by CA Marshall
The first Indie Artist Band to make Starlight Music Chronicles History on our *NEW VOTING POLL* platform who came in like a silent tornado and took the competition by storm are our Official May 2016 Artist of the Month Winners LoudKidz . When we say 'storm' we are not talking about the destructive kind, rather, the kind that leaves a rainbow instead. It seems everywhere this band has been (recently completed their first Tour!) they are leaving a positive and refreshing imprint in their wake. All three Artists: Chez Davis, Jamie Skehan, and Benjamin James, although come from diverse backgrounds, have managed to take a piece of the puzzle from their experiences and combine it into a complete masterpiece with their image, branding, presentation, music, and songwriting. We are happy to welcome this enigmatic band onto the Starlight Music Chronicles Artist of the Month Alumni platform for the upcoming June 2016 Artist of the Year Competition among their peers.
Here is our *Exclusive Interview* we had recently with the band where we talk everything Career, Tour, Fans, The Lad Bible and more:
*Interview*
SMC – Hello LoudKidz! What an honor to have you as our May
2016 AOM Winners! Please introduce yourselves to our Followers with a brief
intro and something ‘unique’ about each one of you....
LoudKidz - We are
honored too! Thank you very much for the opportunity! :)
I am Jamie, I am the guitarist and producer of the band. I
can shake my eyeballs! haha
My name is Chez Davis. I'm the lead singer & guitar
player of LoudKidz & I have really small thumbs like no joke .. They're
tiny:)
I'm Ben, the rapper in LoudKidz and I'm addicted to cereal.
SMC – You all hail from Manchester and originated from
diverse Music Genre backgrounds – how did LoudKidz connect?
LoudKidz - Jamie got a job at the studio where chez worked,
and it went from there.. Jamie was still in an indie band, and Chez was still
in his pop punk band.. We wanted to start something new.. for fun to begin
with... as Jamie was just getting into making dance music. After a few good
tracks.. we started seeing that actually this could become something more than
just for fun. Ben met Chez's dad at a video music festival, and after a few
meetings at the studio.. Ben decided to do a feature on one of our tracks.. The
chemistry was amazing, and it wasn't before long we asked him to join the band
and Loudkidz were born!
SMC – Three words: The Lad Bible. We have watched ‘The Curry
Rap’ video along with the millions of other viewers, did you think it would
catch on the way it did? Were you surprised to see it on The Lad Bible?
LoudKidz - Haha! Not at all.. it was a bit of fun..
something we can post to our mates and say look how we ordered a curry! But it
became so much more than that.. when The Lad Bible featured it, we just
couldn't believe the reaction to it... People loved it!! A few weeks later we had an email from 'RUDE
TUBE" here in the UK, and they wanted us to be featured on their Chanel 4
prime time TV Show. It was great exposure for us... but also those guys we
ordered from still give us free stuff. The "curry boys" is what they
call us... Anything that gets us free curry! haha
SMC – You have recently finished touring internationally, on
the Jahoo Jahaa Tour with some pretty incredible footage/Vlogs of your journey.
Tell us a little bit about the team ‘behind the scenes’ who help make that all
come together for the band?
LoudKidz -We had a fantastic close team behind us for that
tour, and it may sound cliché but it really was family. Special shout out to
Den! Without him this tour wouldn't have happened... Big shout out to Kev &
Matt who were the video team who worked long hours and had to put up with us nonstop!
And let's not forget Clive & Luke on Merchandise... big love!
SMC – We also see that you three personally took your own
media onstage and had lead to some pretty incredible response from fans
(growing numbers of followers) – do you find it is hard to always keep up with
the Social Media and your growing numbers day to day?
LoudKidz - We've always known that social media is so
important more than ever when building your fan base.. but it’s great that we
can communicate with our fans day in, day out. Chez is probably the best at it!
And sometimes has to remind us to re-tweet certain things etc haha!
SMC – If there were one thing each one of you would like to
say to your fans about the next 6 months of your career and what LoudKidz has
coming up, what would that be?
LoudKidz - Patience! :) We have some exciting stuff in the
pipeline.. and before you know it we will be back on the road at a city near
you :)
SMC – For a band so young in its inception, your following
has grown insanely fast! What would you contribute that to?
LoudKidz - The momentum we built when we supported The
Janoskians was unbelievable! I think fans just saw us as 3 good mates having a
good laugh on stage performing tracks they loved. That's what I like to think..
that we are genuinely 3 good mates trying to live our dreams.
