Dig It! Magazine

I saw King of May beginning of this month at Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes supporting Seriously Thoughtful People

The show was lovely although I’m not a fan of the venue itself, King of May set the tone for the night with their lovely chords and lyrics 

How are you guys after this successful gig?

Connor: Feeling very good I think! It went well and I think everybody played beautifully, very invigorating.

Fabi: It was a nice set, our usual bassist Tom couldn’t make it tonight but we had our friend Grace who we’ve known for years and she’s been playing in bands for years in Kent, she filled in for bass and absolutely smashed it!

Connor: She’s a great songwriter, she writes her own music and she used to play in this band Stirrat, Hayes, Bailey, Baynes with our drummer Harry, the beautiful long haired lion guy 

Poetry plays a big part in your songs, especially the acoustic one (you have to see it live) but where does inspiration come from?

Connor: I usually start with a chord on the guitar, improvise a melody and find the feeling and find the lyric that fits to that

So you do the lyrics after you have the melody set?

Connor: The lyrics come at the same time as the melody usually, repeat the phrase till it rings in your ear and then eventually find the sense and tighten it up afterwards so it starts with like a rough mumbling

Are you the only one who writes lyrics for the band?

Connor: Well, I write the lyrics and me and Fabi write some of the songs together collaboratively so Fabi is the guitar player but he also writes songs so we often collaborate but mostly lead guitar is his main thing in this band and the song structures 

Fabi: I think we have two sides of it. There are songs where like Connor’s songs are like singer-songwriter stuff and then we sort of break it down in the rehearsal space and do different arrangements for it and there’s this other side where Connor and I are just writing things together like it would be like mainly the both of us just bashing chords, riffs and chord progressions

Connor: Till we find the perfect pop song, just grind it out 

Fabi: I think a lot of the times, what we want is that to just have a tight sound

Connor: Diamond cut songs! I don’t know if they- do they cut a diamond?

I think they do!

Connor: Yes so how they cut a diamond is how we do our songs! *laughs*

Fabi: I think there are places we come from that are quite varied there’s a lot of this sort of like old school 80s and indie bands and stuff but also this 60s songwriter aura to it. We just love records honestly

Connor: Music is pretty good

How’s the dynamic in the band?

Connor: What we have is a bit tempestuous at times because Fabi contributes lead guitar and writes some songs, we have Tim who is a childhood friend of mine, he recorded like before I could even sing in tune, I mean I still can’t sing in tune but then I really couldn’t sing in tune he recorded the music and made it so it was a real thing so we did like an early EP and he’s a genius, he’s the guy playing guitar

Fabi: We used to play in bands before this one, Tim used to play with Connor, in his first band Inevitable Daydream

Connor: And Fabi played in this band called Zilinski with Tim but yes it’s harmonious and tempestuous at the same time, we fight and then make up and then we fight and make up again and it all comes out in the end…too many geniuses in the band

Fabi: I don’t know about that! *laughs*

Connor: no, not me included!

Fabi: I think I’m more of an outsider artist

Connor: A real Daniel Johnston, an outsider genius. 

Connor: We are very lucky to have lots of good people in the band like Harry who plays drums, he recorded, produced, mixed and mastered Promise and everything and then Tim can do that as well and he has his own music so we’ve got loads of people who are really capable and talented with this.

That’s a bit like if you look at bands like The Beatles or The Stones, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, Lennon and McCartney they always had that kind of almost like a clash but you need to have that as well in order for it to work

Connor: Definitely, I think it’s very like the tension of the opposites where things, I’ve read this book of the history of Islam right and they have this, like Islam emerged between the Eastern Roman Empire decaying and falling apart and also the Persian Empire decaying and falling apart and it’s the true tension of the opposites then they rebuild and make a whole new culture so that’s a very ridiculous way to describe and indie rock band from London but that is something that is true *laughs*

Babylon just came out and you also have Promise out with a video. Do you usually go for concepts or just go with the vibe of the song?

