Playing Out interview...

Playing Out: So what’s the deal with the name AKEAL? Akeal: It’s related to ‘The last battle of Trafalgar’, quite an historical event… Playing Out: We thought it might have been an acronym of all your names… Akeal: (Laughter) We are struggling to make sense of it, we’ve run out of good stories it can be pretty much anything you want but we prefer the battle of Trafalgar. Playing Out: What’s your background, who are you? Akeal: We are ordinary lads who like to play music that we like; we don’t try anything harder or cleverer than that. It’s all for our own pleasure and we hope that people like it along the way, they seem too! We do what we do; we are not trying to pigeonhole ourselves. We are what we are. Playing Out: Who are your fans? Akeal: People including family and friends genuinely like our music and appreciate what we do, as soon as we get our friends down to have a listen, they give our CD to their friends and so forth, we’ve been knocking out some free CDs to drum up some support and the feedback has been great, everyone has been telling us that there are tunes they can’t stop listening to, some songs that they beg us to dedicate to them when we go on out and play. Akeal: So it’s not just our immediate friends and family but the net gets wider and wider and we rely on people opinions of what we do because it’s quite hard when you are in a band to get caught in up it and you don’t know what the song sounds like from the outside, you know how to play it, how it started and where it’s got to so we use peoples opinions and they are honest with us. Playing Out: How do feel about this tour? Akeal: We are unsigned without any sort of representation and pretty much when you are in that situation; we have to have ordinary day jobs just like everyone else. It’s almost like we’ve gone from zero to 100 miles an hour, we’ve never played these kind of gigs before, and now we are playing Leeds academy so, these gigs are a fundraiser for us, and if the tickets sell well it will pay for our tour, which is not an inexpensive thing to do so we are incredibly grateful. This is an incredible opportunity and it’s probably almost unheard of that someone in our situation gets to do something, of this calibre, and we are going to make the most of it. We have gone from standing to start, and every opportunity that comes our way is a result of our hard work. Playing Out: Are you nervous about the prospect of playing the larger venues? Akeal: I think as a band, we are more than ready, we practise 3 times a week, we are a tight band, and best friends and we treat it like a second job. It possesses about 90 percent of our awaking thoughts, and we talk about it 4 or 5 times a day! This (The Assembly) is an amazing venue and they’ll do a nice job on the sound and they’ll recreate it to how it sounds in our heads - we are not always able to achieve that at small gigs. Playing Out: It’s showing off! Akeal: Yeah that’s a good way of putting it, we don’t sit at home listening to unsigned bands we listen to proper big bands and that’s how we want to sound like, and we’ve been put in a position now where we want that big, big sound that we listen to. Playing Out: Do you write your own songs together? Akeal: We’ll have an idea in the studio and then work on it, we find a rift or a hook and open it out, and it doesn’t really matter where it comes from. Playing Out: What’s you main inspiration for that, music wise? Akeal: Wide and varied, between us we must literally have tens of thousands of albums. We’ll take away a sound we like and add our individuality to it. Playing Out: How did you meet? Was it at college? Akeal: We were reunited at college where I met Shaun, at rehearsals I used to hear him scratching on the door! Playing Out: If you were to split up what do you think would be the reason? (tongue in cheek) Akeal: Lugging gear around! We know we are never going to be in a better band, the four of us are really close and we can write a song in about 7 minutes. We bang it out and we like where the fuck did that come from? Sometimes it’s a little bit arduous we know what we are looking for but we can’t find it, I think every band goes through that, but at the moment we are ‘shitting songs’, we are very motivated but I think this will be the last band we are ever in. Playing Out: Have you got any vices as a band? Akeal: Lets just say we are all going to hell! Playing Out: Where did you get you haircut? Akeal: I get my haircut next door to where I live. Playing Out: Where do you go out in Leamington where are your regular haunts? Akeal: The Duke, Moo, and the Cricketers Arms we practically work there! Playing Out: Have you got your own tankards behind the bar? Akeal: (laughter) We’d like to! Playing Out: How do you think Leamington can better support live music? Akeal: To be honest we owe a lot to the Assembly for this; they really got behind us, and know the industry inside and out. Before this place I think the music scene in Leamington was a bit of a wobbly duck and now that Bath Place has burnt down -? It’s going to be good for the next generation of aspiring bands because they are going to see that the Assembly are not only doing stuff like Razorlites and the kinks but also supporting up and coming bands, they even got the Godiva award for the best venue! Playing Out: Lastly what’s the purpose of your tour? Akeal: We are trying to get our name out there; we are looking for a booking agent that’ll help us to get other tours or help us to do our own stuff on a national level rather than a regional level. A booking agent would be fantastic; it’s going to be a great experience for us! Playing Out: Well it seems like you are rolling in a good direction. My last question is are you looking forward to seeing the new A Team film? Akeal: I’m more looking forward to the new Only Fools and Horses film to be honest. (Laughter ensues) Playing Out: Well I hope it all goes really well for you tonight!

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