Interview #245: Good Shoes

Good Shoes have spent the last year selling out their frenzied live shows to a very devoted fan base. Having supported some of the biggest names in indie, Maximo Park and The Kaiser Chief’s, I Like Music caught up with lead singer Rhys Jones to chat about their new single- Small Town Girl from their debut album Think Before You Speak, being a superhero and wearing a good pair of shoes.

''I Like Music because.... it gets you moving.” Rhys Jones, Good Shoes

ILM: Small Town Girl is out now. Can you describe the track’s vibe and how it came about? Is it about Keira Knightley who you went to school with (as rumours would have it)? Pray tell?

Rhys: The single just came out this week and I wrote it when I was in Art School. It came about when we were starting up the band and it was the second song we ever wrote really, which is a bit odd that it’s getting released two years after that. But, I suppose that’s the way the music industry works. I don’t really know what else to say about it really, it’s not about Keira Knightly though, which it probably says on your press release! We never got to check over the press release that we sent out, and we get asked that all the time!

ILM: On your album, Think Before You Speak, which track did you enjoy laying down the most?

Rhys: The whole process was really enjoyable. Probably the most fun thing about recording was that we invented this game of football. It sounds really weird that when you're recording an album this would be the most fun thing! But we went outside on our breaks and played this game called Grazer and its like a penalty shoot out game. We were recording in Sweden and our producer taught it to us and we really looked forward to it.

We couldn’t really have a favourite track, because we recorded them all in the same way. They are all live takes and then we over-dub so Weight is the only one we recorded differently. That was quite an interesting experience. We recorded them track by track and then patched together a drum beat, I don’t know if that’s the right word, edited together a drum beat! It was a really nice experience doing that. I can’t say that there was one that was the best because it was all just really fun, the whole process.

The most memorable bit was playing Grazer! It was really funny. We recorded in this place in Sweden next to these railway tracks and these big buildings that bands used to rehearse in, and there was another building that was a rehearsal room for The Cardigans. We recorded most of the album around there and over dubbed in the studio. It was a beautiful place to record; it looked like some sort of Russian Town. It was a bit like East Berlin and it was a really nice environment, cycling to the studio every day. It was a lot nicer than London. There are much better looking people around there too!

ILM: What did you learn from Stephen Street who mixed the single?

Rhys: He was a really nice guy. He was clearly really attentive and listened to everything. He was really easy going and got your best performance out of you. I think we might do some more recordings next year with him for the second album as me and Steve really liked him. We’ll see what happens next.

ILM: You’ve been out on the road headlining your own UK tour with a homecoming gig at London Astoria. What has been the most crazy moment of this tour so far?

Rhys: Mad moments from touring….ummm…normally things that happen like that happen when I’m drunk so I usually forget by the next morning! Maximo Park…Some funny things happened with them, but I can’t remember now.

One time we toured in France with The Rakes and Alan and I would go for runs every now and then when we got to venues, because we were both on buses so we’d arrive at the same time. We sort of saved a guy from drowning once in a river in Toulouse. His bike had crashed and was in the river and all these French people weren’t doing anything; they were just sort of starring at him. We saw his helmet in the water and realised there was someone in there so we dragged him out and put him into the recovery position. The weird thing was that no one knew the telephone number for 999 in France! We were trying to ask them in really bad French. That’s the only interesting thing I can remember from touring. So much good stuff happens but when someone asks me and puts me on the spot I just can’t remember! It left us in a bit of shock afterwards, because we couldn’t believe that no-one did anything.

We just did the last tour on a bus for the first time. In Europe we toured on a bus because it was such long drive, but in England we had never done it before, so that was quite cool. That was a nice experience, have you ever heard of Flight of the Concordes? We used to watch that every night and that was what we did. Steve our guitarist would be banging on about Ratatouille and he had this pirate copy and he went on about it. He never went to the cinema until his girlfriend made him go. He was always trying to get us to watch that!

ILM: You also head out with the Kaiser Chiefs in December. What do you look forward to most about playing live?