Connor: I think we were very lucky because the guy who was at the front for the gig today Joshua, he came up from Margate and he did the Promise video for us and he basically brainstormed and directed the whole video and had the whole plan for it

Fabi: He had this idea of capturing the vibe of the song and the vibe of the band really and in that moment we were living in Margate and I think a lot of like, this song is kind of inspired by living in a place like Margate, it’s a really peculiar place and I love it to bits and there’s a lot of things you can say about it

Connor: With Promise we did the video within a day, we did two days, the first day we did everything and scrapped everything we filmed and then the second day we just did it all over in one day basically and just improvised and then with Babylon we’ve got a video coming out like next week or the week after which we filmed, I don’t know if you’ve met Emma, Josh’s fiancee, we went to her parents’ house and filmed this video and Josh planned it all out and it tells this kind of story it’s very Jean-Luc Godard 

Then it has to be good!

Connor: Knock on wood, yes! *laughs* and we were talking about the video downstairs at Jaguar Shoes and we were arguing a bit about the different versions and stuff but I think *pointing at Fabi* you and Josh didn’t fight but it came kind of close..

Fabi: He’s really like sweet and it’s quite interesting when you’re doing a video and when you’re doing music it’s like you do something you put your ego to it and present it to someone and then the other person is gonna give you their honest opinion and a lot of the times it might be good it might be bad or conflicting and you just have to roll with it

Connor: They almost fought, there’s fighting in the video but the video should be good I think

Promise definitely captured the song and the vibe of the band

Connor: We’re happy how it turned out and we just filmed it on this little camcorder and you have this kind of restriction with how much you can like record before the battery runs out and all that 

Fabi: There is something to it with a few things like the look of it, it’s this compressed digital camcorder from the 2000s or whatever they do seem alternative and really cool there’s this sort of digital warmth to it..yeah King of May!

Connor: We’re leaving the vampire castle *laughs* for real man..I’m walking out of there!

Fabi: I don’t know *laughs* I do get you…100%

Silly question, but will be there King of June, King of July.. will it ever evolve?

Connor: These are all possibilities!

So why King of May?

Connor: It’s from this Allen Ginsberg poem!

I knew that it would be something I’m uneducated on

Connor: *Laughs* Well I’m barely, I couldn’t recall the poem when I started doing it like recording music, like the worst music when I was like 14 and I just put it online under King of May and heard that Allen Ginsberg poem and I like 1968 Paris, that Jean-Luc Godard look so I would just record like out of tune guitars covered in reverb when I was younger and it became possible to record it into something proper and have a band

Fabi: Yeah I think he goes to the Czech Republic and gets deported and starts shouting I’m The King of May!

Connor: I’m not a massive Ginsberg guy now but back in the day when I was younger but now maybe not so much but it’s good stuff, William Burroughs is good stuff too

But do you think that now that everything is rising and getting political, don’t you find like a parallel that there’s something in common with 1968?

Connor: Well I suppose in a way that the 1968 movement was ineffectual and reinforced the establishment

Fabi: I’ll tell you what, being a huge May ’68 guy myself, they people dressed way better in May ’68…

Connor: But I think the most important thing is that the roots of what you were saying is that it will always work towards saying what’s right and stand up when it’s the right thing to do but they did dress better back then yes *laughs* sorry!

Fabi: Yeah you go back to like a university campus

Connor: And all you see is Levi’s and beautiful bellbottoms but you can’t live in the past! History is a nightmare I’m trying to wake up from but definitely, I think it’s the same spirit yes, post Brexit kinda vibe as well

Fabi: I think it’d be very fun, like I do think we definitely live in a post Brexit Britain and we are very aware of it in many ways

Connor: Like poverty and also the bananas.. are they straight or bendy? I can’t remember, but there’s a policy about straightening the bananas. I don’t know how much straighter they are now but yeah…

Fabi: The music is definitely political in some senses if you’re trying to like break on through

Connor: But what do you think, what would you say that contemporary music is like when it comes to post Brexit and capturing it?

Nina: I think there’s a big pressure on the youth to make changes in the world through art and music too and history always repeats itself and you’ve got social media now which we didn’t have back in the day so we have a different take on it

Connor: Yeah in its positive and negative aspects, it destroys people’s brains but it can do things for good too but you know.. general good hopefully. What’s next? *laughs*

Fabi: Is King of May a political band? …i’ve been thinking about that now

Connor: I think we can go to the next question *laughs*

Where would you like to see this band in the future?

