Enemy in USA

Frontman speaks exclusively about making their US debut

07 August 2008 - The trio will be going ahead with their first-ever gig in LA's Troubadour on 7 Aug.

And Tom Clarke speaks exclusively from across the pond about trying to crack America.

They’ve gone back to playing small 200-500 people venue’s in Boston and LA, which is quite a difference to their last stadium gigs in the UK, back in April.

The Enemy shot to fame with their 2007 debut We’ll Live And Die In These Towns and were soon playing sold out homecoming gigs at Coventry’s Ricoh Arena, to 16,000 people.

Lollapalooza

They kicked off the American tour at Lollapalooza festival, where the frontman said they played to approximately 2,000 people.

It was touch and go for a time as Clarke told 6 Music, they turned up late after a driver went awol and didn’t turn up.

“We were s******g ourselves about how to get to the festival, so we ended up getting a cab and got there late.”

This meant that they didn’t get to see much of the festival: “We didn’t get a chance to see any other bands, then played, and then we were late for all our press so had to do that. It was a bit of a hectic day but well worth it.”

He said the good reaction from the crowd was unexpected: “A hell of a lot of people knew the words which is always a good sign. It caught me off guard a bit, I wasn’t really expecting the reaction we got.”

They’ve had their fair share of hiccups with Clarke slicing off the end of his finger during his Chicago set at the weekend, but it hasn’t put him off.

He soldiered on through the set despite his injury, missing one gig in Montreal last night (6 August) upon Doctors’ advice.

Whilst touring America, the frontman said they’ve not had much time to see the sights, in LA especially.

But Tom said: “Hopefully, when we get to San Francisco and New York, there’s a bit less press and we can actually go and see the places - but we’ve come out here with the opinion that if anyone’s clued up enough that they want to interview us, then we’ll make time to speak to them.

“I’ve got a massive amount of respect for the fans and the journalists, anyone who’s on the ball enough to know that we’re out here – fair play to them.”

"We’re talking about some quite deep set British social economic issues and stuff like that and I didn’t know how well it’d translate to Americans."
Tom Clarke

Nervous of taking on America

Clarke admitted to being apprehensive about leaving the UK and testing their music out on foreign pastures.

He said: “We’re starting again over in the States and it’s exciting to do, to get back into the real venues, where you’ve got people right in front of your face, they’re the best ones.”

The singer was unsure as to how well people would relate to their lyrics, which are somewhat England-centric.

“I couldn’t really see how people would understand what we’re singing about. We’re talking about some quite deep set British social economic issues and stuff like that and I didn’t know how well it’d translate to Americans,” Clarke said.

However, since he's been out there, he said he's seen more similarities in the two countries than he had anticipated.

“The longer I spend out here, the more I realise the parallels of our economy,” the vocalist explained. “The patterns are almost identical in terms of the mortgage crash and the price of fuel going up. Just talking to cabbies, I’ve been really surprised how much England and America have in common.”

Clarke explained how seeing America has inspired the Coventry lads: “It’s massively inspiring coming to the other side of the world, huge places, massive places. When we’re flying into Chicago, I don’t know how many times you could fit England in Lake Michigan. We were like, 'that’s not a lake, it’s a sea'.”

And he said meeting fans over there is even better: “Speaking to someone in any other country is always a massive inspiration.”

Georgie Rogers