Lawson On Valentine's Sex And Why They're No One Direction

INTERVIEW: Lawson Want To Be Taken Seriously

"I've been making love in the past and then our song will come on shuffle and I'll have to turn it off," says Lawson's chiselled lead singer Andy Brown.

We're discussing Valentine's music at the band's record label's office and somehow the conversation has taken a sordid twist.

As the four good-looking twentysomethings open up about the music they've had sex to ("I love Motown," says Andy. "That's no good for a one night stand though, is it?" asks Adam Pitts), I can't help but think this is a teenage girl's dream come true.

Andy Brown of Lawson

But the band, made up of Andy, Adam, Ryan Fletcher and Joel Peat, are keen to point out their loyal fans are much more diverse than the usual boyband followers...

Suffering from jetlag, the group claim there were "a lot of guys" at their recent gigs Stateside.

"We get that in England too, guys come down to hear the guitar solos, they kind of stand at the back," says Adam.

And Andy explains: "We did a gig with Bruce Springsteen and that was weird because he sold out the gig before we were even announced, so we basically performed to a load of Springsteen fans.

"I think that helped a lot of people realise we are a proper band to be taken seriously."

Andy Brown, Ryan Fletcher, Joel Peat and Adam Pitts

So how are their music credentials? Well, they all play guitar and have done since the age of the 10, and Liverpudlian Andy writes or co-writes all their songs. That's more than One Direction's members can claim.

Andy moans: "Usually people just assume we're like One Direction or The Wanted." But the band think their toughest competition are actually The Script or Maroon 5.

"Seeing as one of them is Irish and one of them is American there is no actual UK band doing this," says Adam.

They also got together naturally, rather than being put together and constructed through a TV talent show, something they think has helped with their success.

"I contacted [the other band members] on MySpace, I did my own acoustic stuff on there and then we met and hit it off really well - and I knew Ryan because we had mutual friends at music college," explains Andy.

He adds: "It's cool when you come together that way as you do do a lot of gigs that aren't great."

Remembering the times before they were selling out New York's Bowery venue, Adam admits: "There was one gig in Cambridge that was pretty dark - we turned up and there was literally two people.

"Now we are going back to the same venue on our tour and the 2,000 tickets are sold out."

Ryan recalls: "When we play live we're quite rocky - but I looked down during this one gig and there was a woman asleep in the front row."

After four years together, last week they released their fourth single, 'Learn To Love Again', from their top 5 album 'Chapman Square' and have a UK tour lined-up for 2013.

Did their family and friends ever expect them to get to this point?

Joel Peat says there were some worries expressed: "My dad got a bit twitchy. I dropped out of uni to be in the band and my dad thought I should get a real job, but now we're doing this."

And Ryan agrees: "We dropped out of uni in 2009 but didn't sign until 2011, so it was a solid two years of parents being like 'go on, sort yourself out'."

Now, with parents' ambitions suitably sated, the boys can enjoying their rock n roll lifestyle guilt-free.

"I don't think I've been on a night out personally recently where I've gone to bed before 6," says Andy.

But it's not all parties and one-night stands, Andy says - pointing out the band's soft-side, too: "The whole album is about breakups and relationships...

"Learn To Love Again is about after being away from someone for so long and wondering can you learn to love again? We have endless deep chats about so much sh*t, love and everything. That's how I write songs"

Ryan jokes: "I'd say I've been broken and rebuilt as a man in this band."

Close

What's Hot