Sondre Lerche

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche has been releasing albums now for over a decade – since 2001′s Faces Down, he’s released six albums plus a soundtrack for the film Dan In Real Life. Earlier this year, he released his latest, self-titled LP. He recently took some time to answer questions from our very own Charlotte Gay – he discussed the musicians who helped him bring his newest record to fruition, early inspirations and his song-writing process.

For those out there who haven’t heard your music, how would you describe your sound?

SL: I have tried many times but never quite got it right. My easy answer is that it’s pop music but to most that might seem misleading. It’s old school, juicy song-writing but the sound of that can be so many things. I give up and leave it to others to describe. I probably won’t agree with that either.

You’ve recently moved to the States. Do you think that this move has affected your latest album?

SL: I’ve actually lived her for 6 years so it’s not a recent thing but this is the first album I’ve recorded in New York where I live so it was a real kick to stay close to home and make use of some of the talented friends I’ve met here through the years.

Your new album is out now, how do you feel it has turned out? Do you feel that you’ve found a definitive, ‘realised’ style?

SL: I’m very proud and connected with it and I’m glad I have an audience scattered around out there, who are invested in what I do and who try to get into it even though I make it difficult sometimes. It’s a very candid album to me, so maybe it’s not so tricky to access as some other ones I’ve done. I wouldn’t know.

What made you self title this new album after already creating many albums?

SL: I couldn’t find a title so I left it open and/or self-titled. It wasn’t supposed to be a big statement but I feel it fit the album and the narrative, so what the heck.

The new album was made with a little help from Midlake, Spoon and Regina Spektor’s band. How did they contribute? What were they like working with?

SL: Well, it was made with members and of these bands, not the entire bands. That would be cool but excessive. And Jim from Spoon doesn’t actually play on the album, but we worked together on some really cool songs in his studio that may see the light of day sometime as part of something else. Maybe that’s what you’re referring to. He also introduced me to Nicolas Vernhes who co-produced and recorded the album. As for the guests and players, they all contributed a great deal to the album, whether they are in famous bands or not. If not I would have taken them off the album. I’m pretty cold that way. But I’ve got some really amazing performances from these people. It’s a blessing.

After finding out a little bit more about you, it seems that your song writing process is solitary process. Was this a process you adopted for your latest album too? Do you think you could ever work in a band where song-writing is a shared part?

SL: Yeah, song-writing is something I do all alone. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to include anyone else into that process. Mind you, there are other ways to compose a song and I may take part in that for other purposes but for my own stuff it’s a ritual of loneliness and it’s very frustrating and ultimately very rewarding, so I’ll stick with it.

I was surprised to find out that you thought of MTV as an inspiration for you as a child. It seems that usually MTV has a negative response from musicians about its influence. What about it did you particularly enjoy or find inspiring?

SL: When I started watching MTV it was November 1989 and I was like the fat kid invited to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Music was my only interest and at this time MTV played actual music all day. Some of it was great, some of it was terrible. I wanted it all, it was so exciting. They played Nirvana side by side with the new Donald Fagen video, then some Euro dance trash and then Prince. It was awesome.

You’ve written for not only yourself but for film soundtrack Dan In Real Life. When writing for film, did you find you had to go on set or similar to absorb the atmosphere of scenes?

SL: I spent a great deal of time with the actors on the set, and it really helped the process of composing the score and the songs. It was quite an adventure as I hadn’t composed music for film before so I took it all in.

Breton

Breton have been impressing us with EPs and live shows since 2010 and the band are currently gearing up to release their debut album early next year on Fat Cat and embark on their first UK headline tour. The South London-based act a little more like a collective – living and working together, creating film and visuals to go alongside their music – in both instances, they seem to overflow with ideas. Jane Corcoran recently put a few questions to band member Roman Rappak for us.

Muso’s Guide: How would you describe yourself and your music to people who haven’t heard you yet?

Roman Rappak: Our music is the product of listening to lots of hiphop, and going to see live bands no one has ever heard of in tiny, broken down old venues in London. Also going to squat parties where the sound-systems could go much louder then is legally allowed – to the point where you can’t hear anything.

We also have always made films, for ourselves, for indie film festivals and for other bands. We are obsessed with music and films, and why things work the way they do – I guess these songs and films are our way of trying to get our heads around things. I still don’t know why a chorus works – or why certain moments in films make me feel the way they do, but I guess that’s what makes it a fun thing to explore.

MG: You’ve got a really unique and interesting sound. Who influences your music and who are you listening to at the minute?

RR: I hear music from lots of different sources. Some of them are musicians, and other producers, some are kids that run blogs, some are journalists, and various other people that just listen to shitloads of music.

Everyone talks about how technology has changed the way we write music, but one thing I feel isn’t often highlighted is the revolution in journalism, and how music is written ABOUT. At one time you had to have a job in the music business to be plugged into new music – your reward for working as an AnR for a massive label, or writing for a big magazine, was that you got sent new music all the time, and a steady flow of vinyl though your mailbox meant that you knew exactly what was going on.

