Opening the festivities of the second day at T In The Park 2015, The LaFontaines took their scorching sounds and destroyed the Main Stage. Luckily, Gigslutz had a the privilege of having a quick chat with the Fonts’ frontman, Kerr Okan and drummer, Jamie Keenan, about: St Vincent, their debut album and pre-show rituals.
Nice to see you again lads. You’re Main stage performance earlier was fantastic! How was it for you?
Okan: That was a bucket list moment for us man. I remember that we started here on the T Break stage four years ago, went over to the Introducing stage and last year back to T Break and now the Main stage. We’ve literally went from the smallest stage to the biggest. It’s all about who you know
Keenan: I found a big thing of tickets not that long ago and I came here ten years ago, camping and stuff. Crazy.
How different was the atmosphere to your previous years at T?
Okan: Well, it’s huge the main stage.
Keenan: Like, any time I turned around I felt like I was watching the TV, just because you’re so used to seeing it on there.
Okan: I seen myself on the big screen. I actually said that. Just to be given the opportunity and to be happy with how we played as well. We’ve played a lot. We’ve been a touring band for three and a half years. We’ve been from Europe to America and you kind of get into the swing of things, meaning that sometimes you kind of rush through a set. So it’s nice to enjoy the actual experience.
Your fan-base is massive. How quickly has it grown?
Okan: Although we’ve been a touring band for three and a half years, we’ve been a full-on band for about seven years now. We’ve had no major record label deal, we’ve signed ourselves, we put our debut album out about a month ago, we’ve been playing shows. Today, I feel that to the fans it meant as much to them as it did to us. We are their band. They’ve helped us get here. So, this has been huge for us.
Your debut album, King, came out last month. Gigslutz gave it a rave review, but how have others credited the album?
Okan: We’ve had nothing but eight/nine’s out of ten. There’s been one ten out of ten and it’s went well out of expectations. I think there was one bad review that said ‘the problem with us is that we can’t pick a genre’. That annoys me: why should we have to pick a genre?
Keenan: It’s not really about that though. We’re just super happy with how we’ve made it.
Okan: See, if this [the band] ended now, we’re proud of that record.
Do either of you have a crowning moment from King?
Okan: Probably the first, mine’s a song called ‘Slow Elvis’. It was cool to see the crowd knowing the lyrics. It’s magical that, it means they’ve bought the album.
There’s a big debate about how profitable streaming services are for artists. Where do The LaFontaines stand?
Okan: The way I look at music now; your actual physical CD’s or your streaming, or whatever, is like just another form, just another form of promotion to get people to your shows. The music industry has completely changed – it’s all about live music now. So streaming is just another way of advertising.
Keenan: Really, I wouldn’t be able to know about half the bands I know about if it wasn’t for streaming. If I don’t have enough money to buy an album, there’s streaming. If you buy our album then that’s cool stuff, but just listen to it.
Do you lads have any pre-show rituals?
Okan: We have a drink like a normal band before we go on, few beers, chill out.
Keenan: As long as you enjoy it man. People do ‘the huddle’ –
Okan: – today was probably the first day we came off and went ” by the way, well done, that was good”.
Keenan: We usually come off and we’re like “where’s the wifi code?”
Are you planning on seeing anybody else over the weekend?
Keenan: I’d quite like to see St. Vincent.
Okan: She’s really good at football. I really wanna’ try and speak to her.
Thanks so much for speaking to me lads, I hope you have and will carry on having an amazing T!
Okan: No problem, and thanks so much for seeing us earlier.
Did The LaFontaines get to discuss football with the iconic Annie Clark? Stay tuned.
ELLA LOUISE SCOTT 
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