The Travel Diary Lives On: Week Two in Thailand

Hello again!

I'm back with part two of my travel diary from my amazing holiday in Thailand - two posts in the space of a week - who am I?! If you haven't seen the first post yet (tut, tut!), you can access it here. Anyway, let's get back to it, even if it's gonna give me severe holiday blues!

Embracing the freckle monster look as the holiday progressed...

I left you with the fresh pancake maker just off of Bangla Walking Street after a fairly eye opening night out in Patong but now it's on to calmer things...sort of! 

Did someone say travel diary? : Week One in Thailand

*dusts away cobwebs from thatdaniigirl.blogspot.co.uk*

Now there’s a URL I haven’t typed in an awfully long time…! A few weeks ago I was helpfully (embarrassingly) reminded by my friend Lucy that I hadn’t in fact put up a blog post since…December…eek! So yes, let’s brush your awareness of my awful consistency with blogging under the carpet and get on with it! 

After nearly four months of apparently feeling no need to share my life with the Internet, I now have something interesting to share! Well, I hope it’s interesting! As I type I’m on a flight back to the UK from Thailand after the most amazing holiday with my parents, so I thought I’d go back to basics and do what I did whilst I was travelling last summer and give you all a little day by day run down of what we got up to. Sound good? No? Tough luck, it’s happening (please read on *insert puppy dog eyes here*)!

Interview: Sam Douglas of Mallory Knox (Part Two)

Hi there!

You may have read my most recent post which contained the first half of my interview with Sam Douglas, bassist and songwriter of Mallory Knox (if not, you can see the first part of the interview here). This post is gonna provide you with the inside info Sam gave me in the second half of our interview, before their awesome headline gig at Bristol's O2 Academy in November. I have no doubt that you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for this, so without further ado, here it is. I hope you enjoy it! You can also check out the interview on the Quench website should you be so inclined!

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http://ramzine.co.uk/featured/interview-with-mallory-knox-2013/ 

Interview: Sam Douglas of Mallory Knox (Part Two)

Hi there!

You may have read my most recent post which contained the first half of my interview with Sam Douglas, bassist and songwriter of Mallory Knox (if not, you can see the first part of the interview here). This post is gonna provide you with the inside info Sam gave me in the second half of our interview, before their awesome headline gig at Bristol's O2 Academy in November. I have no doubt that you have all been sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for this, so without further ado, here it is. I hope you enjoy it! You can also check out the interview on the Quench website should you be so inclined!

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http://ramzine.co.uk/featured/interview-with-mallory-knox-2013/

Interview: Sam Douglas of Mallory Knox (Part One)

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be given press tickets (thanks Quench!) to Mallory Knox's gig at Bristol's O2 Academy. They were supported by three awesome bands: Moose Blood, Fort Hope, and finally, "frnkiero and the cellabration" (Frank Iero's current solo project). I was also given the amazing opportunity to have some interview time on Mallory Knox's tour bus with their bassist and song writer, Sam.

I wrote up my interview with Sam for Quench, our student run magazine, so I thought I'd share it with you all! You can also check it out on their website here. I hope you enjoy it! (psst! This is only the first half, check back next week for part two of the interview!)

http://www.kerrang.com/24137/10-bands-influenced-new-mallory-knox-album/  

On Thursday 20^th November, Danii Penny caught up with the lovely Sam Douglas, bassist and songwriter of Mallory Knox, for a chat ahead of their incredible headline show at Bristol’s O2 Academy. He talks about how MK formed and have progressed, and even gives us a little exclusive about a song from their new album, Asymmetry.

Danii: I’m not as nervous as I might’ve been for this interview because I met Mikey at Reading in 2013, just casually watching Green Day in the crowd at main stage and he was lovely.

Sam: Ah amazing! We’d only just like turned up by that point and then we just walked out to Green Day playing American Idiot & we were like, oh here we are, well this is fucking good!

Danii: How far do you think you guys have come since that first Saturday morning at Reading in 2013? 

Sam: It was almost like a new starting point for this band because that stage was something that we all used to go to as kids. We bought tickets to go watch our favourite bands there, so when we became one of the bands that were performing on the stage that we all grew up watching it was a bit surreal. We were a bit taken aback by it – all of our friends and family came down to the show, which doesn’t usually happen, and I kinda feel like it was just a really good new starting point for this band: the end of the Signals campaign, the best way that we could have possibly signed off that album. Then we started again with the new album, but that gig is definitely in my top 3 highlights of being in this band so far for sure. It was amazing.

Danii: You played at Reading again this year didn’t you?

Sam: Yes! That was my favourite. Last year was my favourite just simply because, as good as the main stage was the year before, had the hangover slot and we were opening up. But yeah, on the Radio 1 NME tent this year we were like the 4^th or 5^th on and it was to the rafters, it was packed. I genuinely believed that we were gonna play to like half a tent because we were clashing with Deaf Havana and I think, Jimmy Eat World as well. So when we got on stage and saw a tent full of people waiting for us it was just one of those amazing moments. It was on the Reading Festival Highlights on iPlayer as well, so I got to go home and watch it back, which is what I used to do if I didn’t get to go to the festival. I used to watch it with my brother and sister…and then there we were! So it was probably my favourite show we’ve ever done!

Danii: How did you guys meet and start playing together?

