Interview with The Cafe Kids

We caught up with Niall, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter of the band The Cafe Kids to answer a few questions.

1. Who are you and what do you do?
We are The Cafe Kids from Bristol in England and we make pop rock music.

2. How did you get started?
We were actually kinda forced together, I (Niall) had been writing and recording some songs at home and a friend showed them to a guy at a local radio station. The guy thought we were cool so entered us in a competition the next week and I had to grab what friends I could find to fill the different rolls.

3. What have you got going on at the moment?
We’ve recently released our new 5 track EP for free from our MySpace page. It’s titled ‘I’ve Made A Huge Mistake!’ and we’ve been busy telling people about it.

4. Favourite music and why?
I’m the biggest Incubus fan i’ve ever met, it’s almost an obsession. But i don’t really think that translates to our music. I listen to anything and everything really. I’ve been brought up listening to all sorts, from Steely Dan to James Taylor to The Beach Boys. A few bands that the four of us are mutually into, include; Four Year Strong, Memphis May Fire and Paramore but there’s so many more.

5. Best experience in the business?
Hmmm, being recognized is pretty cool, it’s something you don’t expect and when it happens you’re not really sure what to do. But it’s just awesome meeting people who are interested in what you’re doing. It’s very cool.

6. Why should soundscape readers care?
Because all our music is FREE! So they’ve got nothing to lose.

7. Tell our readers an interesting fact about your band?
On the first sunday of every month, we have a band meeting in which we all dress in our mothers clothes and wear makeup. This is then followed by one of two available activities. Jelly wrestling or golf. It’s rarely the latter though.

8. Best thing about coming from Bristol?
If I’m honest, there isn’t many benefits. Bristol doesn’t have much of a ‘Scene’ so it can be hard to get the ball rolling on things, but we’re working on it. But these days, I’m not sure if there is a ‘place to be’. Maybe California.

9. Who are your role models/idols?
I think we all really look up to those who are in the places we want to be, but have managed to stay humble and ‘real’. People like Dave Grohl or Justin Timberlake. They’ve got the fame and all that comes with it but seem to stay human.

10. Hardest thing about the current business?
There’s just so much out there. Everyone and his brother are in a band. People have so much choice it can be disheartening as it’s easy to think; “why would anybody care about what we’re doing?”. But i guess that just kinda pushes us harder to try and come up with something better/different.

Boy, I definitely want an invite to one of those band meetings, sounds like a blast! Like Niall said, if you go over to the bands myspace, http://www.myspace.com/thecafekids You can download the bands EP for free. Thanks to Niall for being a legend and taking the time to talk to us.

Words: Paul Esp