Giant Killers are indie-pop band, song writing duo Jamie Wortley (guitar, keys, lead vocals) and Michael Brown (bass, keys, brass, vocals). They were signed to MCA Records in 1995 where they released two singles, however the album never saw the light of day. After a momentous struggle over three decades the band got their publishing rights back and their songs have finally been getting a chance to shine…
We speak to Jamie and Michael about the latest single, Around the Blocks, the second single from Songs for the Small Places.
Tell us a bit about the history of the band.
Michael: Phew… it’s a long story.
Jamie: Where do we start!
Michael: How about the mid 80s. As much younger folks than we are now, we were hustling gigs in London… in places like Harlesden’s Mean Fiddler, Islington’s Powerhaus, and the famous Marquee Club – venues rammed with people like us – youngsters from the provinces with something to prove.
Jamie: At first, we drove back to Grimsby in our battered Ford Transit, and if that broke down, as it often did, Mike’s dad’s old Datsun, but the gigs got so frequent we ended up just staying.
Michael: Our first address, not that you could dignify it as an actual address, was a mattress in a grim Finsbury Park room with no curtains. We sofa surfed in Tooting, Archway, Holloway, Hackney – the then rougher parts of the city.
Jamie: This London was not paved with gold, but hey, we were from tough Grimsby streets too. Essentially, we spent our late teens and twenties in the back of a van, on the road, and in studios.
Michael: We started our own label, went on to have two major record deals, with Arista and MCA, we’ve supported Blur, Squeeze, Nick Heyward, done festivals, done Hyde Park and Glastonbury, we’ve been on primetime TV – we were once given away as stickers in Smash Hits.
Jamie: Mike’s mum still has that on her toilet door.
Michael: Ultimately though , we got dumped out of the business.
Jamie: Essentially for not selling enough units. This was in an era with an unrecognisably different business model to that which exists today – back then, the expectation for artists on major labels was to sell millions in their first releases.
Michael: And then, after a momentous three-decade journey to get our rights back, our songs have finally been getting a chance to shine, and here we are now!
How have people reacted since you have reformed?
Michael: I must confess to feeling a little giddy about the fabulously positive critical appraisal of our work since Songs for the Small Places came out.
Jamie: It’s been quite dizzying. We’ve been described as an excavated treasure, as undiscovered gems, as deft and charming raconteurs of song.
Michael: As lyrically astute.
Jamie: I don’t remember that one
Michael: I think I might be paraphrasing.
Jamie: Mike writes the lyrics; he likes to draw attention to that.
Michael: But seriously, I think we were concerned about being thought of as irrelevant, or an anachronism.
Jamie: Instead, people have listened with open ears without consideration of what might be deemed cool and fashionable.
Michael: We’re definitely none of those things.
Jamie: And it feels like we’ve been welcomed back.
Can you describe your new single for us?
Michael: Around the Blocks is our love song to the kinds of communities that we grew up in, and that shaped our outlook. I like to think of it as an opus to the overlooked.
Jamie: It’s specifically for those whose endeavors are more likely to end in failure because they weren’t born with the right kind of head start in life…
Michael: But pressing on anyway, because there’s no other option. Thematically, it’s both personal and universal.
Who are your biggest influences?
Jamie: I love any great singer, Nat King Cole, Sinatra, James Brown, George Michael, Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone, but also, anyone who understands a melody – I don’t mind a bit of Manilow if I’m honest. I’m a sucker for a show tune too.
Michael: I’m going with Bowie, almost any UK and US Punk and New Wave. As my first instrument is a sax, I’ve listened to lots of Jazz but love a bit of Disco too. I’m musically promiscuous!
How has the music industry changed since you first began?
Jamie: For me, it’s about how modern artists have changed. It’s not enough to be a great performer, writer and musician anymore – to stand out in the music industry the artist has to invest equal time into any talent they might have for promotion and marketing. Tasks which might have been delegated to a manager or label back when we were cutting our teeth.
Michael: There’s also the technology – the ability to evolve an idea into a music composition using portable technology that not that long ago would need to fill several expensive rooms has democratised music making – to take power from the major labels, so that anyone who wants to, can make music and put it out there.
What are your plans for the future?
Michael: We have our first major festival gig in 28 years as Giant Killers. We’re opening the main stage at Shiiine On in November – which is a festival featuring lots of 90s legends.
Then we have Who Am I Fooling as our third single off the album arriving in October. And we’re aiming for a seasonal Number 1 – everyone loves a power balled at Xmas, and ours is called I Hoped One Day You Would Know My Name.
Listen to Around The Blocks here:
https://giantkillers1.bandcamp.com/album/around-the-blocks