Feature: Rocket Kings Decodes "She's Going To Mars"
Can you share any interesting or unique stories or perspectives about "She's Going To Mars?"
Dave: Bex is an astronaut!
Bex: On our last album, ‘Everyday Adventures’, there was a song called “Space Camp”, which Dave wrote about my visit to NASA’s US Space and Rocket Centre where I participated in an astronaut training programme. The song talked about all the activities that I did on that trip. Whenever we play ‘Space Camp’ live, Dave has always joked about what I will do next after my space training.
Dave: Bex is going to Mars of course.
Bex: Exactly! Dave was really excited when he played this song to us in the studio. He hadn’t recorded a demo of it, which he normally does, so none of us had heard it before. He cleverly wrote the song so that my backing vocals on “She’s Going to Mars” are actually some of the chorus lyrics from the original “Space Camp” song. I also really like that Dave picked a woman as the focus in the lyrics on the final chorus. The “Valentina” he refers to is Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, who, in 1963, became the first woman to fly in space.
Dave: I like putting interesting references into song lyrics.
Bex: Now I want to know what adventures I might get up to on the next album.
How does "She's Going To Mars" fit into your overall artistic vision?
Dave: I am a big fan of three-minute pop songs with big hooks. Not everything has to be like this, but this song is very much in that style and fits very much into the whole ‘feel’ of how Rocket Kings sound. Some songs end up being rockier than others – we make decisions on the combinations of sounds that we want from the ukes in terms of how noisy or more acoustic we feel the song should be. This one was just asking to be quite rocky.
Bex: This is one of the rockier songs on the album, but it also fits into the band’s unique ukepop sound. David’s drumming is brilliant in this song; we particularly like the drum roll at the end of the song.
Dave: I also think that the drum roll that David plays at the end of the bridge of this song is one of the greatest drum rolls of all time!
What has been one of your favorite memories along the path to making "She's Going To Mars"?
Bex: It was amazing to spend time collaborating on the whole album with the band. A lot of the songs on this album developed in the studio rather than coming in fully formed. When we were practicing for our album launch gig, we realised that we had never actually played some of the songs as a band.
Dave: I really enjoy working on songs, both in the rehearsal studio and also in the recording studio with everyone (including our fabulous producer, Josh) contributing ideas to try to make the song sound the best it can be.
Bex: I loved seeing how excited Dave was when he showed us how the lyrics to “Space Camp” fitted as the backing vocals on the chorus of “She’s Going to Mars.” He sounded very daft trying to demonstrate both overlapping vocals at the same time, and his impression of me doing my backing vocals sounded ridiculous.
Dave: Ridiculous? No way!
Bex: Yes way! There’s always a lot of laughter when we all get together. The drum roll at the end of “She’s Going to Mars” took us by surprise and the giggling at the end of the track was real: Dave laughed and then I laughed at his giggle. Neither of us was expecting David to do that excellent, extended roll at the end of the song.
Bex: Recording the video was a lot of fun. Jess recorded the footage for us and put the video together. At one point, Josh, our amazing engineer/producer, briefly left us unsupervised in the studio and so there is the funny bit at the end of the video where we temporarily ‘broke’ a button on the mixing desk. When he saw the completed video, Josh said it made him laugh as it was “like naughty school kids trying not to get caught by the teacher”.
Dave: I love all the songs on the album, but I was particularly pleased that we managed to get ‘The Ballad of Caroline and Walter’ on there. I wrote the song back in 2017 having read a novel by the historical fiction author, Ken Follett. The lyrics are the story of the two main characters and how their lives were shaped by the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall. We had tried the song a few times in the past, but it had never gelled, but when it eventually did, I was really pleased. It rocks out and the end of the song is immense. Josh did an amazing job on the production.
Dave: It was also really exciting getting a big group of friends into the studio one evening as the ‘RK choir’ on the end section of “The Time of Our Lives” – it was great that they could be part of our whole recording experience. When we play gigs, we are very grateful to all the people who turn up to watch us play and there is a lovely group of people who come to most of our gigs and a number of these people were able to be part of the ‘RK choir’ and be on the album.
Bex: I absolutely love being in the recording studio even if I am just watching the others record. I find the whole process fascinating and exciting. I love watching Josh work his magic on the tracks.
Dave: One of the studio days was particularly exciting when Richard Vanryne came in to play some amazing trumpet on two tracks on the album. It was even more exciting though when he came along and played on the tracks at our album launch gig.
Bex: One of my favourite memories prior to the album release was when we had a photoshoot on one of the days we were recording in the studio. Dave sent us all a message reminding us this was going to happen and told us to dress up. Most of us interpreted this as gig-wear but Greg (our ex-bass player) turned up in fancy dress dressed as a dog. I made him go home for a change of clothes so we could have at least one sensible photo! The dog photos are hysterical.
We also spent a fun but crazy evening out in the pouring rain, in the dark, in Dave’s back garden trying to take photographs of sparklers to use on the album cover.
What has been the most memorable experience or achievement in your music career so far?
Dave: I love the fact that we have released two albums that we are really proud of and they are out there for everyone to hear.
Bex: Being able to buy your own music online is also really exciting.
Dave: What? Why would you do that?
Bex: Because I can.
Dave: Hahahahaha! I think you will find you already had it… for free!
Bex: Being on the radio is really very cool too. And I love it when people randomly send you a message or picture of them listening to your album.
Dave: I love playing music with the band and playing gigs where people seem to really enjoy what we do and have as much fun as we have.
Bex: Yes, the adrenaline of a big gig is always exciting, and I also love it when people at gigs sing your songs back to you.
What are some of the biggest challenges you have faced as a band, and how did you overcome them?
Bex: We had a change of bass player after the album had been recorded. Greg had too many other commitments to continue to gig with us, but we were lucky enough to find Yoshiko. It’s a big challenge coming into an existing band. She has worked bloomin’ hard to learn 20 or so songs that she didn’t already know. She has been amazing. Playing with someone new created a challenge for us too as she brings her own style to the group, but it has all worked out incredibly well.
Dave: I love how she has put her own spin on the songs.
Bex: In general, we are lucky that we all get on well within the band and there aren’t really challenges or disagreements that make things difficult.
Dave: Apart from if you bring the wrong flavour of doughnut to a practice of course.
Bex: Haha yes, Jess will growl if it isn’t the ‘sugar ones with jam in the middle’!
