Interview with John Owen from The Last Republic!
 

The Last Republic are a five piece hailing from South Wales who have so far caused quite a stir in the British music scene. Gaining substantial acclaim from radio royalty such as Zane Lowe (“...speaking of the future, here are a band who have a big part in it.”) and Claire Sturgess, their debut single “CCTV” also made single of the week on NME radio.

Having just recorded their EP, which was unbelievably produced by the legendary Chris Sheldon, no less (Foos, Radiohead, Biffy)! I managed to catch front man John Owen before their set at the 229 Club in London, to talk influences, future plans and of course the recording process with the mighty Chris Sheldon.

Altsounds: So you've recorded your EP with Chris Sheldon, how was it working with him?
It was brilliant, he came to watch us live first, and we just talked about a few ways of how we wanted to do it and that we were basically trying to capture what we were doing live as much as possible. So we were up for that, he was up for it, it was perfect. We went to Monnow Valley which had a big live room, so we all set up like we do at a gig. Yeah it was great, it was brilliant, it was a good laugh.

Altsounds: Did you ask anyone else to produce the EP? Or was he your first and only choice?
Erm, we did have a few offers, but as soon as we found out that Chris was up for it, we jumped for it to be honest, even though the other offers were quite tempting. But as far as some of the bands that Chris has worked with they were some of the bands we had liked -

Altsounds: - like Radiohead

(Laughs) Indeed! (Jokes) Who? And Roger Waters, not forgetting as well, and he mixed “The Colours and the Shape” (Foo Fighters) and that's a cracking job, and loadsa Biffy Clyro and Idlewild and Feeder, the list is endless really..




Altsounds: And is Chris Sheldon going to be producing all your future singles, ideally?
Yeah yeah, I think so, I mean if he's up for it. We send him stuff all the time and he loves it, it's just finding time between gigging, the next step I think maybe we'll do another single, I mean we've done the EP, We've just recorded a new song called "The Fear" just before Christmas, so maybe we'll do another one and then push to get the album done because we're up to 20 songs that we quite like, that we're going to chop and change and mess about with so we're just working towards the album really.

Altsounds: Any ideas for the name yet?
I think a working title is “The City” but we're not entirely sure yet.

Altsounds: So you guys aren't signed?
Noooo..

Altsounds: So who's been putting out all your EP's and everything?
Um, Ish Media.

Altsounds: How did Eden (Ish Media) come across you?
We just split up from our road management and we were looking for a radio plugger because we were gonna self release a single and the first number I had was Ish Media, so I hassled him and Charlotte for quite a while, but everytime I got through to Eden we did have some sort of conversation, it was never like, “Sod off, I'm busy”, it was like, “I'm busy, but how you doing? What's going on with the band?”, and we just wierdly built up a relationship and we're getting married next summer (Laughs).

Nah, we built a relationship up on the phone and eventually I think it was about two months later he got round to listening to a CD that he told me to send through, and emailed back saying, 'I love it! Have you got any more?', so we sent him through about 20 tracks and we're still here, going for it!

Altsounds: So since then you've been lucky to get your EP done by a great producer, have you been touring much?
Yeah we just had two days off from a three and half week tour in Britain. It was our own tour, our own headline, our own set up club night thingy tour, good fun.

Altsounds: Do you have anything in the pipeline with touring with other bands?
Not as yet but we do have some European festivals confirmed, so we're going out to Sweden in July, we waiting for the days to be confirmed

Altsounds: I personally think I can tell where you influences are from (Muse, Radiohead), but just for arguments sake, where are they from?
Ahhh, The Goonies, Emmerdale Farm (jokes)..

Altsounds: Musically!
Oh! Everything really, Pink Floyd is the mutual influence of the band, I think we all just love 'em. And we were lucky enough to see them at Live 8 as well which was a couple of years ago which was quite good, and Radiohead, Smashing Pumpkins, Mogwai, Sigor Ros, M83, Neil Young, Nick Drake, there's loads, there's loads.. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds..

Altsounds: What do you think about people who might put you in the same genre as The Fray?
I don't really care for those people (laughs)!

Altsounds: Your ideal tour line-up, who would it be?
How many bands?

Altsounds: Three, and you can choose where you are on the bill.
Oh we're on it as well, are we? Shiiiit. This isn't fair how long do I have to answer this? OK, Radiohead, Pink Floyd, Richard Wright - God bless his soul, if he wasn't dead. We'd have to open up for them, and oh God, Pink Floyd would have to headline, I think, yeah they would, shit, would they? Yeah, they would.

Altsounds: Anything else you want to add or promote?
We're doing the road to V competition thingy so vote for us and listen to our music. (someone shouts in the room, “Johnny's looking for love!”) Yes! French girls! French girls! And horse riding gear!

You can vote for The Last Republic on the Road to V via this link:
The Last Republic — Artists — Road to V .

And check out their music on their MySpace: The Last Republic on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads .

Photography by Charlotte Hoole: Flickr: farleys_rusk's Photostream