Now you can be a completely isolated from all that, but know as much about what is happening in music as the editor of a music magazine, just by owning a laptop and having a sense of curiosity about music.

That’s where the Internet has changed things. It’s changed journalism, which is the main point of communication between artists and people that want to listen to music.There are blogs I check every few days that have probably about 20 subscribers, and through them I have discovered the most amazing music.

I have a playlist of Sun Glitters, really rare Hudson Mohawke and some Plaid, but have been listening to old Talking Heads tracks, and Cabaret Voltaire.

Breton – the Commission by bretonlabs

MG: You’re touring with Ghostpoet at the minute, what’s the reception been like?

RR: It’s been amazing. People who are into Ghostpoet seem to be really open to new music, and a lot of his fans are the people I mentioned above. They are really switched on and seem to be able to get what we do quite easily. It’s a real pleasure to play in front of an audience like that – they are genuinely curious about what we do, and seem to be able to get into it pretty quickly.

MG: What can we expect from your live shows?

RR: We try and make the shows a snapshot of everything we do. Each track has its own short film that our VJ edits live – not abstract “screen saver” psychedelics, but actual short films and documentaries we have shot.

We also use lots of found-sounds and field recordings. I like the idea of driving into a town to play a show, and sampling the sounds that are specific to that area, like trams or the dial tone of the telephones, and using them in the set that night – it means there is a sense of familiarity with the music, and a connection between the sounds we work with and the audience we are playing to.

MG: Do you use social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to keep in touch with fans? Do you think the accessibility to social networking makes it easier or harder for artists to increase their following?

RR: Twitter and Facebook highlight something about music which I love: exciting music always has a very personal quality to it. You listen to a piece of music and you engage with it on such a personal level. You take your own interpretations and meanings from it, and they are just as important as anyone else’s.

In that sense this social media thing is an extension of that. You can hear some music, absorb it in your own way, and talk about it publicly in whatever way you want – people create their own landscape without being drip-fed recommendations from big magazines and TV networks, like they once were, they can make their own interpretations of the music and lyrics. It’s a cliche, but people who listen to music have a lot more freedom at the moment, and word of mouth has more power then ever.

MG: In one way it makes it easier for people to find out about you but on the flip side do you think it increases the competition because most bands/artists use it as a way of putting themselves out there?

RR: I’m not really that concerned about competition. All I ever wanted for this band was a platform to show people what we do, and to be able to write a song and get it to lots of people. I don’t see us as “competing” with other artists. Everyone’s opinion and work is just as valid as our own, no one is “better or worse”. The only thing an artist ever has to worry about is if their ideas are effective or not.

MG: Which track of your own is your favourite? Any track that you most enjoy playing live?

RR: ‘Edward The Confessor’ is really fun to play live, and also seems to work really well with the visuals we have shot for it.

MG: Any favourite pedals or machines?

RR: Native Instruments Maschine honestly changed a lot for me. I try to never start a song the same way. So on the album I tried to use a variety of starting points. A couple I started on Maschine and then got the band to learn them. Writing electronic music and then getting humans to play it can sometimes have really interesting results. Ian in the band makes synths, a few of these appear on the record.

We recorded in Sundlaugin, which is a studio in Iceland owned by Sigur Ròs. It’s also where they recorded nearly all of their albums, and all their equipment is there. I found an old Mini Moog and recorded lots of extra parts that I then took back to London.

MG: Who would you most like to collaborate with?

RR: DJ Premier, Battles, Flying Lotus, James Murphy. I could probably go on forever. I always feel like I learn a lot when I collaborate with other musicians.

MG: You’ve toured in Europe. Do the crowds and reception differ to the UK?

RR: When we played in Paris recently we played in La Gaiety Lyrique, which was amazing. The audience all sat on the floor waiting for us to come on, then as soon they saw we were starting, they stood up and came to the front. It was a bit like an indoor festival, French crowds take their music very seriously.

MG: Your debut tracks on Fat Cat were recorded at Sigur Ros’ Sundlaugin studio in Iceland. How did that come about?

RR: Alex who runs the label thought it would be interesting to take us out of the Lab, where we record and live – the idea was to take the songs to a different part of the world, and see what kind of an impact it would have on them.

It has been really interesting watching them grow. Some of the songs have synths that were recorded in the vaults of a disused London bank, then vocals and drums that were recorded in a converted swimming pool in Iceland, then a string quartet recorded in Berlin, and finally the whole thing was mastered in New York.

MG: When can we expect the album?

RR: Late February – as soon as we are back from the US dates.

Find Breton on Twitter, Facebook and Vimeo. Breton’s AA single ‘Edward The Confessor’/'Kensington System’ is out now.

Jono McCleery

By James Blake

An air of anticipation fills the charming basement venue at the Queen of Hoxton in East London. Soaring strings silence the audience as Jono McCleery takes to the stage to launch his new album There Is. The crowd have already been soothed by Jess Bryant and treated to a rare bluesy-acoustic set from fellow singer songwriter Jamie Woon. Before excitement levels had reached this climatic peak, I caught up with Jono to discuss how the album was put together and what the future holds for the London based artist.

