The Ultra Violets are a band from Cornwall who have appeared on many festival main stages including Boardmasters, they have graced the stage of The Eden Project when they supported McFly and have just come back from France where they were supporting The Libertines, yes folks, they have done it all. I caught up with frontman Perran Nicholls to chat about an intimate 3 date tour that they’re doing in May, read on to see what we learned….

You’re playing 3 dates on your ‘By The Water’ tour in May, which are you MOST excited about?

It would be a cliche to say all three right? Na, we’re honestly looking forward to them all… but as we’re Cornish lads Falmouth is gonna be fun!

I see that you have selected some great local acts for each gig, did the bands have to apply to be selected?

No we wouldn’t be that pretentious, we just had an idea of who we wanted and luckily, they were available.

I think it’s great that you’re giving local acts the chance to support you on your mini tour in May, did any bands give you similar chances to get shows in the early days?

No, there wasn’t any bands that offered us the same. I was a bit of a ‘gobshite’ in the early years and probably slagged everyone off. But yeah, I’m glad we got the bands along with us. As long as they don’t take all the back stage beer, I’m sure we’ll be good!

I loved your video for ‘By The Water’, where did you record it?

It was filmed on Gwithian Beach, it was unreal, a lovely late summers evening, perfect conditions.

Was it all done and dusted on the same day?

Yeah, we literally started to shoot 2 hours before the sun set, so we had to be fast, but we wanted that ‘sun set vibe’.

Any bemused looks from people whilst you were sat in the sea with your guitar?

Yes plenty, and this one very annoying kid who obviously wanted to be in every shot! A few people had their phones out filming as I had a very wet behind!

You recorded the track at Abbey Road Studios, talk me thorough the day….

We actually arrived late because we had a photo shoot in the City on the morning of the recording session, but once we rocked up we got to work fast as we only had 1 day IN THE MOST ICONIC STUDIO IN THE WORLD, and it was 1 day for obvious reasons… money! It’s hard not to get freaked out or stare at a cigarette stain on the wall from Ringo Star and not get anything done, but we were very focused to be fair. We finished up around 9pm, and the good guy who engineered and mixed the track (Ed Ferrel) took us to THE ROOM, Studio 2, we had a quick history lesson/tour (they literally have the very instruments The Beatles played in the room) and then it was time to hop on the MEGA BUS (other buses are available) and get back home to Cornwall, we travelled through the night which was proper rock n’ roll!

What ‘special’ things did you get to see whilst there?

Literally everything is special when you’re there, the walls, the floor, the air, it’s all got so much history you can literally feel it. But I’ll tell you something you wouldn’t know unless you’ve been…. you’re not allowed to take photos in the hallways or the cafeteria, reason being is because they have all this iconic photos on the wall of everyone who has ever been there, there are totally ‘unseen’ photos of Paul McCartney, Noel Gallagher, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Amy Winehouse and the list goes on and on… it was such a pleasure to see the photos and just to be in that space.

You recently supported The Libertines in France, how did it go?

It was insane, but I had tonsillitis and a chest infection, quite literally the worst timing ever. But somehow we made it through the two dates. We actually got offered a few more but logistically couldn’t make it work, but to be honest, my voice was struggling from the tonsillitis by the second night, so it was probably for the best.

Were you nervous before the show?

Not really this time for some reason, I think because I was so ill I was kinda like “ah fuck it”. But yeah normally just before you go on you feel it for sure.

Did you get to meet Pete and Carl? If so, what did you chat about?

Yeah they are very present at the gigs, from first watching our set side of stage when we supported them in the UK last year they have been very close to us. I played foosball with Carl in France, the game was very intense and he won by 1 goal… I sweated more at that than I did in the bloody gigs! My last conversation with Pete was about his toes oddly… he was saying he might need to cut them off because of all the Cheese he eats these days.

Is there such a thing as THE perfect album? If so, what is it and why?

Music is so subjective and one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure… but because you’ve had me talking about Abbey Road so much… I’m gonna say Abbey Road by The Beatles is THE perfect album. It’s honestly (you guessed it)….perfect.

Tell me about any festivals that you’ll be performing at this Summer….

We have a few in the pipeline that are yet to be announced, but we are hoping to grace the usual ones!

Lastly, would you rather have a lifetime supply of cheese or a lifetime supply of tea bags?

Well as we’ve been hanging out with Pete Doherty these days… probably gonna have to say Cheese innit!

Tickets for their BY THE WATER tour are available HERE

Keep up to date with The Ultra Violets HERE