Two Door Cinema Club Bring the Cool to Benidorm

21:30h in Benidorm on Friday 26th July and I'm standing with Alex Trimble, Sam Halliday and Kevin Baird aka Two Door Cinema Club in the middle of a football pitch. We were, of course, backstage at Low Cost Festival. Alex heads back to his dressing room with the Spanish translator we didn't need and birthday boy Sam goes off to catering, leaving Kevin who says, "Shall we just do the interview here?"

We sit down on the sub-benches and the interview commences. I ask when they arrived here in Spain, "We got here this afternoon, we were shooting a video in London. We actually flew out from Gatwick on an Easyjet flight. We haven´t been to Benidorm before but haven´t seen any of it yet. Wer'e heading down to Alicante for the rest of the weekend for Sam's stag do!"

What was it like playing the main stage at T in the Park? "It was great having played before to have a point of reference. When you've played the smaller stages you know how important it is to be playing the headline stage. In 2010 we played the Small Tent at T and last year the 2nd Stage, so it's good to have that."
Their music has been used in adverts for the likes of Vodafone, Meteor, clothing retailers Debenhams and Next and by Microsoft. I wonder how much say the boys have in it, "We have full control over what we do, for instance, we've been asked to do loads - I won't tell you what - that we decided not to do. We're not fortunate enough to be in Adeles' postition where we can turn down the offers all the time. In the beginning it really helped to get us known and in fact a track for Debenhams became a single when we weren't releasing it, purely on the basis of the advert. We've also had tracks for Playstation and Xbox, Fifa games and NBA which has got us known in America so it's all been good really... It's also quite lucrative. I wouldn't want to not be able to decide what we do as I'm a control freak."

I ask Kevin what the first gig was he ever attended as a fan, "I think it was probably a Radio 1
Roadshow, I can remember it came to our hometown in Ireland which was quite major as nobody ever came. Zoe Ball was the presenter and I remember seeing The Corrs."

On Wikipedia Two Door Cinema Clubs' Genre is described as Indie rock dance-punk synthpop new wave post-punk revival, I ask if he could sum up their genre in no more than 3 words. "Alternelectronica, when we first started out someone came up with that and we thought it was really good. I guess we're more Indie now, we used to be to be three guys and beats, but now we have a drummer..."

The band have 1.5 Million Likes on Facebook and growing, I ask how important Kevin thinks social media is for musicians? "It's definitely the way things are going now, but just because you have 1.5 million Likes doesn't mean they all see your posts. Facebook uses algorithms to decide how important each post is and how they show up in feeds. For example, if you add a photo or not it can make a big difference and you can actually pay to promote an individual post and decide how many hits you want it to get." Wow, so you've really thought about this? [Laughs] "Well as I said, I'm a control freak."

As his manager makes exaggerated winding notions with his hands as he's on the phone, I ask Kevin one last question, what's the most expensive item of clothing he's ever bought? "I bought a Cristian Dior jacket... the other guys still make fun of me for it, I bought it in Browns in London." Eeek! How much was it? "I'm not saying... but it was a lot."

Two Door Cinema Club played the main stage at midnight, despite being 90% Spanish the crowd sang along to every song. It was one of the most incredible performances I have ever seen, their energy was phenomenal with some amazing pyrotechnics.

Revival of the Retro Bikini

The bikini as we know it first appeared on the beaches of France in 1947. The word "bikini" creates a different image in everyone's mind, the majority probably being of 3 small triangles strung together to cover the essentials. Far from the visual of the beaches of France 65 years ago. The bikini was made popular in the 20th century by pin-up girls such as Esther Williams, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth and Lana Turner, carrying on through the 60's with Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot.

There are so many different styles of swimsuits, one piece, two piece, tankini, trikini, halternecks, bandeau, surf shorts... By the 2000's, bikinis had become a multi-million pound business annually. 2013 sees the return of the vintage bikini, they are featured on catwalks all over the world and iconic high-street fashion store Topshop have named the high-waisted bikini "this year's must-have item". Numerous celebrities including Taylor Swift, Reese Witherspoon and Kim Kardashian have also been seen rocking the vintage vibe.

