We’ll do our Level best to thrill fans at the Phil, says King

Oct 1 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

Mark King of Level 42 _220

LEVEL 42 return to the Philharmonic Hall next Wednesday. “Liverpool is a good city for us,” says bassist and frontman Mark King.

“It’s got a good musical heritage, everyone knows that. There seems to be a real appreciation of music and we always have a good time.”

It’s easy to forget that, in the course of their career, the band has released 14 studio albums, seven live albums had 18 top 40 singles, sold out Wembley for a total of 21 nights and sold in excess of 30m albums worldwide.

Though the band stopped touring and recording in 1994, King continued under his own name, then in 2001 he acquired the rights to the name Level 42 and took the band back out on the road again, and the Philharmonic is a regular stop on their tours.

This time, through their official website, they decided to ask fans what songs they would like to hear live, and were surprised at what it threw up.

“It was interesting because the hardcore fans like to hear things that are not necessarily the big hits,” King says. “One song that has really worked out from that is a real hidden gem, it’s called The Machine Stops, and it’s fantastic to play so I’m already getting a buzz from doing it.

“So for us, even though we’re not playing new material on this tour, it seems like it.”

But there’s always the hits – Lessons in Love, Running in the Family et al, which, like the true pro he is, King says he never tires of.

“I understand exactly how that is, I’m a music fan myself.

“I go and see any artist and I always like them to play music from the period I was into them – I’m not particularly enamoured when a band plays 60 minutes of stuff I’m not familiar with.

“So, I’m very happy to play those songs.

“I’m of the opinion a good song will always be a good song.”

The internet has allowed Level 42 to chug along with their musical careers on their own terms.

“Bands in our situation with a long history, nobody’s really waiting for them to come up with the next big thing, so it’s completely feasible to distribute material on the internet or iTunes,” King says.

“If record companies do have a value, it’s got to be for new bands who are still not sure how to break into the market.

“We’re now predominantly a live band, we’ve even got a summer season doing a lot of festivals, including jazz festivals – and long may it continue, we’re very happy to do it.”

vickyanderson@dailypost.co.uk