DirectLyrics Interviews Rixton: Talk Beginnings, Debut EP & Justin Bieber!
British pop-rock band Rixton are the new hot thing in the biz. And considering Scooter Braun is their manager (Justin Bieber, hello?) - who has signed them to their School Boy label, and opened them the doors of Interscope Records too - exciting things are definitely in the path of the four Manchester 'lads'.
Jake Roche, Danny Wilkin, Charley Bagnall, and Lewi Morgan have seen their lives change overnight. Jake and Danny knew each other from younger years, and with time they met the other band members. And it was then when Rixton was formed. They started uploading cover videos on YouTube of hit songs by Taylor Swift, R. Kelly or Rita Ora and the massive views took little time to come. One of their viewers was Scooter Braun who saw potential in the Rixton guys and well, the rest of their story is to be told.
For now, Rixton, instead of focusing their career in the UK, they are fully targeting America. Certainly many must have faith in them to pursue this approach...but with the talent these guys have they should have no fear. America welcomes talent, 'freshness' and good songs, and these are elements Rixton possess.
They released last March 18th on US iTunes their first EP 'Me And My Broken Heart', with the title track being their official first single. They got an exclusive deal with MTV to premiere the music video for "Me and My Broken Heart" worldwide (surely Scooter had something to do getting this major deal!) and two weeks ago the video was made available on VEVO where it is about to reach the one million views!
Rixton are currently in the studio working on their full-length debut album to be released later this year via Interscope. And one of the producers that are working with them is the hitmaker Benny Blanco! So you know the #1s are coming, right?
Make sure to check out below our EXCLUSIVE interview with Rixton. They talk their beginnings, their song-writing skills, their debut EP, meeting Justin Bieber and more!
THE INTERVIEW
1. Your now-manager Scooter Braun discovered you through your YouTube videos, and eventually signed you to his record label. Describe the day you got ‘the call’ from him. And, did you give his signing offer an 'easy yes’?
Jake & Charley: We were in the studio in London, a very small studio in West London. It was like a shed in a back garden. We just got this random phone call from America. None of us have family there or anything so we were quite confused, but he said he was flying to London in the next 24 hours and he wants to meet us. It was just the most insane thing ever. I may have even shed a tear. But yeah we met him the next day in London in this studio. He was only meant to stay for half an hour to an hour as he had meetings but he cancelled them all and stayed there for 6 hours! We just chatted about everything and we played all our songs for him and he seemed to really like them.
2. In your pre-fame days, you covered a lot of other artists' hits on your YouTube channel. At the time, did you do that for fun or hoping these covers would grab the attention from someone in A&R?
Jake & Charley: No, not really it was more because we enjoyed the songs and enjoyed playing them and they had a good vibe in the studio. So we recorded them and stuck them online and they ended up getting attention. It was more about songs we loved, stuff like the "Thong Song," Obviously it's a fun song but we just loved the melodies and we grew up listening to that sort of style, that R&B style so we thought let's do our own take on it.
3. Scooter opened you the doors of Interscope Records. How does it feel to be part of a family that includes Lady Gaga or Robin Thicke?
Jake: It's pretty mind blowing. Very unreal it feels like. Absolutely, Eminem as well, he's on there. People like Robin Thicke, I mean one of my favourite songs is "Lost Without You" and with Gaga it goes without saying she's just a huge worldwide superstar, you love Gaga don't you Charley?
Charley: Love Gaga mate, she's absolutely brilliant. So it's just great to be on the same Roster as them and hopefully you know we can kind of live up to that level of expertise.
4. How would you describe Rixton's sound in a few words?
Jake: Terrible, no just kidding.
Danny: R&B based, harmony driven, guitar band with soul.
Charley: Perfect
5. And what do you think sets you apart from other bands that are on the radio right now?
Jake: We focus a lot on the instrumentation side of things, we've been playing since we were kids and you know, focusing on harmonies a lot as all four of us sing, so yeah it's very harmony driven. The main sort of cross over for us is the R&B.
Charley: With Soul.
Jake: We are a band and there's not that many R&B, pop rock bands out there and we feel we fit into that pocket.
6. You released last Fall an original song called "Make Out" and its music video was exceptionally hilarious. What were the most fun anecdotes from the shooting?
Charley: It was all fun.
Jake: I think it was all the cross-dressing and getting naked.
7. And, was there any other music video you would have wanted to spoof but couldn’t?
Jake: We kind of did the biggest videos in 2013. We felt they were the biggest ones.
Charley: I would have quite liked to do the Blink 182 one where they were trashing everything and smashing all the cars up that would have been quite fun.
Jake: But yeah we just wanted to do the biggest videos of 2013, I think they were.
Charley: "Earth Song" [Michael Jackson]
8. "Make Out" was hilarious, but now in your official first single “Me and My Broken Heart”, you get a little serious. It's been dubbed as ‘very early Maroon 5’, and a good pop song. Why did you feel “Me and My Broken Heart” was the perfect first single over other songs?
Charley: Its got such a universal sound and feel about it that anyone can relate to it lyrically and musically its not to harsh to the ears . It's very pop, very soulful, very catchy.
9. Can you share some insight to the writing process for the song?
Jake: We got a guy called Rob Thomas involved who's a big influence of ours and obviously Benny Blanco and it was the last song we recorded for the album as well so we kind of knew the direction we were taking for the record itself. We just kind of sat down, blasted it through and it became the first single.
10. You recently premiered the music video for “Me and My Broken Heart” online. Explain for us the 'poker game scam’ treatment. How did that come along?
Charley: Well we had a chat with the director and we wanted to create a Guy Ritchie sort of feel, Lock Stock, Snatch, British vibe going so we decided to go with an underground poker tournament where we all got scammed by....really hot chicks and Jake ended up winning.
Jake: Yep I did! I won the girl and I won the money!
11. Rixton released on March 18th, 2014 a four-song EP. Why releasing an EP before your full-length debut? And, are you happy with the performance it is having thus far? What are fans telling you?
Jake: It's crazy because when you first start writing it and singing it and stuff it's like you kind of dream of the day when people hear it and hear the songs on the radio. The reaction we've had has just been so overwhelming. Especially as it's so eclectic. There's something for everyone on there we feel. The first time we heard it on the radio was just insane.
12. What was the writing process like with Ed Sheeran and Benny Blanco on "Hotel Ceiling?"
Lewi: It was a huge honour for someone like that to wanna write for us.
Jake: I think even if he'd just done something like twinkle twinkle little star for us we would have said yes because we love Ed.
13. Part of your promotional schedule had you perform a show at SXSW recently. And you were surprised by Justin Bieber (who’s also managed by Scooter). What are your thoughts on him?
Charley: We love Justin Beiber. We have only met him a few times and every time he has been a really really nice lad and we have hung out and played games and just had a good chat and he's been really cool.
14. Has he given you any career advice?
Charley: He's very hard working and he's constantly in the studio.
Jake: Even when we finished with him that night at SXSW he went straight to the studio and I think he's got to where he is by just hard work and dedication so that's definitely something we can take from him. He's also great with his fans and we take that on board.
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