When it came to naming the magazine I struggled for a while. I would sit for hours at my desk sending ideas back and forth to people, making draft logo, writing words again and again in different fonts until they blurred to nothing. And all while doing this, I would listen to Palace. Their song Kiloran caught me immediately, i’d listen to it on repeat and something about it completely captivated me. I named the mag after the song, and the memory of having that song be the soundtrack to my longing for something to happen. So I made something happen and I called it Kiloran.

I never expected the band to ever really see it, let alone support what we do here and agree to chat to us. So I was super blessed to be able to chat to Leo about the band, their past and their future…


Firstly, tell us a little bit about yourselves, how did the band come about?

 

We’ve known each other since we were about 13. We go way back to the old days. We’ve always shared a big love of music, playing and listening. So it only seemed right that we form a band at some point. We started just for fun, not a career move. So it’s come from a very organic un-self conscious place as we never thought we’d show anyone our sound. Thank god we did. We love our job.

 

Does the journey between starting to release and the release of your debut album, So Long Forever, late last year feel like a long process, or has it all spiralled very fast?

 

Yeah it takes time! It was tough that wait. We just wanted it to be out there for the masses to devour. After a while we just kinda switched off from the release dates and stuff as the wait was kind of excruciating. When it came out it was like giving birth. That anticipation and then finally our baby was released, and we named her So Long Forever.

 

For when I first started following you guys with the release of Veins in 2014 to now, you’ve really grown not only in status but in sound. Does it feel kinda nostalgic to be playing the older material now?

 

Yeah it does actually. It’s a beautiful blast from the blast getting to play old tunes. We owe a lot to those song a so its always a pleasure to play them.

But I suppose it always feels more exciting to play new fresh stuff, all the new album stuff is a dream to play. And yeah the sound seems like old us but enhanced, more 3D and surround sound somehow. Bigger and more epic.

 

Which of your songs is your favourite to play live and why?

 

So Long Forever. We’re obsessed with playing it live. Dynamically it’s exciting and explosive and the guitar parts are some of the most intricate and weaving we’ve written. Even in rehearsals we still get a kick from playing it. The choruses too are just HUGE and psychedelic almost. Our vibe.

 

What/who are some of the biggest influences on your music, and have they changed at all during your time together as a band?

 

Wu Lyf and Jeff Buckley were or starting points for sound and what we were listening to when we started. Sadly both are no more for different reasons so I can’t say! But we definitely plucked that atmosphere and epicness from them.
Then we love old folk stuff like John Fahey and John Martyn. All that beautiful weird tuning guitar stuff is a big influence.

More modern stuff we love are Foals; The Maccabees and King Krule. At the moment I’m obsessed with Angel Olsen though. I think she’s the biggest talent around in terms of voice and song writing. She’s pretty exceptional.

 

Can you tell us a little bit about the creation of the album? Was there any particular message or sound you wanted to get across with your debut?

 

Well we wanted it to just represent us in a very truthful and honest way and not try to be anything we weren’t, that’s very important to us. We wanted it to be us but more epic, bigger and atmospheric.

 

So the mag is named after your song Kiloran which is so close to my heart. Talk to me about it! Where did the inspo come from? What was the context of it being written? What does it mean to you?

 
What an honour that you guys have done that! So cool. So Kiloran is a beautiful bay on a tiny island in Scotland called Colonsay. It’s one of the most beautiful places, and a place I’ve been going for years with my family. I write a lot of songs up there and Kiloran came very naturally. I was going through some relationship difficulties and was up there at the time and wrote it about that, and memories of being there with an ex girlfriend, and times we’d walked along Kiloran.

We as a band love that song and playing it live always gets a beautiful reception.

 

There’s a solid argument that So Long Forever was the shining light in a bleak 2016. What are you excited for this year? And what are you worried about?
Ah well thank ya kindly. We’re excited about our future as a band and seeing it grow and getting to play in amazing countries to amazing people. We love our job and every year brings new excitement.

There’s a lot to be worried about too in the world that we’re presently living in. It’s quite scary and our fears seem to be similar to most people’s. The world is in a very depressing place right now and it seems hard to see it getting better anytime soon.

 

In the spirit of our new issue, the past, which past experience would you like to go back and relive?

 

Seeing and holding our album vinyl for the first time and seeing the artwork was very special. Seeing the hard work come together like that was incredible and made us very proud to have done it all as friends.

I’d also like to go back and play a festival called Musilac in France again, we played to 20,000 people in the sun and it was just the bomb.

 

And finally, which artists are you really excited about at the moment?

 

Yellow Days is great. We love Island, Fat Relic, Jamie Lee’s poetry and amazing voice, Azusena, and Angel Olsen is ridiculously good.


Mad love to Leo for chatting to us, and if you haven’t heard Palace; do so.

Their album ‘So Long Forever’ is available now.