Long Read // “We’ve never written music for anyone other than us”: Kid Kapichi talk shifting sounds, line-up changes, and Arctic Monkeys as a roadmap for reinvention
We caught up with Jack Wilson and Eddie Lewis in Brighton, discussing all things ‘Fearless Nature’ as the duo bring their fourth album to record stores around the country.
“This is the biggest mountain to climb - I don’t know if we can do it”, recalls Kid Kapichi frontman Jack Wilson. We’re sat in a quiet office, inconspicuously attached to Brighton’s premium record store Resident. Next to Wilson is Eddie Lewis, Kapichi bassist and the other half of the band’s official line-up, now that fellow founding members Ben Beetham and George Macdonald have departed. It’s this predicament which Wilson is describing. “I remember at the beginning of last year, having a list of things in my head that we had to do: legal stuff, financial stuff, finding new people, getting them all the fucking gear they’re gonna need, getting them to learn the songs, and be the right people”, he recounts.
Clearly, the line-up change presented a sizeable challenge for the band, but then, everything fell into place. “We were very fortunate that the new guys we found just made it a super easy process for us, and George & Ben also helped pass the baton on”, explains Lewis. “There was never a falling out, it just went a bit funny for a moment. We had our doubts, but we got through it, and we’re in a better place than we’ve ever been”. You can say that again. As we speak, the band’s ambitious fourth album ‘Fearless Nature’ has been out for a day, and they’re preparing for a sold-out instore performance at Resident this evening, one of many during a jam-packed week of sellout record store gigs - all of which require purchase of the LP for entry. “Coming home in the van last night after the album came out, we were just elated”, smiles Lewis. “It was a pretty magical couple of hours”.
Sales-wise, Kid Kapichi appear to be at an all-time high. Artistically, they find themselves in an interesting, mildly divisive transitional period. Gone are the heavy riffs and shouty political takedowns of old, replaced by a darker, more expansive sound, with introspective lyrics to match. Did Wilson ever worry about opening up on record? “I don’t worry for one second about ‘oh, what are people gonna think?’”, he asserts. “What is hard is it’s like a muscle I haven’t trained, a different writing style. I’ve always done a looking outward sort of thing, so it was fun, difficult, and exciting to write about yourself rather than other people”.
Long-term fans may wonder why ‘Fearless Nature’ barely addresses the increasingly cataphoric political climate, but for Wilson the answer is simple. “I just always wrote what I wanted to write, it’s always been authentic. Every album has been exactly how I was feeling at that time. And that’s why it’s a departure, because I do feel differently now”, he explains. “I don’t not feel political, I just didn’t wanna write about that this time. I had my own things going on”.
Chief amongst them was the end of an eight-year relationship in the summer of 2024, which led to a period of strained mental health and self-reflection for Wilson. “When you’re not feeling good in your own self, you can’t really be political about anything. You don’t have the energy to fucking get out of bed, let alone try and fight against stuff. So I think getting your head right is the most important thing you can do anyway”, he argues. “The other albums have been about anger - this one’s more about fear”.
Not that the pair aren’t concerned with the state of the world. “I think if you come to any of our shows, or see any of the stuff that we’re constantly posting, we’re very active in voicing our concerns”, stresses Lewis. Even so, as a band that made their name with punked-up protest songs, do they not feel a certain responsibility to keep pushing back against unchecked power through their music? “I think you do have a responsibility to address stuff and take action, ‘cause if you’re passive in that stuff, you’re as bad as the people that are doing it”, declares Wilson. “But I don’t think when it comes to art, that you have to do anything, as long as you’re expressing it in other ways”.
This quiet self-confidence extends to the album’s sonic reset, pivoting away from scrappy punk and embracing a more layered, laid-back approach. What made them want to rethink the formula? “I think it happens naturally”, ponders Lewis. “We’ve always said if you wanna do the same thing again, it has to be the best thing you’ve ever done, and we didn’t feel like we had another one of those sounding albums in the locker”.
Fontaines D.C.’s acclaimed fourth album ‘Romance’ also played a part, soundtracking Wilson’s summer of discontent. “That was quite an influential album”, he admits. “Listening to ‘Romance’, it opened my eyes a little bit to being like ‘ah okay, that music is popular’, like it’s okay to do that sort of thing”.‘Fearless Nature’ wasn’t written with major mainstream appeal in mind, however. “I thought this was more left-field than all our other stuff, until my friends and everyone listened to it, and they’re going ‘this is way more mainstream’, but not in a derogatory way”, he recalls. “I found it interesting, ‘cause I thought people were gonna say that we’d gone super left-of-centre and weird”.
