Many of the musicians we interview talk about making music that’s relatable, that represents real life. For brothers Harvey Kirkby and Rhys Kirkby-Cox, aka Everyone You Know, that’s not the constant, prickling tension of inner-city London, it’s the day-to-day meanderings of its sleepier suburbs. Family. Friends. Footy. Fashion.
Everyone You Know are exactly that – if you don’t know them personally, you surely know people like them. In short, they’re simply two lads from the South East with a thing for music. No bravado, no social media stunts, no glitz, no glamour, just Harvey making the tunes and Rhys doing the vocals.
For a band based in the ordinary, though, EYK’s sound is anything but, a youth spent listening to everything from 90s hip-hop and R&B to jungle, house, and Britpop resulting in a unique mesh of styles that’s entirely their own. We found out where those influences come from, along with a lifelong love of football, in an exclusive chat for SoccerBible Magazine Issue 12.
How did it all start for you? When did you think you wanted to make music together?
Rhys: We’ve been making music separately for years. It’s always been something we’ve been into. But we decided we were going to do it together about three years ago, wasn’t it?
Harvey: Yeah, 2015, 2016 maybe. So, three or four years. But growing up as kids, we always had decks in the house, because Dad used to DJ. We were always exposed to music and DJing.
Rhys: My uncle used to produce and rap as well. So it wasn’t like, oh yeah, this music thing’s what we want to get into. We were just around it; it’s something we just tried out.
Did you like the music you were exposed to, or did you see it as more of a musical education?
Rhys: More of an education I’d say.
Harvey: Well, we started off making music we were listening to at the time. It was all hip-hop, old school.
Rhys: Yeah, we started off more hip-hop, a lot of sample-based stuff. That was how we first started making music. But because we grew up listening to so many different genres, we like to, not pinch a bit of everything, but take influence from everything we listen to.
Harvey: To get our own sound and style, to stand out from the others.
Rhys: Yeah, that’s exactly it, to make something unique. And to make something that represents us.
Harvey: We felt that if we stick to hip-hop, or any other genre, we’re just restricting ourselves. We don’t want to be stuck in a world of one thing when we can be taking influence from everything.
Rhys: It wouldn’t be true to us. If we’d just stuck to one genre, or had just done rock ‘n’ roll, or just done hip-hop, it wouldn’t be a true reflection of ourselves. We grew up listening to it all, so I feel it’s important to have elements of all of it in the music.
Football shirts feature heavily in your videos. When did the beautiful game come into your lives?
Harvey: I can’t remember not playing football really. Growing up as a kid, as soon as I could walk I was playing football.
Rhys: I’m the same. I still play three times a week. I play five-a-side on Monday nights, then training on Wednesdays, and then I play 11-a-side on a Saturday.
Are you into vintage shirts? The retro look?
Rhys: Yeah, I’ve got a little collection. My stepdad had them; I just found them in the garage one day. I was looking for a tent to go for a festival, and I found this camping bag. I emptied it out and there was just a load of United shirts there, and the old England Italia 90 top. I was like, fucking hell, what a touch. I’ve got an old Oliver Khan goalkeeper shirt as well – a few random things. There’s something much cooler about older football tops, all the little details that you don’t get these days.
Rhys, you’re a Man United fan, and Harvey, you’re QPR. What’s the story there?
Rhys: As I was growing up, United just seemed to be the team that was on. My stepdad was a United fan, and he had loads of old tapes of United, so I used to watch them. But when I was really young I used to go to Loftus Road a lot, I went up to Brentford quite a bit. I was just banging for football, but I grew to love United.
Harvey: For me, all my family are from QPR, or grew up around it – Acton, Ealing, Greenford South. All of them support QPR, so I’ve grown up with it and don’t really know any different.
I can’t remember not playing football really. Growing up as a kid, as soon as I could walk I was playing football."
What are the memories that stick out from when you were growing up and getting into football?
Rhys: From the age of about six onwards, I was just obsessed with football. I’d watch and play football every day, every night. When I think back on my childhood, all it was was playing and watching football – that was it. When I was growing up I was lucky enough to have that Arsenal-United rivalry, so we had battles with Keane and Vieira, van Nistelrooy, Martin Keown, all of them. I was a child at a good time in terms of football, especially being a United supporter.
Harvey: For me it wasn’t that long ago, maybe 10 years ago – when Taarabt was at QPR. He was such a maverick. One game he’d get booed off the pitch, and the next he’d get a standing ovation. But he was such a good player to watch; he was always so entertaining. The best game I’ve ever been to was QPR against Derby in the playoff final, when Zamora scored in the 89th minute and we went through to the Premier League. That was nuts.
What do you like to do on a matchday?
Rhys: It’s a day out isn’t it. For me, obviously going up to United, it’s a fair old journey, so a few drinks on the way, get there, have a nice little pie and chips, and then watch the game.
Harvey: When I was a season ticket holder at QPR, I’d get up in the morning and watch Soccer AM. If it was a one o’clock kick-off, get down there about 12, have something to eat, a pie, a beer, go in to watch the game, and then go back and do whatever you’re doing on a Saturday. Make a day of it. I don’t like getting there for kick-off and then leaving straight away. I like all the build-up.
You recently did some work with adidas on their Team Mode Pack series of adverts. How did that come about?
Harvey: That was through an agency called FELT. They were looking for an artist to do the tune for it, and the voiceover, and they approached our managers. Originally Rhys was just going to do the voiceover.
Rhys: And it was going to be on a different beat.
Harvey: Yeah, but we ended up doing both. It happened pretty quickly to be fair.
It must have been exciting to see your work with Pogba, Messi, Jesus…
Rhys: Yeah, crazy.
Harvey: The adverts were getting a couple of million views on YouTube as well. Mad.
Rhys: It was wicked. It was a proper quick process. From saying “Do you want to do this?” to finishing it was about two weeks.
I think the end goal for us is to create our own lane and have a loyal fan base – people who genuinely care about the music."
Being in a band, you can almost form a little club, like a football club, with your fans. Is that something you’re aiming to do?
Harvey: Yeah, I think the end goal for us is to create our own lane and have a loyal fan base – people who genuinely care about the music and are interested in it and can relate to it. If you look at the charts, music now is like a fashion, a trend, and I don’t think the fans really know what’s being spoken about or care about the music, they’re just following it because it’s current. For us, we definitely want to be in it for the long run.
