Interview: Jordan Allen

Having had a blast on the road with The Sherlocks, not to mention having their track ‘110 Ways to Make Things Better’ voted by the public as the #1 anthem of Virgin Radio’s Freshfest, it’s already been quite the year for Jordan Allen. Making waves early on in 2017 with their triumphant and touching Livin’ La Vida Bolton charity EP, the band hint we can expect new material to be released from them very soon. We spoke to Jordan about their upcoming headline tour…

This is your first ever headline tour – how does that feel?

Buzzing, yeah. It’s scary, having to sell the tickets by ourselves for the first time.

Do you think Manchester will be the best show?

Yeah, I think the home shows are always the best, aren’t they? But it’s strange because Leeds to me is like a second home, and Liverpool is very close to me, so those three cities all feel like hometown gigs now.

You’ve previously supported The Sherlocks. How was that?

Yeah, great. I’ve known them for a long time, and we supported their first show which was to about 10 people. The support gigs were incredible shows. People actually knew the words to our songs which was so weird. It was huge for us.

On this tour, you’ve got local talent as your support act for each show. Is it important to you to showcase those smaller acts?

Absolutely. It’s so difficult to get support slots that it becomes almost impossible for small bands to get gigs. Local bands are important to us because we want to show the talent coming through, and give those smaller bands a chance.

Your new single R.O.S.I.E. is about a real girl, isn’t it?

It is yeah, correct. Basically, I was at uni in Leeds, and this girl walked into my class absolutely steaming from the night before, wearing a big snow leopard coat. She was an absolute nutjob, but I ended up going on a few nights out with her and we became really good mates.

It’s funny because when people know you’ve written a song about a girl they immediately think it’s a love song, but this was just about her being a nutjob. Now she’s on the cover for the single and on the t-shirts and she’s loving it. She’s not in the video though — she was in Bali when we shot it so we had to get an actress in.

Will there be an album coming soon?

It’s got to be in the equation soon. We’ve got too many songs out as singles. We’ve got some new stuff coming next year, like ‘Wasted Generation’, ‘Out My Mind’. We’ve written a new track which I’m excited to come out… [it’s] got a kind of Killers, stadium rock vibe, so yeah I’m buzzing for next year.

And more touring next year?

Definitely more touring, depending on how this one goes but it’s looking like it’s going to go pretty well. We want to jump on some more supports as well. We’ve got some big things planned for 2018.

What are you currently listening to?

Well I was recently as Kazoopa festival in Leeds, and my mates’ bands Vida and Sheafs were there, so they’re top of the pile recently. Vida [have] like a Stone Roses kind of vibe, and I ended up on with Sheafs for their last song! I also love Kurupt FM. I tweeted them recently because the single came out the same day as The Lost Tapes, and I tweeted that there was no point releasing mine because that was out, and they tweeted me back! They agreed, so I was made up with that. *Laughs, followed by amazing MC Grindah impression.*

Who are your biggest musical influences?

Well, I grew up in the 2000s, so it was The Libertines, The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys. My dad force fed me older stuff like punk, and I found a lot of 60s music too. But at the moment some of my friends are disco DJs in Liverpool, so I love that. Obviously, Kurupt have got to be up there too.

You can catch Jordan Allen at The Ruby Lounge on 15th December.