Previously, I had heard a couple of songs from APRE via YouTube that had been released as singles and I became attracted to their sound and lyrics. On Monday the 9th of November, I sat down and chatted to Jules Konieczny from APRE over Zoom, after the release of their mini album Always In My Head,  to speak about lockdown, their new mini album and future plans for the band.

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I just wanted to say thank you for letting Redbrick interview you, and congratulations on your mini album Always In My Head. It’s really good.

Thank you so much. It’s no worries at all, it’s nice to speak to you

This is probably a very common question at the moment but how was lockdown for you? Did it help with creativity or did you just chill a little bit? 

I think at the start it was quite tough because Charlie and I had never tried to write in different rooms, because obviously we weren’t allowed to be together, so we couldn’t write together and we were sending each other ideas over email of course, and it wasn’t gelling. So, [lockdown] really made us value being in the same room and being able to write. But as soon as we were able to do that it was really great, we finished the whole mini album off, and it went swimmingly at the end.

[Lockdown] really made us value being in the same room and being able to write

That’s really good. It was very hard in lockdown, but how long have you been working on your mini album for? 

So, the mini album, I mean, some of the songs on there are maybe two or three years old now, like started that long ago. But I think we’ve got so much better production wise that we really wanted to revamp everything and bring everything sounding very current and so we kind of re-looked at everything and redid some melodies and redid some stuff over lockdown and everything came together. All the subject matter was kind of weird because it’s not a concept album in any way, but all of the songs tied together in their lyrical themes with escapism and trying to get out of this dark place in Charlie’s head that he was in at the start of lockdown. So, all the songs luckily kind of tied into that and that whole album has ended up being kind of a message of escapism, hopefully a message of hope for a few people at the moment in these tough times. 

Yeah definitely, I was going to say I found the album really uplifting. I could really listen to it again and again. 

Great, thank you (laughter).

Has there been any inspiration from other artists that helped you with your album? 

I think what I’ve always really loved about Charlie and I is that we’ve never set out an agenda to sound like anyone. So, we’ve never come in the room and tried to write a song that sounds like Foals, or sounds like, I don’t know, The 1975 or Coldplay or something like that. It’s always been we just come in and write whatever we vibe to. I mean, subconsciously I think our influences are like Foals, Tears for Fears, Bon Iver, people like that have come out on the record, but I think it still sounds like APRE and it still sounds quite unique and quite wonky and quite indie. But yeah, you can definitely hear some of the people we like in there.

I think what I’ve always really loved about Charlie and I is that we’ve never set out an agenda to sound like anyone

Definitely. Why did you decide to release ‘Without Your Love’ as your lead single for the mini album? 

I think that song has always meant so much to us, we wrote the first version of that about three or four years ago and that was really kind of the first song that Charlie and I kind of looked at each other and went, okay this is a good vibe, this is going down well and we should pursue this as maybe a career. So, that song has always meant such a lot to us morally, but also, I just think it’s such a great pop song and I think it’s for the masses. I think people, everyone, is going to love that song. 

I really like it; I was just listening to it before coming on the call. The most recent music video is ‘I Know I’ll Find It.’ What was the process like behind the video and the song? 

The song has kind of been knocking around for maybe two years now. But the song itself was never complete we don’t think because, I don’t know, it felt not enough. And then our manager said to us one day, why don’t we get an orchestra on it. So, we spoke to our label and they sorted us out with this amazing string section, and we wrote with this amazing string arranger called Rosie Danvers and wrote this beautiful end piece on it. And that really brought the song up, and then Charlie loved the idea of just doing a one take shot to camera just him around a situation and kind of exploring the thoughts in his head but more metaphorically in like his movements. So, in that video he’s like tripping over a lot of stuff and getting angry with a lot of things and getting blasted with music and I think he really, he wanted, that video to be a bit of a metaphor for life. That’s my favourite video we’ve ever done, because it’s really simple and it’s not particularly ground-breaking or anything like that. But I think the messages that it conveys is really really important. 

Yeah, especially at the moment with the pandemic and everything. It’s very good to see. 

Oh yeah yeah yeah. All the songs seem like they’re getting very well placed in the circumstances. 

