Recently, here on plasticmag, I had the opportunity to review Orphan Boy’s Coastal Tones – an album which was an impressive representation of life away from a London-centric Britain. Following the review (which you can read here), I got the chance to interview Rob Cross; frontman and song-writer for the group.
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Matt: You reference several Northern towns and cities in your lyrics, how important to Orphan Boy is your identity as a Northern band?
Rob: Without meaning to sound contrary here, I think that kind of thing is more important to journalists who look to attach narrative to things. In our case – the narrative of the ‘plucky Northern outsiders taking on the big boys down South’ – which I don’t have a problem with, but we never think of ourselves that way when we’re making the music. Though I do reference Northern places, you’re right, in “From The Provinces”, I deliberately tried to include places from all over the UK in that song. And to be honest I don’t see our hometown Cleethorpes as ‘Northern’ in the same way that Manchester or Leeds are Northern. We’re actually outside The North, in some other, less romanticised place entirely: The East.
M: Somewhere, I read that while the band are based in Cleethorpes, youâre not all originally from there. Is that true? What originally brought all of you together?
R: No, all four of us are from Cleethorpes. Chris and I went to school together. Smithy is a little older and Sam is a little younger but I’m pretty sure they went to that very same school too. So we’re all from a similar area and similar circles. Before Sam joined, the three of us moved to Manchester from 2005-2010, which is why we’re sometimes referred to as a Manchester band.
M: Having spent a long time together, for a short while, Orphan Boy took a break after an emotional final gig in 2011. What was it that brought the band back together?
R: We realised that our purpose in life was to be struggling musicians, and that we had unfinished business; Coastal Tones was swimming around in our heads and it needed to be exorcised. That’s the only reason to ever really form or reform a band: to get the music out of your head and onto Spotify where it belongs…
M: You refer to ânicotine stained fingersâ in your song âOn a Nelson Skylineâ. Are there any specific areas that youâre talking about with that particular lyric?
R: When you first arrive in Grimsby over the fly-over, the two things you notice on the skyline are the Dock Tower and five tower blocks which loom over the town centre. One of those is called Nelson House. It’s the tower block in which we shot the “Beats Like Distant Tides” video, incidentally. Anyway, the song “On A Nelson Skyline” is written from the fictional perspective of an ageing widower who lives in Nelson House, and who has no way of filling his days other than to drink and to sift through the memories, while watching the twilight rain pour down over Grimsby. The “nicotine stained fingers” refers to the grubby, yellowy colour the sky goes sometimes in the middle of summer, when it rains at dusk and the sunset is dulled by the grey clouds.
M: As a Northern band, itâs clear that there are several bands that influence you, but which few bands would you consider to be the most influential on Orphan Boysâ sound?
R: We’ve listened to loads and loads of music and there’s no doubt that it has influenced our songs in a kind of kaleidoscopic way. A bit of The Clash on “Some Frontier”, Pulp on “Popsong” for example, but I don’t like to narrow it down to certain bands; it’s kaleidoscopic.
M: On the Arctic Monkeysâ latest album, they listed diverse influences such as Dr Dre and Black Sabbath, are there any surprising influences that listeners wouldnât expect on Coastal Tones?
R: I barely listened to anything when I was writing the songs for Coastal Tones; my girlfriend and I lived in a small rented house with our two young sons and so my favourite sound was silence when I could get it. I think there comes a time in life when you just need to take a break from music, whether that be listening to it, playing it or writing it and so I like to think that Coastal Tones was born out of that silence. “Silence is a blank canvas”, Keith Richards once said.
M: One of the most admirable qualities the band has is that youâve stayed in the North and gained a following there, what has been the most difficult aspect of sticking to your principles and staying in the North â rather than following the example of many bands and moving down south to gain easier recognition?
R: There were no real principles involved. We were just excited to get out of Grimsby and Manchester seemed like Xanadu to us uninitiated townies; whereas London just seemed too far, too expensive, too everything. With hindsight, we might have been closer to that elusive industry in London, but we’d never have had what we had in Manchester with Concrete Recordings. We were part of something; a scene, a community of musicians and gig-goers; we built a fanbase. Manchester was big enough for there to be an infrastructure in which to function as a band, but at the same time it was small enough for you to make an impact on people and form alliances.
M: As a group, you have toured the UK at length, but whatâs the worst gig experience youâve had?
R: Probably Cleefest 2013 to be honest. We’ve had our fair share of shambolic gigs in the early days but this one was different, because people were actually expecting us to be good at this one. And there were a number of problems out of our control that I won’t go into. Let’s just say that it’s not always wise to play a gig purely because there’s money in it.
M: As a band, youâve come a long way. Youâve recorded three albums and, as previously mentioned, youâve toured the UK extensively. Whatâs the next step for Orphan Boy?
R: Well, the way I see it, we started playing Sunday League and we gradually made our way up through the leagues to the Conference, where we’ve been for a good few years now. We’re ready for The Football League but it’s out of our hands really. It’s quite a fun metaphor actually; if you carry it on then get all the way to The Champions’ League where Paul McCartney is Barcelona.
M: Finally, how would you describe the bandâs sound in four words?
R: Like an English breakfast.
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The group are now touring Coastal Tones, hitting spots all over the country. If they’re nearby, it would be a great idea to check them out! Below, you can listen to a couple of their songs.
“From the Provinces”
“Beats Like Distant Tides”
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