1.
Hi Preston, how are you? What are you up to right now?
I’m waiting for some coffee to brew
and listening to records with Louis before we set out to practice.
2.
You’ve just announced a brand new headline tour what can fans expect to
experience at one of your shows and how does it feel to be hitting the road
again?
We always took pride in the energy of
our early live shows and we have found the excitement to give people that
experience again! Moshing and singalongs are always very much encouraged
and the new songs that we will be playing are our fastest and loudest yet.
3.
What is your favourite song to perform live?
We always open with Over the
Counterculture which is the opening track from our first record. I like to
think that this was the first Ordinary Boys song that a lot of people ever
heard and will continue to be.
4.
When you’re not performing what do you do to keep yourself busy when you’re on
tour / on the road?
I have a studio and write songs for
other people. I have recently written songs with John Newman, Chloe Howl
and Cher. I’m also into Table Tennis in quite a big way.
5.
What’s the best gig you’ve ever played?
We played with Weezer in a baseball
stadium in Japan in front of 40,000 people. That was fun. I remember a gig we
played very early on at the Adelphi in Hull and it was before we had any real
following. We somehow managed to have lines forming down the street and people
were climbing the walls. We were at least double capacity and the whole
gig was magical. I will never forget that one.
6.
What was the first gig you ever went to?
I used to do a lot of acting when I
was younger and I was in 2 music videos for a britpop/glam band called Kinky
Machine. They invited me to see them in Portsmouth when I was 8 and already a
big fan of britpop.
7.
Which other artists are you listening to at the moment?
I like Modern Baseball a lot. They
are a pop-punk/emo band from Philadelphia. There is a band called Nothing who
are friends of mine from when I used to live in Philadelphia. They are a great
heavy shoegaze band. As a band we have been listening to the remastered
American Football rerelease. That is such an incredible record.
8.
Which song do you wish you had written?
Baby, I love you.
9.
Who would you most like to collaborate with in the future?
I like Sky Ferreira a lot. I
hear Suicide and lots of post-punk references in her music. That would be
a dream.
10.
Plans between now and the tour?
Now we finish writing and record our
album for a November release, practice for our tour, drink nice beers!
11. How did you get in to
professionally song writing?
I was approached by Olly Murs when he
was working on his first album and have written songs almost every day since
then.
12.
Have you
enjoyed working with the likes of Olly Murs?
I absolutely have. I flew over to
Miami to write with Enrique Iglesias. That was pretty weird.
13.
How did you
meet your new member Louis and what do you think a new member will bring to the
fold?
I was a fan of his old band Spectrals
and met him when he played with the Cribs who are friends of my band from the
early days. I emailed him certain that he would pass but we met up and found
out that we like all of the same music. This new tour and album would
definitely not have happened if Louis hadn’t joined the band.
14.
Have you kept
in touch with all the band or will this be a reunion for you guys too?
I hadn’t seen Chuck for about 7 years
but we have instantly picked up where we left off as best friends. It’s hard to
imagine why we ever stopped playing music together.
15. Do you have a city you are most
excited about playing?
Birmingham has always been very sweet
to us and the crowds are always guaranteed to sing along and mosh their
hearts out. We are very excited to return.
16.
Can we expect
any music from the band ahead of the tour?
We are finishing off our new record
at the moment.