What would you say was your favourite song to write and record? 

The last song ‘Grab My Hand’ was really a bit of a journey. I think that was a weird one because it didn’t sound like anything we’ve ever recorded before. It’s got a lot of spoken word, it’s got tempo increases, it was a weird one to juggle and then the mix itself was quite hard to nail down. But that’s definitely my favourite. The hardest song to finish was, a song called ‘Always In My Head.’ The song itself we managed to write in half a day, but the mix was such a struggle. We can never get the vocals to sit perfectly on it because Charlie’s really screaming his head off, in a very beautiful way, but we can never get it to sit on top of the music perfectly. So that song we were going backwards and forwards with our mix engineer for a good two months on that. But all the others came pretty quick. I think all the best songs come quickly.

The last song ‘Grab My Hand’ was really a bit of a journey […] that was a weird one because it didn’t sound like anything we’ve ever recorded before

Yeah, you always seem to just get that one that comes to you. 

Yeah yeah, exactly. 

Would you like to collaborate with anyone in the future? Who would you like to collaborate with? 

Hmm. Wait is that producer wise or? 

It could be producer or artist. 

I think Brian Eno is the best producer who’s ever existed, and he’s done some amazing stuff with Bowie and U2 and Coldplay. I don’t think he’s ever released anything with anyone that I wouldn’t say is amazing. I don’t think there are many people in the music industry who have such a good track record really. But I think it would definitely have to be him. And Charlie and I wouldn’t trust many producers with our songs at all anymore, but I think Brian Eno would have to be one of those.

I think Brian Eno is the best producer who’s ever existed, and he’s done some amazing stuff with Bowie and U2 and Coldplay

Yeah, that makes sense! Could you maybe describe the mini album in three words? At all?

Wonky. Weird and wonderful. We will go for three W’s.

I like that, alliteration. That’s cool! What are you most looking forward to post-pandemic? Especially with how the creative sector is at the moment. 

I mean definitely lives. As soon as we can get back on the road the better, I think. Our songs are best translated in front of a live audience. I mean luckily we’re doing okay because we have our music and stuff like that but our crew, I just feel really bad for them at the moment because the tour managers, the lighting engineers, the sound engineers, they don’t have any jobs so they’re really, really struggling. So, the quicker we can get out and do that, the better. But unfortunately, I do think that will be one of the last industries to go back because I can’t see a point in the near future when there will be a thousand people in a room. Although, a potential vaccine was announced today. I did see that. So, that’s good news. But I don’t think in the next month, few months, it’ll be happening. But hopefully next year we can play some live gigs and then next year as well, our debut album, full length album, will come out as well. 

That would be cool. It’ll be nice to get back into gigs and shows. I miss going to them at the moment. 

Oh, me too. Me too. 

Just like the vibe you get from them, it’s so much better.

Yeah! And the problems you get as a performer and an artist, is like the payoff bit. You do all the hard work: you write the music, you release the music, you mix it, you go through all these processes and then the moment it all pays off is when you see a live audience reacting to it. And it’s really weird not having that as its quite hard to gauge how you’re doing at the moment. We’re not selling tickets because there are no gigs. So, it’s a weird one.

You do all the hard work: you write the music, you release the music, you mix it, you go through all these processes and then the moment it all pays off is when you see a live audience reacting to it

Yeah, it’s not normal at all at the moment. What would you say we have to look forward to from APRE? 

Charlie and I have been writing some really, really cool new songs that we’re very proud of which will be releasing early next year. Kind of January, February time. But until then, just wallowing in the mini album. I think we’re so proud of it and so proud of the reaction that people have had to it, it’s been so positive. And to get a lengthy body of work finally out in the world is so nice. But, just those new songs in January I’m excited about. There is a particular song called ‘Friday’ that’s going to be brilliant.

I look forward to that then!

Me too!

Thank you again for taking the time for me to interview you. And good luck in the future for everything, especially in January with the new songs. 

Thanks so much.

Is there anything else you would like to say or add? 

No, I think we have covered everything, thank you so much. It was a pleasure talking to you

And you, thanks a lot.

Always In My Head is available now via Polydor Records

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