White Light Parade – Interview
Over the last year White Light Parade have supported major bands such as The View, The Jam and Boy Kill Boy and joined Switches and The Enemy on their UK tours.
Their song ‘Riot In The City’ has been used for a Nissan car advert, a promo film made by Chelsea FC and Adidas and is now being used on the next Grand Theft Auto game released worldwide on the 29th April.
After the success of their debut single ‘Wait For The Weekend’ which reached number 17 in the official BBC UK indie chart they are due to release the storming second single ‘Turning All The Lights Down’ on the 19th May.
2008 is set to be massive for White Light Parade so let’s get some inside info on the Yorkshire rockers on the story so far.
noize: Hi guys, how are the White Light Parade today?
White Light Parade: Hello, we’re not bad at all thank you.
n: So what’s it like being part of the totally thriving music scene up in Leeds and the rest of Yorkshire at the moment, must be pretty exciting to be able to see so many great bands coming through, is there quite a community spirit with the bands round there? Are you mates with a lot of the other bands?
WLP: It’s good yeah. We’ve got a lot of fans in Leeds and Bradford and we seem to be offered a lot of decent support slots at The Cockpit. We’ve played with Boy Kill Boy, Twisted Wheel, The Enemy, Displacements and a few others. Think we’re playing with The Rascals soon in Leeds too. It’s great to have the opportunity because a lot of other towns don’t have big bands coming through and local bands never get that chance. There are a lot of clicks in the music scene no matter where you are and we’re not really interested in that to be honest, it can all get a bit petty. We like a band if they’re good, and don’t if they’re not. Some people seem to not like a band because it’s not cool to like them and I think that’s wrong. We’re too busy to be bothered with that, but there are some genuinely good bands around that aren’t in any clicks that we get on with like the Sunshine underground, we know them as we rehearse with them and they’re top guys. I think Bradford is getting a real good genuine music scene going. As we are from there we’d like to be part of putting Bradford on the map and help get some of the unsigned bands noticed.
n: ‘Wait For The Weekend’ your recent single is all about making the most of the weekend, so what would make up a perfect White Light Parade weekend?
WLP: A quality gig, Alcohol, carry on drinking all night and all weekend then finish on a good curry... which then gets finished for breakfast! That’s usually our weekend & mostly our Monday to Friday too!
n: You recently supported the re-formed Jam, all be it with out Mr Weller, but what was it like with such a legendary band and one that I would think have influenced you guys a lot?
WLP: It was brilliant. There were thousands of people there. We got main support and got to hang out with the guys. We watch from backstage and It was mental night all round really. I think we pretty much drank their rider and taken all their food tokens… So yeah we loved it!
n: You’ve also toured with your fair share of big bands like The View and The Enemy. What do you learn from or take away from the experience of playing for large crowds of people that have predominately come to see the other band? Have you relished the challenge of winning them over?
WLP: We seem to win over the crowd at every gig. I think that comes with playing with a band that you’re similar to, being a good live band and having good songs. Its pointless supporting a band that is nothing like you. When we played with The Enemy we got an amazing response. The crowd were really into us and a load of them still come to see us now. We gained a large hand full of fans in each town when we toured with switches. It was the same with The View etc… a lot of them can’t believe that we’re not a major signed band and that we’re supporting them, not headlining similar dates. We found from touring that we became a hell of a lot better than we thought we were. Been out there every night really tests you and we enjoyed it, it’s a really good laugh. And the free rider every night isn’t too bad either!
n: Your songs have been used on all sorts of things from a car advert to video game soundtracks. Do you think it’s a useful tool to get exposure for your music, having it used in things like that? Have you seen any obvious effects from them in terms of record sales or more people at your gigs or anything else?
WLP: I’m sure that once GTA4 comes out we’ll see a big difference in crowds and the second single will outsell the first one as it comes out a couple of weeks after the game. When we had the Nissan ad it really helped with getting people to gigs and into the band. It really helped with label/publisher interest too as will grand theft auto 4. Some people may sometimes see it as selling out but surely the reason for being in a band is to be successful and to get your music out there? So if games and adverts are going to help that, then we see it as a good thing and a massive way of getting fans and publicity.
n: You’ve entered this year’s Road to V competition. How confident are you in your chances and what would it mean to you to win?
WLP: Ermmm… We forgot we entered that actually, so on that note we probably won’t get through! We entered it like a couple of days before the closing date which wasn’t really the best idea… but we’re that busy at the moment it’s not on the top of our list or a massive problem. We’d love to get through because its great exposure for bands so we’ll keep our fingers crossed but we’re not holding our breath and it’s not looking likely!
n: So aside from the might you’ll hopefully be opening V if all goes well, have you got any other plans for festival appearances this summer or tours later in the year?
WLP: Yeah though nothings 100% confirmed just yet but I think we may be playing the Beach festival and Beautiful Days festival in Devon, both of which will be great. Especially if the weather holds out, plus the free Cold beer & top music… there are some good bands on at beautiful days as well so we’re really looking forward to that.
Interview by Martin Kendrick
www.myspace.com/whitelightparade
Click here to read more White Light Parade related news, reviews & interviews!
