Britain's rising stars
in indie rock, The
Conway Story, look set
to take the country by
storm with a major tour
warming up the crowds
for The Bluetones. I
grabbed the chance to
interview lovely tousled
front man Nik Owens
How's everything going
for The Conway Story
right this minute?
It's going brilliantly.
We've been doing lots of
writing and rehearsing…
We've actually just come
back from a rehearsal
session, gearing up for
our big November tour.
We had to cancel a load
of dates a while back,
because I got hit on the
head with a bottle at a
little festival we
played at earlier this
year! They were being
thrown around and I
didn't know about it. I
didn't even realise
that's what happened! We
were worried for a bit
until we found out it
was only a smack on the
head with a bottle, then
it was quite a relief.
But I was too dizzy to
play onstage!
You poor thing! You've
been doing a hell of a
lot of touring, making a
name for yourselves…
does it make all the
hard work worth while,
seeing a crowd enjoying
your music right in
front of you?
Well in the beginning,
there were a lot of
people that would just
catch us by chance, but
then as things
progressed, we'd start
to see those same people
at slightly bigger,
fuller venues, so we
knew we were gaining
some friends. It'll be
great in November,
because we're supporting
The Bluetones, and the
last date on the tour is
at Shepherd's Bush,
which is obviously a
legendary venue.
Have you established any
live favourites during
touring? Are there any
songs the crowd go wild
for?
'Even When The Wind
Blows' always goes down
well, because the fast
ones always do. There's
one we finish the set
with now called 'Perfect
On Paper', which is just
like the crescendo of
everything. It just
makes people leave the
gig on a high note, not
quite knowing what hit
them.
I thought you'd say
'Even When The Wind
Blows'. That was the
first one I heard, and I
just… Fell in love!
Aww! We just need a few
hundred more fans like
you!
How did it feel when
Ghost-writer got to
number 29 in the indie
charts?
We were really proud of
that. I don't think it's
our best song, but we
like it and obviously
the music-loving public
like it too, which is
always a plus.
Did you anticipate
being an indie band,
because that's not how I
saw you…
We've always been sort
of at odds as to where
we fit in, in terms of
genre. A lot of
reviewers have compared
us to Coldplay, just
because they write
proper songs, and so do
we. I'm not sure how
that logic works,
because bands were
writing good songs way
before
Coldplay, but that seems
to be the favourite
comparison.
I never saw you like
that. When I reviewed
'Even When The Wind
Blows', I compared you
to Smashing Pumpkins,
Johnny Borrell from
Razorlight…
Well, we've all got very
varied tastes. The stuff
we listen to on your
ranges from piano jazz
to thrash metal. On our
MySpace profile, we have
to keep changing the
people in our
'influences' list,
because we'll decide,
"oh, actually, we don't
sound much like
Razorlight", but we do
have things like
Smashing Pumpkins on our
list, and that one in
particular stays there.
I can see why we're
compared to more
mainstream bands,
because some of our
choruses sound quite
commercial, but most of
the bands we're into are
quite left-wing.
Did you ever have a
game plan for the band?
(laughs) Yeah, but we
ditched it within about
five minutes! We had a
totally different
line-up when we started
out, and we had a
guitarist that played
like Slash, so it looked
like we were taking
everything way too
seriously! We sounded
like The Eagles trying
to be grunge! But then
we appointed Jimmy, and
he's more interested in
playing one note really
well than showing off
and getting it
completely wrong, which
is the sort of attitude
we needed in the first
place. We started
experimenting with
electronic sound, and
we've been taking it to
different levels and
finally doing what we
want to do. It all falls
together, really.
Who are your heroes? Not
necessarily musically.
Umm… I'm too cynical to
really have heroes. I
like Christopher Walken!
www.theconwaystory.com
Lucie Walker
