Marco Argiro, Mark and Oliver Alberici – The Killing Floor – Interview Exclusive
Written by Johnny H
Saturday, 04 December 2010 05:00
With Jesse Malin back in the UK touring right now, we thought it rather apt (or spooky call it what you will) for us to catch up with the band who opened for Jesse during his summer ‘Love It To Life’ UK tour, the four guys from New York and London going by the name of The Killing Floor.
Fusing an intellectual approach to modern day rock with a gigantic barrage of riffed up anthems, The Killing Floor made enough of an impact on yours truly on the opening night of said tour for me to not only purchase two of the band’s gig only CD’s but audaciously claim that “stadiums awaited them” in my subsequent live review. They really had made an impression.
Normally that’s where most of our relationships with bands end but not here, as the background story to this interview goes something like this…
6th July 2010 and it’s the second show on the ‘Love It To Life’ Tour that I’ve attended, I’ve not long got back into the UK and I’m making my way out of an intriguing interview with Jesse and Todd from The St Marks Social Club when I’m approached by an excited bowl haired individual trying to coerce yours truly into a totally spontaneous interview, it’s about 100 degrees in the venue and I’m honestly not feeling so good…I would later get to know this individual as Mark Alberici guitarist from The Killing Floor but at the time jet lagged and not exactly feeling with it I polietly made my excuses and made for the exit promising we’d do an interview when I actually had some questions to ask his band. Some two to three months later and I’ve now not only made virtual mates with Mark, but also the band’s lead singer/bassist Marco Argiro and he’s just got back from being on a tour with Marky Ramone. So the start of Novemebr seemed like exactly the right time to start to make good on my earlier interview promise. Add in Mark’s guitar playing brother Oliver to proceedings and we had all the right ingredients for some quality chat, Killing Floor style.
Hi guys firstly many thanks for taking the time to talk with us at Uber Rock.
Mark; Good to talk to you again.
Marco; Hello John! Nice to hear from you.
The Killing Floor are going to be something of a totally new entity to a lot of our Uber Rock readers and that is in spite of you having recently supported Jesse Malin here in the UK in the summer, so please tell us a bit about the band’s history.
Mark; Well we all met in NYC at Jimi Hendrix’s studio Electric Lady in the west village. Marco and Chris were together in one band and Oliver and myself were in another and we both used producer Mark Plati on our records. If I remember correctly Marco lent me his Marshall Stack for my session. We basically stayed in contact from that day on and when Marco came over to the UK on his solo tour I invited him to my studio to try some vocals on a bunch of new songs me and my brother had written. He came down and I believe we busted out about 8 demos that afternoon, and that was basically the start of THE KILLING FLOOR.
So how exactly did the Malin tour come about?
Oliver; The tour came about after we played a great show at Jesse’s Bowery Electric club in NYC. The word got back to him and he asked us to come down for a jam one afternoon, which was a lot of fun. He then invited us on the tour. Pretty much simple as that.
Mark; Yeah and Jesse actually said that he had tried out a number of other bands for the tour but thought we were the band that killed it, which was a nice compliment. We had to learn ‘Burning Down The Bowery’, ‘Black Boom Box’ and ‘Disco Ghetto’ in one day which wasn’t easy but I guess we pulled it off.
What did you guys learn from playing with such seasoned professionals as Jesse Todd, Johnny and Ty ??
Oliver; Well we did learn not to ever try Johnny’s hot sauce again! My god that stuff is ridiculous, he gave us the smallest drop and we were all on fire! After that he was known as Johnny Fireballs. He must have asbestos innards. No seriously it’s always a pleasure playing with pro’s like that and there all really good guys.
Mark; They were always really professional and played at 100% each night. Those guys know what they are doing.
Marco; Being on tour with a band like the St. Mark’s Social definitely kept us on our toes night after night. There was always a bit of healthy competition, which fuelled some great live performances from both bands. All in all we really enjoyed going out every night and performing to Jesse’s crowds. We made a lot of new friends on that tour and look forward to joining up on the road with them sometime again in the future.
I have to ask how exactly do you make a New York/London band work as a functioning unit?
Oliver; Actually it works out very well. We get the best of both worlds and we don’t waste any time when were together which seems to have a really positive effect.
Mark; Yeah we can’t afford to waste time when we get together…we are also the kinda band that even if we haven’t played for a few weeks, when we do it just feels like we haven’t been apart.
Marco; It’s really like having family on either side of the pond. In England we set up shop at Woodside Lodge outside London, and in America we have the Outright Rock compound in Brooklyn. I do most of the driving in the USA & the Brits take the wheel over on their territory. When we are separated we rely on the powers of the Internet.
I reviewed a copy of the CD you had for sale at those shows (here). Couple of questions for you around this, 1) what reaction have you got from people regarding this release and 2) What did you guys think of the review?
Oliver; The reaction to the EP’ has been great, people really seem to be digging the tunes and during the tour we actually sold out of them and had to make up some more on the road. Thought the review was very well written and we are definitely looking forward to the ‘Uber Rock approved musical revolution’
Marco; The TKF EP has been very well received both in the UK & USA. The problem for us is we can never seem to have enough of them. I enjoyed reading the Uber Rock review. We appreciate your support of new music!
