The Overtones are genuinely pop’s sweethearts. Easy going, easy on the eye and easy on the ear. Since their breakthrough in 2009 after a residency on Dancing On Ice, the band have sold over 750,000 records in the UK over 3 albums. In an industry that is notorious for dropping acts before they really get time to develop, it seems like Warner Music is prepared to play the longer game with this band.
Although nothing was really made of it at the time, 3 of the band’s men are out and proudly flying the flag for gay men in what some may say is a bit of sea change in terms of acceptance for gay men in music. The fact that nothing was said at the time was probably the beginnings of this sea change. We’re here, we’re queer – it’s not a marketing ploy. In Kensington at Warner’s new offices, which occupy where the now defunct EMI once resided, we get down to the nitty gritty.
So what more is there for The Overtones to do? What is there that you haven’t achieved yet, but really want to?
MIKE: It’s a difficult one, because I feel like we’re kind of living our dream, to keep on doing what we’re doing. We talk about our fourth album and it’s something that a lot of acts in this day and age, in this ever-changing music industry don’t get the opportunity to do. So we do feel very lucky. For us, immediately, it’s about continuing this dream, continuing this career that we’ve worked hard at over the last five-years to build. We talk about fan base and stuff; that fan base, it grew slowly and solidly. There’s a solid foundation in there. So we’re going to keep on doing what we do, hopefully we’re going to spread our wings to other countries. Anywhere where people are willing to hear us and enjoy what we do. We’ll get there…
Is it important for bands to crack the all-important, if somewhat elusive, US market?
DARREN: If they have a strong desire to then I guess it is. But, you know, people have perfectly good, great careers without ever going to America. If you’re asking if we’d like to go and have a crack of course we would, we’re ambitious boys, but we’re also very happy with our career now and how we’re doing.
Arguably what you’re doing, in terms of style and essence has its birthplace in America. Do you think they’d enjoy what you’d have to offer?
DARREN: I think so…
MARK: Yeah! For sure, but it’s just a massive nut to crack. It takes a lot of time and at the moment we’re enjoying being in the UK promoting our album here. Hopefully in the future we’d be up for it.
TIMMY: I’d go to Timbuktu and do a gig if they enjoy our music. That’s the value of what you do. You work hard on music and create great albums and you work hard to do that.
In the music biz they talk about the three major markets: the US, the UK and Germany – which you are doing very well in… Why is that?
TIMMY: (Laughing) We did an RTL campaign out there.
LACHIE: It’s a big TV station out there.
TIMMY: They got behind “Gambling Man” (the band’s very first single, which ended up charting at number 16 in Germany) and they used it to advertise this new station and used us as part of it. It was a great introduction to Germany. We have gained some amazing fan base out there. So loyal. They come over whether we’re doing a gig in Germany, Ireland or anywhere in the UK, and they come over and we; I, really appreciate that kind of support. We’re looking at doing a few gigs, a small tour there, which is great. I think for us doing live gigs – that’s where we get to crossover and bring this album to life. We’ve got the moves, we’re looking sharp…
You are quite polished in terms of your look and your marketing, compared to say, Adele or Sam Smith, who can be a little more ‘take me as you find me…’
LACHIE: Did you find Adele was like that on 21? Come on now. Come on…
TIMMY: In our downtime we’re wearing trackies… But I think everyone’s polished up their act actually. Even Sam Smith, he’s always wearing jackets, but even in their downtime I’m sure they’re wearing trackies and onesies!
LACHIE: But with the style of music we do, I don’t think you could rock in wearing jeans and flips flops saying, “yeah we enjoy singing 50’s and 60’s music in a vocal harmony style.” This is doffing the hat. When we sat down on the couch (today), I said, “Oh look at us wearing all the same thing”… It’s good fun.
It’s very classic. At the moment music has had that 50’s/60’s feeling for quite a while now, probably one the longest rebirth of styles. Is there a worry that it might pop and if it does, will The Overtones restyle? Will we see you in lime green jump suits and disco get up?
DARREN: You know what, it goes back to the live shows again. We’ve been doing it for four years now and we’re very lucky that we’ve got a lot of fan base with touring. No matter what the fashion is in music, we’ve got a fan base that loves this style of music. So we’re very lucky boys.
Since we last spoke Sam Smith has become unquestionably the world’s biggest artist, with an album written about his relationships with men. Are we past the point of people caring about the whole “gay” thing?
DARREN: I’d like to think so, I saw the speech where he won one of his four Grammy’s and I think it was the last one and he thanked his ex-boyfriend for giving him the material to write about and I just thought that was really cool and refreshing to hear.
