Ahead of the release of their fourth studio album, ‘Business As Usual’, and their tour in celebration, I jumped at the chance to catch up with Kerr and Jamie from The LaFontaines. 

RECORD WEEKLY’S INTERVIEW WITH THE LAFONTAINES

Hey guys, how’s it going?

Kerr, live from a sunny park: Very well thank you!

We’re now within the seven-day countdown to ‘Business As Usual’, your new album [out 14th June] — how buzzing are you about getting it out there?

Kerr: It’s a funny feeling really; just before COVID, we’d released our third album [Junior]. It had just hit the Top 40, and we were quite relentlessly touring the UK, Europe, Asia, India — we were constantly away. We’d just done a deal with a good label and our Spotify numbers were strong. For the first time in about 12 years, it felt like we were a full-time band. It hit us that year with a moment where we went, “oh yeah, we actually can do this full-time”. It was an amazing milestone. You know how it is with music — it’s so hard just to make a living doing it. So, that happened, and it was incredible. But then the world stopped. 

I just sort of lost any willingness to do music. Any ways you could make money or travel all seemed to just go away, and I was pissed off by it, naturally! It felt like there was nothing to show for having put our full lives into it.

I then went away, got married, had a baby, and my priorities completely changed. So music feel sort of done for, in my head. Then Jamie sent a song called ‘Business As Usual’ and, without being clichéd and cheesy, it was one of those where I had to write words to it. It sort of spiralled then into an album. So, to be at this point now, less than a week away from the album coming out? Yeah, it’s a wonderful feeling. 

Aw that’s beyond great! I know I was so excited when I saw ‘Business As Usual’, the single, drop. How have all the new tunes been received so far?

Kerr: They’ve been really well received! We more recently put out ‘Since You Made A Move’, which has a video, too, and they just all feel like good songs that I’m proud of. 

Absolutely. As we said, COVID was such a difficult time and so many fresh bands emerged, yet so many had to retain their place somehow in among the chaos. So when you guys made a comeback after such a stint away, it was so cool — really special. 

Who were your biggest musical influences growing up?

Jamie, from the comfort of home: The first band I ever got into was The Offspring. I was about ten and two of my brothers were into different music — one punk, the other Oasis and Ocean Colour Scene and such. From there, when I got to high school, I was all about the Red Hot Chili Peppers. John Frusciante is my biggest musical guy for sure.

Kerr: My favourite pop artist would be André 3000 from Outkast. Lyrically, I think he’s the man. Then I made a discovery when we toured with a guy called Anderson .Paak. In terms of the multifaceted musicality of a person like that, and the genres he covers, I feel like he’s sort of similar to us in the sense that we cross genres all the time. And so does he. We just go wherever we decide to go and have a pretty good bash at it, and I just enjoy music like that. 

Genres aren’t what they used to be; you can be into so many different things at the same time now as a music consumer. You’re exposed to so much of it. I know that, from days of DJing, you can quite easily turn an indie track into a Kendrick Lamar song, and everyone’s got a little bit of everything in their sound nowadays. I’m influenced by so much. 

What are the band’s career highlights to date? 

Jamie: Getting to travel — going to India, Thailand and America, plus a lot of random towns and cities in Europe you wouldn’t necessarily have gone to otherwise. I’m quite happy just being out of the house, so yeah, definitely a highlight for me is seeing the world while playing the drums.

Kerr: Mine would be the same, with a garnish of headlining the Barras. When we played there for the first time, that was one of the best days of my life. We’ve done it since and it’s still been great, but nothing will ever come near that first show there, in terms of what that meant to sell that venue out. It felt like one of those nights where you just had to be there! It was always such a goal to perform there, from when I started writing music. 

So are those local venues like Barrowland Ballroom [the Barras] among your favourites, or do you have others that you rate, which you’ve only come across from touring?

Kerr: Yeah, sometimes you go to a place — generally in Europe — and you find these cool, unexpected spots. We also played in Pune, India — it was this Bacardi NH7 Weekender and I just thought there would be nobody there to see us, but we rocked up and it was as though Disneyland had built a stage. It was insane! Thousands of people there, and they treated us like we were the Beatles. Wild! They kept saying we made “super-futuristic music” and that’s my favourite description of our band ever. 

Haha that’s brilliant. You must’ve stumbled upon some pretty mixed sizes of venues then. I’ve seen you guys twice before, both in Leeds — once at Oporto, which is tiny, just a few weeks after I moved to the city, and then at the Headrow House a few years later. 

Kerr: Oh, have you?!

Jamie: Ah yeah, I remember both those gigs well. Oporto’s that very little bar and then at Headrow, you had to go a few floors up.

That’s right — they’re two of my favourite places for live music in Leeds. And I’ll be seeing you again in September, of course, at The Wardrobe! So, on the subject, do you have any niche tour rituals?

Kerr: We like to get into a quiet room and just punch the hell out of each other…

At this point, there was a pause followed by a lot of laughter from the three of us. Just the answer I was hoping for, obviously…

Kerr: Nah, we don’t do anything mental; we’re just pretty boring now we’re older! We always have a drink, though, and maybe a couple of cigs… Haha. 

Jamie: We used to laugh at other bands doing a really earnest huddle, as if it was Live Aid but at Oporto or somewhere like that haha. So, now, we just shake each other’s hands and say, “peace be with you”. 

We did actually find a picture the other day from when we were en route to a gig in Dundee, about 12 years ago. We used to have this bus and we would be drinking and firing these slingshots at each other. It’s definitely a lot calmer now, compared to that haha… I might do some stretching. 

While I’ve got you, how do you reckon the Euros will go? I’ll be watching but I don’t buy into the whole “It’s coming home!” spiel. What about for Scotland?

Kerr: Well, I think it’s time to roll out the old ‘Scotland, Bonnie Scotland’ song again.

Jamie: I don’t think we’ll win it! But maybe like, third place play-off? Fourth place? The first game should be interesting — Germany will absolutely beat us.

I quite like that most groups of fans from different countries are good natured generally and get on, whatever happens. It’s quite fun. 

As such a long-standing fan of The LaFontaines, I was delighted to chat to the lads. The summer is very much theirs, so be sure to get hold of their fourth record, ‘Business As Usual’, the second it arrives. It deserves to be spun loud and proud! Make sure you stay clued-up on their goings on via their website too.

With huge thanks to Chuff Media for organising the interview.