Last summer Stuart Cable and his band Killing For Company spent several weeks holed up in a Newcastle studio laying down the tracks which would appear on this year’s soon-to-be released debut album.
rushonrock editor Simon Rushworth spent time with the band at Blast! Studios and eventually agreed to write KFC’s first official biography from interviews conducted during August 2009.
Here we publish his interview with Stuart Cable for the first time – it was a chat which didn’t dwell on the past but rather looked forward to an exciting future with a band which, it seemed, had already overcome its fair share of tragedy. This weekend’s Download show would have announced KFC as one of the bands to watch in 2010 and it’s clear from the following words that Cable couldn’t wait to bring his brilliant new sound to the masses.
rushonrock: Just give us a quick recap on how KFC came about?
Stuart Cable: “I didn’t do anything for a year after leaving the ‘Phonics. I left in September 2003 and at that point music wasn’t really on the agenda. I didn’t play drums anyway. I did some radio work and TV stuff and then suddenly I got a call from the ‘Phonics’ manager. He said I should put a band together but I told him I had other commitments.
rushonrock: And those other commitments were…
SC: “I had a couple of TV shows on the go – Cable TV and Cable Connects. I was also doing stuff for Kerrang! Radio and for the BBC in Wales. I was busy and I didn’t think I was missing playing music. But then I decided to put this band together.
rushonrock: How did you get together with the rest of the guys?
SC: “How it all started is a story of coincidences really. My old drum tech Swampy was at college with Andrew and Steve and I met Andrew first. We got on really well from the off and had a bit of a jam. After a while he asked if I was looking for anyone else and said that his brother played bass. It was just the three of us for 18 months and then I found Greg. I was doing this talent search show for BBC Radio Wales and we were visiting one of the last venues. I saw Greg playing with a band called The Teeth and then I realised he was from the same town as me – Aberdare. I didn’t really know him which was weird but I found out he’d lived in Swindon and sung with bands around there. He jammed with us, wrote some songs and suddenly he was the fourth member of the band.
rushonrock: Then you recruited Rich – right?
SC: “Rich was playing with the Teeth too and as we’d always wanted a second guitarist he got the gig. That’s the brief history of Killing For Company!
rushonrock: Where does the name come from?
SC: “The name came about when Greg joined the band. It comes from a book about the serial killer Dennis Nielsen and it was sitting on an old book shelf in the rehearsal room at my place. There were a couple of books on there and the spines were pretty clear but Greg didn’t know what the books were about by the time the name was already born. It was only after looking at the book and reading it in some depth that he realised the seriousness of the subject mater.
rushonrock: Are you already a well-oiled live machine?
SC: “One of our first gigs was supporting The Who at the Liberty Stadium. I saw the gig advertised and just rang Roger (Daltrey) who I’d got to know during my time with the ‘Phonics. It wasn’t a bad start – I think it was about our third or fourth show – and it was amazing. We’ve been playing live as much as we can and working on material for the debut album.
rushonrock: You signed to Global Music’s DR2 imprint – why choose an independent from Tyneside to launch KFC as a commercial concern?
SC: “Eric and the guys from Global Music came knocking a while ago. We just wanted to write some songs first and see what we could do. We went and recorded some demos with the producer Bob Marlett who’s worked with the likes of Alice Cooper, Airbourne and Black Stone Cherry and we felt we were ready to sign a deal. We’ve got the album earmarked for release in the middle of February and we’re very happy with the way it sounds. We wanted to sound like British rock band and didn’t want to sound Americanised. We just wanted there to be a wall of huge guitars and big drums. Something like a steam train.
STUART CABLE RIP