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Interview: Mallory Knox bassist Sam Douglas

Interview: Mallory Knox bassist Sam Douglas

The Cambridge five-piece Mallory Knox are embarking on an extensive UK headline tour. This includes Sunday April 2nd at the Pyramids on Southsea seafront. I’ve been fortunate enough to catch up with Sam Douglas to find out more from the band.

Could you tell me about how you initially got involved with music and who influenced you most?
My route to music is probably a bit different to others. When I was young I was a keen sportsman and one summer when I was 13 I picked up an injury which forced me to have my leg in a cast for 6 months. So with the lack of anything better to do & housebound I picked up a guitar and I’ve struggled to put it down ever since. From that moment on music become my number one to the point even when I was injury free I’d play guitar on a Saturday instead of playing football or Cricket. Hooray for injuries I guess.

For those who are new to your music which three tracks would you encourage them to check out first and why?
I think if you look at our first two albums (Signals & Asymmetry) I’d point you towards a song called ‘She Took Him To The Lake.’ In my opinion it’s the best song from the two albums and as it’s over 7 minutes long. It really does have a bit of everything and I think you get a pretty good indicator as to what our band is about. From our new album, if I had to play any song to them first that’d be ‘Giving It Up,’ it’s not necessarily my favourite from Wired but it gives a really good first impression of where we are as a band now, hence why we picked it to be the first single. As always though I like to think the album offers a lot more as a whole than any individual song could.

If I were to turn on your iPod right now, what three artists/songs would I see on your recently played list and what is it about those artists that appeal to you?
At the moment I’m really into a band called The Amazons. I just think the music they’re playing is really cool, I heard them on MTV a month ago and have been listening to them ever since. I’ve also been listening to the new Ryan Adams & Deaf Havana albums a lot as well. For me, Havana are one of the most underrated bands in the UK right now and it was so good to see them reach the levels they have with this new album, it couldn’t be more deserved.

While on tour do you get very much time to explore the towns and cities that you are playing? If so then I can certainly recommend a few spots in Portsmouth/Southsea. Pie & Vinyl being one for every music lover! 
I always try to when I can. It depends on the schedule of the day if we have a ton of press or soundcheck takes a little bit longer than normal then normally it’ll be a case of find the nearest pub kind of thing. But if we have a pretty open day we normally try to have a look about and find a pub that’s not so close haha. Pie & Vinyl sounds great, I’ll definitely try and make a visit.

For those fortunate enough to have tickets to this tour what can they expect from your live show?
Just a straight up live band who are mire than ready to be back and absolutely have it, No gimmicks, no mucking around, we just wanna get up there and do what we’re supposed to and play an absolute blinder. Throwing in these new songs with some of the old has 100 percent made this our most exciting shows from that alone.

What does the rest of 2017 have in store for Mallory Knox?
Tour, tour and tour. We want to take this album everywhere because it deserves to be. We’re proud of what we’ve created and we want as many people as possible to hear it and find out about it.

Support on the night will be coming from Lonely The Brave and Fatherson. If you like what you hear then you can pick up tickets for £16 at the band’s website which can be found below.

Website: www.malloryknox.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/malloryknoxuk
Twitter: www.twitter.com/malloryknoxband
Instagram: www.instagram.com/malloryknoxband


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