The Theme Park Everyone is Talking About...

On this freezing cold Monday night, before their (incredible) gig I go backstage with Theme Park for an exclusive interview at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow. The guys were very friendly and we got chatting before the voice recorder was even turned on. Twenty-two year old twins, Marcus and Miles, and childhood friend twenty-three year old Oscar from North London are the kind of guys you would love to have as friends. They have a very cool natural air about them while remaining genuine and down to earth.

How old were you when you decided to form a band?

Miles: I was in a sort of Black Sabbath cover group when I was about 14, it was just Brother M (Marcus), another friend and I. The first band we did with Oscar was maybe 4 years ago. We decided to start doing Theme Park when we finished university, we were 21 and took a post-uni gap year to do writing to see if we could come up with songs. So that was the time Theme Park was born.

(From left to right) Oscar, Marcus, myself and Miles.
They are all over 6ft, I'm over 5ft,8! 

Can you give me three words to sum up your début album?

Miles: Exceptional..[laughs]..No seriously...I think it is optimistic, groovy and textured.

You said previously you like Theme Parks, which is your favourite?

Marcus: That's actually not quite true!
Miles: A misquote!

I read an old interview and it said that you loved theme parks so that's why you chose the name...

Miles: I think our sarcasm doesn't translate on the page... We're big fans of Legoland, that was a life changer when I was younger. Oscar always gets annoyed at this point because he likes them.
Oscar: Annoyed is not the word...disgruntled.
Miles: Misrepresented! Personally, the log flume is enough. Drifting through the plants and then plopping down at the end but after that it's not my kettle of fish.

What has been your favourite gig to date?

Marcus: Ooh, there have been a couple! When we supported Misfits at Bixton Academy that was a really special gig. Ibiza Rocks was fun too!
Miles: Up until a week ago I might have said Reading... but the Heaven show in London that we did was definitely my favourite one.
Oscar: It was the trump card.
Marcus: That was our own show and everyone had come specially to see us, so that's really nice.

Where would be your dream venue?

Miles: The Hollywood Bowl, it's a huge amphitheatre in Los Angeles, the kind of place you would see Simon & Garfunkel or Fleetwood Mac. To play there with the sun set would be really cool.
Marcus: Does it have to exist?
Oscar (to Marcus): Didn't you want to play on the moon? I already got to play Ally Pally (Alexander Palace) and I always wanted to play there. I remember seeing the Strokes there when I was 14 and I thought they were just too cool.

Who would you one day love to support you on tour?

Oscar: Ooh it's hard because it feels like you have to look down and you don't want to offend someone really good.
Marcus: I'd quite like Two Door Cinema Club to support us on tour.
Miles: I think someone who would really get the crowd going, maybe Daft Punk as they can get everyone dancing!
Oscar: Have you gone mental?




Is there a particular artist you'd love to collaborate with?

Marcus: I think it would be fun to collaborate with Tom York. We're actually going to be doing a track with Edwin Collins.
Miles: Who is the lead singer of a band called Orange Juice.
Oscar: I don't really dream people to collaborate with as I'd just be a gibbering wreck, like "Hi....." so I'd prefer not to do it at all.

If you weren't in music what other careers might you have gone into?

Marcus: I'd like to work on an exotic animal farm, like a crocodile farm but not where they kill the crocodiles, where they look after them.
Miles: I don't know whether I was bemused or something but I considered being a barrister, I looked around the temple and came to my senses pretty quickly. I'm writing a screen play at the moment, I think that'd be fun.
Oscar: I'd like to teach one day, maybe teach guitar when I stop doing this.

What do you mean stop doing this? You will never stop!

Oscar:Yeah, I suppose in my mind-
Marcus: Oscar's planning an exit already!

Could you give me a quick iTunes shuffle and tell me the first 3 songs to come up? [The boys use the MacBook sitting in front of them]

The BeeGees - Living Together, The Rapture - How Deep Is Your Love and Prince - I wanna be your lover.
 
If you won £1,000 pounds on a scratch card right now, what would you do with it?

