Towers Of London: Raunch, Rebellion And Raising HellFriday May 26, 2006
By: ChartAttack.com Staff
by Caitlin HotchkissTowers Of LondonWhen a band's mantra is "drink, fight, fuck," you know you're not exactly dealing with music you can play for grandma. But if you like the Sex Pistols and Guns 'N Roses, then England has just produced your new favourite band: Towers Of London. True to their punk-rock lineage, TOL are a motley crew of characters whose primary mission is to upset the comfortable British music scene by any means possible. And look out, North America, they're coming for you next...
Chart: So the prevailing trend at the moment is "college indie rock," but you guys play in-your-face guitar rock, and you're gaining in popularity.
The Rev: That's because people are getting bored with all those lame shoegazing bands that just stand onstage and mumble. People want something that's a bit more exciting. People want to go to a gig and see a real band, and there's not many like that right now. There's no real rock 'n' roll stars anymore.
It seems like a lot of those real sort of rock bands are coming out of the U.K. these days. Was it The Darkness who kicked that off?
Rev: The Darkness were certainly one of the biggest bands of that whole rock 'n' roll scene, but then there's a lot of bands coming out of London and England that aren't so much rock bands as they are more arty. Boring.
There's a lot of focus on social clash in your songs, so is that something that reflects where you guys come from?
Dirk Tourette: Well, when I was growing up, it was on a side of London that featured a whole bunch of big houses and girls with rich parents. That would have been gravy, y'know? Not having to work for anything, just get your dad to pay for things. But our whole vibe musically does show some of those frustrations. Sometimes that's enough, even when it's something that simple.
You find a lot these days that many British bands are putting emphasis on what parts of the country they're from and how it affects their music. Is there any truth to how the different areas of England have different sounds to them?
DT: I'd have to say there's probably truth in that, yeah. Because where you grow up, you tend to get a feel for the street you live on and the people in the area. I think our songs sound like we're hanging out or going for a night out. It captures that vibe, that whole gang mentality.
As a band, is it better to be loved or hated?
Snell: There's a few bands who hate us, but it's the same thing as with a lot of the music press. People hate the fact that we've done well for ourselves. We're actually getting somewhere, and they kind of have a problem with that. They can't ignore us. We aren't going away, we're still going to be around, and they can't really take that.
Rev: It's like, we'll play for some 40-year-old writers, and they'll hate us. But then we'll play for a bunch of 18-year-old kids and they'll absolutely love us. They know where we're coming from.
S: What's important to remember is that all those 40-year-old writers were in failed bands, and they hate us because we're becoming successful and they're bitter that their bands never got anywhere. That's why they hate us. It's like that with all old writers. But then you get the younger writers and they write great reviews about us. Tommy: Snell just hates old people.
Old people just don't understand.
S: I think they do understand, and that's the problem.
T: They hate you more if they know you don't give a shit. I think a lot of bands, when they get a bad review they're all upset about it.
DT: But we just don't give a shit about that stuff. I remember when we started gigging and we'd get bad reviews, I'd take it hard. Then I thought, "Fuck, man, I work hard and I'm not going to be pushed around by something like that." We're not going anywhere.
S: They can definitely expect us to stick around.