'We've not got into Trouble in the UK - yet.'
Chicago punks The Orwells are releasing their third album, Terrible Human Beings in February 2017 and will be showcasing their new material on an upcoming UK tour, hitting Birmingham Hare and Hounds - we caught up with guitarist Matt O'Keefe to chat about
Date published: 26th Jan 2017
They’ve toured with the Arctic Monkeys, performed at Lollapalooza and made an appearance on David Lettermen - all before reaching the legal drinking age of their hometown in America. Now a little older, Chicago band The Orwells are still able to maintain the trouble-making punk reputation that they set out with - which is no surprise, since they dove head first into endless touring straight from graduating high school.
With two successful cheeky-toned albums under their belt, the boisterous five-piece are releasing their third, Terrible Human Beings this February and will be showcasing their new material on an upcoming UK tour. We caught up with guitarist Matt O'Keefe from the band to find out more…
On their new album:
It's still kind of in the same sort of ballpark as our other albums because, genre-wise, we're still very garage-rocky. But with this one I guess there's a little bit more to it, it's kind of weirder. It's got a little bit more character, but it's still the same old rock'n'roll music.
We chose the album title Terrible Human Beings so we could just to pay tribute to what our reputation is - as a band and as people - it's kind of to champion it a little bit and throw it back in people's faces. That's about as far as an explanation can go with the album name to be honest, but most importantly we just thought it sounded cool so we threw it down there.
Our reputation has some truth to it. We do get into trouble - we have a few times. Not to say all the times it was our fault! There have just been a few Orwells and security guard tumbles across the US, but we've not got into trouble in the UK - yet
On touring:
I'm stoked for this trip coming up because we're going to some places we haven't been yet in Europe. Then when we get to the UK it's just nice to be back. We probably came here for the first time two and half years ago, it's always nice to come back and see people you remember from your first time over, it's the same in any city really, but it's a lot of fun being over there and we really enjoy it.
I don't really have favourite cities that stand out to me, it's probably a cop out but I really do enjoy playing pretty much anywhere! I'm a big fan of London, which I know is not the most creative of answers, but every time we go there, the parties after the show are always great, people take us round bars and stuff - that's always fun.
On the future:
We're definitely about just seeing how it goes but I guess if there was any long term plans it would be to only make good records and then once that stops, to be wise enough to say 'okay well, we should end this thing.' We don't want to let it go stale...I think it comes to a point. I would rather have a collection of really great stuff - whether that be small or large - than to eventually go off on a tangent and to kind of lose the drive and lose a certain path.
Terrible Human Beings is released on February 17th, and The Orwells play Birmingham's Hare and Hounds on Thursday 2nd March.