Marcus: Go and buy a very nice classic car.
For £1,000?
Marcus: Yeah, on eBay, second hand.
Miles: £1,000 is one of those amounts of money that's in between small things but not enough for a big thing. I think I'd put it into savings. I'm joking, I'm joking!
Oscar: I would repay my mum for a guitar she bought me.
Miles: Last Christmas we went on holiday to this house in Norfolk, it was the coolest place I've been and I would just pay for it as a treat for my friends next Christmas.

What's the most expensive item of clothing you've ever bought?

Miles: Mine is hanging up over there, it's a coat by a company called Canada Goose, it's my prized item in the whole world. It's so warm!
Oscar: I've got a nice suit by Paul Smith.
Miles: Brother M bought some swimming trunks from Paul Smith for £90!
Marcus: I've only worn them once, I don't really like getting wet.

Are you looking forward to playing the festivals this year? You've already announced Reading and Leeds, what others are you doing?

Oscar: We're doing loads!
Marcus: We'll be at Bush Stock and we're doing lots that have been discussed but aren't official yet.

Have you made any plans for next year?

Oscar: Plans at the moment are to circle round playing many, many lives shows to lots and lots of people hopefully. We have very lightly pencilled in starting work on the next album. That's the lightest pencil, 1B? 7H?
Marcus: 8H is lighter.
Oscar: 8H then, that's how lightly it's pencilled in.
Miles: You might want to use the 7B because that's when you really get soft. H is more of a thin point.

We wind up the interview with me telling the boys how much I'm looking forward to seeing them perform. I got the impression they enjoyed the interview as much as I did grilling them!

I also filmed a game of 'Theme Park's Favourite Things...' to be uploaded next week. While you wait in anticipation, enjoy their latest single 'Tonight' and have a gander on their YouTube channel and, of course, buy the album.

Website: themeparkband.com
Twitter: @ThemeParkBand (@mileshaughton @marcuscus and @oscarmanthorpe)
Facebook: /ThemeParkBand
YouTube: /thmprk

Theme Park, Monday 18th March 2013

Within the first 30 seconds a packed out King Tuts Wah Wah Hut have already fallen in love with the Theme Parks' electric sound and vibrant set. Tracks from their debut album 'Jamaica' and 'A Place We'll Never Know' have every person in the room grooving along with their slick sound.

The loudest screams of the night come when Miles, Marcus and Oscar play 2011 release 'Milk' and their latest single 'Tonight'. The boys manage to create a warm intonation holding this small crowd in the palms of their hands whilst creating a sound that would still sound intimate in an arena of 30,000 people. Lead singer Miles' velvety smooth tones go perfectly with the overall vibe the three-piece pull off so effortlessly. It's like the snuggling up with the perfect blend of silk and cashmere.

Their zesty 80s style is somewhat lacking in the music industry of today. Theme Park could be one of the biggest bands of my generation, I can imagine telling my offspring about my experiences seeing them as I grew up.
 
It may be a snowy winter's night outside but inside this cosy venue I feel like could be in a beachfront cafe in LA sipping on a coconut cocktail, with Marcus' Hawaiin shirt completing the illusion. After the most enjoyable three quarters of an hour I have experienced in a long time the gig concludes with my, and apparently everyone elses, personal favourite 'Wax'.

I was lucky enough to catch an interview with the guys prior to the show, it was lovely to meet them and the interview will be published on the blog at the beginning of next week.

Theme Parks' debut album is available now on iTunes.

A Little Update...

Hello dearest loyal bloggy readers,

I'm really sorry that I haven't written anything for this blog since my Christmas article (wow, that sounds even longer now that I'm typing it). I've got some really cool ideas for some new articles and a couple of rough drafts but I've had no time to pursue them.

Apparently trying to manage all of my schoolwork and write a blog is actually rather difficult. The Spanish curriculum is very harsh and time consuming, not to mention trying to keep up with the language at the same time. Every exam I do is very important as it contributes to my overall term mark for the subject, failing more than 2 means repeating the year, eek!

I hope you can forgive me and I promise that soon I will have more articles than you can shake a stick at, although I'm not really sure why you'd want to do that... If you're still struggling to find that forgiveness in your heart, here's a cute picture of my cat Rudolfo:

Besos,
Lauren x