Being a bit cheeky again did I get the Soulwax spot right? Or was that just coincidence?
Mark; Well we do like Soulwax so there is an influence there yeah, but I wish they would do another album more like ‘Much Against Everyone’s Advice’. Last few times I’ve seen them they have been more dance orientated.
So what plans do you have regarding a full-length debut album?
Oliver; We are planning to have our Debut album ready for next year and have recently been in the woods of Pennsylvania recording that, so stay tuned.
Marco; Most of the tracks from the band’s tour EP were re-cut for the album and soon enough we will be able to share those tracks with everyone. We are really pleased with the latest versions & newest additions to the record.
And I’m assuming you’ll be gigging to promote this?
Oliver; Yes definitely. We have our single ‘Shout’ on a Silent Majority / Warner Bros compilation due to be released early next year and we also plan on releasing an EP off the album as well. Our next shows are likely to be in the US as we are planning on hitting the west coast of the US around Feb/March.
Mark; Yeah we have played the East Coast before but never the West Coast so we would love to go over there.
Marco; We plan on touring for the better part of 2011. We are hoping to hit the road in Feb and tour down to Texas for the SXSW festival in Austin.
Marco, you recently played a few shows with Marky Ramone. How did that come about?
Marco; An old booking agent turned friend of mine called me one day asking if I knew anyone that would be good fit for a potential gig opportunity with a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall o’ Famer. Upon further investigation I found out it was Marky Ramone and he was looking for a guitarist and or bassist to play some future gigs with. When I showed up for the audition I was told their singer was running late and asked if I knew the lyrics. Next thing I know I’m singing classic Ramones songs with Mr Ramone behind the kit. After the audition was over we parted ways and I wished him luck on tour.
A few days later I was working in the studio when I received a call asking if I was sitting down, and I was told the news that Marky’s singer had fallen ill and wasn’t able to make the beginning of their European tour. I was asked if I could be on the next morning’s flight to Austria. I guess the rest is history.
You certainly looked very Joey-esque in the rehearsal pics I saw on Facebook what was it like sharing a stage with such an iconic figure night after night?
Marco; It definitely was a dream come true. Meeting one of your heroes is one thing, but being asked to front his band and sing some of your favourite songs of all time is another. It was a surreal experience to look back and see Marky Ramone keeping the backbeat.
Back to The Killing Floor, the video of ‘Shout’ is a cracking little piece of work what’s the story behind that?
Oliver; The video was made by a team called Loftworks who do all of our artwork/videos /design and is basically a small taste of The Killing Floor live experience.
And it looks like it was cut from about 50 million gigs, was it just from the Malin tour? If not would you care to name check any other bands you played with during that time you think our readers should look out for?
Oliver; Pretty much most of the video was filmed at the London O2 Academy show. That was then cut together with more footage of various gigs as well as some of the other gigs from the Malin tour.
Marco; We played with a great band from Liverpool called the Sound of Guns at our gig in York.
As we enter the home straight, I’d like to ask you a few things in general about the “industry”, starting with what is the single most frustrating thing about being in The Killing Floor right now…….
Oliver; Apart from the lack of huge amounts of cash being at our disposal, the most frustrating thing is knowing that when people are exposed to our music, they all really seem to love it, but we just cant get it to enough of them at the moment. Hopefully this is set to change next year.
Mark; I really just want to finish the album. I can’t wait to hear it, cause I know it’s gonna be awesome…. that’s frustrating
Marco; I agree with the lads, and also think it’s frustrating for us to not be able to focus on being artists 24/7. We all still have day jobs.
And likewise what is the single most orgasmic thing about being in The Killing Floor.
Oliver; Seeing that when people are exposed to our music they really seem to love it.
Mark; Yeah and just playing live. This is where we really shine. I love touring with this band and playing each night. That’s where it’s at for me.
Marco; Feeding off the live audience at a gig, and also I really enjoy the entire recording process. It’s exciting for me to hear a mix after a long session. Hearing all the elements take shape and fall in place.
Finally then just to finish off I’d like to get inside your musical minds by asking you to take the Uber Rock random music test where if we were to do the random first five tracks on your I Pods/I Phones MP3 players right now what would come up? (No cheating OK!!!)
Oliver
Omen – Prodigy
Harlem Shuffle – Rolling Stones
Eclipse – Pink Floyd
Sex Machine – James Brown
Purple Haze – Jimi Hendrix
Not bad ey?
Mark
I don’t have an iPod
Marco
Cupid – Sam Cooke
Don’t Speak (I Came To Make A Bang) – Eagles of Death Metal
Be Your Husband – Jeff Buckley
Little Queenie – Chuck Berry
The Waiting – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
I’d just like to thank Mark, Oliver and Marco for taking the time to speak with us, and If you want to know more about the band leading the “Uber Rock approved musical revolution” then why not click on the bands Myspace page and have a listen to what I’ve been raving on about.
http://www.myspace.com/tkfrocks
