15/08/2024
SHOES NEWS: check out Least We Got Shoes drummer Rob's interview for 'Behind The Scenes' magazine...
What’s the best show you’ve ever played?
Oh wow…that’s a great question! Each show has its own high points for a multitude of reasons, but I think it has to be at the Queen’s Hall in Bradford. I guess you’d expect it to be some festival with a massive crowd, but I’ve always got more of a vibe from the smaller gigs where you’re close enough to be part of the audience. The Queen’s Hall is especially memorable because it’s a hometown venue and hometown crowds don’t generally want to pay to see someone they hang with in the pub on a regular basis. I don’t mean that in they’re unsupportive, I mean it as in why would you pay to go see you’re friends? So, to do a gig where people are there because they love the music, not just because you know them made it really special.
What’s the worst show you’ve ever played?
Now that one’s easy…San Sebastian – I was using a shared kit that was fitted with triggers, which was fine during soundcheck. However, because it was near the end of the tour and the pads had become worn, once the heat from the crowd and the lights hit the heads, everything slackened off and they just started firing randomly. It wasn’t the worst show from a whole gig perspective, just from a personal one - in fact; the bass player was like “Yeah dude!” as some of the random beats fired off like I was doing some kind of Joey Jordison fills, but I can’t take any credit for that.
Is there a city or venue that holds special significance to you, and can you share a memorable experience from there?
I love venues like Brixton Academy, Cambridge Corn Exchange and Shepherds Bush Empire – you know, all thse old theatre type places…I’m a sucker for Victorian architecture. The history and calibre of bands that some of those venues have had, makes it a real honour to play on the same stages that your heroes have done. The Warfield in San Francisco is pretty memorable, cause I got to see Neil Young and Crazy Horse there – he did three nights, but only announced each show on the day. I think I queued up at a Rite-Aid of all places and managed to get in on the second night. I’d seen him before when Pearl Jam were his backing band, but this was something altogether different – I think the whole anticipation, scramble for tickets and atmosphere of the place culminated in the overall feeling that it was something significant.
What’s the highlight of the tour so far?
Meeting a whole stack of new people and getting to play venues we’ve not been to before. I always try and go for a wander around whatever town we’re playing in to get a feel of the place and so it’s really interesting to see what’s still there or what new stuff has sprung up since we last visited. We’re still pretty anonymous and so you can still go places without being hassled, but it’s great meeting fans as much as it is chatting to the guy serving you coffee.
What was the highlight of the last tour you went on?
I love the travelling aspect of it all – that waking up somewhere new or just sat up front on the tourbus watching the world go by. Getting to see new places for me is just as much of a buzz as being on stage, especially when you get to visit cool archaeoligical or geographical sites. A definate highlight was in New Zealand when I got to go to Whakarewarewa village, which is home to the Tuhourangi and Ngāti Wahiao maori tribes and is on a geothermal plateau. Apparently, they were the most successful tribe in the area, because they’d time their haka stomps to coincide with the tectonic plate thuds and scared their opponents by making the earth shake.
Can you recount an onstage experience that was unexpectedly risky or exhilarating?
We were doing a festival in Portugal and during the soundcheck the mic had live power running to it, because it wasn’t earthed. The singer grabbed it to start singing and essentially became the ground cable - he had to be slapped off it with a plank of wood. He was okay after a while, with just a bit of nausea - the whole thing was sponsored by a beer company and so he just drank his way through it.
What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened at one of your shows or on tour?
I think it might have been a Reading Festival or something like that and mid-way through our set we saw the greatest crowd surfer we’d ever witnessed. There was a guy literally being passed along above the crowds heads in a bathtub, whilst he was laying there reading a paper – absolute genius!
Who would you be most amazed to see in the front row at one of your shows?
Obviously there’s going to be a stack of performers and bands that we’re into, that we’d love to see at our shows, but to be honest the best view of the front row would be people just getting into it no matter who they are. A band is only as good as its fans, because they’re the ones that keep you going and if you can connect with that level of shared unity, then you’ve achieved what you set out to do - it would be cool if Iggy Pop showed up though.
How do you handle the pressures of performance and have your strategies evolved over time?
I still get nervous everytime we play, but that’s a good thing because to me; it means that I’m still passionate about what we’re doing – if you’re gonna be complacent then stop being in a band. There’s always going to be pressures; like if stuff breaks, someone famous does show up or it’s a make or break record deal showcase and so I guess if there is a strategy to it; it would be to take a moment, step back and see it for what it is with a couple of deep breaths and get back in the right frame of mind.
Do you have any rituals before you hit the stage? If so, what are they?
I don’t really have any rituals other than stretching, loosening up on whatever's close by to tap sticks on and going for a ‘safety p*e’. I try to make sure that I’ve eaten well in advance and avoid alcohol before going on, so that I’m energised and on my game - I’ll also try and find a quiet spot; more to calm my own nerves and get in the right headspace, rather than to be anti-social.
