have done here. This is apparently a very conscious decision from the band’s perspective, particularly from Jack and Ben’s side. Growing up, they loved to listen to The Libertines, who have a penchant for doing similarly and keeping to a sound whilst mixing up the genre influences across an album. This adds a sense of excitement to every new song in my humble opinion, as you don’t ever quite know what you’ll get next (note the drastic change from New England to Party at No.10) which makes an album far more engaging (mostly, some bands like Slayer and particularly AC/DC did make incredible careers out of a tendency to stick with what they were used to).
And for fans of the band who might be interested in the band’s upcoming output, rest assured that they’re writing as often as they can! Up until the tour began, they’ve been writing almost non-stop, 5 days on and 2 days off as it were. There is currently not much of a plan for any features, although Jack did say he can clearly envision one feature on the next batch of songs they’ve written, so don’t lose focus or you might miss the next New England!
And with that, my conversation with the wonderful Jack Wilson was over as quickly as it had begun. Providing hopefully some nice new snippets of information for all you Kid Kapichi fans, as well as some great song recommendations for those of you who don’t know the band but want to try them out.
Jake Longhurst
Featured Image courtesy of SJM Concerts PR. Permission to use granted to Impact. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 1, 2, and 3 courtesy of @kidkapichi via Instagram.com. No changes were made to these images.
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