APRE

On entering the Mash House last Thursday, I was welcomed in by Rob, APRE’s manager, and introduced to the band. Two Londoners about to play their first gig in Scotland after meeting in a Chess Club – who would have thought a chess club would bring these two together? APRE is a breath of fresh air into the popular indie scene – their music is electric live but also like a fuzzy blanket to keep you warm when listening at home. I also had to mention to them that their hit ‘Don’t you feel like heaven’ was my first dance song after hearing it a few months ago. The duo seemed delighted and said they’d play it live at my wedding – I’m holding you to that by the way. 

Meet Charlie and Jules, a band really worth the Spotify search. 

How did you get into music? 

Charlie: I grew up with music as my dad was a big fan. I’ve played drums since I was four-years old. Then when I was around 12, I joined some bands, got into guitar, piano and base. We do all the writing and producing together, which I am really into so when I met Jules, we started gigging what we were writing and producing and it turned into much more of a full-time job than I thought it would be. 

What comes first, the music or the lyrics? 

Charlie: Always music before lyrics, I’ve got this friend ‘The Guru’, he comes on tour sometimes and he’s quite into poetry and sometimes he will give me some words or messages to think about and I’ll take that and make It into something. 

Who are your inspirations? 

Jules: Charlie. 

Charlie: That’s cute man. We both bonded over Bon Iver and Foals and bands like that. 

Jules: Led Zeppelin for me, I basically just listened from when I was able to listen to music until about 15/16. I love that indie guitar era, like Two Door Cinema Club, Bombay and Foals. They were very exciting to me. 

What are you most excited for? 

Charlie: Our first UK headline tour, although we’re not coming to Scotland – nobody probably knows who we are! Although, I do like it here - it’s much nicer than England, the drive here is so nice. You do these tours and go to these places and sometimes they’re a bit crap - but here’s beautiful, we just went up to the castle! We’re going to America soon too; we have eight shows in four days at a festival in Texas. We are also doing some dates with Blocks – first stop is Zurich this weekend! 

Do you drink much on stage? 

Charlie: We’re quite boring; I haven’t had a drink this year because last year was ridiculous. 

Jules: I'm yet to drink on this tour 

Charlie: We don’t drink on stage; otherwise I’ll forget my parts. I’d projectile vomit onto everyone, and then they won’t feel like heaven - they’ll feel like their covered in sick. Which is not ideal and then they won’t come and see me.  

What would you be doing if you weren’t part of APRE? 

Charlie: I liked acting but I think that’s mental - that’s a bit of a risk. I think it’s harder to be an actor, I don’t really know why and I don’t want to speak on behalf of other actors but for music there's so many outlets to get into the industry but for acting you’ve got to get in some kind of show. 

Jules: Training seals in the zoo. 

Charlie: I could actually see you doing that. 

How did you meet? 

Charlie: We actually met in chess club, the owner paired us up because she knew we both liked music and then we went to the same uni. We used to play in loads of other bands - we were in like three other bands, I was on drums and Jules on guitar – this wasn’t meant to happen, APRE was a happy accident, much like my existence my mom tells me. 

Where do your lyrics come from? 

Charlie: It’s a variety of stuff, some songs are completely about one thing and some songs are what you feel in that moment. ‘Don’t you feel like heaven’ isn’t about one thing it’s about feelings and falling into a certain situation in your life that pulls you in and out – it fell out the sky, all the best ones fall out the sky. Some of the slower ones that aren’t out yet are a bit closer to us. We have another EP coming out in the 29 March and an album next year probably but were going to ride out some singles first. We’ve got like 72 songs but we’re not going to put them all out - although I’d love to. We’ve only been doing this for nine months; its early days and we don’t want to put an album out and no one knows about it - a bit more building and more shows first. 

Is there anyone you’d like to follow in the footsteps of? 

Charlie: We’re not too fussed in being like someone; we just want to do it as long as we can for a job. Jules: It’s the best job in the world. 

Charlie:  There’s a lot of pop and indie music that’s being made that doesn’t mean much to people and is quite meaningless, if we can be a band that can make music that people will hold a bit closer to them and be known as that and last for a while – that would be great.  

Listen to APRE here on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/16oEz0ihXl8elwxOS0YMNF and here for Apple Music: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/apre/1371053291