SMC – You recently released on Facebook your LIVE ‘What’s
Your Name?’ video and we can clearly see that you have hit 222,000 views (as of
today, April 28th, 2016)! That’s insane! We personally love the vibe you boys
are giving off: the look, the sound, the continuity.....what has been the
response from Industry peers?
LoudKidz - The reaction to the covers we have been putting
on lately has been extraordinary. We
never expected such big numbers, and now to see our own track acoustically has
been shared and viewed so many times.. it truly has taken us by surprise :)
SMC – We had a blast watching the ‘Twerk and Shake It’
video....would you say that there is a level of satire/comedy to each of your
videos? That one in particular is pretty colorful! LOL
LoudKidz - Thank you! That's the aim.. The song is fun, and
we wanted to show that in this video.
Although we do take our music seriously, we can have laughs
too.. that video was great fun to film!
SMC – What can we expect from the band Career-wise in the
next 12 months? What’s on the agenda for new music/videos/touring?
LoudKidz - It's all a bit hush-hush at the moment, but we
have some big things in pipeline.. in terms of new music videos, new songs and
a lot more concert dates announced.. watch this space :)
SMC – What is your preference: Recording or Live
performance?
LoudKidz - I love the initial feeling of writing something
new, however the buzz on stage with the fans singing back your vocals is
another level too. It really is an amazing feeling!
SMC – If there was any Radio or Talk Show you would like to
be on, which would that be and why?
LoudKidz - Johnny Vaughan 4-7 thang on radio X. I just think
he's hilarious!
Radio 1
James Corden!
Alan Carr
Celebrity juice
SMC – We are fans of The Late Late Show with James Corden
and LOVE the Carpool Karaoke episodes.. If you were to appear on the show, what
crazy things would you do? We can totally see you all on that show!
LoudKidz - OH snap! Haha who knows... maybe we can go
through a drive thru and order a takeaway in his car.. James Corden can spit a
rap! haha
SMC – Ok, Celebrity moments: have any of you had a ‘star
struck’ moment?
LoudKidz - I Saw Manchester United’s David De Gea the other
week in Manchester.. and I was too scared to approach him.. best goal keeper in
the world! - Jamie
I was sitting just in front of James Bay & Rooney at the
Manchester United match the other week and I "fan girl'd" a little 😂
I saw Newton Faulkner not too long ago. He's a genius. I
lost my composure.
SMC – Fans: what has been your craziest or weirdest fan
reaction/action to date?
LoudKidz - Warsaw was crazy.. I remember after the gig we
came in through the front when The Janoskians were just about to finish to get
to our merch booth... however word quickly traveled that we were there and
there was 100s of people running towards us!!
We were going to get crushed! haha luckily there was some security who
managed to drag us to safety!
Yeah that was a pretty crazy experience haha
At one of the gigs on tour a few girls in the front row
actually passed out! I was genuinely shocked, I used to see footage at MJ
concerts and think it was crazy then! Let alone at our show! haha
SMC – What has been the sweetest Fan moment?
LoudKidz - We do a broadcast each Monday evening on YOUNOW
and we sometimes call up fans... when we call you guys up, some of you are so
happy and emotional that we "guest'd" you and sometimes we see our
pictures and posters on their bedroom walls ...its kinda gone full circle I
used to put posters of bands up on my wall just a few years ago 🙈
.. it really does make us feel amazing.. thank you all for
being so amazing!
SMC – In terms of our upcoming Artist of the Year
competition, how do you feel practically participating back to back in SMC
competitions? We will have Artists competing against you who won way back in
September...how do you feel you are at an advantage/disadvantage in winning?
LoudKidz - We are happy to just be made Artist of the Month!
We are not looking past that, we just really appreciate the opportunity.. and
good luck to everyone else in the competition.. there are some great bands in
it!
SMC – Tell us your favorite venue performance to date and
why?
Paris - (Olympia). It was just a beautiful venue great
dressing rooms nice vibe ... GREAT fans :)
London - (Shepherd's Bush). It was so high up! Loved it
there.
SMC – We hear you are planning to journey across the pond in
the coming months...very exciting! Will this be your first time in North
America?
LoudKidz -There are plans to head over to North America! We
love the countries there and it’s so big and exciting, many opportunities..
watch this space :)
SMC – Ok, last question: If there was one piece of advice
you could give to Indie Artists just starting out, what would that be?
LoudKidz - Make sure you enjoy what you do... if you're in
this to just be famous, it can put a lot of pressure on you and also make it
less fun. Just remember why you got into
music in the first place... you have to love what you do... and be
patient. There'll be lots of ups and
downs in this industry, but if you remember why you got into it, it makes that
much more special!
