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You know how I roll around here by now, guys. It all starts when I get an itch for new music (pretty much every freakin' day) and log into MySpace to do a little crawling around for something new and fresh to listen to and get my groove on to! Well this day was like all the others, digging through hundreds of MySpaces looking for something that could catch my (freakishly short) attention span. That something just so happened to be UK based Ska band Kids Can't Fly! I fell in love with this band, so what else was I supposed to do than dig around for an interview to bring to you guys?? So sit back, relax, and learn a bit about this fabulous new band!

"The bigger the stage, the more of a show we get to put on!" - Ryan: Kids Can't Fly

We like to start off all of our interviews with a roll call, so could you introduce yourselves and tell us what you do?

My name is Ryan, I'm singer and trombonist. The other members are Robin who is singer and guitarist, Drew, bass and backing vocals, Mark, guitar and backing vocals, Dave on Tenor Sax, Scott on drums, and Ed on Trumpet. We like to avoid that question usually, as it takes about a year to answer with 7 members!

Your band is based out of the UK, what is the scene like where you are, and have you found it difficult to crack into?

In our city the music scene is pretty awesome, we have a few bands who are starting to achieve national recognition, which is great, we also have a ton of smaller bands, all working their way up, so it's thriving really. The UK scene in general is pretty hard to break, with so many bands in such a small country, it's hard to get noticed, but it's good to have a bit of competition!

Tell us about how the band formed, what brought Kids Can't Fly together?

Myself and Dave used to play in a band together and eventually we decided it wasn't really what we wanted to be doing, so we decided to form a new band. It's rare for horn players to start a band, but we managed it, we've have to change around a few members over time, but we've found an awesome line-up now and are really pleased with how we've not just created music with the band, but created a brand and image to go with it. It was over 3 years ago that we formed the band, and it seems like we've been trying forever to get somewhere, but we're happy to keep trying as we believe something big could be on the horizon.

Where did the name for the band come from?

When Dave was 9, he featured in a safety video for a skydiving centre, basically it was all about the reasons for them not allowing children under 10 to skydive. I found the video in Dave's house one day and ended up putting it on, to laugh at the 90s bowl hair cut Dave was modelling, but we realised that the name of the video was really catchy and rolled of the tongue well, so we went with it!

What's been your best moment as a band so far?

Probably when we supported Zebrahead at London Astoria 2. It was totally packed out, in one of London's most well known venues and the crowd were so awesome. It's a venue that we never thought we'd end up playing, but to be given the chance to do so, and to play a load of other tour dates with the Zebrahead guys was awesome.

Your MySpace shows you have a ton of shows coming up, what can kids expect to see from you during a live show?

First and foremost, expect a lot of pogo-ing, we love to jump around and get the crowd to jump with us, it just fills the room with energy. In terms of music, we really look to put on a powerful live show, something that hits you square in the chest while also leaving you singing the songs afterwards. The bigger the stage, the more of a show we get to put on, as we're very energetic and we realise that a live show is not JUST about playing the songs, but about engaging the crowd and putting on a full performance. We feed of the energy of the crowd, so the more you join in, the better we play!

What do you do to pump yourselves up for the show? Any pre or post show rituals?

If it's a really big show we do the typical huddle to bring us together as a team, it probably looks pretty gay, but it helps. A couple of beers often help too, they relax us a little, without making us drunk, occasionally someone drinks too many, and things don't go to plan, but it's very rare and they get a telling off the next day (while they nurse a headache). Haha. We seem to always end up in KFC before shows for some reason, which is always a bad choice because we feel so bloated when we start playing, we simply can't resist the chicken though!

Do you have an ultimate goal for your music? Any things that you know you want to accomplish with it?

As long as we're playing to people and making them happy, that's all that matters. None of what we do is about the money, it's nice to get some so we can invest in merch and stuff, but really, all we care about is there being a crowd of people for us to entertain. So I suppose the bigger the crowd of people that we make smile, the better. The same with our recorded music, if you really can't afford it, we'd rather you copy it from a friend than never hear it at all. You hear all these bands bitching about illegal downloads, but they don't realise that it's increasing their fanbase massively. We just want to spread our music and our name to everyone... ever.

What should we expect to see in the future of Kids Can't Fly?

Maybe we'll open a pastry shop... or maybe we won't. It probably isn't the best idea. Within the next year we're going to be releasing another CD, along with a couple of little treats too, it'd be great for us to be able to come over to the States and Canada to do a tour within the next year or two, and we'll definitely push for it, we just need you guys to spread the word so that when we do come over, we can play to lots of lovely faces.

The staff of The Sound Faction is comprised of six incredibly random girls whose primary goal is to just have fun. We like to end our interviews with five totally random questions to end on a light note, do you think you can handle it?

No, not really, but I don't think that's going to stop you!

If you could be any Old School rock-god for a day, who would you be and how would you abuse the power?

Ozzie Osbourne, I don't even know why. Just imagine it, you could probably walk into the middle of a town square and piss yourself, and people would expect it, and then probably clean up for you.

What is a fashion trend (male or female) that confuses you, and why?

All this neon/rave clothing that teenage kids have started wearing, I suppose it goes with the whole Cobra Starship kind of genre of music, but let's be honest, it looks ridiculous, luminous yellow leg warmers do NOT suit anyone, ever, and you look like a tool if you're wearing them. End of.

What girly movie do you secretly love?

I remember watching The Princess Bride when I was little, apparently, according to Google, it's a chick flick. It's awesome though because it has Andre the Giant and the sword-fighting spaniard guy! I've decided Google is wrong! Maybe Jerry Maguire as well, that was pretty good.

If you could be the Champion of Anything, what would it be and why?

Beard-growing, I want to have THE biggest beard known to man.... only for a day though.

What is your favourite and least favourite dance craze?

NOTHING can beat Michael Jackson when it comes to dancing, just watch any video of him, especially live, it's incredible. It's even better to watch when drunk, as myself and Drew found out one night. What a total legend MJ was!

My friend showed me 'The Migraine Skank' the other day... basically, it says put your hands to the side of your head, then do the migraine skank. What's the point in instructions if you're then not going to actually say how it's done!? It looked shit too. Stick to MJ!

Thanks so much to Ryan and Kids Can't Fly for taking time out of their day to chat with us! You know you want to samples of the band's music, so head over to their MYSPACE page to do so!

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