The majority of the band’s fans seem to have taken to the album, though there are some who yearn for the abrasive anthems of old. Did they ever worry that their hard-earned fanbase might not respond to the new material? “I was aware that they might not, but I was never concerned about it, because we’ve never written music for anyone other than us”, reveals Wilson. “Your fans have been with you, and they’ve basically made you a success, so you wanna keep people happy, but not at the detriment of doing something that isn’t true to yourself”.
It’s this outlook which has kept Arctic Monkeys at the top for 20 years, so it’s no surprise to hear that Wilson & Lewis count them as one of their biggest inspirations. “[Humbug] was such an influential album for us, and that was how we used to sound a lot”, says Lewis, reflecting on Kapichi’s new, noticeably Humbug-esque album track ‘If You’ve Got Legs’. “It’s my favourite song on the album”, adds Wilson. “It’s a proper song that you can play on the acoustic guitar, and it sounds good”. It’s a revealing distinction, given that ‘Fearless Nature’ is undoubtedly the band’s most production-heavy to date, from the metallic clang of ‘Shoe Size’ to the electro stylings of ‘Head Right’. It may have been challenging to bring these sounds to the stage even with Beetham & Macdonald still on board, so how did they fare with fresh touring members Lee Martin and Miles Gill?
“I was in a band with George from the age of 13, and it was slightly worrying thinking of playing without him”, confesses Lewis. “But Miles has put so much time and effort into replicating what George was doing, and now putting his own feel on it as well, so I’ve not had to learn a completely new thing”. Wilson has similar things to say about Martin. “Lee’s a very different guitarist from Ben, but I think it just adds so fucking much”, he enthuses. “Neither one of them is better or worse, they’re just different. Ben was a really aggressive guitarist, whereas Lee’s more of a George Harrison”. Surely, these differing playing styles will bleed into the feel of the next album, assuming Martin & Gill get promoted to writing duties? “I don’t wanna think about writing new music right now”, admits Wilson. “But when it comes to it, we will definitely want to sit down and write with them”.
“We need to nurture this baby before we make another one!”, grins Lewis, and no one could accuse the band of doing anything but. As we speak, it becomes increasingly clear just how proud of ‘Fearless Nature’ Wilson & Lewis are. "I think it’s our most cohesive body of work”, proclaims Lewis. “Once you’ve listened to it a few times, and you get over that initial slight difference in the sound, you’ll realise it’s a Kapichi album through and through”. Crucially, the album also serves as an accessible starting point for those who have no preconceived notion of what a Kid Kapichi record should sound like. “There’s fucking loads of new fans”, smiles Wilson. “I’d say 70% of the people last night [at London’s Rough Trade East] said they’d never seen us before”, adds Lewis.
Among them is indie hero Miles Kane - one half of The Last Shadow Puppets alongside Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner - who has been praising Kapichi in their comment sections. “We were actually chatting to him yesterday funnily enough”, laughs Lewis. “We’re gonna go and see him at the Roundhouse, he very kindly invited us”. Clearly, the band have come a long way since their self-released debut album, and even more impressively, Kane isn’t the only famous face to throw their weight behind Kapichi. Madness frontman Suggs is such a big fan that he featured on 2024’s ‘Zombie Nation’, while Oasis’ Liam Gallagher not only invited the band to support him at the Royal Albert Hall in 2022, but remains an avid listener. “I mentioned it to [Babyshambles and Liam Gallagher bassist Drew McConnell] and he said ‘oh yeah Liam Gallagher plays you in the tour bus all the time’”, marvels Wilson. “It’s just fucking mental”.
Really, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. Kid Kapichi have gone from strength to strength since bursting onto the British rock scene in 2021, with unforeseen departures and bold artistic shifts failing to slow their ascent. If anything, they’ve only aided the Hastings rockers in their heady rise. So, what’s next? “We’re aiming to get out on a nice big headline tour around October”, reveals Lewis. “We’re gonna smash summer, smash some festivals, and then get into some big rooms”.
That’s the short-term sorted, but in a post-‘Fearless Nature’ future, with new writing partners, fans, and a fresh sound to boot, it feels like all bets are off. “This should be the beginning of something new”, declares Wilson.
If Kid Kapichi keep on following Arctic Monkeys’ roadmap for reinvention, there’s every chance it will be.
Words by Ben Left
