Charlie and Jules know how to put on a good show with the rest of their band. Forget the conventional spotlights, they whole stage was back lit by the band name which created this energetic and mysterious environment. I loved every moment of their performance (depsite having to leave early because work had worn me out) and really hope that I get the chance to see them perform again because they were phenomenal. The crowd were buzzing and the energy in this small room was insane.
Kicking the show off with their latest single, Your Heart's Like a Jungle, APRE know how to make an entrance. This is one band I would love to see at a bigger venue as I know they'd fill the space and make the night one to remember.
Before the show, I had the chance to catch up with Charlie and Jules about APRE, their new music and time on tour:
How did APRE form?
Charlie: The official date APRE formed was 10 April 2018, because that was our first ever show. But us meeting each other was three years prior to that. We went to uni together. I was in a band and the guitarist left and the bass player got Jules to join. That’s how we met.
We spent two years playing in that band and then three other bands as session players and stuff, but always writing stuff on the side for APRE.
Didn’t think anything of it, then at the start of 2018 we decided to do something with it. By July that year was a job basically.
Where did the name APRE come from?
Charlie: I spent a lot of time in France, a very nice place! I had a girlfriend who was French, so I went there a lot. When I came back, we thought of an EP title, The Movement of Time, so we thought it would be cool to have a French name that involved time. So APRE being the name for after in French was where it came from.
There was someone already with the name spelt correctly with the S, so we just got rid of the S! It doesn’t actually mean anything, but I quite like that as lots of things don’t mean anything. Like what is that table, it’s just a table! What’s the point, who cares?
It's good that people think its' French though as they pronounce it correctly, otherwise people would just say why do you call your band APRE (A-PRA)? The Americans would be terrible!
You are coming to the end of you UK headline tour, what’s been your favourite moment so far?
Charlie: I thought of this the other day: easily, Newcastle, Manchester, Oxford and Bristol.
Jules: There’s quite a lot of them so far. Basically, the Friday and Saturday shows are the best.
Charlie: Oxford popped off, we were pretty worried about that show!
Jules: It was the best show!
Charlie: It was in a bigger venue and we didn’t know if we were gonna fill it or not, but it was full and it was mental.
Jules: That’s definitely been the highlight.
Charlie: Yeah, its been amazing because it’s the first headline tour we have ever done, because we’ve done support we have always had to try and persuade the crowd to like us but now I feel like they are coming because they already do!
What song has had the best reaction?
Jules: I would say Gap Year 2008, its because it’s got a chant.
Charlie: All Yours goes down well. Heaven has gone down well at some gigs but not all.
If you could travel to any country and any venue to perform, where would you go?
Jules: Mine would definitely be Red Rocks in America, its incredible. I don’t really like Mumford and Sons, but I have their DVD on them performing there just as the sun's setting and its outside, it looks incredible! That’s definitely on my bucket list.
Charlie: I would travel to London and play Brixton.
Who would you have support you?
Charlie: I would have Foals support us, a lot of inspiration for what we do comes from Foals records and I think it would be fun too.
You're coming back to Leicestershire for 110 Above Festival, what are you looking forward to most about that?
Jules: We have played it three times, but in different bands. Last year we played it as APRE, but we were knackered.
What's your favourite thing about that particular festival?
Jules: Because its so small, everyone knows each other.
Charlie: You can find the toilets quickly!
Jules: I like the way the stages are staggered, we worry about audiences of course, I feel like you don’t need to 110 Above because you know there are always going to be some people watching.
Are you going to do an acoustic set in the evening?
Jules: Don’t know, haven’t been asked, we would love to.
What do you love mostly about music in general?
Charlie: I like it as it's like a virtual diary. When you hear a song you can pinpoint where you were in your life. When you started falling in love with that song. Like when you are on holiday as a kid and you hear the song, all these memories come back. It’s a virtual representation of a period in your life.
What inspires you to write music?
Jules: That’s a hard one to answer, its everything around us. Charlie and I never go in the studio with an agenda.
Charlie: Sometimes we do, if something amazing has happened or something bad. It’s always easier to write about something terrible that’s happened.
Jules: But we never go in saying it should sound like that.
What’s the weirdest thing you have written a song about then?
Charlie: Personally? About my dog, years ago.
Jules: I have yet to hear this!
Charlie: You see, I sometimes like to play the guitar and the dog's just there. I did have one dog but he died. I now have two and they are anti-social. But when I had the original dog, I just wrote a song about what he looked like, what he was doing. Dogs always look really depressed when they are sleeping. It was quite a miserable song.
Do you have anything in the works at the minute you can tell us about?
Charlie: Masses of stuff, always loads. We have a new single coming out next month, followed by two or three other new singles which will take us up to near the end of summer. There will be a mini album, a mixtape if you like, with eight songs that I think will come out.
There’s so much material, we will be doing some remixes, we have been away for a while when we get back there’s so much to do, but its good because you fall in love with it again.
So, you are trapped in the last TV show you watched for the next three months, what show are you trapped in?
Jules: I am completely addicted to You on Netflix so I wouldn’t be very happy in that as everyone dies. I would just panic.
Charlie: I literally don’t watch TV.
How about a film?
Charlie: Yeah, the last film I watched was 1917, I have watched it three times.
Jules: That wouldn’t be very pleasant either.
So you have to change the band’s name, what would you change it to?
Jules: Err, The Steven Society, our bass player is called Steven!
Charlie: The Matt Dinenage Experience, the first every gig we did was in this Hell hole, we didn’t want to be seen with the current name, so we called it the Matt Dinenage Experience.
Jules: It was the worst gig!
If you won a Brit Award, what would your acceptance speech be?
Charlie: I would just thank Jules, the band and my family.
Jules: I would just let him speak!
Charlie: To be honest I hate the Brits so I would probably come up with some material to rip the Brits apart.
Jules: Good publicity though!
Charlie: I wouldn’t thank loads of people in a fancy office.
Do you have a message for your fans?
Charlie: Don’t try and be cool, because what you are is cool!
Jules: We should write a song about that!
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Read next:
Getting to know...APRE (ahead of their UK tour)110 Above: The best festival of the year
INTERVIEW: Larkins
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