On Thursday 20th November Danii Penny caught up with the lovely Sam Douglas, bassist and songwriter of Mallory Knox, for a chat about the band before their incredible headline gig at Bristol O2 Academy. The first part of the interview was published last week, below is the second half. Sam explains why he doesnÔÇÖt want Mallory Knox to ÔÇÿmake itÔÇÖ as a band, his festival dreams, bands giving each other a helping hand, their upcoming US tour, chilling with Frank Iero, and more!
Danii: At which point did you think that youÔÇÖd kind of ÔÇÿmade itÔÇÖ as a band?
Sam: I still donÔÇÖt!
Danii: Really?!
Sam: No, thereÔÇÖs nothing I hate more than bands that sell out a venue and think that theyÔÇÖre this and theyÔÇÖre that. We still get weirded out that people wait outside for us at 2am just to get a picture. We donÔÇÖt ever feel like we deserve that. It still doesnÔÇÖt make sense to me! 5 years ago I was working in a factory!
Danii: ItÔÇÖs so nice that you donÔÇÖt take yourselves too seriously!
Sam: If you do then thatÔÇÖs where you become everything that I hate about the music industry, right there. I just think that people need to remember where theyÔÇÖve come from and how they felt about the bands that they grew up listening to. Say we sold out somewhere like Brixton Academy, I think that on like a professional level IÔÇÖd say, yeah weÔÇÖve made it. But you can never turn around and say youÔÇÖre a rock star. Because thatÔÇÖs just such a tool thing to say! Just say youÔÇÖre a musician, thatÔÇÖs what it should be! ThatÔÇÖs my stance on it!
Danii: It must be pretty cool though when you hear your songs on like Radio 1 or whatever?
Sam: Yeah that still blows me away! I remember there was one specific time about 2 months ago when I was sat in a traffic jam just outside of Cambridge, going to pick my mate up from the train station. There was traffic going the other way as well and some guy had his windows down and Ghost In The Mirror was playing. I thought, hang on, the single isnÔÇÖt even out yet so this guy has either illegally downloaded it or itÔÇÖs on the radio! So I turned up my radio to check and there it was. So I turned it off and thought wow thatÔÇÖs cool. But then I saw this guy singing it word for word, proper going for it and I just started laughing and he caught me!
Danii: Do you think he recognized you?
Sam: No he definitely didnÔÇÖt because he looked at me as if to say ÔÇÿurgh, whatever manÔÇÖ and drove off.┬á I just remember thinking that was so cool to see! But yeah, whenever we get played on the radio itÔÇÖs just dead weird still!
Danii: I still have like a personal little victory dance every time you guys get played on the radio after having followed your music for so long!
Sam: ThatÔÇÖs amazing!!
Danii: What festival havenÔÇÖt you played yet but would love to?
Sam: Erm, thereÔÇÖs a few. Rock Am Ring is on the list, but weÔÇÖre doing that next year. So thatÔÇÖs really really cool! ItÔÇÖs in Germany and weÔÇÖve wanted to do that one for a long time. Warped Tour in America. Hopefully we can sort something out there! And Gros Rock has always been on the list for me. ThatÔÇÖs in Belgium. But Reading and Leeds has always been the one for me though!
Danii: ItÔÇÖs my festival too! ItÔÇÖs the best!
Sam: It is for me as well! It absolutely is. I never actually got to go much when I was younger, I was always that guy that used to watch the highlights, for years on end! So playing there now is just amazing!
Danii: How did you choose your support acts for tonight? ThereÔÇÖs quite a few: Moose Blood, Fort Hope and Frank Iero. Do you get along with all of them?
Sam: There are a fair few yeah. We get on amazingly well, which is awesome! As I said, weÔÇÖve not run into a situation where we havenÔÇÖt got along with a band that weÔÇÖve toured with. Moose Blood are a band that IÔÇÖve known about for a while. How good looking is Eddy? HeÔÇÖs so cool. HeÔÇÖs got it all sorted in life! TheyÔÇÖre fantastic though, probably one of my favourite bands in the UK at the moment. The other guys wonÔÇÖt mind me saying, theyÔÇÖre my favourite band on this tour with us, in terms of what I listen to anyway. So that was kind of the reason we wanted them on the tour. Going back to when we were starting up, we wouldÔÇÖve killed to have got onto a tour that was playing in such great venues, so you know, we took them out for that reason really. WeÔÇÖre friends with a couple of the guys in Fort Hope. Again, we felt that they deserved a shot at going out on tour so thatÔÇÖs why there here. And then thereÔÇÖs obviously Frank and well, Frank is Frank!
