| | | |  | The road from the squeaky-clean world of the Barbershop quartet to the gravel-throated, primal howl of the blues is perhaps one less travelled, but it’s what’s led scarily-young Auckland, New Zealand five-piece THE CHECKS to the precipice of success in...
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| Interview | Access All Areas.net.au: Congratulations on your debut album Hunting Whales. It has been a huge success for you so far. What do you contribute this too?
The Checks (Sven): Oh geez, I don’t know. I haven’t really thought about it. I think it’s a nice body of work you know. It’s got a lot of variation on it and it’s just some interesting music.
Access All Areas.net.au: Has the title pissed anybody off yet?
The Checks (Sven): Yes, we have had people that were totally offended. We thought of it metaphorically. We thought that it the title was so blatant that it would be obvious that it’s metaphorical. (Laughs) Of course some people are going to take shit the wrong way, but it’s up to them about what they think. It’s a title for a body of work, not an approach.
Access All Areas.net.au: Not too many bands can list Noel Gallagher (Oasis), and Michael Stipe (REM) as fans! Did this create any pressure when writing the record?
The Checks (Sven): (Laughs) No, we didn’t really think about it much. Sometimes I write something and think; yeah Noel Gallagher might like this (laughs). But most of our songs are old and written before we knew anything about them liking us.
Access All Areas.net.au: You have just come off an Australian tour with Muse. How did that go?
The Checks (Sven): It was amazing. They are a massive band in the context of the world at the moment. They are proper stadium rock and they write their music that way. There was like 10,000 people at shows and it was amazing to play to so many people.
Access All Areas.net.au: You have been to Australia four times this year! Are you sick of us yet?
The Checks (Sven): Na man, it’s a very relaxing country. They are very beautiful people hey! I mean, there’s something in the water or something but you have so many good-looking people. We enjoy it every time we come across.
Access All Areas.net.au: You played with Towers Of London back in 2005! That would have been fun?
The Checks (Sven): They were hilarious. They are proper geezer’s, like filthy English Guns and Roses sort of vibe. I remember we were walking to get some dinner before the show, and we walked past them and they sort of fell out of their massive tour bus, and there was like these blonde chicks everywhere. They had smoke pouring out of their van. It was hilarious.
Access All Areas.net.au: Why did you guys hold off on signing a record-deal for so long?
The Checks (Sven): We just wanted to make sure that the deal we signed was right. We got a lot of offers, but we just wanted to be comfortable with the people we worked with so they could let us grow as a band as such. Without thrusting any pressure on us.
Access All Areas.net.au: What advice would you give a fellow young band in a similar situation to what you found yourselves in?
The Checks (Sven): You have to be totally aware that people are not always going to follow up on what they promise you. It’s because they are trying desperately to charm you so they promise what they cannot deliver. You see that these people are full of shit, but don’t get angry at them. You understand after a while that that’s just their job and it’s all a part of it.
Access All Areas.net.au: Thanks for the chat Sven. It’s been a pleasure speaking to you.
The Checks (Sven): No worries man, it was cool.
Interview by Adin Constan |
| Biography | The road from the squeaky-clean world of the Barbershop quartet to the gravel-throated, primal howl of the blues is perhaps one less travelled, but it’s what’s led scarily-young Auckland, New Zealand five-piece THE CHECKS to the precipice of success in 2007.
Since forming at the grand age of fifteen (they all hover between nineteen and twenty now), the band have had a meteoric rise in their native New Zealand, their bluesy, age-defying garage rock racket winning them fans as illustrious as REM’s Michael Stipe and bagging them a 2005 New Zealand Music Award after just one 7 inch single release.
When NME editor Conor McNicholas, on holiday in Auckland, spotted a venue queue snaking round the block for a band he’d never heard of he decided to see what all the fuss was about. Suitably wowed by the band’s now-legendary live show, he offered The Checks a spot on the 2005 NME New Music tour, giving them the chance they craved… to have their music heard outside their native land.
Having relocated to the UK, The Checks started to write their debut album ‘Hunting Whales’ which, with much anticipation, will see release next month.
With accolades following them wherever they go the sky is now the limit for The Checks; still frightfully young and already one of the hottest live bands around you’d better be sure to watch the crowd erupt like a volcano as The Checks check in to HOMEBAKE to deliver a set of swirling, swampin-blues and rock! |
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