Interview: Diagram of the Heart
Published on November 26th, 2010 | Jonny Abrams
Kye Sones has an inkling that Kai Rooney – son of Wayne – was named after him. The Diagram of the Heart singer was introduced to the England striker by mutual friend Kelly Jones at a Stereophonics gig in London earlier this year and had this to recount of his experience:
“I was so nervous as I’m a huge United fan but Wayne was great. I introduced myself and Wayne immediately said he liked my name. Two weeks later I hear Wayne has called his son Kai. He spells it differently but there must be a link.”
Could it be? Rocksucker caught up with Kye, who along with Anthony Gorry forms dance-pop duo Diagram of the Heart, to become perhaps the thousandth person to ask him about this, as well as discuss how the band formed on MySpace, supporting Scissor Sisters and Banksy’s intro for The Simpsons…
I saw on your Twitter that you have a cold. Are you going to try, as someone suggested as a remedy, filling an onion with sugar and drinking the juice?
No! Definitely not. That was a very bad idea, whoever gave me that.
Have you had any further confirmation yet on whether Wayne Rooney did indeed name his kid after you?
No, I haven’t.
What was he like?
He’s really nice, actually – really down to earth. His brother was there as well. They’re just really nice guys. I was really nervous because obviously I’m a massive Man United fan but – and it may sound weird to say – he was just a normal guy enjoying the gig. It was a really surreal evening.
Onto the album, of which you said a lot of the songs are about your ex. Have you spoken to her about them yet?
No, definitely not. I’m not sure if she’s even heard them yet or if she even knows they’re about her. I mean, it’s pretty obvious but we don’t talk anymore.
What are your main musical influences?
I grew up with a lot of The Rolling Stones, Elvis, Michael Jackson, The Beatles. When I was old enough to buy my own music, it was the whole Britpop thing, so I’m a massive Oasis fan and obviously The Verve and Blur. At the same time, I love my dance music. Anthony, my partner in the band, is heavily influenced by dance music so it’s a good pairing.
What was your big break in the music industry?
I think it was when I met Ant, who I write all the stuff with in the band. He’s a fantastic producer and he sent me an email through MySpace saying, “Do you fancy coming over and writing some tracks together?” I went over to his and we wrote two songs in one day, which are both on the album, and from there we just really clicked. When you write with different people, it doesn’t always work but I think meeting him was a big catalyst for everything else. We’ve written some fantastic songs together and made this album so I think that was the spark, really.
So you initially connected over MySpace. How did Anthony find you?
I think just through browsing. Oh, I think his sister sent him a link to something else I’d done. I used to put things on YouTube all the time, like acoustic videos and stuff.
What’s been the craziest moment so far on your nascent musical journey?
Probably when we supported the Scissor Sisters at the Apollo in Manchester. The support band they had was sick and couldn’t do it so we got called in at the last minute. There were about ten people at the gig we played before that – then we walked out onto the stage in front of four thousand mad Scissor Sisters. That was a proper ‘pinch me’ moment. It’s an amazing venue as well and the crowd were brilliant. We met all the Scissor Sisters people and they were all really nice to us. That was really surreal.
You have a bit of a passion for street art. Who’s your favourite street artist?
I live in Ladbroke Grove so there’s a lot of graffiti on the walls around me. Obviously Banksy is the main one but there’s a guy called The Don – I bought one of his works and he’s brilliant, I absolutely love him. He does a lot of stencil stuff.
Did you see Banksy’s intro for The Simpsons?
Yes, I did actually! It’s very dark but I like it.
Finally, could you name – in no particular order and bearing in mind that the list could change constantly – your top three albums of all time?
Oasis – Definitely Maybe. The Beatles – Sgt Pepper’s. Michael Jackson – Thriller.
About the Author
Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.
