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Interview with Grant Nicol
 One of the fastest rising bands in their native Scotland, pop-rockers
Latonic are currently whipping up a storm across the UK thanks to their
convulsive live shows and a wealth of electrified, melodic indie gems.
Their last single, ‘Twisted Devotion’ was so good that it became our
first ‘Single of the Month’,, and if that wasn’t enough, we called up
dynamic frontman, Grant Nicol to ask him about the past, present and
future of Latonic.
You guys seem to be picking up praise and rave reviews everywhere you go
at the moment, how does it feel to be in Latonic right now?
It feels really good, and it only seems to be getting better and better.
We’ve normally always had good reviews and that, but the new stuff we’re
doing seems to be going down even better than anything we’ve done in the
past, so we’re just gonna keep going.
You’ve been together now for around five years and it seems that now
you’re really hitting your stride, but has there ever been a time when
you thought it might not happen?
Well, to be honest we started off as a kind of casual thing, the way
most bands usually do, and we didn’t really take it seriously at first.
But we picked up a good following and people seemed to really like us,
so we released our first EP and thought that maybe something would come
of that. After that I think it was a bit like, ‘Oh, nothing’s happened’
so we just kept on writing new songs and still nothing was really
happening.
I think with the new stuff we’re doing though, we seem to be getting
back again and it’s all happening.
What was it that made you guys take the band seriously and really give
it a shot?
Mainly it was people liking us. A couple of the guys had been in bands
before, and I think maybe they’d had a shot but not really made it, but
when people started liking us and we were getting good crowds at gigs we
decided to start recording stuff and selling it. It was going well so we
just decided to push it even more and see what happens.
Reviewers of your live shows always tend to pick up on your role as
frontman, giving the impression that you’re quite charismatic on stage
and put a lot into what you do. Is fronting the band in such a way a
natural thing for you, or do you have an act when you go on stage?
It’s a bit of a stage persona yeah, but it’s what I really like doing
and I suppose it’s my real self coming out on stage. I don’t really care
when I’m up there, just get on with stuff and do what I love doing.
How important is it to give it everything you’ve got on stage?
Oh it’s definitely important. I think that when you’re the frontman,
everyone in the crowd is naturally looking at you so you’ve got to give
them something to look at and make them enjoy themselves.
What sort of bands are Latonic influenced by?
On the whole, we’re all influenced by different stuff. For me it’s
mainly Britpop stuff, Oasis, Stone Roses and that. From the band
perspective, stuff we’re quite into at the minute is like electro,
techno stuff going on to bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Muse, Head
Automatica…
What do you make of the current music scene?
It’s a bit ****, it’s all just jingly-jangly indie bands isn’t it? There
are some big bands that I do like at the minute, Muse and Kasabian
they’re doing their stuff and I like it, but there seems to be a lot of
bands around right now that are just being put out because they sound
like someone else.
We’re definitely trying to stay away from that though and just do our
thing.
You seem to be embracing downloading as a way to sell your music and get
it out to people; do you think that the internet and MP3s could be the
future of the music business?
Yeah, definitely. Everyone’s got a computer at home now and an MP3
player or an ipod that they can put on and listen to on their way to
work or whatever, downloading just seems like a popular thing and it’s
an easy way to get music out.
I do still like the fact that you’ve got something physical with a CD
and you can have the art work and all that, but I reckon that downloads
are the way forward.
Where do you get your influences for lyrics from? What sort of themes do
you sing about?
Some of it’s personal stuff, things that have happened to us, but the
newer stuff is a lot of stories and things that are just going on in our
head. We’re not that precious about the lyrics actually, we always write
the song and the lyrics will come after.
Where does the name come from?
It’s a bit of strange one isn’t it? We were originally called The Tonic,
but the first gig we ever played they put us up as ‘La Tonic’. I think
there was a band around at the time called ‘Tonic’ or something like
that, so we just decided to stick with ‘Latonic’.
What would say has been the highlight so far for the band?
We did some recording with Chris Gordon [Snow Patrol, Sum 41 and a long
list of others] which was really good, and we played a gig at The Garage
in London which was a great show. The place was absolutely rammed and we
had a really good gig, that’s probably our favourite show.
We’re still pushing things, trying to get decent support slots and big
gigs, so we’ll see how things go.
What have Latonic got coming up this year?
We’ve just released our last single ‘Twisted Devotion’ [Our ‘Single of
the Month’, see Best of the Rest], got a few gigs lined up and video
shoot, then there’s another single due to be released in April. So we’re
just gonna keep going, play as many places as possible.
What’s the overall ambition for the band?
At the minute it’s really to get a proper album out, which we’re sort of
on the way to. We’re not thinking that we’re gonna be the biggest band
ever, but we just want to get our music out there and do some good
shows. Hopefully people will like it; the fans we’ve got already seem to
like it, so hopefully we can push it further.
Could you sum up what Latonic is all about in three words?
Erm… dirty… Kinda-arrogant pop!
And finally, something we ask just about everyone who sits ‘In The
Hotseat’, any advice for young people looking to form a band or make a
career out of music?
I would say to get together with a bunch of people who you get on with,
some of your best pals and people who are into the same sort of thing.
Stick to the sort of music you like and don’t try and follow trends, and
get out and about doing as many gigs as you can.
I think that eventually, if you believe in what you’re doing and you
stick to your guns, it will pay off for you.
Recommended Links:
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www.latonic.com
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www.myspace.com/latonic
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