Music > Interviews

Miles Kane

13/10/18

Whether you know him from his origins with The Rascals and The Little Flames back when indie ruled the waves, as the more mischievous half of baroque super-group The Last Shadow Puppets with a certain Alex Turner, or as a solo artist in his own right with three acclaimed albums to his name, Miles Kane is one of Britain’s musical men of the moment. From a coffee shop in Italy, midway through the campaign in support of his latest long-player ‘Coup de Grace’, a bristling half-hour effort which takes its name from a wrestling move, we got him on the phone for a chin-wag.

 

 

Hey Miles. What are you up to in Florence?

I came over here to do a video for the next single, Killing the Joke. It’s slightly like the video I did for Don’t Forget Who You Are years ago in Liverpool, but a Florence version! There’s moments of me in a car, walking round the streets… in the song [I’m] reflecting on things and thinking of someone, so it’s that sort of vibe.

 

Since we last heard from you, you’ve done a big old Shadow Puppets tour with your pal Alex Turner. What were some of the best bits?

For me it was Glastonbury. I had a lot of anxiety before that gig because I had to play that ten second saxophone part on the Bowie song [the band covered Moonage Daydream; it was epic – Ed] so once that was out of the way I could breathe again! I dunno, we did so many cool things. I liked the Ally Pally gigs we did in London, they were really rockin’.

 

When did you decide you wanted to do another solo record – was it before the Puppets revival?

Yeah, I did start writing this before the Puppets one. And then me and Al started writing tunes together again, and it became clear [the best thing was] to do a Puppets one, so it just got put on hold. Then when we finished with the Puppets it was like, back to the day job.

 

Did any songs from the Puppets sessions get carried onto this record?

No they didn’t. There was a couple that were knocking about that I’ve thought about recently, a couple of old ones, but no, all the ones that made the album were written pretty much from January to October last year. Coup de Grace and Silverscreen were written in the previous September.

 

Coup de Grace and Too Little Too Late are so mad – I bet they go down a treat live.

Honestly, those tunes are so fun to play at the gigs that we’ve been doing, even before the album was out. Coup de Grace goes off! It’s kind of like George Michael doing Fatboy Slim! Such a bonkers tune, it’s amazing.

 

How did that sound find its way onto this album? It feels very disco and, as you said, pretty bonkers.

I’ve definitely always loved that classic sort of disco from growing up. I like Candi Staton, The Bee Gees, I love Donna Summer as well. We’ve been doing a cover of Hot Stuff which has been going down well. That’s just what I listen to. And when The Clash do that more punky version of disco, that was something that really turned me on. On the song Coup de Grace we definitely set out to try and write a tune like that [especially] when I got that bass line. It took a while to finish, but it came back around towards the end. I forgot about it for a moment, then it reared its head.

 

It’s great when an artist who’s perceived as a bit masculine really lets themselves go. You end up with a record like this, which is flamboyant and genuinely fun to listen to.

I’m very comfortable doing that, as well. It’s something I’d like to explore more of, going down that road of expression, if you wanna call it that. Then on the other side, [you’ve got] Too Little Too Late, which is full on, punk, a fucking… spit in your face kind of tune. I love both sides of those characters.

 

You did a big tour of small venues before the album release. What was it like hitting those tiny, grotty rooms again?

We had a great laugh on that tour, it was proper back to basics. To be honest, I love playing to five people or 500, you know what I mean. They were intense, there was a lot of dates. We just got on with it. Apart from it being a bit dirty I actually loved it!

 

And crowds tend to let themselves go more in those environments.

Yeah exactly, you don’t really give a fuck!

 

You wrote a lot of this album with Jamie T. Didn’t you bring him out at one of the London shows?

Yeah, one of the early doors ones. He got up with us and did Too Little Too Late.

 

Speaking of collabs, you joked recently about working with Example, which made me think of a song you did with Professor Green a couple of years ago.

I remember that tune, Are You Getting Enough? We sort of tried to do a hard hitting Prodigy tune stylistically. I get on with Example, we’ve had some fun nights and that. Musically [we’re] different but I think it’d be fun, if [we] found a cool middle ground it could be a cool song.

 

I feel like you’ve got a very similar energy.

Yeah, we do to be honest. He loves playing live, and his songs are very upbeat, aren’t they? There is a similarity between us.

 

You had The Mysterines opening for you recently, they’re a hotly-tipped band. Do you keep an ear to the ground in terms of new music?

Yeah, The Mysterines are a great new band. They’re super young and I think Lea, the singer, is a bit of a star. You know when you just have a feeling that someone’s gonna do well? I got that feeling. We had that new band The Blinders as well, I love that song that goes “gotta get through, gotta get through”; I love anything that repeats like that. We’ve got Cabbage on the tour at the end of the year. I’ve been into them for a while actually, I think they’ve got some cool lyrics. I used to just listen to old things, I didn’t give a fuck about new bands! But the last maybe couple of years, I don’t know what it is, I’m definitely more open to [them]. All these young bands inspire me, you know what I mean?

 

There are tons of emerging bands who are definitely inspired by yourself, Arctic Monkeys, etc.

I can see that, I like it. Not to sound egotistical! It’s nice, it’s a good feeling.

 

 

What have you got coming up in the rest of Autumn?

I’m going to Europe, we start a tour on the first of October in Amsterdam. It’s only small, I think eight or ten dates, and then we come back and there’ll be little bits on but we’ll mostly be getting ready for that big tour at the end of the year. I can’t wait.

 

You’re coming back to the LCR in November. Do you remember what happened the last time you played there?

Erm…

 

The fire alarm went off and everyone was evacuated.

Oh, that was it! I do remember that actually. Fucking hell.

 

Are you looking forward to playing to home crowds again?

Yeah, I am. I’m excited for it all, man. I wish it was tomorrow to be honest. I think the setlist will be amazing, it’s gonna be rockin’. We’ll add some covers in there, I think it’ll be really exciting. I don’t think, I know it will.

 

Miles Kane plays the UEA LCR on Monday 26th November with support from Cabbage

For more information and tickets, visit ueaticketbookings.co.uk