Rhys: Well tomorrow we are playing Liverpool Academy and then we’re doing a gig with the Kaiser Chiefs, so it’s just two days and then three days with Maximo Park and then our own gigs, so touring will be finished for the whole year. Then we will be writing and recording for the second album. We will be sort of trying to stop touring and focus on recording. We’ve been touring since March, which isn’t really that long I guess for an album. I’m sure that next year we will be going back to America and Europe and hopefully Japan and, in the summer, all the festivals.

ILM: 2007 has been a really good year for Good Shoes. What have been highlights?

RHYS: Reading was amazing. That was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to. I guess on Saturday we’ll be playing to a bigger crowd but no-one is really there to see us. It was the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to where people cared that it was us. It was brilliant weather that day, I went and saw Bloc Party from the side of the stage and all these other bands, and we were just walking round in T-Shirts with all our friends. We couldn’t stick around that long because we had to drive off to Leeds for the next gig. That was amazing,

Ibiza Rocks was really nice, our day off there was really cool, just jumping off a rock into the sea for four hours after having the biggest party of our lives the night before. We were all a bit emotional so we were just like ‘this is the greatest day ever!’

ILM: Rhys you are a genius wordsmith! Please can you describe the Good Shoes music making process? Lyrics or melodies first?

Rhys: I will always keep a diary of lyrics. Sometimes a melody will come into my head and there will be a line. Some new songs are like that. “All in my head” was like that. I was on holiday with an ex girlfriend in the Isle of Wight in the sea and it came into my head and I was like ‘F**k, I’ve got to remember that!’ So, sometimes that will happen, but most of the time we’ll come up with music and I’ll work over lyrics, make amendments to the structure of the song, so the lyrics fit or the chorus works better. But I think, with our new album, it is starting to change. Our music is less pop orientated, so maybe we’ll lose all of our fan base! Hopefully it will translate across to people that are into it.

ILM: All In My Head from “Think Before You Speak was used to advertise Channel 4's Brat Camp series. What is your advice on dealing with peer pressure? Also, what is your advice for following your dream and doing what you want to do career wise?

Rhys: I never saw that. We were away and we never saw that on TV and a few people texted me saying ‘Oh, your song was on TV!’

We went to school in South London and we had this group of friends and we all merged together. We were all good at our own things and we segregated ourselves from the rude boys and we never really had that peer pressure. If you just do your own thing and keep on doing your own thing, people eventually pick up on that. Peer Pressure, I don’t really know, I don’t think I’ve ever been pressured into doing anything in my life.

Probably the best thing is, if you are confident in yourself, like when I was doing illustration. You can’t really rely on everybody else, you just have to do it yourself and, if you think it’s good, you just have to keep going and someone will pick up on it. I suppose it’s the same with music, that’s what I thought. I don’t really care if anyone says its crap, we just keep on going, sending off demos and playing gigs and eventually you start building a fan base.

Its best to look at it with blinkers on, not to compare yourself to anybody or how anybody else is doing, just create the best thing possible and then do your own thing basically. Like what we do with our artwork and with our tours. We have learnt with this album that, for the second album, we want to avoid certain types of press, like print press. We want to just keep on doing what we were doing and believing in it.

A good idea is to play your music to your parents and friends and see what they think as they’re not likely to lie to you. If they say its crap then give up! Haha!

ILM: What do you define as a pair of really good shoes?

Rhys: For me, I’m wearing some high top silver Nike shoes now but I wouldn’t say they are necessarily good. I would say like Brogue shoes, but all of mine have got holes in the bottom now. When I went to Art School I used to care about this stuff but now I have like three jumpers, a pair of jeans and one pair of shoes. That’s all I wear now and I’ve stopped caring about anything like that.

ILM: Our website is called ilikemusic.com. Please finish this sentence: I Like Music because…

Rhys: …Surely no-body knows that, you just like it cos it gets you moving. I feel a bit stupid answering that! It can inspire you can't it? It’s the same reason I like art. You listen to a piece of music you think is amazing or you see a piece of art and you just, well in the way my mind works, it inspires me to do something creative or better it or do your own thing. You only hear a few songs like that. When I heard the first Klaxons song or when I heard Foals for the first time, or The Strokes – which is what got me into indie music – it inspires you and makes you want to keep on playing.