The playlist: Mallory Knox's Joe Savins

Mallory Knox’s Joe Savins talks growing up on Oasis and his band’s new chapter as a four-piece.

The first song I remember… Sit Down - James

“I was born in 1990 so around that time when I first started getting into music I was four or five and the whole Britpop era was exploding. I started playing guitar at four and the first song I remember seeing on the TV and the song that made my aunt give me her old battered acoustic guitar was this. My parents always tell me they had to video tape it from Top Of The Pops and I would just watch it on a loop. So I was given this guitar and made a racket on it until I started getting proper lessons a few months later.”

The first song I learned to play… Cast No Shadow - Oasis

“This was the first song I ever learned to play top to bottom. I got this battered old Oasis chord songbook from a car-boot sale and that just happened to be on the first page. So when I got to the point in lessons when I could string a few chords together it was a matter of just starting the book. I grew up with Oasis so it was always going to be one of their songs.”

A song I covered in my first band… I Believe In A Thing Called Love - The Darkness

“You’d never have booked us. We were so wide-ranging. There was a lot of pop-punk, so Blink[-182] and Green Day but it was around 2003 and 2004 and The Darkness had broken through. We played about five Darkness songs during our school assembly and people were up on the tables and all sorts. The school sort of lost its mind for a few minutes.”

A guitar solo I love… Live Forever - Oasis

“I’m not a shredder, but I remember hearing someone say they only like guitar solos if you can sing along to them, and that really resonated with me. All the tapping and sweeping goes over my head a bit. There aren’t many songs for me when the solo is the payoff for the song and when it hits it becomes a great song. I’m always checking out live versions on YouTube.”

A song I’m enjoying playing live… Keeping Secrets - Mallory Knox

“We’ve delved into the back catalogue for some deep cuts for our tour and this is a song I hadn’t thought about in ages. It’s not really like a classic or anything but people remember that EP quite fondly. There’s that nostalgic element for people but we hadn’t played it live since about 2013. We played it the other day and it sounded so good.”

A song that reminds me of home… The Universal - Blur

“Anything British, especially when we’re touring in America. Blur, The Stone Roses and The Smiths remind me of home. This is a great song, it’s so grandiose. I always prefer songs that have feeling behind them rather than being technically impressive.”

To introduce someone to my band’s music I’d play them… Black Holes - Mallory Knox

“It’s sort of by default because of the situation the band is in [bassist / vocalist Sam Douglas is now the band’s lead singer following the departure of Mikey Chapman] but it would have to be our latest single. 

“Out of any song we’ve done it’s the one that really marks a chapter in the band. I always think we’re getting better, but fans will always have that emotional attachment to your early records that I completely get but for me Black Holes is a brand new chapter for Mallory and we’re the happiest we’ve ever been. We feel the tightest we’ve ever been as a band.”