Connor: I think to the furthest ends of the world, just get it to as many people who can hear it and to try and touch people with the music as far as you can make it

So what would you say is the purpose of King of May?

Fabi: To blow every London band out of the water

Connor: Yeah I mean that’s easy, that’s easy! A man with a Jazzmaster walking into a wall can do that! I’ll tell you that! But on a real level to write songs that mean something to people and capture feelings that haven’t been expressed like Pink Floyd..terrible band but they played in Pompeii like I’d love to do that but when it’s full of people you know

You don’t like Pink Floyd? 

Connor: Dark Side of The Moon is alright, but then they did The Wall, I used to love that

Wait what do you think of early Syd era Floyd then?

Connor: Ah yeah Syd Barrett is great! I’m talking about the decadent Pink Floyd like fascist Pink Floyd. Bike is great…I’ve got a bike you can ride it if you like it 

What do you think of punk rock?

Connor: Love it. But it’s I guess the same with May 1968, that’s another completely dead thing now, it’s a ghost 

Do you think it’s more about the attitude and not the songs specifically? 

Fabi: I think if you’re making like DIY music then you’re automatically punk rock you know, I wish we had a big indie label like back in the day. But imagine, I’d quit my day job!

Connor: But it’s like you know the paperclip through the nose that’s obviously no longer relevant but it’s the attitude that has became such a big part of the culture through music and everything but it captures internal things people were feeling.. Lenin was pretty punk rock

You guys are punk rock too

Connor: Ah thank you, we do love The Stooges, New York Dolls…I grew up with my record player and this same jacket, when I was a kid it didn’t fit me at all, it still doesn’t really fit but I’d pose in the mirror and listen to every Stooges song and that was my entire life, I mean it still kind of is my entire life 

Fabi: I think that a lot of it is at least for me a lot of the reasons why I play is because of rock music and it’s coming from this place forever and all these records are just absolutely the most beautiful things and ideally I would want to be in a place where the King of May releases a record and it’s like worthy of someone looking at it with reverence and love just as much as we look at all these different records from the past

Connor: Beautiful man

Fabi: But like we’re pushing 30

Connor: Don’t say that, pushing 22

Fabi: Yeah but because of Covid i’ve taken off at least two years

Connor: Yeah we talked about this when we were in Margate, we do this calculation where we go like: during Covid so -2 and when we were in Margate and what it’s like living in Margate? You might as well take another two off and by that point you’re like 21 and you might as well just go back to the womb but it works out!

Fabi: I truly feel like I just finished sixth form

Connor: A-levels, I can’t wait to go to uni! *laughs* I think it’s gonna be great…freshers week? My god it’s gonna be crazy!

Fabi: we’re gonna get soo wasted man

Connor: I’ve heard there’s this foam party happening at freshers…I’m so excited *laughs*

If you guys could play anywhere, any venue where would you want to play?

Fabi: I’d love to go back in time and play 1978 Knebworth and I’d also like to be Jimmy Page *laughs*

Connor: White linen trousers and a blue shirt just sweating out

Fabi: Yeah just sweating out the heroin *laughs*

Connor: Maybe a church, cathedral maybe?

Fabi: I think we can totally make that happen actually

Yeah talking about Margate, we keep on going about Margate but there are some really good stuff happening there and there’s a really lovely venue called Where Else? It used to be called Elsewhere and it’s this hub of like DIY nights and really good bands coming in from America or like other places in Europe and it’s been going on for a while now and thankfully Covid hasn’t shut them down, the whole community pulled them together 

Connor: It’s a really good place, have you guys been to Margate? 

Nina: I’ve played there with my band I think

Connor: Where did you play in Margate? Tom Thumb theatre? 

Nina: Something down the stairs, but that was about 8 years ago so I don’t really remember but it was one of my first gigs

Connor: In Margate you played…and you went downstairs..it must’ve been Where Else?

