Larkins – Hit and Run

By starrymag | February 27, 2020

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) I guess our sound really is an amalgamation of all our influences. We love our bass to be loud with a sprinkling of weird sounding guitars and thick synth pads.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

A) We all have such different influences. Josh ranges from Led Zeppelin to Damian Rice to more recent artists like Bon Iver and Khalid. Dom grew up listening to the Beatles and Bob Dylan then started to come across heavier bands like Rage Against the Machine which definitely inspired his use of pedals. Henry loves his hip-hop music from Tyler to the Beastie Boys and Joe grew up listening to Funk bands like Chic and Sister Sledge, more recently being influenced by bands like Foals and Jungle.

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your new song “TV Dream.”

 

A) Lyrically, Josh wanted to write a song that reflected the comparison between the way his grandparents would have met and the way that modern day relationships are formed. The breakdown of the song is also a comment on the idea of rape culture and the “she shouldn’t have been wearing that” argument which just blows our minds that someone can honestly use that as an excuse.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans connect to?

 

A) I think the bass and drums hit you hard and make you move. The lyrics are things we see every day and I think it has a real feeling of youth about it.

 

Q) Your song “Hit & Run” dropped Feb. 14! How did you celebrate?

 

A) Two-week holiday to Ibiza.

 

Q) How did producer Mark Crew come to work on the track?

 

A) We absolutely loved working with Mark. We had a session booked in with him straight after a few dates in Europe on our last tour. We literally stepped out of our tour van into the session, so we were all a bit knackered but we got some really interesting sounds down and the track came together really well. It was amazing to work with someone who has soooo many hits under his belt.

 

Q) What is your song writing process? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

 

A) The process is always evolving and changing. Every song has been completely different and has taken different lengths of time. Josh is the lyrics man and a lot of the time he’ll have a line or a phrase that will spark the song. Sometimes he’ll have a name of a song and it’ll just stem from there.

 

Q) How much of hand do you have in the production of your music?

 

A) We have a massive hand in our production. We have a very specific sound that we want to achieve and we’re all very much on the same page. We work very closely with Chris Zane (passion pit, Friendly fires) and he really understands the direction we want to go with things. He’s a wizard on pro tools so it’s great to be able to say ‘we want to do this’ and he can just do it.

 

Q) You’re headed out on your debut North American tour. What can fans expect from a live Larkins performance?

 

A) We always say we want to create a stadium show in whatever size venue we’re in and that won’t change when we come to the US. We like to make our sets theatrical with big lights and massive sounds. We want to make people get us much satisfaction out of the visuals as they do out of the sound.

 

Q) Will fans be able to expect a full EP or album coming soon?

 

A) We’re working on so many tracks at the moment. We’ve been recording at The Dairy in Brixton all January and have so many tracks under our belt. We’re definitely going to be releasing one of those things this year.

 

Q) Where are some of your favorite places to perform and what makes those locations so significant to you?

 

A) Manchester is always very special as it’s our hometown and always goes off. We played Reading and Leeds last year as well, which was madness as we’d grown up going to Leeds fest.

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

A) Bon Iver would be amazing. Feel like they’re pushing so many boundaries at the moment and subtly dictating where pop music seems to be going.

 

Q) What album/band are you currently listening to and why do you dig them?

 

A) The new gengahr stuff is class. They’ve proper taken it up a level with Jack from Bombay producing the new record. It gives a proper nod to that noughties indie vibe but sounds so fresh and exciting. Icarus is a proper vibe.

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way for you to connect with your fans?

 

A) It’s such an amazing way of creating a community. We’ve noticed so many fans bond and make friends after seeing each other commenting and interacting with us on social media. We have massive group chats with loads of our fans which helps them keep updated on what’s going on!

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and your work?

 

A) Fucking thank you for the support. It means the world and allows us to do this crazy job.