TIMMY: I think he’s flying the flag in a very classy way. I think there’s a very aggressive approach sometimes saying, “I’m doing this for…” But he’s happy to say that he was in a relationship with a guy. I liked the way that he said people wouldn’t sign him because he was big or whatever, and I think whether you’re gay, straight, man, woman, black, white everyone can kind of like feel that in that album. It’s still quite universal, but he’s still okay to talk about that. Yes that is a change. But Freddie Mercury… All these people… It’s been going on for years. I think it’s lovely for him to be really comfortable to talk about it. I think he’s holding himself in a really classy way as a gay man.
You’re now four albums in… Does it get easier?
DARREN: From what point of view?
Your personal point of view…
LACHIE: I think from a recording perspective, it’s tighter; it’s a bit more professional. I just remember album one, we were like, “We’re in a recording studio, and there are producers and people from the record label and I feel like I’ve got to be a good boy”, but now I feel more free to say, “I think it could be that… or this harmony, or maybe, not that song, but this song.” This is album four and we’ve shown in our last three that people who listen to our albums really enjoy it. Really enjoy it. All of that has come directly through us. So there’s comfort that comes from that, but you don’t want to let anyone down, to keep it exciting and fresh and new and come up with new stuff, so there’s still an element of crossing your fingers.
TIMMY: You don’t know what’s going to happen…
Did you imagine you’d get to album four?
DARREN: Yep. I did, I can’t speak for everyone, but I’ve always believed in us.
MARK: I think we’ve also always taken it album by album as well. Obviously we’re in this for the long run. People always say, “What are your plans for the future”, but we’re really excited about here and now and this new album and promoting this Sweet Soul Music – out March the 2nd…
DARREN: Thank you!!
Tell me a little about the sweet soul music…
MARK: Well, the title says it all really. It’s all the soul classics and we’re keen songwriters as well so there are three originals on there… It’s songs like: “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”, “Give Me Just A Little More Time”,
DARREN: “Let’s Stay Together”
TIMMY: “River Deep Mountain High”
MARK: With Sam Bailey….
TGUK: Tell us about Sam Bailey, how did that go down?
DARREN: She’s cool man; she’s a really cool girl. Really down to earth, loves a chat… We just sat there for two hours and we’re like, “We should probably do some singing now…” It was really cool to see her and Lachie go in, they had a mic each when they were doing their leads. It was like one big sing off. It was really cool. She was heavily pregnant and we were a bit like, as she was hitting them high notes, “I hope she doesn’t pop!”
Do you think she deserves a bit more of a shake of the tree, a bit more run of the rad than she’s been given?
LACHIE: I never get the feeling from Sam that she’s wandering round saying, “Make me famous, make me famous!”. I think she’s grafted from a very early age. She has an extraordinary voice, she’s got her feet on the ground and her head screwed on. She’s got a beautiful family and a lovely fella, and I think Sam will just carve her way. Do you know what I mean? She can sing. Does she want to be on the cover of the teen mags? I don’t know… I just have real faith that she has an astonishing talent and she will have a really lovely career and have a lovely time, doing whatever she wants to do. Doing it how she wants to do it.
TIMMY: She keeps it really real. She has her fan base and there’s no reason why she can’t have a career and go on tour… When you’ve got a voice like that…
This issue is about food, so let’s get foodie… Are any of you good cooks?
DARREN: I’m getting better, yeah. I need to broaden my horizons, I just focus on spaghetti bolognaise and some boring chicken dishes, but Lachie and Timmy kind of cook stews and roasts. I’m not there yet.
MARK: I went round to Timmy’s the other day and he did a lovely… well it was meant to be a Red Thai curry…
TIMMY: I thought it was Red Thai, but it was Tikka Masala,
DARREN: He makes really small portions…
MIKE: Yeah, really small, he’s really tight…
TIMMY: I’m more a of “eat little and often” type guy. Like a bird… I see pictures that Lachie puts up on twitter…
LACHIE: I love cooking…
Lachie are you like a food porn baron on Twitter?
LACHIE: oh no no no no no. If you go to a restaurant and you see people get their phones I feel like wiping the plates away. Don’t bother…
TIMMY: (whispering) I do that…
LACHIE: No! Do you?