Fabi: Maybe it was Rooz’s or something 

Nina: Yes that rings a bell!

Fabi: It had a chicken shop

Connor: Wow we were talking about that today!

Fabi: Going on about where have we played so far in like Margate and I think at some point like one of my old bands was like do you remember we played this and that? yeah..cool cool venue

Connor: It’s like an airbnb hub now or something, landlord owns twenty properties but maybe it’s not that, maybe it’s a gentrified cocktail bar or something but I remember we were talking about today that Fabi’s old band and some friends of ours played downstairs the basement and it was really cool

We were talking about gentrification and Covid and how they closed a lot of venues, don’t you find that there are less and less underground venues carrying the weight and there won’t be any venues for bands just starting out, what do you think of that? 

Connor: Yeah I think it reflects I think it’s how people on the lowest, people who are playing opening slots in venues and small venues just get battered by the cost of living and noise complaints and licensing and it means that, it’s the same thing as people, I don’t know, people who work unstable jobs, everything is just pretty bad, in every aspect of life so from the small music venues closing to like people just having insecure jobs just no security getting paid poorly and it’s just like there’s this real severe gap and I think feudalism is what we have to look forward to soon unless people really take a stand. A lot has to change and will change, you can feel it in the air but I agree with you definitely it’s so sad to see venues closing down and see the strain that’s being put on people and live music as people retreat in their phones and stuff

It’s so important especially in English culture too, you wouldn’t have The Beatles without The Cavern Club

Connor: I went there with my grandparents once and they made a fake Cavern, looks just like the original but you can go downstairs and see it but they make it out as like a museum but it’s not the real one but it’s amazing to go down there, you get the same experience but it must be so hard to run a venue, you make very little money and it’s all about the drinks, it’s a shame because, if it weren’t for small venues the grassroots music scene would stop existing. Our friend Sammy who runs Where Else? in Margate he’s been booking bands for years and years and worked his way up to get a venue and the work he does is like, it’s such hard work to be there and be a promoter and to support young artists and stuff like that. You just have to love it and care about your community as well and I feel like that might be hard to do in London because it’s a more fractured kind of place and with Margate there’s a stronger music community 

And the beer is cheaper right? 

Connor: I’ll tell you what, I’m not trying to be a negative guy but it actually isn’t cheaper in Margate..£6.50 in some places, but it’s a beautiful place

Do you ever get shy while performing?

Connor: Well I think I get shy in real life, well not in real life but when I’m not performing. But I never feel that while I’m on stage because especially the band that I’m playing with, all of these people are people i’ve known for years and years, some of them i’ve known since I was a little kid and we know and love all the same stuff, so what we do is just fun and I feel like I just love it and get energised by it. My whole life was nothing more than just posing in front of David Bowie and Iggy Pop records so if I can’t do that then you know..

Fabi: It’s quite easy to play to Connor and react to Connor, I’m very lucky to have this musical tennis match where were just riffing ideas and whether on stage or in the writing process, I don’t think i’ve ever had that with another person

Connor: I’m very lucky to be able to play with Fabi as well because Fabi is an amazing musician and songwriter

Fabi: Yeah on stage it’s just really easy to play off of you or you play off of us 

Connor: When you feel like you’ve got this band behind you, you could do anything in the world like we could play like in Pompeii or whatever because you just have to turn around and everyone is playing to their most and everyone is together and I think that is just the most, I don’t feel like everybody gets that in their life where people are with you all the way so when you’re in front of that you just feel invincible yeah I don’t think I have another analogy but it’s just feels comfortable

Do you have an album planned yet?

Connor: Yeah hopefully in the summer we’ll have a proper record out

Fabi: We’ve been working on songs and we definitely have more than an album worth of songs because it’s been going for ages now

Fabi: I’m feeling pretty happy because we have stuff that’s like being recorded and just like waiting to be mixed and it’s a tricky one because we want to drop it but at the same time we want to make sure that people listen to it so it’s like that sort of like tension between wanting to have something out and wanting it to not go to this graveyard of like Spotify nothingness or something, we want people to listen to us 

Connor: Beautiful. I’d love to live in a Spotify nothingness. If people don’t listen to it then they don’t deserve it 

What do you think of the way Spotify treats artists? When it comes to paying the artist and things like that?

