How are you? Where does this Q&A find you?

We’re very well thanks! We’ve taken the day off for the annual MPS Q & A session marathon whilst drinking dangerous amounts of coffee, there’s a few on the go at the moment so one each should do the trick... More interestingly we’ve got ‘Glass Figures’, the second single off our album, coming out 22nd Feb & the album itself released on 1st March. There’s also a BBC Maida Vale session just after the release with hopefully a tour to follow soon after that, busy but exciting times!

 

How did the recording sessions for Glass Figures/The Shapes release go?
It couldn’t have gone much better really, it’s never easy but this was one of the better experiences of recording so far! We spent a few weeks pre- production in the UK with album producer Paul Schroeder (The Verve, Stone Roses) before flying out to Copenhagen for 5 weeks of relentless recording in Baby Factory studios. We ended up recording a majority of it live, while dosed up on Tuborg, Fisherman’s Friend liquor, & the occasional Danish pastry... It was often a really intense experience trying to convincingly convey the subject matter we incorporated into the album. Some tracks are certainly not easy listening & we really put our heart and soul into it. Hopefully that comes across on the record...

 

What goals did you set yourself before you started recording? Did you do anything on purpose? Why?
We made sure we took a bit of time in pre-production before starting the actual recording just to make sure we were in the best possible position to really get creative in the studio and to keep studio costs to a minimum. There’s occasionally that moment of magic where something happens in the recording process that you never quite expected but that would never have happened if you’re still writing lyrics and piecing the track together...! We just wanted to make the best record possible for that moment in our career and throw everything we had into it. There’s a lot of natural raw emotion in there and we feel we were able to focus on capturing that by knowing the songs were in the best possible state they could be before the recording process started.

 

What do you feel are your own limitations when it comes to creating/writing music?
Mmmm, we don’t really think about that too much when creating music really. There’s obvious musical limitations we put on our ourselves like not sweep-picking over ‘The Strings That Tie To You’ or putting in some funky slap bass in ‘Mirrors’ but the general rule we have is in making sure we do justice to the track, not feed our ego’s. With some of the tracks there’s probably a fine line between the natural emotion and going waaaaaaay over the top though so we do try to limit ourselves into keeping it credible, some people may not agree though...! Saying that we even used some of Brian Eno’s ‘Oblique Strategy’ cards on some of the tracks in pre-production so I suppose that’s kind of the complete opposite, if it worked though we went for it.

 

Tell us 3 of your favourite songs from your career and the inspiration behind them?
Deep breath...
GLASS FIGURES - Back in 2005 a close friend of Nick’s was sentenced to 5 years in prison for raping a girl in a nightclub. After the ordeal it took a while for the close group of friends to come to terms with what this guy had done & the song is based around their questions but also the shock & horror of what the victim must have gone through.

 

WHITEROOMS - The song is about the fear of a wasted / failed existence. It’s also linked to the way people are judged in life & also by others after death & how at the end of it all no one could ever have led a ‘perfect’ or guilt free life.

 

WHEN ALL THE LIGHTS (GO OUT) - About protecting the ones you love when you are going through the darkest times in your life. It’s about hiding away from the world when everything seems lost & having too much pride to call out for help.

 

What do you love and what do you hate about life on the road? Tell us your funniest tour experience yet?
The best part is probably waking up in a different town every morning and really not knowing what to expect from the day/night, we all love travelling so seeing a different part of the world is a real bonus! The worst part has got to be being away from friends and family, if there’s someone down though you can usually pick them up with a prank or something!! The funniest thing was probably not on tour but when recording ‘The Shapes We Fear Are Of Our Own’ in Copenhagen. The whole experience was pretty mental but this one particular night we had a few too many Elephant beers and ended up gate-crashing someone’s birthday party just next to the hostel we stayed at. The night ended up with us & half the party bundling Graeme as he was sleeping in the buff (he left early!) before being entertained by an interesting Nordic game named ‘Stag’ where two challengers would stand a few feet away from each other and then proceed to smash heads together until one was literally knocked out... We ended up being chased out by a couple of drunk anti- English locals just before the hostel reopened at 7am!

 

What are the bands plans for the rest of the year? What exactly do you want to achieve with your band, now and in the future?
Get the album out, get on tour and do some of the major fests, write second album, record second album... There’s plenty of basics but we’ll see where it takes us, we’re pretty ambitious so hopefully we’ll keep on building musically as we want every album to be better than the last and to have its own entity ... Guitar music has taken a bit of a bashing recently in the UK music industry so hopefully we will have our part to play in getting it straight back up there. Other than that we all have our own list of things we wish to achieve, some more realistic than others!

 

How would you describe your own/bands sound, or what do you hate being labelled as?
Cinematic, ambient, intense, dark, moving, uplifting, anthemic, dramatic, epic... It’s really difficult to describe as there’s so many different styles blended into the music. Its alternative rock to a degree but our love of film music is probably the most influential in our sound, its music to move people in that they can relate to it but also to explore some of the more intense topics of love, loss, death & hope.

 

Who is moving you musically at the moment?
Bit of a difficult one really as we all listen to different types of music and then bring what inspires us to the band. The ambient mix of Moby’s ‘Wait For Me’ is definitely one that springs to mind though...Another at the moment is Rachmaninov. His works, especially his piano concertos, are absolutely incredible.

 

What album changed your life and why?
‘Untitled’ by Sigur Ros, as even in the darkest of times it brings you hope... Also ‘Colour And The Shape’ – Foo Fighters, ‘Grace’ – Jeff Buckley, and ‘Ok Computer’ by Radiohead.

 

If you could erase one single/album from history (your own or someone else's) which would it be and why?
Would have to be anything by ‘Scouting for Girls’... They're just utterly offensive to any one with a truly creative bone in their body. Rhyming 'drool' with 'beauti-fool', singing in a fake Estuary accent, stealing 12 year old children's poems and getting a PG tips-swilling chimp to play piano in the background is just plain wrong!

 

A rumour you'd like to start about yourself, or one you'd like stopped?
Rumour: That we’re a miserable bunch of young men that wallow in self pity and the darker things in life...
Rumour to be stopped: The truth...!

 

The revolution comes, who would you like to be first against the wall (and if you're feeling particularly bitchy, a second, third, fourth and so on...)?
Would have to be Joseph Fritzl, Robert Mugabe and Nick Griffin... Or that kid in the “I want a poo at Paul's” advert...

 

Best piece of advice you'd give to aspiring musicians, or the best piece of advice you were given when you started?
Best piece of advice we could give musicians is be true to your original vision, but be objective of your own work, and refine your craft. Don't give up, and don't believe 95% of what people in music tell you. Also if you play a song on an acoustic guitar and it still sounds good then you know you've written a good song...!

 

If you're in a car going at the speed of light, and someone turns the headlamps on, would they do anything?
Try a Google search; they know the answer to everything...!

 

TOP 5 IPOD TUNES
1. Mew - Repeater Beater (...because everything they do is amazing...)
2. Elbow - Friend of Ours (...the lyrics, the production, the structure...)
3. Sigur Ros - Untitled 8 (...the BEST song of all time...)
4. Jeff Buckley – Dream Brother
5. Arvo Pärt - Spiegel Im Spiegel

 

NEW SINGLE ‘GLASS FIGURES’ & ALBUM ‘THE SHAPES WE FEAR ARE OF OUR OWN’ RELEASED OUT NOW ON Endgame Records
Live dates:
Mar 11th London Camden Enterprise
Mar 24th London Notting Hill Arts Club (Death Disco)
Motion Picture Soundtrack Website
Thanks to kate @ division