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.
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| (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.
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
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