Connor: Yeah it’s the same way like I was saying when we were talking about music venues closing but it’s like Neo Liberalism to its full extent like ‘music means nothing and it’s completely worthless and we have to accept that’ that’s what we’ve been given you know and it’s the most convenient thing to believe, you can get a taxi or an Uber, so it’s kinda like that.

We were talking to our drummer Harry about how he’s gonna buy, we were at this record shop getting records and he was like he’s gonna get a reel to reel player! But I don’t think vinyl is more authentic but it’s just like Spotify hates life and music and yeah it’s sad but when that hammer falls they’ll be crushed by the weight of their own sin, I feel very confident by that and people turn around and people are already like they’d love to buy an album, I’d really love to buy a record but then there will be a point where Spotify will fall apart and crumble and somebody will come and Spotify will turn to dust and there will be no Apple Music and I tell you Deezer will no longer be, people won’t even remember Deezer like it’ll all be gone and become a fragment of our imagination. I hope it finishes because the end result is just people who hate music and hate life are making money off of artists and paying them like nothing but I mean it’s okay for us because we get 10 billion streams like mostly on a week, we average about 10 billion, I should’ve bought us all drinks because I mostly have more money that I can do with, so I have my properties and investments and stuff, there’s stuff going on in Dubai so when all that dries up maybe i’ll worry about Spotify but they’re paying us so well that I can’t really say anything bad *laughs* I can’t be a hater *laughs*

It’s either 7 quid after like 4 years or it’s 7 billion….I can’t remember!

It’s a very thin line!

Connor: Yeah I don’t know how many zeros! If you wanna buy some shares in the band I think you can get like my right foot and Fabi’s forearm, i’ll do mine for like 50 quid and for 25 you can get Fabi’s forearm you know as just a stock

Fabi: I’m more of a cardio guy to be fair, my core is a bit better..

Connor: I wasn’t being serious *laughs*

Fabi: Back in the gym, that’s the other thing about King of May.. It’s a very gym heavy band.

Connor: Definitely.

Fabi: We do try to like go out and keep fit you go out there and go hard and do my 5K

Connor: You should see this man run! He never stops and maybe just to be serious I’ll say that..*getting close to the mic* what is he running away from? That’s something to think about

Fabi: I’m just trying to get my PB down!

Connor: What’s that? 

Fabi: Personal Best *laughs*

The King of May! It does have a physical element to it

Connor: I wish everybody would squat, on stage and off stage..I think this is a good point to end the interview *laughs*

Fabi: No I can really go on about training for like a 10K half marathon

Connor: Squats as well?

Fabi: I don’t find squatting that enjoyable 

Connor: It’s not enjoyable but what it does to your body is. And your mind

Fabi: The mind thing I can get behind.. 

Connor: And the body man! I’m looking at your thighs, you have beautiful thighs, you have runners thighs

Fabi: Yeah I have runners thighs but think about this let’s say we were to play like a 5 aside

Connor: I’ll be goal keeper

Fabi: Or a centerback I think I’d be like midfield like striker vibes

Connor: I’d be left back in the changing room *laughs* but what a feeling like *stands up and starts squatting* but with a barbell behind you

Fabi: I’ll tell you what, we used to go to the same gym in Margate yeah shoutout Urban Fitness actually! So sometimes we don’t even plan it out like we’d be going on a weekend or something and maybe we’re off from work and i’ll go to the treadmill and hit 5-6K or whatever and come back and turn around and who do I see? Is that Connor doing leg day stuff? I was like oh my god!

Connor: Yeah I think that gym had a neon sign saying ‘be a badass with a good ass’ it was so embarrassing!

Fabi: Bands that lift together, stay together

Connor: Bands that live together, break up! That’s very true! *laughs*

Fabi: Don’t say that I can see myself living with you

Connor: I could live with you too man!

Bands like King of May are one of the many reasons it is worth keeping up with the London music scene, keep an eye on them.

Thanks for reading and special thanks to Nina Courson for helping me with the interview!

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