Over the past few years Luke Rainsford has carved out a
niche for himself in the Birmingham and midlands scene, as the singer for
pop-punks Layover or the bassist in the of the Midlands Pop-punk group Fullshore.
However, it is as a solo performer that Luke has found his ‘main focus’. I had
met Luke a few times before getting to talk to him for this interview, yet
still wanted to get to know Luke a bit better. You don’t have to meet Luke to
get to know him however. As both of his albums are intently personal invitations
into Luke’s world. Whether that be simple love songs such as ‘Streetlights’ or
the alarmingly honest confession of suicidal thoughts named ‘I’m the coward I
never thought I’d be’. Without asking for specific details of the girls he has
sung about and his family. There isn’t much you could learn about Luke which you
couldn’t from simply hearing his songs.
Our interview takes place on the bridge that leads punters
into The Flapper. Luke is dressed casually in a simple shirt and jeans and
despite the biting cold claims that after touring for so long he doesn’t notice
it anymore. In person Luke is endearingly awkward. My admission that I’m not
that great an interviewer is met by Luke saying ‘don’t stress’ and my
comparison to my last interview with Crime & Punishment 2011’s Dan Carter,
which involved him shouting and freestyling down my phone, Luke replies ‘I’m
not as confident as that I’m a bit more introverted’.
Our 15 minutes talking outside the pub are regularly broken
by awkward laughter, pauses and interruptions from Luke’s many friends. After a
small chat about mobile phones I start by asking about influences.
*
Luke: ‘I used to be into a lot of pop-punk bands like The
Wonder years and New found Glory now I’m, listening to stuff like The Front
Bottoms’
Me: I’ve heard you
cover them before but I’ve never listened to them
L: I recommend them! it’s like acoustic poppy -indie folk
It’s the name that
puts me off
L: at first I was like what the hell! but they’re very
quirky and indie. They’re very tongue in
cheek so the name does suit them
Some of my favourite
bands have very crap names. I’m a big fan of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard
L: -Laughs- Sometimes great bands have terrible names. I
know you’re into Crywank, at first it sounds like a terrible name, but it’s a
pun on the phrase tearjerk isn’t it?
*
What happened to
Layover then?
L: it just had its time really, we done what we wanted to do
which is some dudes writing songs together, it was never meant to be anything
that serious. We just wanted to have some fun with it. We were still having fun
with it but we just wanted to do other things, like my solo stuff.
Who’s in your band
then?
L: Darren from Fulllshore, and Zach from Coast To coast…
So it’s like a pop punk supergroup?
L: Sort of, It’s just good friends of mine, they just wanted
to help me out
Were any of these
guys on the album then?
L: No I recorded everything myself, except for some piano
parts.
That’s surprising
because I heard a lot of interesting little guitar parts, that I didn’t notice
on the first album
L: It was all me, the producer helped with some of them but
I played it all.
I did notice a bit of
a difference in the production. Like how Home Safe would just change half way
through into something totally different.
L: I was interested in that; I didn’t want all the songs to
sound the same because the first album was just all acoustic and I didn’t want
to do it all the same again I wanted to mix it up.
Was the first album
all recorded in your bedroom then?
L: It was done in a studio. it’s just that it was so simple
there wasn’t much more to do with it. It started out as literally just some
spare songs I had. It wasn’t meant to be anything too serious. As it wasn’t my
main focus at the time. For this new album,
I wanted to put a lot more into out as this is my main focus now. I’m really
happy with how it turned out. Especially with what you said about the songs
changing halfway through. Home safe is a good example of that as it starts out
really poppy and upbeat and suddenly drops.
I feel like only you
could write a song with the chorus ‘You made me not want to die this week’.
L: I had the chorus for ages but I could never get it into a
song. I’m happy about how it turned out. I wanted to do a really dark line over
a really happy song. I really like that
vibe. It’s still kind of tongue in cheek.
*
At this point our interview turns to more of a general talk
about the music we love. I talked a lot about Simon and Garfunkel, who I feel
were masters of the happy song/sad lyrics idea. As well as other acts like Car
Seat Headrest and Courtney Barnett. At this point I gave Luke a copy of Nick Drake’s
1969 début Five Leaves left, which he gratefully receives and seems interested in
hearing. Our interview is short on scoops but he does seem surprised that
profits from the gig are going towards the mental health charity Mind and hints at future fund-raising for the charity.
Luke also talks about his part time job as a drum teacher
and the appeal of vinyl and cassettes over CD’s and downloads. The new album is
being released on vinyl as a last-minute decision due to popular demand. The only
subject we cross that Luke is reluctant to talk about is politics. Unsurprisingly
for such an introspective artist, he isn’t the next Billy Bragg.
And with that our conversation ends, as the show is about to
start. It’s a fantastic gig, with Luke and an audience singing songs of love, depression and despair. Luke hasn’t got fans, he has friends,
and I’m happy to say that I’m one of them.