Danii: How did touring with Frank Iero come about then?!
Sam: We wanted to have a support band that could pull tickets within their own right. We never said lets take Frank Iero out; it never came around like that. We have the same booking agent and he said, ÔÇÿwhat do you think about taking Frank out?ÔÇÖ, and we were all like ÔÇÿwellÔǪumÔǪyeah, obviously!!ÔÇÖ. We didnÔÇÖt even think that that would be an option. We didnÔÇÖt think that he would want to come on tour with us, but then a couple of emails later, he was keen, so it was a no brainer! And heÔÇÖs amazing. As a human being, he is just so down to earth, so humble. He sat where youÔÇÖre sitting last night and we were chatting to him about My Chem for like two hours and all of his experience and he was just giving us advice. I think itÔÇÖs amazing when a guy has been there and done it all still takes the time to just be a normal person and help others out. IÔÇÖve learned a lot from that. HeÔÇÖs just a good mate now, which is really cool for me to say, because My Chemical Romance are one of my favourite bands ever!
Danii: So next up, the US!
Sam: Yeahhows that gonna go?!
Danii: Have you ever played there before?
Sam: No, never. WeÔÇÖve never even been near it! WeÔÇÖve barely played Europe. WeÔÇÖve been stuck on this little island for a long time now, never really got out there! But the fact that bands such as Pierce the Veil and Sleeping with Sirens want to take us out is amazing because weÔÇÖre not worth any tickets out there. WeÔÇÖre probably worth about 2 tickets in each state. And when the tour is as big as it is (itÔÇÖs a massive tour with some of the venues being 5-6,000 capacity) I just think itÔÇÖs amazing that weÔÇÖve been chosen to do something like this and it all comes down to just a couple of those guys being into what we do. ItÔÇÖs really really cool that bands are still supporting each other like that! ThereÔÇÖs no reason for them to take us out other than that they like our music. I canÔÇÖt be any more thankful for that!
Danii: ItÔÇÖs a good way to get your music out around the US though!
Sam: Exactly. I couldnÔÇÖt think of a better starting point than that! I canÔÇÖt wait to get out there and see what itÔÇÖs all about really!
Danii: Do you prefer playing to a live audience or doing studio recordings? I feel like there might be a bit of an obvious answer to that, but still?!
Sam: No no, its not! Most people would say live and I would still personally say I prefer playing live, because thatÔÇÖs why youÔÇÖre in a band, ultimately. But then again, being the songwriter in the band, itÔÇÖs kinda like, thatÔÇÖs why IÔÇÖm in a band as well, to write songs! So I really enjoy the creative process. I know Dave just plays the drums and once heÔÇÖs done his bit he wants to get out, which is fair enough. Obviously youÔÇÖre in a band to play live music to a live audience but the whole creative process for me is really special, a very very close second for me. But yeah, live shows has gotta be where itÔÇÖs at!
Danii: My only request now is that you guys come and play Cardiff!
Sam: I would love to come back! We did Cardiff like, 3 weeks ago? In Clwb Ifor Bach. We did a couple of underplay shows for the album and we specifically asked for Cardiff because we werenÔÇÖt playing there on this tour! We get the whole ÔÇÿOh youÔÇÖve completely missed out WalesÔÇÖ complaint and weÔÇÖre like ÔÇÿsorry, itÔÇÖs not our fault, we donÔÇÖt book the tours!ÔÇÖ.
Danii: ThereÔÇÖs a lot of interest in Cardiff for you guys, so please do come back!
Sam: Yeah definitely! We played Clwb Ifor Bach, but we chose to play in the bottom room because we wanted it to be really intimate. The top room is really cool but they close the cap. ItÔÇÖs like a 400 cap room but they close it at 250! So I was like no, letÔÇÖs play downstairs, letÔÇÖs get it rammed and do it proper old school. We played on the floor and it was amazing! It was like going back in time three years!
Danii: I canÔÇÖt believe I missed that!
Sam: It was soooo good, there were people crowd surfing onto our gear and stuff like that. People just like coming up and singing and it was so so much fun, IÔÇÖd love to do it again!
Danii: Please do, IÔÇÖd definitely be up for that! Well thanks very much for your time!
Sam: Thanks for having me!!