The October Game

Following our recent review of  ‘Balancing’ – the new album from alt-rock talent, The October Game – the five-piece from England kindly gave us a glimpse of their world with this exclusive interview.

Check out our chat with Luke Williams (Vocals / Guitar) from the band.

Hi guys, great album! I really enjoyed reviewing it…how did it come about? Was it a natural progression or did you have to lock yourselves in a dark room?!

Luke: Thank you, glad to hear you enjoyed it. It was born from the natural progression of about 20 songs over the last couple of years. We demoed a lot but as we started to think about recording an album these 12 began to stand out as the ones we wanted to forge into a cohesive album form.

I noted a few similarities with Radiohead, Biffy Clyro and even Kasabian – who would you say are your biggest inspirations and why?

Luke: We’re all big fans of creating atmosphere through music and painting songs with a strong sense of mood. Massive Attack are one of our favourite bands and the creation of atmosphere is definitely an integral part of their sound too. We love bands that manage to combine interesting sounds and textures with a simplicity and honesty at the core which comes through good songwriting. Bands which spring to mind are TV On The Radio, dEUS, The Cure and Radiohead. Collectively we listen to so much music whilst also taking inspiration from books, films, art and our life experiences too.

What do you like most about the album?

Luke: The fact that each song has its own individual identity and the album takes the listener on a journey yet at the same time the album still sounds very cohesive. Also, we’re really chuffed that it’s our first release on vinyl.

What’s your favourite track on the album and why?

Luke: That’s a hard one. If I was forced to pick just one I’d say ‘Beg Cycle’, it’s one of the songs I am most proud of. I love the groove, the atmosphere and the lyrical narrative.

I see you’ve done a couple of live gigs recently – how did they go?

Luke: They’ve been great thanks. The DIY gig in London was a really nice way to get back into the swing of things and then on Friday we had our album launch party in our hometown of Hitchin. It was an amazing night; 200 people packed into the club all singing along and having a blast, the perfect way to launch ‘Balancing’.

Any ‘interesting’ tour stories you’d like to share?

Luke: Not that you can print! Haha! No, we’ve been a band for a while now so it’s fair to say we’ve had many adventures along the way. We toured in Iceland and our friends, who were training to be pilots at the time flew us over the country in a little private plane. That was amazing! However, when we tried to fly back, the key snapped in the engine and we nearly didn’t make it back to Reykjavik for what was the biggest gig of the tour!

What’s next for The October Game?

Luke: We’ll be releasing another single or two from the album along with b-sides and videos. In fact, we’ve just had the finished version of the next video back and it looks amazing so we can’t wait to share that with people.

Who would you most like to share a stage with, where and why?

Luke: My answer to this has always been the same…David Attenborough, a wonderful man with an amazing voice! Bjork went and beat us to it though!

Finally, any words for your fans out there?

Luke: Hope you’re well and hope you enjoy the new album!