(MORE THAN) A FEW WORDS WITH ALEXANDER KING...
1. WHAT HAVE U AND THE REST OF THE ALEXANDER KING PROJECT BEEN UPTO LATELY THEN?
Well, we took a month off over December, which is the longest period of inactivity in over 3 years. We've been working on new material, rehearsing hard and on a personal note, Dan (drums) moved to Leeds and I've been working on my powernoise side project 'seppuku'.
We go into the studio again next week to record the follow-up to 'Wake Up Dead' our first, self-produced EP. The new CD will be released on our own imprint 'Essence Recordings' and we're in talks to get it nationally distributed, as well as internationally through the net.
2. WHAT EXACTLY IS THE CONCEPT OF YOUR 'PROJECT'?
Well, the project as a whole is about communication, and about thought. I'm not in the business of changing people's minds or perceptions about anything, but if I can encourage people to analyse their perspectives or motivations in any way I consider that a good thing. Certain people in my past have absolutely revolutionised the way I see the world, all I really want to do with the Project is influence other people in the same way. Remember influence is not positive or negative in and of itself - it's just the provider of options. AKP is a musical 'wrapper', the sugar on the pill to help the message get across. It could just as easily have been a series of paintings, or a publication :-). I hope people understand that an AKP song operates on multiple levels, really as many as you can imagine, and that any one of them is as correct as any other.
3. HOW IS THE YORK LIVE MUSIC SCENE AT THE MOMENT?
I can only speak as a spectator, rather than as a participant. AKP are physically located in York and we have friends and colleagues based here, but if there is a 'scene' as in a collection of acts that personify the town's musical output, AKP are not and have never been a part of it. This band has been together since mid 1999 and no matter which way trends go, we've never 'fit in'. Although we love to work with other people and musicians, we're not interested in the usual backstabbing, gossip and 'my band is better than your band' bullshit which is unfortunately as rife in York as any other mid-sized town. I watch a lot of bands and I see trends come and go, locally and nationally and internationally, I find the York scene to be pretty much indicative of this.
4. WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE MUSIC YOU ARE PRODUCING?
I would have to say, I'm never going to be 100% happy with anything. Every song we write is about five times better than the last one. We completely scrap the set and rewrite it about once every 6 months - I don't know of any other band that does that. We hate stagnation as a rule. The new EP (out in March) is going to be more professional-sounding, and at the same time more experimental. I'm very much in love with the songs we're recording and I hope to get a representative version of each down on tape. All recordings are is a 'snapshot' of a band on a particular day in a particular year in their career, you just have to hope you're having a good day.
5. ARE YOU PROUD THAT 'AKP' ARE METAPHORICALLY GLOBAL GIVEN YOUR MUCH-'HIT' WEBSITE?
Yeah, not just metaphorically but in a very real sense. Pre-orders for the new recording have come from South Africa, America, Denmark, Canada, Australia, all over. From the get-go I wasn't interested in being 'the best/biggest band in York' but to actually think outside the city walls and concern myself with the bigger picture. With the advent of the internet I can spread the songs over the whole world, and with the use of peer-to-peer networks and file sharing it spreads like a virus, completely autonomously. The site is a constant source of pleasure and stress for me - it's almost a distillation of everything the AKP is about, it's emotion, thought, philosophy, love and hate enacted by real people separated only by geography, which as you know is no separation at all.
6. WHO ARE YOUR FAVE BANDS IN YORK?
By favourite, I have to comment that I mean favourite as people or to work with. I don't think there are many local bands that produce music that I would buy and listen to through choice, simply because I have extremely strange musical tastes - not because I'm making some kind of qualitative judgement. Syncrownized are fantastic people and excellent musicians. Dust Bowl Central have the potential to be great, simply because they write good songs, we're playing a gig with RSJ who may well be very popular as long as the market they're in doesn't get too saturated too quickly. Half The Distance are also fantastic if you like American-style punk. High Sound are amazing, and Red:Shift are not only original and fresh sounding, they do a lot of promotion and organisation of gigs - really pro-active people.
7. DO YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT ABOUT THE NEW LEGISLATION THAT PARLIAMENT IS TRYING TO BRING IN TO MAKE SURE ALL VENUES HAVE RELEVANT ENTERTAINMENT LICENSES... (or am i talking bol#ox?!)
I honestly haven't read much about it, and I refuse to sign online petitions as a matter of policy, but what I did read lead me to believe that yes, venues will have to pay more for a license, but as it includes all entertainment, and venues will need one for other forms of entertainment, more venues will be allowed to put on shows. So, it's bad news for existing venues but good news for musicians because in theory there will be more places able to host live music. I think the knee-jerk reaction to it has glossed over a lot of the facts. As far as I'm aware it's more bad news for venue owners than it is for live music.
8. DID ANY OF YOU GO TO THE ANTI-WAR RALLY IN LONDON ON FEB 15TH? DOES SADDAM DESERVE TO 'GET IT'?
No, we didn't go. For one, I'm no fan of the mob mentality and secondly it will do precisely nothing. The reason the Americans are convinced Hussain has WOMD/chemical weapons is because they sold them to him. They also encouraged him to attack Iran, put him in power in the first place and left him there on purpose after the Gulf war to stop fundamentalists gaining power, who they could not so easily depose. The whole thing is about gaining control of the oil, because the USA is in the middle of a crude oil crisis. It sickens me that the US and UK governments are prepared to LIE to their people in order to have this war (stolen UK dossier, manipulated US satellite images), but it sickens me even more that so many people are taken in by it. The USA has bombed 23 countries since WWII - that's more than any other nation. Once they have control of Iraq, they'll take on N Korea, then we're all fucked because they DO have nuclear arms and they're crazy enough to use them. I'm pretty convinced that the United States govt will bring the end of civilisation, and that's precisely what I said as soon as I saw the twin towers crumble.
Hope to see you on March 7th (AT 'YORK FIBBERS') Check out www.fibbers.co.uk
Alexander
(Alex was interviewed on 17/ 2/ 03) Check the band website at www.akpcep.com