Whilst most of us fritted away our teen years on shallower pursuits One Night Only the Sacrbourian band had landed a record contract, and stormed the indie charts with a hit album. Five years on Kimberly Fletcher, our roving reporter, caught up with them to see how success and fame sits on their youthful shoulders.
Hullfire: Welcome One Night Only! You’ve just started your 2010 tour. Where has been your favourite place to tour so far and why?
Mark: It’s actually our first tour in a long time. We’re at the start of it, we’ve been to Ireland and Scotland. This is our first English gig. So far I would say Dundee. Don’t know why, it’s just the sort of place that when we go there we always have a great gig.
James: Crazy crowds.
Mark: Insane crowds!
James: We’ve been looking forward to tonight because it’s close to home.
HF: It’s quite an intimate venue as well isn’t it? I didn’t realise till I got here how small it is but it’s quite nice.
Mark: It looks quite small but they cram a lot of people in as well. There always the best gigs where everyone’s crammed in.
Dan: I remember coming to see my first gig ever here and it seemed so small to when it did back then. I thought it was massive. I don’t wanna say who was playing though.
HF: You’ve got to, who is it?! No-one will think badly of you unless it’s like a cheesy boy band or something?!
Mark: Was it like Finch or something like that?
Dan: Nah I wish it was Finch, I can’t remember…Early November were supporting though but I can’t remember who headlined.
HF: You’ve had a great two years, are you happy with the way it’s all planned out for you?
James: Yeah! For sure. It’s been really good.
Dan: Next year is gonna be the best so far, we’ve got a good feeling!
Mark: We’re slowly building, cause we’ve had quite a bit of time off touring and recording and whatever you know, we’re just gradually getting back into it.
HF: So what does next year hold?
Mark: Our album’s just come out and we’ve had one single off it, but I think it’s starting to pick up a bit. We’ve changed quite a bit since the first album, definitely. We’ve improved and got better and it think it’s gonna take time for people who weren’t crazy about the first album, but there’s defiantly more people that are into this album.
HF: What is different about this album – why is it better than your first album ‘Started a Fire’?
Dan: I think when we recorded ‘Started a Fire’ George (the lead singer) and I were 16 and we were all really young. You could tell when we play on the record – it was pretty accurate snapshot as to where we were at the time.
James: Plus, for this album everyone was really set on a solid plan that everyone was on the same page and knew what they wanted. We were working in the studio that we all wanted to be in. It all went really well.
Mark: I think the main thing for me is after two years of touring we can all play a lot better. It makes a massive difference.
HF: What kind of feel were you going for with this album?
James: We wanted to make every song a right banger and we’re pretty sure we’ve achieved that.
Mark: I think we wrote a lot of songs, and we weren’t quite happy with where we were going. We didn’t know what the album was gonna be like and then we wrote a song off the album called ‘Forget my Name’ and I think once we wrote that… whatever the sound of that is that’s what we decided we wanted.
HF: Are you planning on releasing that as a single?
Mark: Yeah it’s gonna be.
HF: In the future is there anyone who really stands out for you who you would want to collaborate with on a single?
James: If George was here he’d say Snoop Dogg.
Mark: Do you reckon Snoop Dogg would be up for it? It would be an infamous collaboration. Maybe as a band we should just ring him up. Have you got his phone number?
HF: Unfortunately not, because that would be a very random and interesting collaboration! How do you feel about being compared to other bands like McFly? Do you see that as a negative thing?
Mark: I think we’re compared to such a wide range of bands that we just find it quite funny at times.
James: We tend not to take notice too much.
Mark: I think it shows that you can’t really place our sound anymore.
James: It’s weird ‘cause we’re not really massive fans, but some people say we’re like heading towards the kind of U2 sound, like the bigger sound. Obviously we don’t sound like U2.
Mark: We sort of prefer those kind of comparisons to the McFly ones. I think we should start hitting the gym and get ripped like McFly!
HF: ‘Say you don’t want it’ was the first single off the new album and it’s all about fame and negative things that come with it. What have been the negatives that you’ve experienced?
Dan: It’s sort of a ‘tongue in cheek’ look at fame with just a couple of references to a few things. The music industry in general is a pretty bad place to be.
James: The way it is today is pretty dark
Dan: When you’re all tired, shouting at each other in the van.
Mark: Sometimes you feel like you’re doing something good and then you get nowhere. We don’t want to come across like we’re complaining about it – it’s meant to be like looking on both sides it’s such a good thing that we’re doing as well. When you get set backs for whatever reason. Making the album is like a long process. It was quite a struggle in parts to actually get it made. Once we’re actually there making it though it was great, we had a lot of fun. We had to get over quite a few obstacles first.
HF: What about family and friends back home? Do you miss them when you’re touring, is it hard being away?
James: I love being with my family and stuff but i’m with George everyday already so, and our mum and dad come to shows so, they’ll maybe come to 2 or 3 this tour.
Mark: A lot are coming down tonight, friends and family.
HF: What about on tour, there must be a lot of fun going on because I assume you’re still best friends. Do you pull any pranks or anything?
Mark: We play pranks like literally 24 hours a day.
James: We’ve got this thing called ‘Baiting’. When someone whips out there imaginary fishing rod, you cast it out to whoever you fancy [want to annoy] and start reeling and gradually start getting quicker and if they bite you say ‘GOT YA!’
Dan: By a ‘bite’ it’s when you piss them off or they respond angrily.
James: Everyone will turn around and go ‘That’s a bite!’ and then that pisses the person off even more!
Dan: So it’s constantly going on.
James: But we do quite like each other.
Mark: We do that throughout the day, play the gig then go out and get drunk together.
Dan: Then when we get drunk all the negative energy comes out!
HF: I suppose being around each other 24/7 must take its toll a little bit?
Dan: It’s alright, we’ve been alright so far.
HF: What happened with the old drummer if you don’t mind me asking?
Mark: I think the main thing was the transition between the albums – it’s just one of those things that happens.
HF: What about your love life? Because female attention must be a lot more than it used to be now that you’re famous?
James: We’re all single!!
Mark: James used to go out with all the prettiest girls at school.
HF: I can tell! So if anyone fancies a bit of that? Your new single is called ‘Chemistry’ is that right?
Mark: Maybe, we might be changing it
James: We’re not sure.
Dan: It’s a secret song
James: We want to make people understand we’re a proper serious band and want to take things a lot further so we’re hoping to step our game up in every aspect and just come out with a bigger banger. So watch this space!
Mark: The single is out early next year!
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