Review Fix chats with Reckless’ John Allan – Vocals and Chris Kay – Bass and Backing Vocals, who discuss the band’s formation and goals for the future, as well as some of their trademark tracks.
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Review Fix: How did the band get together?
Chris Kay: We were all failed talent show contestants. Can you imagine if that was true?? Nah, unlike every other band that’s ever existed we came together as a result of a group of mates that were in different bands together over the years. Start Static came about as a result of Stephen, Mike and I had been jamming together for a few months after we had all found ourselves outside of playing music for a year or so, we decided to get back into the studio for a jam. We quickly rekindled our love for playing as a band when we realized that we were all really liking the material we were coming up with we decided to look a lead vocalist to come and jam with us. It turned out that Stephen knew John from a previous life so we got him down for a jam one night. At the time we were happy that he could sing, was (and is) a very handsome man but the deal breaker was the fact that he wouldn’t leave the studio. He was dead keen from the start to get stuck right into writing and performing so we knew that he would be a good fit.
John Allan: I lied – you ain’t getting The £10 I promised to pay you for saying that, Chris.
It is funny how it all came together so fast. I was still in the heartache phase, and hadn’t been playing any music at all. Now it feels like I never stopped!
Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Allan: There are a load of approaches to writing – and I think that helps ensure that things don’t get too stale. Hopefully it makes sure that the songs keep sounding fresh. While there is often a guitar or bass lick to start things off – it can be fun to try jamming the rest of the song out – alternatively, we try taking a recording home and working on ideas on our own.

Kay: Our creative process is beautifully chaotic. The band started off with Stephen coming up with the majority of the song skeletons on the guitar, which would be mixed up with a few ideas here and there from the rest of us. Now it’s different. Our song writing confidence has grown significantly since Arguments. This is in relation to the ideas being put forward and by the people that are putting them forward. We still are a guitar band but the post-Arguments tracks are a result of a much more varied writing process as all four of us have been a key contributor on at least one of our new tracks. On the plus side, we seem to be able to put songs together a lot faster these days but the down side with having that many idea means that we often get frustrated with having such a large backlog of ideas waiting to be finished.
Allan: As for the lyrics, I tend to write them with input from the guys. The subject matter can really be anything. One of the songs on Arguments was about a – can’t-call-it-a-break-up from when I was 13. The inspiration comes from lots of places. Like inspirational quote memes. I AM JOKING!
When we get to videos and artwork – Mike completes the vast majority of the video editing, and both Mike and Chris complete a lot of the photo work. It is pretty good that we are in control of a lot of the artistic output, but at the same time, it means there is a long list of stuff to get through. Wouldn’t have it any other way I suppose.
Edit – Scratch that – I would love to have a team of people who completed stuff for us!
Review Fix: What’s your standout song? How was it written?

Kay: It has to be Reckless. It’s been a favourite of ours since the day it was penned. If I remember right, Stephen had the original idea for a number of months and it kept coming up time after time as a song idea. I think once John had cracked the main vocal part the song really did become the track that we know and love today. It’s an energetic firecracker of a song that gets the band going as much as it get the fans going at the start of our gigs. The video is bloody brilliant as well. It has definitely been the benchmark for ourselves for every video since.
Allan: I think Reckless was that song for a while. Reckless was actually two song ideas that Stephen experimented with combining.
Recently I have been feeling like ‘You Sure Like to Shout’ and ‘A Certain Shade of Red’ have been getting really good responses. Which is handy as they’ll be out soon! ‘A Certain Shade of Red’ was a hangover from the Arguments sessions, but was never finished. We ended up restructuring and rewriting it, and I’m really pleased that it came together.
‘You Sure Like to Shout’ wrote itself really – although we did make some changes when we got to the studio and started to work with Bruce Rintoul.
Review Fix: What are your goals for the rest of 2016?

Kay: For the rest of 2016 we intend on releasing the majority of the material that we have spent the year so far writing and recording. We have enough material to form the follow-up to our debut album Arguments however, learning from the last time round, we will be releasing many of the tracks as tracks on their own for the time being, with a view to releasing a full album either later this year or early next year.

Allan: After the top 50 place in The Herald last year – (If the album is finished on time) then anything other than making the list again will feel like a massive failure. If that was to happen I would tail spin into addiction and become a recluse. And that would be on the herald’s conscience forever….No pressure Herald.
Review Fix: How do you want your music to affect people?
Allan: I want the next generation to be conceived to us. We write some pretty sexy stuff…Marvin Gaye and Start Static go hand in hand for the sweet, sweet love playlist. I’d like to think that someone somewhere is getting that hair on the back of the neck feeling from listening to us. That was not related to the sweet love comment, I promise!
Kay: What I like the most about playing in Start Static is the feedback that we get from our live performances. It’s always nice to hear that good things about how our tracks sound or how funny a video is etc but, for me anyway, it will always come back to the gigs. I think that going to see a good live band with your mates is just brilliant. I would like to think that coming to our gigs will make a good night out a great night out for people who were not there to see us in the first place.
Review Fix: What’s next?
Kay: We will have a number of single releases planned over the next few months. The next one will be A Certain Shade of Red, which will be out October this year. The rest of the year will be focused on building up a solid run of festival gigs for 2017. We will be aiming to play shows UK wide with even a wee trip to Austin to play SXSW in the spring!
Allan: Yeeha! That sounds like fun eh? We should have everything lined up so that we can keep a steady stream of absolute bangers coming out for the next while. Please don’t judge me for saying “absolute BANGERS”
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