Having only formed in 2008, Aussie rockers ME sure have come a long way since playing residential gigs across Melbourne. Following a record deal with Lizard King Records, the 4 piece are now based in the UK where they have experienced a whirlwind of success and have toured alongside the likes of Panic! At The Disco and Motion City Soundtrack. We caught up with lead singer Luke Ferris ahead of the boy’s busy schedule, which includes returning to their homeland for the Big Day Out tour AND the release of their debut album next week!
Hey Luke! So I met you and Spike (drummer) only a few weeks ago at Falls Festival where we were camping neighbours! Apart from watching me fail miserably at the “whoop” drinking game, what were some of your highlights from Falls?
Haha! Yes, that was definitely up there for me, you couldn't quite get the basics of that game and it all went downhill very quickly. Other highlights would most certainly be the first 5 and last 5 minutes of The Flaming Lips. Such an amazing entrance, felt like a big kids birthday party. The poor fellas had a set plagued by lighting issues and it seemed that they did a quarter of it in the dark. It all came good at the end and of course they finished with the joyous “Do You Realise”?
Well, a massive congratulations is in order for scoring a spot on the Big Day Out tour! How did you react when you found out you guys were on the line up?
I was sitting in my friends lounge room in Paris. I was running on no sleep as I'd just done an all nighter due to shitty travel arrangements. So I was in quite a mad headspace when I got the email, it was all a little too surreal. It finally sunk in when I got back to London to see the other boys and then we all just got ridiculously excited.
How is the preparation coming along for your set? What can we expect?
It's going quite well. We've run about what feels like a million combinations of our set, all in the search for the perfect festival set list. We got back from the UK in late October and after about a month of settling back down to Melbourne life, we got stuck into serious rehearsal mode. 3 of us moved into a giant share house in the suburbs where we built an amazing rehearsal/recording studio. We got loads done there, including writing, recording and of course rehearsing for the biggest set of dates in the bands life, Big Day Out!
Your debut album “Even The Odd Ones Out” is also released next week! How are you guys feeling about it?
Pretty freaking excited! It's been quite a while since we recorded it and we're getting quite restless about the release. That and the fact that we've been a band and have been playing some of these tracks for 5 years now. So it's been a long time in the making and we're very proud of our musical monster baby!
So you guys are actually based in London, what triggered this move?
We have been for the last year and a half. We're actually not sure where in the world we're going to be this year. Either somewhere in Europe, London or Melbourne. We originally made the move over there in June 2011 as we signed to a British label Lizard King Records. They wanted to smash the UK & European markets so it only made sense to relocate over there. When we arrived, we all moved down to the Kentish countryside to record the album. We ended up taking up a little longer than expected and we were down that way for 4-5 months. Soon after this we made the full move into London town, yet probably spent more time in the back of a tour van.
Playing in Melbourne for 4 years plus a 10 month residency at The Evelyn no doubt aided in building your strong fan base, but how have you found maintaining this support since making the move to London?
We pretty much had to start at ground level again. We went back to playing tiny bars and clubs. All the while we were lucky to have a label, management and bookers backing us and we landed a few impressive support tours around the UK. Some of these tours have been greatly beneficial and as a result we're now at the point where we can travel to some of the major cities like Manchester, Glasgow and Leeds and pull a decent crowd.
How does the music scene compare over there with your hometown of Melbourne?
London is quite similar to Melbourne's music scene. People do go out mid week and see bands on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, which is incredibly like Melbourne and unlike anywhere else in Aus. Except it feels like there's way more lame hipster music about. Probably because there are more hipsters in East London than anywhere else in the world. I kinda feel that over in the UK, the further north you go, the warmer the reception and response is to your band. Hence we love getting up to Manchester and anywhere in Scotland.
Apart from friends and family, what’s one thing you really miss about Australia?
A decent beach and Coopers Pale Ale. They do have beaches and interesting beers in other parts of the world but there's nothing like the ones in Aus. Sorry, I do mean a QLD beach, Victoria's beaches are second rate in terms of sand and surf. The UK just has freezing water, shit waves and stones instead of sand. Oh, and no sunshine.
Amongst the 200+ shows you guys played last year, which gig would stand out as the most memorable?
Hmmm, there have been so many! Can I have a few? We were very lucky enough to play Brixton Academy which is a massive old theatre in London where countless amazing bands have played before. KOKO in Camden is my favourite club venue, once again, a giant old theatre with red walls and furnishings that has been converted into a gig venue. The band was lucky enough to play quite a few NME club shows this year and I won't forget any of them. We played a tiny little pub at the roof of Scotland in Thurso that took us a 7 hour drive to get to. The sun could still be seen in the sky at 2 am in the morning. There were only about 100 kids at the venue but it was well worth the trip, such amazing sights and sub-zero temperatures
What else lies ahead for ME in 2013?
Well after BDO we'll be back off to the UK around the end of February. We'll be touring around the UK and Europe for the next couple of months to support the release of the album over there. Then we may end up back here for a lil while before heading back for the festival season over there. I am guessing there will be a bunch of to-ing and fro-ing. We'll definitely be back in Australia to do shows when silly season starts up at the end of
the year
Catch ME as part of the BIG DAY OUT tour on the following dates –
Friday 18 January – Showgrounds, Sydney
Sunday 20 January – Parklands, Gold Coast
Friday 25 January – Showgrounds, Adelaide
Saturday 26 January – Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne
Monday 28 January – Claremont Showgrounds, Perth
ME’s debut album Even The Odd Ones Out is released 25th January.