Sam: I’ve unfortunately known our drummer, Dave (Rawling) since I was about eight years old. We went to primary and secondary school together. He was in the year above me so I got to the age of about 15 before I actually spoke to him and not properly until I was about 19. Then he rung me up one day and said that he was starting a new band with a guy called Joe Savins, our lead guitarist, and I ‘d only met Joe twice and we definitely didn’t get on. So when he said he was starting a band with Joe I wasn’t really keen. But I went to the practice anyway, just because it was something better to do on a Sunday afternoon! But the other three, James Gillett (rhythm guitar), Mikey Chapman (lead vocals) and Joe, all played in a band together and I think they went to school with each other. Then our previous bands just stopped what they were doing, we took a couple of years out for work and whatnot and then I think we all just got really bored. We were all still writing music just as individuals, just for the fun of it, in our bedrooms and stuff…well, I was anyway, and the band just came together as something for us all to do. Within a year it got pretty serious and it became what it is now.

Danii: You lucked out then?!

Sam: We obviously wanted the band to do well, but we never thought it would be a big thing. It was just something to pass the time for a year or two and now it has turned out to be something much more than that, which is awesome! We’re so grateful to everyone that has supported us.

Danii: What is your favourite track off of each album, Signals and Asymmetry?

Sam: On Signals, it’ll always be Lighthouse for me. I know it’s the main song off that album and that, but even before it was a single it was still the song that I was most excited about!

Danii: It’s definitely a crowd pleaser!

Sam: Yeah! And it was never even written for it to be like that. I remember just writing that song in my house, just on a whim. The guitar line just came out of nowhere and I was literally recording it in my room on a really bad 8 track that I have in my bedroom. I just put together the song from that point on, sent it to the guys and they were all into it. From there it has become one of our biggest songs, which is cool!

Danii: It’s a great song but I’m gonna be controversial and say that my favourite track off of Signals is Hello.

Sam: Hello? That’s cool, I think that’s James’ favourite. If it weren’t for Lighthouse I would’ve gone with Creeper, I wanted to play that on this tour but we couldn’t. But yeah, on the new album, it’s a lot harder because they’re all really fresh for me still. But I’d probably go with She Took Him To The Lake.

Danii: One of my best friends is really into you guys and that’s his favourite song from Asymmetry too!

Sam: Awesome, good taste!

Danii: But I’m gonna say that Dare You is my personal favourite at the moment!

Sam: Ah, see Dare You would be very very close for me as well. That was actually written for Signals. That’s a little exclusive for you, I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone that before! We had the whole one minute intro for Dare You written for Signals but we just didn’t know where to take it. We had no melody, no chorus and no verse. It was always like my favourite bit of music we’d ever written, so I said, we have to go back to that! Luckily we found something that fitted with the song eventually, I’m glad you like it!

Danii: You’ve worked with some really cool bands like Don Broco, Canterbury and Biffy Clyro (which I’m really jealous about!), who was the best to work with?

Sam: Biffy was really cool just because it was Biffy. It was only a one off show but I remember Simon (Neil) was waiting backstage just before they were about to go on stage and we were just walking past to get back to our dressing room and he called a couple of us over. We were like ‘oh god, he’s gonna think that we work for the venue or something’, but he actually called us over and said that he really liked Lighthouse and said congratulations on the tour selling out and stuff. I was like ‘holy hell, he actually knows who we are’, which was insane!

Danii: That’s pretty amazing!

Sam: So yeah, I guess Biffy were definitely up there, but we’ve been lucky enough to tour with a load of cool bands. We haven’t even toured with another band that we haven’t got on with…yet!!!

Danii: Which bands have most influenced your music then?

Sam: For me personally it’d be Blink-182, Alkaline Trio, Jimmy Eat World, I kinda like the old pop punk scene. But as you move on, get a bit older and that, I think you always open up to new music and stuff. I know that all five of us as a collective love Foo Fighters.

Danii: Tickets tomorrow for their stadium tour come out tomorrow!

Sam: That will be an incredible show, aren’t Royal Blood on the line-up as well? That’s amazing for them!

Danii: Yeah I think so, that’ll be awesome. I’m actually really bummed because I had a chance to see Royal Blood at The Globe in Cardiff, which is quite a small venue. It was a few months ago and I couldn’t go! Now they’ve really taken off and they’ll never play in that kind of small, intimate venue ever again. Can’t believe I missed it!

Sam: I dunno man, A Day To Remember just announced Camden Barfly, so I think bands always go back to it. I think it’ll be a thing that happens more and more to be honest so that should be cool! I know that we definitely plan on revisiting smaller venues every now and then to remind us where we came from!

To be continued…
Check back in next week to read the second part of the interview, where Sam explains why he doesn’t want Mallory Knox to ‘make it’, his festival dreams, their upcoming US tour, chilling with Frank Iero, and more!

Food for thought: Street Food Cardiff at The Depot

Hello hello hello!

I know, I know, it's been ages since I last posted (again!). I really need to get better at this whole blogging malarkey...but whilst I've been away from the "blogosphere" I've been doing plenty of cool stuff to share with you all...honest! Prepare yourselves for a mouth watering read and only continue reading if you're prepared to suddenly feel rather hungry...like this little fella...

Live Review: Twin Atlantic Meet and Exceed Expectations

A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to be given press tickets (thanks Quench!) to Twin Atlantic's gig at Cardiff University Student Union. They were supported by Essex boys Nothing But Thieves and fellow Scotsmen The Excerts and it was a pretty great night! 

I wrote a review of Twin Atlantic's performance for Quench, our student run magazine, so I thought I'd share it with you all!