A CONVERSATION WITH... THE K'S
The K’s Jamie Boyle explores the life behind the band and their debut album, I Wonder If The World Knows?
When did you fall in love with music?
Short answer? High school. Long way round? I remember being a kid with my brother and dad in the car and he always had good music on. You know, The Clash, Sex Pistols, and The Jam, The Libertines, the Strokes — all these great bands that were just drilled into us from a young age. I felt like I knew what good music was. So when I heard some guys at my high school were in a band and got to sing with them, it became the coolest thing ever to me. It’s crazy to look back at that and see where I am now. You know I used to watch these videos of people like Paul Weller (The Jam) and I remember this one specific video of them playing in the city. Clear as day, one of those core memories. It was seeing someone have this much energy and come in shouting really influenced me now in The K’s. We have that shouty feeling, that high energy, that punky and driven bangers that make us who we are.
And would you say that you’re still loving that sound as a cornerstone for your band?
We have matured in our sound, for sure. That high energy will always be there in our songs and at our gigs because we really can set the roof off with a song. Like ‘No Place Like Home’ and ‘Glass Towns’ are just pure energy, but we love to have balance. Our album (I Wonder If The World Knows?) really strikes that balance, we bring it straight back down with something like ‘Lights Go Down’. We can hold our own on both sides of the spectrum and be comfortable in between, too.
That must be such an interesting feeling to have something you created after all these years out in the world.
Honestly, it’s been surreal, emotional, and words stronger than those two combined. We’ve been playing in stores recently and it was such a surreal feeling to hold our vinyls in our hands. That was our first time holding the physical album in our hands and I just can’t help but think back to when we first started in this band. It’s been seven years, even with the two-year break for Covid. But for those seven years, we’ve devoted our lives to this one moment. We’re gonna keep going, of course. We’re still building on the time we’ve spent going up and down the country and all over Europe — going from touring in our cars and losing money to do it to having music be our full-time job. It’s gotten easier as we’ve grown and put all this work in, and I’m very grateful for that. We all are.
And speaking of ‘we’, how would you describe the rest of the members since they can’t be here right now?
It sounds cliche, but we are all brothers. We’re together all the time, even when we’re not touring. It helps that we’re so similar and that we actually get along so well. We all have our little quirks, like sure they might say I’m a bit of a diva sometimes. And I might swing back by calling one of them a moody bastard and stuff like that. But I wouldn’t change any of them for the world and it’s an absolute pleasure and honour to spend my life with them. It really is, and hopefully, they say the same… but we’ll see.
I’m sure they would. So when you guys came up with the name ‘The K’s’ based off your local record shop The Kaleidoscope, do you remember any records in there that made an impact close to holding your record?
I’ve never been much of a record buyer! But I think everybody in music appreciates the physical thing. And I think back then music was better, or at least had a lot more thought going into it. It wasn’t just some thirty-second clip on TikTok that took near no effort to make and takes zero effort to listen to. Back then, people had to go out of their way to buy and find music they liked, rather than just accepting whatever was in front of them. I’ve always loved that aspect of the physical side of it, and growing up with my parents’ records collections helped, too.
Is that the approach you’re all taking with your music? The more deliberate and slower releases?
I wouldn't say we do it consciously. Like as a band and as ourselves, we’re not the social media type. It’s a bit of a struggle for us because we want to be in a band purely because we love music. We love making it and we love playing it. That’s the only thing we care about and everything else is on the side. We enjoy it, and it's cool when we do photo shoots and videos and stuff like that. But our heart will always be in just purely playing live and writing music.
Would you say that that’s your least favourite part of the industry, or at least one you’re not as infatuated with? Or what is?
I’d say my least favourite part is that you see so many good artists and good bands that don't get the credit they deserve because of the way the industry’s set up. No disrespect to those who burst onto the scene with a platform, but I mean there are so many people who don’t and they fizzle out. It makes sense, not everyone can do music full-time. People have bills and lives and everything going on, but it sucks to hear such great music from so many incredible artists in the scene and then they’re gone by next year. That’s why it’s great that we get to perform alongside such incredible artists like The Red Rum Club and dozens others, because we get to be a part of it all.
Speaking of scene, how would you describe your space and sound in the scene?
We don’t just stick to a certain type of song as I said, and I think this album is getting other people to realise that we’re much more than ‘just an indie band’ or ‘just a guitar band’. We really feel like we can hold our own, I’m really confident in what we can do as a unit! But with this new album, we really touch on different parts of the ‘indie’ scene with our sound. We don’t wanna stray too far from our roots, especially because we love seeing everyone go mad at shows. That’s where the love comes from for this. But we never plan what we’re gonna write or try to write in a specific way, we just go with what comes out.
So what is the songwriting process for you?
I write the lyrics for the mast majority of songs — minus ones like ‘Chancer’ where Ryan did the chorus. It’s so catchy and I knew that we needed to do something with that. But that was a bit of a different one. The songs where I write, I don’t write songs just to write them. It’s not a coping mechanism, but it’s just a way to express myself. Writing them down in lyrics helps me feel the emotions stronger but also makes for much better lyrics.
Like with ‘Throw It All Away’ — originally I was so embarrassed because of how honest it is. You know, it’s a song about those days where you feel like it’s all pointless, for nothing, and you feel like you’re always getting the rug pulled out from under you. That hopeless feeling? It happens to everyone, and I just felt like I needed to get it out of me and onto the paper. I’m literally saying how scared I am of not getting to where I want to be but also of getting there and how scary it is when everything changes. I love how honest it is now and it seems like a lot of people do too. It’s a mint K’s song, especially with Ryan’s riffs in there.
When you’re this vulnerable in your music, how do you take care of yourselves outside of it?
Maturing life as a person means constantly trying to get better and understand emotions a bit better. I try my best, especially as someone with ADHD, to regulate and understand my emotions. Everything isn’t fine every single day, but that’s part of life. Talking with the boys helps a lot and we’re so open with each other about these things. All of us do live these intensely high-pressure lives and we love it, don’t get me wrong. We wouldn’t change it for a thing, but being in this constant high intensity means you learn some tricks and lessons to keep yourself level. Especially when you add being away from your loved ones and being constantly gone, it takes a toll on you.
You reflect on these lessons throughout the album, so would you want to share any of those lessons you all have learned, especially through making the album?
We’ve learned we want fewer songs about violence, I think it’ll save our faces.
Our lyrics do speak for themselves, without sounding arrogant. If you sit down with the lyrics, you can understand what I was thinking and reading. Like I was reading Song of Achilles while writing songs and the myth of Icarus stuck with me. That metaphor of feathers burning and crashing down to earth because you flew too close to the sun is perfect for ‘Icarus’.
In general, there are mature themes in these songs because we’ve matured. Like in ‘No Place Like Home’ — it’s about us missing being home while we wouldn’t wanna change our lives. And whenever we’re about to get home from tour we’re so excited but on the flip side, I know that coming home isn’t always the best for me. I get so excited to see everyone but I end up going on these benders, those ones where you feel like you destroyed your mental health and your body. We’re getting better at it, and we know what steps we have to take to make our lives less taxing. But we also know that no matter where we go, our friends and families are always gonna be number one.