America’s a hard place to conquer. Yeah, Brits from the Beatles and Stones to Radiohead and Coldplay have conquered their former colonies. But for every successful British invader, there has been a dozen UK chart-toppers we’ve repelled.
Maybe it’s our crude understanding of clever pop or sheer size or taste in haircuts. But megastar mods from the Small Faces to the Jam to Pete Doherty hit the Top of the Pops back home in Old Blighty only to come across as bowl-cut sporting dweebs over here. But with five times the population of the UK and countless thousands of bars and arenas to fill from Boston to Los Angeles, America will forever inspire British invasions.
Next week, two of Great Britain’s great Wight hopes play sold-out shows at the modest-sized Paradise - the Kooks on Monday and the Fratellis on Wednesday - in search of a few new Yank fans. Both bands began their careers with No. 2 albums on the British charts in 2006, propelled by buoyant Brit pop-derived rock. But neither has managed to figure out how to translate English success to trans-Atlantic stardom.
“I think there’s a certain amount of blandness that goes into becoming a seriously big act,” said Jon Fratelli, singer and guitarist for the unrelated Glasgow trio whose members all use the Fratelli surname. “If you’re not one of those bland acts, you’ve got to work a little harder.”
Led Zeppelin was anything but bland, but his point is well-taken regarding such milquetoast-but-huge fellow Brits as James Blunt, David Gray and Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody. But Fratelli knows there’s more to winning American ears and wallets than having an artful, rockin’ backbone.
“America has already got a lot of music,” he said. “It doesn’t really need any more music, so only really great stuff will get through. Thankfully, we’re patient and like playing the States. The American tour was always the best chapter in rock biographies, so we always get excited when we step off the plane.”
Lead Kook Luke Pritchard and his quartet also dig touring the lower 48, but admit they have yet to figure out the country.
“America’s a mad place and I don’t really understand the scene over here,” Pritchard said from a hotel room in Kansas. “Everywhere you go is different and it’s nothing like England. So I don’t see any one formula to breaking through in the States.”
Sonically, the Kooks’ strategy is to stay the course. Their second album, “Konk,” follows in the footsteps of their poppy, precious, very British debut, which hit No. 1 back home. In America, alas, it didn’t crack the Top 40.
Looking to stand out from the Brit pack, the Fratellis have taken the opposite tack with their second album, “Here We Stand,” which comes out next week.
“This record will definitely set us apart from a lot of other British bands,” Fratelli said. “It’s definitely a fatter sounding record than most British records.
“There’s sort of this thin British guitar sound right now and it’s funny because I think the sound was started by American Tony Hoffer,” he said of the producer behind both the Fratellis’ debut and the two Kooks albums. “We didn’t use a producer on the new album specifically to avoid that British sound. We don’t dislike the sound, but it can make it hard to distinguish one band from another.”
The end result is a slightly more American feel. Lead single “Mistress Mabel” has a lovable, Cheap Trick-ish quality.
Maybe both bands’ strategies will work, maybe neither will. The guys are trying not to obsess about it. Their bankbooks are already fat with pounds and euros so there’s no need to be the next Beatles to keep their accountants happy. Besides, success is still a very relative term.
“We’ve sold about 200,000 records in the States and we thought that was quite good,” said Fratelli. “It’s more than we thought we’d do and more than a lot of other British bands that come over and try and have a go.”
