TITANS ARMS: Interview with Xylaroo! These guys count Alan McGee amongst their fan base so check them out!

 

Below is our interview with Xylaroo.

 

To stay up to date with future interviews like our facebook page at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords
 

 

PART 1 - THE INTERVIEW

 

What was your earliest musical memory and what pushed you towards pursuing a career in the music industry?

 

Holly: "Hearing the band Rilo Kiley for the first time was pretty memorable for me, its when I started trying to write songs and messing around with the guitar."

 

Coco: "To be honest my earliest musical memory was asking my parents to buy me this tape of songs by the Smurfs, just looked it up it was titled 'The Smurfs Hits '97' so I must have been four or five. They ended up getting it for me and I remember thoroughly enjoying it. The hits included 'ooh…ah smurf a little bit', 'I wanna be a smurf star', 'smurf macarena' and 'smurf billy rock, smurf billy roll'. I'd like to think the last one is where I get my rock 'n' roll edge from… It's actually not half bad. But if I had to say what pushed me into music, I'd have to say it was probably Holly. I've always been the lazier side of the band, so she's always had to push me to get into gear and that and she's my older sister so that pretty much comes naturally but I'm well glad she does cause at the end of the day performing and writing music is pretty awesome."

 

Had you been involved in any other band prior to Xylaroo?

 

Coco: "I don't know if you could call it a band really but when I was about fourteen me and a few friends attempted to form a band. We played one open mic and we were shit. Shortly after that me and Hols played the same open mic with a few songs Holly had written and it went down pretty well. That night we met some people who got us into the Medway music scene who have ended up becoming really awesome friends of ours."

 

How did Xylaroo begin?

 

Coco: "Holly's guitar wasn't the greatest - still isn't so she asked me to help out with a few songs she had written and just kept going from there really."

 

Where did the name Xylaroo come from?

 

Holly: "People always ask us that question and we never have a good answer. Basically I was stupid and young and trying to get drunk…it's a long story."

 

Coco: "It's a stupid story and I had no part in it, just think of it as a kangaroo playing the Xylophone. That's all I have to say about that."

 

How would you describe the sound of Xylaroo?

 

Coco: "I always find it difficult to place our style of music but if I had to describe it I'd say folky."

 

Holly: "Yeah a lot of people say different things about our style. Our music's a bit like a melting pot, if we hear something we like then we'll throw that in."

 

Your most popular song on MySpace is ‘Titans Arms’. What is this song about and what influenced it?

 

Coco: "It was when we had just moved to Sri Lanka. I remember the night, it was raining and there was a power cut and we couldn't watch TV so we decided to get high and play guitar. We were in a chilled out mood so the creativity was flowin'. It's kind of a rainy day song."

 

Holly: "It rained a lot in Sri Lanka."

 

You have met Alan McGee and he is a fan of your music. What was it like to meet such an icon and how does it feel having ‘approval’ from Mr McGee himself?

 

Coco: "To be honest it was really quite daunting meeting Alan when we went up to Liverpool to play the 359 gig but I have to say he was so down to earth and just as passionate as you'd expect him to be so yeah it was pretty awesome to say the least. Having anyone say they like your music always feels good…But having Alan McGee say it, it feels pretty f**king cool."

 

Do you have any 'rituals' before you go on stage?

 

Holly: "Work ourselves into a state of fear and then drink until we play."

 

Coco: "The after show ritual is similar but the fear comes the next day."

 

Any live dates coming up?

 

Coco: "Due to a long Christmas visit back in Sri Lank and Uni exams our next gig isn't until February which is so long I know. But yeah, the gig is going to be at the Boogaloo on February 24th, it's a great live music night. Ooh, also we're getting into the studio late January to record some new songs which should be awesome."

 

 Any new songs in the pipeline?

 

Coco: "Yeah we've got a heap actually which is why we're so excited to be getting into a studio in January. Pretty much all our song's up on the internet are pretty old so its about time we updated it!"

 

When can fans be expecting the next release?

 

Holly: "The new songs will be up probably by the end of January."

 

Who would be your dream collaboration?

 

Holly: "Rilo Kiley. Hands down. And If I had a second choice it'd be Rilo Kiley again."

 

Coco: "Agreed."

 

Who would be in your dream supergroup?

 

Holly: "Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton and Nina Simone"

 

Coco: "I'd love to see Fleetwood Mac do a collaboration with Rilo Kiley plus Jonathan Rice. That would be sweet!

 

 

PART 2 - THE QUICKFIRE ROUND

 

Favourite Beatle?

 

Holly: "John Lennon."

 

Coco: "Lennon."

 

Favourite band?

 

Holly: "Rilo Kiley."

 

Coco: "Elliot Smith."

 

Favourite new band?

 

Holly: "Don't really have any favourite new bands just songs. But been getting into Nina Simone lately."

 

Coco: "Haim."

 

Favourite song?

 

Holly: "House Of The Rising Sun."

 

Coco: "A Better Son/Daughter by Rilo Kiley."

 

Favourite album?

Coco: "Rumours."

Holly: "Tracy Chapman, self-titled."

 

Vinyl, CD or download?

Coco: "iPod?"

 

Style icon?

Coco: "Jenny Lee Lindberg from Warpaint."

Holly: "Woody Guthrie."

 

Favourite clothing brand?

Coco: "Err Primark?

 

Favourite film?

Coco: "Pulp Fiction."

Holly: "Chungking Express."

 

Favourite TV show?

Coco: "Buffy The Vampire Slayer."

Holly: "South Park."

 

Who would play you in a film of your life?

Coco: "No idea."

 

Favourite food?

Holly: "Chinese."

Coco: "Seafood!"

 

Football team?

Holly: "No."

Coco: "Man United!"



Hope you enjoyed this feature on Xylaroo! Check out our previous feature on Silent Sleep!

 

Check out Xylaroo here - https://www.facebook.com/pages/xylaroo/111664459095

 

You can also like our facebook page to keep up to date with all future interviews at the following link - https://www.facebook.com/aldorabritainrecords

 

AB RECORDS