The girls who originally wore this style of bikini were not a size 0, nor a size 6. That was, however, irrelevant because they were stylish, glamorous and their clothing flattered their figures. High-waisted bikinis look great on any body shape and are very feminine, suggesting anyone can be confident in a two-piece this summer. Team with a head scarf and a slick of black eyeliner (make sure it's waterproof ladies if you're actually going to go in the pool!) to emulate that classic Hollywood starlet look.

Advances in fabric technology means that we have so much more choice when it comes to bold colours and prints from the high-street to high-end fashion. This year Kelly Brook has done her second collection for New Look, predominantly featuring styling from the 50's. Every fashion retailer from River Island and Urban Outfitters to the designers such as Ted Baker and Alexander Wang seem to have at least one maxi-bottom in their summer collection. Old-style bathing suits still look fresh and modern and designers are consistently coming up with new creations.

Whatever you choose this summer, I'm sure most of us will have our own version of a retro bikini packed in our holiday suitcase. I've got more than one in my wardrobe already!

Published in Vista Magazine June/July 2013

Rise of the Red Hot Gingers

It’s no secret that people with ginger hair used to automatically lose points in attractiveness. Writing that now, it sounds so trivial but it’s true. With ginger hair, often came freckles and pale skin; which were also not in the criteria used to make up the world’s sexiest person. I don’t know who decided this originally, but the gingers have had enough of the “carrot top” name calling and are fighting back…and not just with the retort “I'm strawberry blonde!”

Ginger is now the most popular colour of hair dye in the world. Being ginger is now seen as cool and definitely doesn't make a person less attractive, of course, a few big names have helped. Teenage girls up and down the country are lusting after gingers more than brunettes with six-packs. Who knows if it’s just a phase or the thing of the moment, but I think the boundary has been crossed and from now on gingers will be credited with more respect.

You may find it hard to believe that just a few years ago record companies told Ed Sheeran to dye his ginger locks. Even more so, considering his whole orange brand and image is based around his hair colour. Orange is his thing and nobody could mistake his merchandise for another artists. Ed’s music video for Lego House featuring Rupert Grint is like a ginger feast. The shot which features them both together will remain a favourite of mine and, I'm sure, many others for years to come.


Our very own Prince Harry used to get a bit of a hard time for his “unfortunate hair colour” but now it’s what makes us love him even more. He just looks so cute, and what with William practically having no hair, Harry is representing us all with his gingerness.

In case you’re not convinced yet, here are a few more cool gingers; Julian Rhind-Tutt from Greenwing, and one of the biggest actors right now in Homeland, Damian Lewis. Benedict Cumberbatch (who may be my favourite person ever) is also naturally ginger, although he would remain just as perfect with a pink Mohawk. Gingers are even favourites in the world of fictional characters; Tin Tin, and Lois from Family Guy are at the top of the list.

When I interviewed Theme Park I asked Oscar; have you ever suffered because of your hair colour or have you always been a red hot ginger? "Both, they're not separate things," he replied laughing. "I think anyone who is ginger will know suffering, will know pain and will know being on the end of very shit jokes from people who think they're hilarious."

Nicole Kidman, Christina Hendricks and Emma Stone are just a few examples of ladies that prove it’s not just boys that look hot with ginger hair! I read in the paper recently that when Christina Hendricks originally dyed her hair ‘red’ everybody told her it was a mistake. It’s not really necessary to point out who’s laughing now. Desperate Housewives’ Marcia Cross and songstress Florence Welch are more examples of high profile glamorous redheads.

We all remember that video of the young ginger boy shouting and proclaiming to the world that "Gingers do have souls!" Were we convinced? Well if we weren't then, we certainly are now. Pass me shade 74 Mango Intense Copper.