Buy White Light Parade CDs & Vinyl
Buy White Light Parade MP3s
Buy White Light Parade Tickets
Bookmark and share this page with:Their song ‘Riot In The City’ has been used for a Nissan car advert, a promo film made by Chelsea FC and Adidas and is now being used on the next Grand Theft Auto game released worldwide on the 29th April.
After the success of their debut single ‘Wait For The Weekend’ which reached number 17 in the official BBC UK indie chart they are due to release the storming second single ‘Turning All The Lights Down’ on the 19th May.
2008 is set to be massive for White Light Parade so let’s get some inside info on the Yorkshire rockers on the story so far.
noize: Hi guys, how are the White Light Parade today?
White Light Parade: Hello, we’re not bad at all thank you.
n: So what’s it like being part of the totally thriving music scene up in Leeds and the rest of Yorkshire at the moment, must be pretty exciting to be able to see so many great bands coming through, is there quite a community spirit with the bands round there? Are you mates with a lot of the other bands?
WLP: It’s good yeah. We’ve got a lot of fans in Leeds and Bradford and we seem to be offered a lot of decent support slots at The Cockpit. We’ve played with Boy Kill Boy, Twisted Wheel, The Enemy, Displacements and a few others. Think we’re playing with The Rascals soon in Leeds too. It’s great to have the opportunity because a lot of other towns don’t have big bands coming through and local bands never get that chance. There are a lot of clicks in the music scene no matter where you are and we’re not really interested in that to be honest, it can all get a bit petty. We like a band if they’re good, and don’t if they’re not. Some people seem to not like a band because it’s not cool to like them and I think that’s wrong. We’re too busy to be bothered with that, but there are some genuinely good bands around that aren’t in any clicks that we get on with like the Sunshine underground, we know them as we rehearse with them and they’re top guys. I think Bradford is getting a real good genuine music scene going. As we are from there we’d like to be part of putting Bradford on the map and help get some of the unsigned bands noticed.
n: ‘Wait For The Weekend’ your recent single is all about making the most of the weekend, so what would make up a perfect White Light Parade weekend?
WLP: A quality gig, Alcohol, carry on drinking all night and all weekend then finish on a good curry... which then gets finished for breakfast! That’s usually our weekend & mostly our Monday to Friday too!
n: You recently supported the re-formed Jam, all be it with out Mr Weller, but what was it like with such a legendary band and one that I would think have influenced you guys a lot?
WLP: It was brilliant. There were thousands of people there. We got main support and got to hang out with the guys. We watch from backstage and It was mental night all round really. I think we pretty much drank their rider and taken all their food tokens… So yeah we loved it!
n: You’ve also toured with your fair share of big bands like The View and The Enemy. What do you learn from or take away from the experience of playing for large crowds of people that have predominately come to see the other band? Have you relished the challenge of winning them over?
WLP: We seem to win over the crowd at every gig. I think that comes with playing with a band that you’re similar to, being a good live band and having good songs. Its pointless supporting a band that is nothing like you. When we played with The Enemy we got an amazing response. The crowd were really into us and a load of them still come to see us now. We gained a large hand full of fans in each town when we toured with switches. It was the same with The View etc… a lot of them can’t believe that we’re not a major signed band and that we’re supporting them, not headlining similar dates. We found from touring that we became a hell of a lot better than we thought we were. Been out there every night really tests you and we enjoyed it, it’s a really good laugh. And the free rider every night isn’t too bad either!
n: Your songs have been used on all sorts of things from a car advert to video game soundtracks. Do you think it’s a useful tool to get exposure for your music, having it used in things like that? Have you seen any obvious effects from them in terms of record sales or more people at your gigs or anything else?
WLP: I’m sure that once GTA4 comes out we’ll see a big difference in crowds and the second single will outsell the first one as it comes out a couple of weeks after the game. When we had the Nissan ad it really helped with getting people to gigs and into the band. It really helped with label/publisher interest too as will grand theft auto 4. Some people may sometimes see it as selling out but surely the reason for being in a band is to be successful and to get your music out there? So if games and adverts are going to help that, then we see it as a good thing and a massive way of getting fans and publicity.
n: You’ve entered this year’s Road to V competition. How confident are you in your chances and what would it mean to you to win?
WLP: Ermmm… We forgot we entered that actually, so on that note we probably won’t get through! We entered it like a couple of days before the closing date which wasn’t really the best idea… but we’re that busy at the moment it’s not on the top of our list or a massive problem. We’d love to get through because its great exposure for bands so we’ll keep our fingers crossed but we’re not holding our breath and it’s not looking likely!
n: So aside from the might you’ll hopefully be opening V if all goes well, have you got any other plans for festival appearances this summer or tours later in the year?
WLP: Yeah though nothings 100% confirmed just yet but I think we may be playing the Beach festival and Beautiful Days festival in Devon, both of which will be great. Especially if the weather holds out, plus the free Cold beer & top music… there are some good bands on at beautiful days as well so we’re really looking forward to that.
Interview by Martin Kendrick
www.myspace.com/whitelightparade
Click here to read more White Light Parade related news, reviews & interviews!
Buy White Light Parade CDs & Vinyl
Buy White Light Parade MP3s
Buy White Light Parade Tickets
