Following their grand return at Slam Dunk Festival 2023, Kids in Glass Houses were ticking 2000trees off the list of festivals played since their comeback. With their new album Pink Flamingo set for release in October, we sat down with Andrew “Shay” Sheehy to talk about what it’s like coming back, Pink Flamingo and if their annual Christmas gigs will be making a return…
Hey Shay, can you introduce yourself to those of you who might not know you?
I am the bass player in Kids in Glass Houses!
You’re playing the main stage later today, how are you feeling about it following the warm-up shows in Exeter and Portsmouth over the last two nights?
Feeling a lot better about it because we did Exeter and Portsmouth in the lead up! It was nice to sort of blow the cobwebs off ahead of it. It’s a great festival, when we were planning the year ahead and the album and whatnot, it was the obvious choice for us to do as it’s a real sort of music and fans festival. Yeah I’m really pleased to be asked to do it and grateful to be here.
Have you had a chance to see any bands yet?
No, not yet. It’s took a while for us to get on site and then it’s a case of getting dressed, having a shower and then here I am! So yeah I haven’t really ventured out just yet.
Are you sticking around this weekend?
Not the full weekend but I’m hoping to see The Gaslight Anthem after our set!
Kids in Glass Houses are well and truly back, how has the response been for you? From our perspective it feels like it’s been a little insane.
Yeah it was pretty nuts to be honest. I mean like we announced the 15 year anniversary reissue of Smart Casual and the tour that went along with that and the response to that was just insane. It kind of blew us all away really. The shows were just incredibly, like the most fun shows we’ve ever played and it just felt really nice being back in Kids in Glass Houses. We all had some interesting creative ideas about how we kind of went on from there and how Kids In Glass Houses should sound in 2024 so we went from there really. Wrote another and here we are!
You mentioned it already but you have your new album Pink Flamingo coming out in October, your first in we think eleven years?
That’s right!
Can you give us a little insight into the album recording, what are we expecting?
I would say the songs have definitely matured. We’ve matured as songwriters, we’ve matured as individuals. We’re different people to how we were all those years ago and you know, the climates changed, the industry has changed and the way bands do albums has changed so the way we’ve approached it was completely different. I think ultimately rather than just focusing on a particular sound or feel of the record we just went purely back to basics and just, you know songs and verse over everything and didn’t sort of restrict ourselves in any way creatively. Which is how we kind of went along writing Smart Casual, no preconceptions it was just we wrote the best songs and put them together and that’s what I think we’ve done here.
Can you sum up Pink Flamingo in five words?
Interesting. I would say it’s an interesting album. I would say a fun album. My words are pretty basic. I haven’t had chance to think about it, normally I’d get my thesaurus up on my computer. Interesting, fun. Heartfelt I’d say, honest. Lyrically I think Aled has really found his own skin, is that the phrase? No he’s comfortable in his own skin is the one I’m looking for. He’s definitely more comfortable in his own skin than he used to be and I think in turn lyrically it’s a lot more personal and a lot more honest. And I would say finally contemporary. It feels very current. I mean you’ll see soon enough!
We’ve had a taste of it with Theme From Pink Flamingo, do you feel like it gives a good taster of what’s to come or is it going be a massive curveball like nothing we expect?
It does represent the album quite well, it’s probably on the safer side of the album. There’s more excitement to come I’d say.
Now we’re really intrigued to see what you’re going to do.
I think people will be surprised with some of what we’ve done on this album. I think people will love it, it’s definitely a Kids in Glass Houses album but I would say it’s not like you’ve heard us before.
We’re getting a bit of a Peace vibe from what you’re saying.
I would say if anything it’s more of a follow on from Smart Casual but made by guys who know what they’re doing in the studio and know their way around the songs. You’re probably right, it’s sonically it’s close to Peace because as that’s the most current album. It’s an interesting one, it fits within our back catalogue but our back catalogue is quite eclectic I’d say. It covers a lot of bases!
We’re really excited to hear it now! Do you have any fun album recording stories which you can share with us?
I think it was mostly us just working hard. We have fun touring and playing shows but in the studios we really put the shifts in to create this album. We really got our heads down and made this work. I think because of how we are set up in this band now, a couple of guys live in London, a couple of guys live in Cardiff and we’ve all got lives, responsibilities, mortgages and what not so when we get together to write and record it was like ‘right this is business, let’s get down to it’.
