“It doesn’t feel like I'm trying to prove anything, it's like a letter to myself”: Inside Kid Kapichi’s introspective new era

Future history teachers could simply play Kid Kapichi’s discography if they wanted to paint a picture of Britain’s not-so-roaring twenties. Three albums of sneery, sassy Brit-punk put the Hastings troublemakers on the map, catapulting them onto the cover of K! in March last year.

However, while storm clouds still hover over British society, Kapichi frontman Jack Wilson has recently had to fight some battles much closer to home.

“Last year, I really struggled,” he admits, speaking to us while on a 16-mile hike to Eastbourne. “It was the first time I've ever had a mental health crisis – I've never experienced that. Until you do, it's really hard to understand what people are going through when they say they're struggling.”

After a career of looking outward, Jack turned to art – specifically, writing Kid Kapichi’s soon-to-be-announced fourth album – to face his own demons.

The first taste is the murky, tense Stainless Steel, where Jack comes to terms with some of his own insecurities: ‘Do you live in silence / With words unspoken / Scared that when you pull the cord the parachute won’t open.’ It's quite the curveball from their traditional satirical fury, and he warns us it’s but a glimmer of the sharp change in sound that is to come.

The song stands as a new dawn for Kapichi, in more ways than one. The recent departure of founding guitarist Ben Beetham and drummer George MacDonald – on amicable terms – leaves the duo of Jack and bassist Eddie Lewis, primed to hit the road with their new line-up and defy expectations with a bold new approach. Here, Jack tells K! why Kid Kapichi 2.0 are ready to come out swinging...

How did Ben and George break the news to you that they were leaving?
“George and Ben sat us down at the end of last year, but we all felt it coming for a lot longer than that. It was never a situation of, ‘We're leaving, see you later,’ it was more that they can't give what is necessary to be in a band like this anymore. We're all still best buds. Like being in a relationship, if one of you can't give what the other needs, it's only fair to have that conversation.”

Did yourself and Eddie ever consider stopping Kid Kapichi?
“There were never any doubts – we were going to continue. The question is how do we not just limp on, but make this even bigger and better? We were quite lucky, because when this happened with Ben and George, we were halfway through writing an album. That whole collection of songs felt very different, so it felt like a natural time to change. I'm sure Ben and George would agree.”

Who will be replacing them?
“Moving forward, it's me and Eddie as a duo, but we will have touring members, and as Kapichi, they will always feel like band members. On guitar is Lee Martin, who used to play in Blue Stragglers and Saint Agnes. He's an old friend of mine from when I was 16, drinking in pubs that I shouldn't have been in. The drummer is a Hastings lad called Miles Gill, who used to be in ROAM. Most recently, he was our drum tech, so when it came to auditions, it was almost written in the stars.”

Was it important to power through this period of change by releasing Stainless Steel?
“Not only for us, but for the belief in the band as well. If you're a toddler and you fall over, you need to get back up and get on with it, [instead of] crying, and that's how it felt with us.

“This has all been worked out. Everything's ready to go. We just wanted to come back – all guns blazing. We want to show people not only that we're still here, but we're pushing things further than we ever have before.”

What prompted the moodier, stripped-back sound of Stainless Steel?
“We all felt like we were changing as people, becoming ‘adults’ and hitting our 30s. I think the last two albums have been quite similar – by design. We felt like there was more in that sponge to wring out, whereas now, it's time to move on. I've always been looking outwards to the world for inspiration. This time, it has nothing to do with the news or what's going on. It's been much more reflective and introspective.”

“Of any of the new [songs], Stainless Steel is the most [similar song] to our old stuff. If people think, ‘Wow, this is really different,’ all I can say is just wait. The whole album is very autobiographical.”

Did you have to get comfortable with letting things get so personal?
“I had to adjust, but I actually really relished it. I was excited to write every day, because it felt so real. Not that the other albums weren't real, they were just about other people. This is coming directly from my brain onto the paper. Because this one is so personal… I don't feel this pressure to impress. It doesn’t feel like I'm trying to prove anything, it feels like a letter to myself.”

Does the album feel locked inside a time capsule of that darker period?
“It's like looking at a picture of yourself from the past. Maybe you're a kid who's crying at your birthday party, and you want to give that person a hug. It's this dark look back at the past; God, that was very recent history.

“But it's also a really beautiful thing, knowing that you are no longer there. When you feel as dark as I felt at that moment, you feel like you're never going to be happy again. Even a year later, how different I feel is an amazing reminder to myself of how quickly things can change.”

What turned things around for you?
“A lot of therapy. I don't want to be cliché, but writing this album definitely helped, other than the usual things of time as a healer, spending time with your friends. You're never the same person after that, and you shouldn't aim to be. I feel as good as the old me, if not better.”

With just you and Eddie, how do you feel about writing new music as a duo?
“What's worth remembering is that this [upcoming] album was written by the old Kapichi. I don't know what's going to happen moving forward. It's always been me and Ben, sitting down on his bed in his mum's house, writing music together. That is going to be a massive change, but because we’ve got music coming out, it's a question I don't have to ask myself anytime soon.

“We shall see. You never know – me and Ben might still end up working together. I don't think that's even off the cards, working together and having a different live band. The legacy of the [original] band continues through this next load of music.”

Kid Kapichi’s new single Stainless Steel is out now via Spinefarm. Stay tuned for more news on the new album.

Read this next:

• Kid Kapichi: “Things might get worse before they get better – but they will get better”
• Album review: Kid Kapichi – There Goes The Neighbourhood
  
• “There’s a rebellious streak in people… you can be different here”: How Hastings became a punk rock haven