DARREN: I did that at TGI’s the other day…
TIMMY: My mum might present the plate… (Demonstrates a pose showing off a plate)
LACHIE: Well that’s nice… I’m talking about the people who when the plate goes down show people, “How interesting I am that I have chicken stuffed with Gruyère cheese…”
TIMMY: I did it with scrambled eggs, bacon and black pudding…
LACHIE: Go away you people. Okay that’s a bit harsh.
TIMMY: I’m loving stews and casseroles. Comforting food, I’m good at that.
Do you think that’s a lot to do with the climate we live in?
DARREN: I reckon it is, (to Timmy) you love in the winter cooking all those wintry dishes, but I eat the same food all the year round.
TIMMY: In those times, I think I go back to childhood. Things like Irish Stew, beef stews with red wine gravy. I love all that. I think it is to do with the climate. Lachie is from Australia and when you go out there, it’s all salads and no carbs… I was like “I’m starving all the time…”
DARREN: Mike cooks a disgusting macaroni cheese. (Laughs)
TIMMY: Has it got tomatoes?
MIKE: Yeah, its got tomatoes and breadcrumbs… I get a bad rap for my macaroni cheese. Timmy’s the only one who’s tasted it.
TIMMY: It’s really good.
DARREN: No wait, he said behind your back…
TIMMY: No I didn’t…
MIKE: That breaks my heart a little… (they hug)
MARK: Timmy will tell you that I cook a lovely kedgeree.
TIMMY: Mark invited me over. I was really looking forward to it, you know bring a bottle of wine the whole lot… I sit down… I don’t like oily fish, or mackerel I don’t like egg and he cooked kedgeree which has all of those ingredients so I basically had rice. We still giggle about it.
MARK: It’s got better now. You need to come around again and I’ll cook it for you again…
TIMMY: Maybe with Salmon? can you do a kedgeree with Salmon? I’m up for that.
Do you all live separately?
ALL: Yes!
TIMMY: No we don’t have an Overtones house.
Is it difficult when you’re on tour to eat well?
ALL: Yeah…
TIMMY: It has been in the past.
DARREN: No it’s not now…
MIKE: I really tried… The hard thing on tour, we’ve got catering now which is great, great cooks, beautiful food, but when you finish a show at ten o’clock you’re starving, so it’s invariably “There’s a burger bar at the end of the road”, or granola bar for Darren… It’s really hard, I struggle as well.
MARK: The good thing is we have an amazing catering team that come on the road with us and they always bring that big juicer.
DARREN: But they also do nice desserts, which is hard to get away from.
MIKE: That’s a killer!
TIMMY: It’s Dillon and Pauline; we have to give them a shout out… They’re like mums and dads on
tour. We never had that at the start… it makes it home from home.
Is it important for you all to keep slim and fit?
MARK: We do a two-hour show every night that’s fairly energetic – with our finger clicking… That burns of a few calories, we do go to the gym as well.
DARREN: Yes, personally I eat healthy and go to the gym a lot and then at the weekends I chill out.
TIMMY: Darren is very disciplined. I do have to say that! I’m a bit of a sugar fiend. So I’m trying to cut down on that, and I’m finding it very hard.
Is there jealously between you all?
MIKE: I’m jealous of these biceps (squeezes Darren’s arm)
DARREN: Do that again!
MIKE: Oh God it’s unbelievable.
DARREN: You’re doing well
MIKE: I’m doing all right; I’m getting there…
TIMMY: Mark has the kind of hairy chest that I can only dream of really…
MIKE: You’ve got that little wispy bit there…
TIMMY: and Lachie, they are representing on that hairy chest front.
MARK: I’m thinking of shaving it off.
TIMMY: Are you? You could lay it down and I could just glue it on…
Fan questions:
Is there going to be a video of the tour?
TIMMY: Let’s be honest, we’re asked about it many a time and we’d love to do it in the future, but the thing is with doing it, it does end up costing a lot of money so we’re hoping to do that in future…
DARREN: There’ll be some nice iPhone footage on YouTube!
Which is your favourite original song:
MARK: I’m going to go with, on our second album we had a song called “Love Song”,
DARREN: I’m going to say “Give Me Soul” from our new album. Maybe something you wouldn’t expect from us.
MIKE: “Something Good”, it’s an Overtone song, It’s not specific to a relationship. It could be about anything that’s making you feel good at the time.
TIMMY: I’m going to go back…Anytime we go on tour it always surprises me how much our fans connected with this song and it was the first original we ever performed on telly. “Gambling Man”.
LACHIE: I’m going to say “Loving The Sound”. It’s really weird turning on the radio and hearing your voice every time. It really catches me. That song had so much support from so many radio stations…
