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THE LAST REPUBLIC, Sheffield O2 Academy
Following an extensive tour of their own across various locations including Barcelona, Holland and of course their home country, Wales; The Last Republic are ready to take up the next challenge in their path to success.
After
recognition from the management of The Alarm, they're off on a road trip
around the UK with the rock legends introducing themselves to nineteen
venues from Glasgow to Southampton over the course of just three weeks.
With a capacity of just 500 it's not exactly the largest venue around but it sometimes size isn't everything. Just when you thought the heat in that place couldn't get any less bearable, The Last Republic entered stage and you know what? The temperature was the last thing on my mind by now.
When
listening to your music it’s obvious you have many different
influences but are there any particular idols that any of
you have? Jonnie:
And that’s the way it goes really, it’s to do with the
instruments I think. Aron: I
think we all appreciate the individual musicians of bands
but there’s Pink Floyd. We all like them as well. Jonnie:
Radiohead. But yeah, we’ve all go individual tastes. Joey:
There’s a lovely room just over there, yeah? Jonnie:
The big room in Sheffield Academy, it’s more to do with the
crowd really. David : El
Paradiso Jonnie:
Yeah, Paradiso in Amsterdam is probably, yeah is my
favourite venue I think. We all love it, actually, I think
it’s mutual, it’s like an old church. Daf: It’s
massively growing our fanbase now but we obviously need
bigger venues to do that. Joey:
Wembley stadium? Aron: As
long as we keep the kids. Jonnie:
Yeah it doesn’t matter where we are really it’s all about
the vibe.
I’ve
heard you’ve got plans for a new album, you must be moving
pretty fast! Is there any particular direction you want to
head in with the new album, are you sticking with the same
sound or experimenting a bit more? Jonnie:
It’s all about evolving. Aron: We
know this album isn’t going to be a carbon copy of Parade,
it’s going to be a totally different album and different
songs. Joey: At
the same time you can see it’s going to be natural. Jonnie:
We’ve already started working on quite a lot of ideas. We’re
really chuffed with the idea that we’ve got and it’s looking
good! I mean it’s so far so good and we’ve tried it for the
producer. Joey: We
played a new one tonight! Jonnie:
Yeah, we played a new song tonight, Emergency. That’s like a
first new song we wrote, we finished it in Amsterdam. It
sort of started some sort of direction. It’s really tough. As soon as
you get one or two songs started you can see where you kind
of want to go with something. Yeah, so that song’s kind of
been the key to all of our new ideas.
Are
there any bands you’ve particularly enjoyed playing with
while you’ve been on tour recently? Aron: We
gotta get our gear into our van as well, they don’t! You get
used to it. Dafydd:
You get used to each other’s bad habits. David: You
do your own thing as well. Jonnie:
I’ve grown to love it, I do love it! Joey: We
don’t get into fights now. Aron: You
develop a certain order to things, a way you do things like
when we set the beds out a couple get to stay out the van
while a couple do it and somebody gets into bed, then you
set up another bed then somebody else can get into bed
before everyone else can get in. Jonnie:
It’s like boy scouts really! David: If
someone’s really pissing you off you just put your
headphones in! I think
they’re waiting on a headliner so…I mean to be honest we’re
gonna be working on the album and this tours pretty much
brought us up to the festival period. I think we’re gonna
work on album number two and catch the festivals next year
so we’re probably gonna be back on the road in September but
I mean we’re doing a few festivals just to keep busy. Trying
new material out aswell. Jonnie:
Get a good manager. It’s not gonna happen over night. Joey: You
know find your vision, stick to it and get a good manager. Aron: And
make friends. Joey: You
need friends... Aron: And
family. Dafydd:
Yeah, you don’t know who’s gonna be happy here and who’s
gonna be good. Jonnie:
Thank you for your support! They kicked everything off with the second single off their highly rated debut album, 'CCTV'. Listening to the track recorded, you wouldn't think it wasn't possible for it to be any more powerful but TLR make the impossible possible. They pack heaps of stamina into their performance by prancing around stage like…well…like rockstars. So maybe prancing isn't exactly the right word…
The lads managed to grab the attention of the majority of the crowd with the catchy melody of 'Perfect Stranger' which is saying something as they all seemed to be more interested in when they were going for their next beer prior to The Alarm.
TLR managed
to totally own the stage. They toned things down a bit following this
with 'As Darkness Calls' and 'When Fools Rush In' only to unleash
another round of energy with their first single, '(C'mon) Flood The
Gates'.
The track
seems to live up to the growing standards of their previous masterpieces
and provides a fertile ground for plenty of foot tapping despite the
lack of people in the audience who are actually familiar with it. Review and interview by Abigail Suter Photos by Noel Buckley
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