We chat to Manchester indie outfit Larkins ahead of their Rescue Rooms show in April...
Hi Dom, thanks for taking the time to speak to us! Can you tell us about your new single Pretty Boy Club?
We dropped our album at the back end of 2021, and then we didn’t really release any music for about 450 days, so it was a new lease of life for us. We’d had a big change in our team management, and we’d been working on fresh ideas and trying to get a new sound. Pretty Boy Club came about pretty quickly, it kind of fell out of the sky.
Is it a standalone single or is there a new album on the way?
We’ve got loads of music in the works, that’s a standalone single for the moment and we’re toying with ideas of which is the best way to put out our music next really.
You’ve got a tour coming up in April, have you started planning a setlist for that tour?
Yeah, we’re always talking about setlists, we’ve got a few older tunes that haven’t been released that the fans still really like, so we’re toying with the idea of putting a few older ones in.
What’s your opinion on encores?
Our opinion has always changed on that, in our early days we thought that was the thing to do but we’ve slowly stopped doing encores. Usually, our tracks are quite different live to how they are on record, I think it’s important to make the live experience a completely different entity to listening to our music in your bedroom.
For the upcoming tour, which show would you say you’re looking forward to most?
We don’t want to disrespect anywhere because every show is unbelievable, and we always feel extremely lucky that people come out and see us. Having said that, Manchester is always special because it’s hometown, you’ve got your family there, all your mates. That’s the one that sets the bar.
What are the key ingredients of a good gig?
It’s all the crowd. You know what the gig’s going to be like before you go on, how the crowd responds to the support act and the half hour of music playing before you step out there. If they’re singing along to the playlist, then you know it’s going to be a good one.
Do you have any control over what they play in that half-hour gap?
Yeah, we make the playlist. We all offer some songs, as well as the crew, and as the tour goes on, we see what is getting the crowd hyped and what’s not.
Do you have plans to play any festivals this summer?
Yeah, we’re getting loads of stuff booked in, we’ll have stuff announced for sure over the next two months, and hopefully another tour at the back end of the year.
TV Dream is one of your most popular songs, did you expect it to have such a positive reaction?
No, especially live that has become a real mad experience. TV Dream is always towards the end of the set and is a very special moment. I look back on that song in a really fond way.
Which bands would you say you are similar too?
A tough one. Our inspirations when we started out were the UK indie scene – Foals, Everything Everything, Two Door Cinema Club.
Quickfire Questions
What’s your favourite TV show?
At the minute, The Last Of Us.
What’s your favourite festival to play?
Leeds and Reading was good, but Glastonbury’s the one we need to get on.
If you weren’t in a band, what would you be doing?
Maybe something in the outdoors, work for the National Trust building fences!
What’s your favourite gig you’ve been to?
Biffy Clyro in Glasgow last year. Unbelievable hometown show for them, surreal.
Our final question is the most important - if you were a fruit, which fruit would you be and why?
I’m trying to think of something clever but I can’t think of something on the spot, so I’m going to say a tangerine because I’m wearing orange.
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