Interviews - XES Magazine

XES MAGAZINE INTERVIEW KELLI. Five years ago, Sneaker Pimps were at the height of their fame. Their debut album Becoming x was still selling solidly, backed by a host of single projects, and diverse remixes, the band was well on it's way to household name status, not only in the UK, but the rest of Europe, Japan, and the US.  Then came the bombshell - the rest of the lads in the band decided they could do without the distictive voice of singer Kelli Dayton (now Ali), and unceremoniously booted her out.  Back now as a solo artist, with a new single and a full album of pop-tastic material, Kelli recounts her life post-Pimps, and looks forward to getting back on the road...

Thanks to WS Roberts for the magazine

Tell us a bit about that fateful day ? 
"(laughs) It's really funny cos over the past few months i've been reliving it, nobody wanted to know when it happened, but yeah, i just turned up one day, i thought we were going to have a meeting about the next album, and they said 'Look we want to change direction, we don't want you to write, and we think you should go', so i said 'Cool', and that was it.  I was too upset to conjure up any real sentences. I left a broken child (laughs) violins in the background..."

How mad, cos you were at a high point at the time? 
"We were such a young band, and young in every sense, we'd only been together 6 months. But the music lives on. I was over in America recording this album, and some guy was driving along in his convertible with '6 Underground' blaring out. He was at traffic lights so i told him, 'That's me', and he was like 'You're Kelli, that rocks!'. "

What are your happy memories of the Pimps? 
"One of the best gigs we ever played was Maidstone. It was a really small club, but very packed, and there was no stage, so there were about ten security men making a barrier, but it was nose to nose with the front row, and those kids were rocking, it was really rock 'n' roll."

Reading between the lines were you pleased the Sneaker Pimps second album didn't sell?
"I truly felt bad for them when they got dropped from Virgin, cos people had a lot of faith in the group, and when you make a record you put your heart and soul into it. (laughs) But there was a part of me that thought, 'See, told you so', but that was just a little naughty part of me that i don't let out very often.  The voice in any band is the humanity of the band, and it's what people really connect to, cos' it's not an instrument, and it's not a computer. Any band who thinks that isn't the case is somewhat naive.
What happened is i was getting a lot of recognition for a lot of their hard work and people were seeing me as the catalyst for it when that wasn't the case. A lot of people would think it was my band, and even in interviews i'd be sat with Liam and Chris, and they'd be saying how they write all the songs, but then you'd get the interview back, and it would be 'Kelli, the lyricist, and singer', which cut deep."

When you left, were you hounded by offers of solo work?
"Not at all, it was the opposite, i was amazed. There was no-one knocking in my door, no-one from Virgin America got in contact, it felt like the whole thing was a conspiracy. I started writing straght away and decided to do it my way, but it took years before anyone was interested. It's really a lesson that you need people who care about you. In America, Sneaker Pimps had people who were just seeing Dollar signs. but i think it was good for me."

So you're Kelli Ali now? 
"Sadly just before we became sucessful, my dad died. His name was Ali, and my mum's name is Dayton, so i decided that i would go under his name."

So how did you hook up with writing partner Rick Nowels?
"It was probably one of those record company conspriracy things where the label were trying to get me on board with a top dog, pop tastic, producer.  I'd met a few people who weren't going to work, and a lot of underground people who completly misunderstood my music and wated to make it less accessible, so when i met Rick, he just really got into it, and he's based in LA (laughs). That was a really good move.  There's just so much space, and when i'm out there i write on a much more epic scale."

Were you not tempted to go more into dance music?
"I did some things with Satoshi Tomiie which was quite hardcore house, i'm really excited by that, and i love different areas of music, i like to think that i can cross over, but fundamentally i'm into songs."

The album has a very mellow feel? 
"I'm a pretty mellow writer really, anything too raucous kinda scares me. I love thrashing guitars, but where beats are concerned i don't like too much crashing going on."

So your single's out soon, what are your immediate plans?
"I want to start touring as soon as possible, but that's a really selfish thing. I'm doing lots of interviews, and bits of tv, and rehearsing with the live band. We toured with Garbage recently, but i'd like to a headline tour, and i was hoping to do the festivals. It depends how the single does, if no-one picks up on it, then hopefully i can go on a little tour, and start to spread the word. So (laughs) i'm hoping for a bit of a flop."

The album photo shoot is a bit raunchy!
"Well you know the Pirelli calenders, i love that king of thing, and i thought it would be great to have all the covers like the calendars.  But i really like the idea of while i'm young, playing around with sexuality and things. When i'm old it will be too late. I wanna have a few nice pictures to show my grand kids."