Royal Borough rockers Inland Empire are playing a show for their local crowd at the Fighting Cocks on Saturday. Guitarist James Allan spoke to Will Gore ahead of the gig.

Will Gore: You joined Inland Empire six months ago – how did that come about?

James Allan: I knew Olly, our singer, for quite some time through our parents. I used to play guitar in all sorts of bands and he saw me play when I was 19. I then quit playing guitar but he started pestering the hell out of me to join his band and eventually I crumbled.

WG: What attracted you to the band?

JA: It was an open opportuntiy for me to do some work on the songs which are driven by the kinds of things I was listening to when I was growing up, like The Who and The Faces and early, bluesy, psychedelic rock – although I went a bit overkill on the psychedelia!

WG: What’s happening with Inland Empire at the moment?

JA: Our main focus is on playing live – we’ve recently played the Islington Academy and the Cavern which was a nice one. We are also looking to get our own studio space so we can record consistently and be more creative in what we are doing.

WG: And is the band focused on being signed up?

JA: It depends on which of us you speak to. Of course we’d all love to play music as our life – I don’t think anyone who starts band who doesn’t have that opinion. From Olly’s point of view we are looking for a deal but I’m wary with the predicament of there being no money in the music industry.

WG: Describe your sound

JA: Because there are a lot of things going in at once the sound is quite epic – there is a shoegazing influence but it’s not about totally blitzing the audience into dust with no enjoyment.

WG: Are you looking forward to playing at The Fighting Cocks?

JA: This will be the first time that I’ll play with the band in a local venue. It’s the first venue in Kingston that I played at and I’m looking forward to playing back on home turf. You need the grounding and support of where you come from and Kingston has a great music scene.

Inland Empire, The Fighting Cocks, Kingston, April 3, myspace.com/inlandempireband