He Kane, He Saw, He Conquered
He first came to our attention as the other half of Alex Turner side-project The Last Shadow Puppets. But can Miles Kane cut it as a solo artist? At the start, even he had doubts. But hook-ups with Noel Gallagher and Gruff Rhys soon set him straight.
Paul Nolan, 10 Aug 2011
Having enjoyed considerable success alongside Alex Turner in The Last Shadow Puppets, you’d imagine Miles Kane would have been pretty confident about his debut solo album, Colour Of The Trap, being afforded an equally enthusiastic reception. Interestingly, however, the Scouse singer admits he felt a degree of insecurity as he set about writing the record.
“I know it might sound crazy, but after we’d finished up with The Last Shadow Puppets and The Rascals had split, it took me a while to get my confidence back,” says Kane, sitting in the lounge of the Fitzwilliam Hotel. “I’m a strong-minded lad and I’m not soft, and I don’t want to be living off The Last Shadow Puppets; I don’t want to wait around until we do another one. It was a bit of a comedown, but the guy who gave me a boost early on was Gruff Rhys, who co-produced the album. I’d sent him all the demos and he was really buzzing off them.
“We went into the studio and he produced two tracks, ‘The King Crawler’ and ‘Take The Night From Me’. That was my first week of doing it, and it was in my mind, ‘I know I can do this. Once I get the record done, I’m gonna get a good band and I’m gonna fuckin’ love this’.”
Nonetheless, it is surprising that you would feel low on confidence having had such a big hit with TLSP’s The Age Of The Understatement.
“I worry about shit,” admits Kane. “There’s probably a lot of people out there who think, ‘You did the Puppets and you’re just a kid. Your best mate’s a star and you’re hanging on his coat-tails’. I’m aware that people think that, but it’s not the case. And if they think that, then listen to this record.”
Like The Last Shadow Puppets’ album, The Colour Of The Trap has a very strong soundtrack vibe, and skilfully blends influences such as Morricone, Bowie, Scott Walker, The Beatles and ’60s psychedelia. Lyrically, what sort of subjects did Kane want to tackle?
“I suppose the majority of is about... fucking feelings,” comes the reassuringly laddish answer. “That old one of birds and what you’ve been through and all that.”
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