Less partying and more of the song-writing? We were going to ask, how is it different this time around but you’ve already summed it up about being even more grown up now.
Exactly. Yeah. We’re completely different people and at completely different stages of our lives. We’ve all got a lot of other stuff going on whereas previously the band was kind of our only focus in life. I think it’s nice actually as it works for us, I think we’re still coming to terms with the adjustment and having to be understanding of each other as we’re a lot more mature than we used to be. We can take a step back and see the bigger picture but previously it was more difficult as we were so young doing it. It’s nice doing it now with a bit of perspective on life.
You’ve got that life experience behind you now.
Yeah, before we were so young starting the band and we kind of had success so soon after so we were always kind of the band was quite a big thing in our lives. So to go away for a little bit and get on with our lives and do different things which interests us and come back to it, we have a completely different perspective on what it means to be in this band.
That was a really lovely answer about what we can expect from the album, we cannot wait to hear it! So you’re heading out on tour in November which is another thing for Kids in Glass Houses fans to look forward to.
Yeah it was well received and we kind of strayed away from the traditional markets on this one and it’s selling really well so it should be amazing.
Are there any ‘skip to’ tracks on the album? So maybe those which you think fans will love or you absolutely love?
I mean there are two slow songs on the album, I feel like I need to check the tracklisting on them as I can’t remember what we actually called them in the end.
There are two on there we already like the sound of!
Okay, which are they?
Strawberry Sky and Flowers In The Rain.
Strawberry Sky is an upbeat pop song. It’s pretty special, it’s quite Princey. It’s quite cool a cool one. I’d say Flowers In The Rain for me is the skip to one, I would say you’ll be quite surprised when you hear it. It’s very, very deep and meaningful.
From the title we had a feeling this would be a good ‘un.
Yeah it is. It’s pretty special. It won’t be a single but I think it’ll be an album favourite for a lot of people. It’s pretty intense, but in a good way. That has definitely been my favourite at times.
We know it’s a lot of pressure to choose a favourite one!
I do love all of them but yeah I would skip to that one. But it’s not one that will give you a full sense of the album but it’s kind of you’ll see the broad range of songs that we have on the album and that’s kind of like one side of the spectrum if that makes sense.
Taking it away from the album for a second, if we could give you anything you want right now, what would it be?
If I could have anything in the world right now I would probably go for a crispy ice cold Guinness. We don’t tend to have a drink before stage and I reckon it’s quite hard to find a crispy ice cold Guinness here. It has to be in glass, not a plastic cup.
No chance as we’re not allowed glass on site either (both laughing)
My dream is ruined already!
We’re obviously at 2000trees but what is your dream festival line-up with Kids in Glass Houses playing?
That’s a tough one. I feel like all of the bands I’m gravitating towards are all dead.
That’s okay, no budget and dead or alive for the dream festival as anything can happen.
We’d have Prince headlining, maybe The Beatles. Then we’d be opening up for those dudes on the main stage. Get Bleachers involved as that would be cool. Gaslight Anthem too as it’s pretty special to be playing the same day as those guys as they’re one of my favourite bands of all time so looking forward to seeing them later.
Last but not least it’s such a good time for Kids in Glass Houses fans but what does the future hold after 2024?
I mean who knows? That’s the kind of beauty of it. It’s completely in our own hands, who knows as we’re taking it one step at a time I suppose. It’s our fifth album and we can’t wait for people to hear it, so we’re going to go out and perform it, have a great time then who knows after that!
We do have to ask though, will we be getting a 2024 KIGHmas show in Cardiff (a previous tradition where the band played a Christmas show at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff)?
We’ve been talking about that and we should do that. They were always so much fun. I would say that’s not off the table…
On that really exciting note, thank you so much for your time Shay!
Interview By: Nicola Craig
Kids In Glass Houses‘ new single Rothko Painting is available to stream HERE.
Pink Flamingo is due for release on 25th October 2024, available to pre-save HERE.
See Kids In Glass Houses live at one of the following dates:
November 2024
Fri 1st – LIVERPOOL – Arts Club
Sat 2nd – BIRMINGHAM – The Crossing
Sun 3rd- BRIGHTON – Chalk
Mon 4th – SOUTHAMPTON – Engine Rooms
Wed 6th – NORWICH – The Waterfront
Thu 7th – LEEDS – Stylus
Tickets are on sale HERE.
