Interviewer: Can you tell me a little bit about who you are, and what it is that you do?
James Wild (musician): I'm James, and this is Evie.
Evie Holloway (musician): We're both musicians. I'm the singer and lead guitarist of a band called New South Wales.
James Wild: My band is called Culture Shock.
Evie Holloway: Three of us are from London, and the remaining one is actually from New South Wales in Australia, which is how we chose our name. Also because we thought it sounded dead cool.
James Wild: Culture Shock started when we were in college, in Brentford, and we played at friends' parties. None of us really thought of it as a serious thing until we got a bit older, and people started paying us serious money to play gigs. We went in to record some demos, and on a whim we decided to send them around to record labels. We also happened to hear about how a little band called Knave of Hearts had more or less gotten all their fame and fortune after they sent their demo tape to Pete Davies from the Blood Roses, who then gave it to his manager Emily Alexander.
Well, we don't like the Blood Roses, so we went our tape to Emily Alexander. Apparently, she liked it.
Evie Holloway: We were scouted. We were playing in a gay club, because those places are some of the most comfortable and fun clubs to play in, and not to mention, they're full of cute boys. Some chick walks up to us and says, hello, I'm with Marque Records, are you interested in a deal? I absolutely thought she was bullshitting, but it turned out she was Emily Alexander. She was practically a celebrity.
But I think that worked out really well for us, that we were so clueless we didn't believe her. It meant our relationship was friendly from the start, and we could get right down to business.
James Wild: Knave of Hearts were inspirational to us at the beginning. As you can probably imagine from our band name, we've got a bit of a political slant. Knave reminded us that you could be political and still make something that's palatable to people who aren't necessarily interested in politics, or aren't interested yet anyhow.
Evie Holloway: Whereas we're nothing like Knave of Hearts.
James Wild: I wouldn't go as far as to say nothing. You're quite glamorous.
Evie Holloway: Ooh, thank you. (laugh) What I meant to say is, our songs are all basically just about vice, and in image we're carousers and trouble-makers—we're glamourous, yeah, but we're not nearly as nice as Knave of Hearts were. Emily has to sort of clean up our messes from time to time.
James Wild: Well, you're more rock and roll in that respect. And I think both of us are pretty similar musically to Knave of Hearts, though we use synthesizers, and New South Wales are a little more punk than Knave, who had a pop sound. I hear Emma Marx-Hall loves pop music.
Evie Holloway: We're not very good musicians either. We just sort of bash our instruments and hope it works.
James Wild: But I think the thing that attracted Emily Alexander to us was that, for one thing, we were brave or stupid enough to try to copy Knave's results, and for another, we also think we're going to change the world. Perhaps not in the same way as Knave did, perhaps not on that scale, but I think people are going to know who we are.
Interviewer: Have you met Knave of Hearts?
James Wild: Of course we have. Fairly early on, in fact. It was part of the signing agreement, which makes me sound like a bloody sycophant now, but hey, it's the way I was raised. Basically, I met them at a party thrown by Marque.
Evie Holloway: Which was also where James and I met for the first time.
James Wild: I remember it pretty well. It was held in the front hall of Marque Records headquarters. Big, marble hall, with loads of expensive modern art and fancy furniture, and framed gold and platinum records. I didn't realize I ought to dress up, and showed up in jeans and a T-shirt. Looked a right mess. The rest of the band even looked great. So I was sort of sulking and trying not to embarrass myself. When who walks up but Emma Marx-Hall herself.
It was easy to tell it was her. She had on heels a mile tall and a dress in all the colors of the rainbow. She said, "Are you James? Emily told me I should introduce myself." It was like meeting a movie character. Something out of a fantasy. We shook hands, and she took me round to meet the rest of the band.
Evie Holloway: And me! I'd run into Tom Thorogood almost immediately, and was having a chat with him about one of the art pieces when Alan Léonin walks up, and says "oh, hello Tommy boy." I definitely recognized Alan. How can you not? So I'm all, "are you Tom from Knave of Hearts? Because I've been an idiot and didn't recognize you." And so after that I was drawn right into the inner circle.
James Wild: The rest of New South Wales and Culture Shock joined us and the Knave boys and girls for drinks round the little exclusive VIP table. I think I drank more money than I'd made up to that point that night.
Evie Holloway: Oh, please. He's exaggerating.
James Wild: I always exaggerate.
Evie Holloway: Best thing in the world yeah?
James Wild: Anyhow it was just me and Evie who stayed on till the end of the night with Knave and our lovely manager. And so they asked us to come back to Alan and Emily's flat. We said sure, since we weren't really in any position to refuse.
Evie Holloway: It was the first time either me or James had visited Emily in her home. It was in this incredible block of flats right in the center of London, and they had the top floor, with glass on all sides and huge pairs of gauze and canvas shades that came down by remote control in the evening. It wasn't too extravagant, just...uplifting. Being there with the lights of the city coming through the light shades, in low light, and with soft music playing, I felt happy. I felt excited about my life, my career, all the things ahead.
James Wild: The kids in Knave of Hearts were getting tired. It was nearly two-thirty in the morning. They were falling asleep all over each other and us. Emily said, "It's 2:22, make a wish," and we all shut our eyes and wished for something.
Evie Holloway: Even all the really sucessful people seemed to have something to wish for.
James Wild: It occurred to me for no real reason that I'd been wondering about something the whole time. I turned to Knave and said, "Well, why are we here? Don't you feel like telling us what we're doing is a terribly bad idea? I mean, you did more or less the same thing as we're doing, and you ended up nearly going insane—I don't just mean Alan, I mean like all of you. And you left in your wake all this mad stuff going on, and fans who were out of their mind, and you compromised your safety forever, now you have to worry about security everywhere...do you think you know how to keep that from happening to us now?"
Emma and Alan look at each other and Emma smiles and says, "Nope."
Alan says, "None of us have any idea what's going to happen to you. But that's the risk you take. And you're taking it for the same reason we did."
I said, "Because you were also idiots? I find that hard to believe."
Lane yawned and said, "Nah, but because we had to do it."
Evie Holloway: And yeah, basically that's how it is. We have to do it. It's the thing in our hearts that we all know, even if we don't understand it. There's music in us. Sometimes you have to let it take over—
James Wild: But don't lose your head—
Evie Holloway: And what happens, happens. We don't really know what's ahead, we just run blindly into it because in some twisted way, even if you know exactly where you came from and how you did it, it's better than walking backwards.
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