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Class Of 2012: To Kill A King

First On

Emma Swann has a chat with To Kill A King.

Posted 8th January 2012, 3:02pm in Features, by Emma Swann
Behind The Scenes: To Kill A King

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To Kill A King may be little more than eighteen months in the making (give or take a previous University band's existence), but they're already having to clarify that no, their name doesn't come from the title of a Civil War film, as has (apparently) been widely accepted as fact. Instead, it's a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet. The band explain. Words: Emma Swann. Photography: Jake Green. Stylist: Neesha Sharma. Grooming: Oriona Robb.

"Trying to find a band name that five people can agree on is ridiculous - we got to blows over it and stuff. This one had a vague little poetry about it, "no small thing / to kill a king," there's something nice about it. Hamlet's dad gets killed by having poison poured in his ear, which I thought was quite nice, too - it's not a musical reference, but you can see it."

The band initially formed while Ralph, together with Josh (Platman, bass) and Ian (Dudfield, guitar) were studying at Leeds University. Kid iD, as they were, "was a bit more dancey, more party-oriented." A move to London, picking up Jon (Willoughby, drums) and Ben (Jackson, synths) on the way turned them "a bit more lyrical" and of course, brought them a new name.  

Debut EP, 'My Crooked Saint', was released in October, with each of its four tracks having an accompanying video, together forming a short film. "All the videos are set in one town, on one day, with a few central characters, and all the songs interlink. That was almost the basis for the EP, that they could all be tied together by one short film."  

As well as making sure the themes on the EP were suitable for film narrative, it was also important to the band that it was an EP, rather than a full album, or two-track single. "We've got a lot of songs," explains Ralph, "I think there's only one song on the EP that's going to be repeated on the album, and even then we've got extra stuff that we're going to be giving away. We wanted for our debut to be something that's quite substantial, so people can listen to it and get a flavour of what we're about. Something of substance rather than a fleeting single."

It won't be too long before that album follows, either - they've finished recording, are currently trying out mixers, and while there's no official release date quite yet, they're aiming for March ("the basic plan is to get over X Factor season, then start again in January"). And then, the aim's either to win over Stephen Fry (Ralph: "If he added me on Twitter, that'd be it, that'd be the end of my career"), or sell at least a very specific number of albums. "If we sell at least 60,026 records by Ian's 26th birthday," giggles Ben, "he's going to get a tattoo of a unicorn with a tank instead of legs that I drew."

Taken from the Winter 2011 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.
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