The LaFontaines are a five-piece rap-rock band from Motherwell. They release their debut album, Class, on Monday, June 8, and have already kicked off their UK tour. Andy Welch spoke to frontman Kerr Okan to find out more about recording their new record, getting time off work and plotting a jailbreak in Morocco
ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT THE TOUR?
We can’t wait. The album comes out while we’re on tour, so we’re all really excited about that, too. We’re not going to play the whole album, as some people won’t know it, so it’s finding the balance. We want to keep the energy high, so there’ll be older songs, too.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE ALBUM?
In terms of the material, I am far happier with it. Our songwriting as a whole is more mature, and I am really proud of it.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE RECORDING IT?
We’re a very poor band, in money terms, so recording is normally done in one of our houses. But with this album, we got funding, and went down to Matt O’Grady’s studio. He’s worked with Don Broco and You Me At Six, so he’s a great producer. We had three weeks with him, being together as a band, and it has transformed everything. It was amazing. But coming back to reality of work after that was rubbish.
WHAT HAPPENED IN MOROCCO?
We wanted to film our video there. Again, because we’re financially poor, we didn’t arrange permits or anything. We didn’t know about all that, so we just turned up with our friend Oscar who does our videos. We went to Morocco – £69 each from Glasgow – and then we ran into trouble. A load of guys jumped out of a black van. Turns out they were the police, and took us to a holding cell for three hours, yelling at us in Arabic. They thought we were from the BBC, and they wanted a load of money to film there.
HOW DID YOU GET OUT OF IT?
We were telling them that we’re a small band from Scotland, not famous musicians, but they Googled us and it was the day we had been announced to play at T in the Park, so there were a few news stories about us and it looked like we were a big band. In the end, we just walked out of the holding cell when they weren’t paying attention and thankfully the hotel staff smoothed it over for us. We left not long after, and I doubt we could go back. I’m so glad we got out. It would’ve been hard explaining to work why I wasn’t there on the Monday, why I was sitting in a Moroccan jail.
WHEN CAN YOU QUIT WORK?
I actually have now. It’s so hard juggling it all and explaining why you need three weeks off to record an album or go on tour. Other guys in the band are working with families and things, so it’s easier to get time off. You can’t really pursue proper work and take a band seriously.
WHEN DID YOU FORM?
In 2011, but there was about 18 months before that when we weren’t officially a band, when we were trying to get good at playing live and things. And playing live is our main asset as a band, I think, it’s about that energy. That’s the great thing about this new album, we actually sound on it how we do live. We could never afford good recording before.
RAP ROCK HASN’T GOT A GREAT REPUTATION
Well it can just be 40-year-old white guys trying to make hip hop, which can be awful. But I prefer not to think of genres like that; we’re just a band.
AND WHAT DO THE PEOPLE OF MOTHERWELL THINK OF
YOU RAPPING?
For the first wee while, people would look at me suspiciously and grin and say: ‘Oh, you’re the guy who raps, eh?’ But since then we’ve played a lot more and people know us, and we’ve sold out venues and toured America, and now it’s: ‘Oh, you’re the guy who raps. Amazing!’ And yes, I do accept their drinks when they offer one.
The LaFontaines play The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen, on June 13. Doors open 8pm and tickets cost £8.80.