This is your album launch and your first headline slot you’ve done in London. How are you feeling and what have to done to prepare for tonight?

I’m really excited. We’ve got Jess Bryant band and Jamie Woon supporting and they’re both musicians that I love so I’m really looking forward to playing. I’ll also be performing with a full strings section for the first time so that we can recreate the tracks as closely as possible to make them sound like they do on the record.

How did get to work with Ninja Tune and start producing There Is?

I got signed to Ninja Tune because they heard a remix that Fybe had done of one of my tracks and loved it and suggested that we should collaborate for an album. Once we got going I wanted to add strings and my live band to the album so it became quite ambitious but we eventually got to a stage where we felt ready to release it and tour with it as much as possible.

While you were working with Fybe (Greg) and Matt Kelly did you ever struggle to fit everything you wanted in some of the tracks? Was there anything you had to compromise with?

We all had a really big creative impact on the album. I’d have little ideas that I’d send to Greg who would add beats to them, we’d send them onto Matt to arrange the strings on the tracks. All the time we’d try to put our own different perspective on things without each other’s input then we came together and added the live band to create the set of tracks we ended up with.

How have you found translating There Is from studio to the live setting?

That’s probably been the hardest part of all really. Greg did certain things with my guitar that have been tricky to replicate, it’s taken nearly a year to learn how to play the songs the way they sound on the album. It took a long time but I’m really grateful for it because it meant I’ve had to become a better musician to be able to perform the tracks well enough.

The album seems like a natural progression from your previous work. Was the writing process intense or did you let a body of work build that you were happy with before heading to the studio?

Well most of it was written for the album so it was quite an intense thing, it took a couple of years to do but I really wanted to be inspired and motivated to put together new work rather than relying on old material.

There’s a lot of that sort of thing going on at the moment like James Blake and Jamie Woon, whose supporting you tonight. Were you conscious to put your own stamp on the electronic singer songwriter brand as it were?

Well I didn’t go out aiming to add to that scene. When we started making the album those guys hadn’t released their stuff and we thought we were onto something a little bit different but it’s ended up being in part of this new genre which has annoyed me a bit to be honest!

Then again, I’m really happy that we’ve got loads live instrumentation on there which does set it apart form a lot of that stuff.

What is it about this genre that you think works so well and has found itself slipping into the mainstream recently?

I think it’s the intimacy. There’s a lot of intimate electronic music out there that suits the moods, and the atmospheres of a normal singer songwriter just possibly adds something that you can’t achieve with a guitar, harmonica or piano.

You’ve managed to combine so many influences into the album. Vocally you go from Bill Withers to Jeff Buckly to Gil Scott Heron while Nick Drake is heavily referenced by your guitar playing. Did you have any trouble combining all these styles into the album?

No not at all. I’ve been listening to those guys’ work for such a long time know that it just seems to come naturally to me. I listened to a lot of soul music when I was young so there’s always been that aspect to my voice but it took me a while to be able to merge other influences.  I’m sure there was a time when I sound like just one of them, like Nick Drake for example. Now though I’ve got to an age where it’s become a lot more natural for me to do. I’m really pleased when people can pick out all these different inspirations.

You supported one of these influences in Gil Scott Heron. How was it and did he pass on any words of wisdom?

No! I would have loved him to but we only really got to say hi to each other because he was so busy. I’ve kept in contact with his agents since and hopefully I’ll be heading over to America in 2012 to do some shows because of it. It was a lifetime ambition to support him and I was really lucky to do so. I’ve always concentrated on the next step rather than the big over all goal, so it wasn’t something that I ever actually envisaged doing. It was an incredible achievement but it also came as a big surprise.

So what is the next step after tonight’s album launch?

We’re booking a tour in France for around 15 dates, they’re receiving the album really well over there so I’m looking forward to that. Also, we’re getting some good radio play in America at the moment so I’d love to get out there and play some shows. I’ve never been to America but we’re getting a really good reception over there so I can’t wait to see to how our live shows go down over there.

Jono McCleery’s There Is is out now and he plays London’s 100 Club on November 30th.

We caught up with the brilliant, brilliant CocknBullKid at Latitude festival, to talk about her writing for popstars and her own album, Adulthood:

Muso’s Guide is working with Vodafone VIP across festival season, be it live-blogging, video-interviewing artists, Tweeting (we’re at @musosguide) or reviewing weekends in handy snapshot form.

Vodafone VIP is part of the VIP programme for customers, and Muso’s Guide is taking on official music blogger status at some of the summer’s hottest festivals. There are currently competitions running to win tickets to Latitude, T in the Park and Wireless, with more to come over the summer.

The Vodafone VIP experience extends further too – there’s a Vodafone VIP area across fashion, festivals and Formula 1 over the summer, a viewing platform giving customers shelter and brilliant views, a recharging truck capable of charging 2,000 phones at once and selected apps allowing festival-goers to see what’s on and where, locate their tent via GPS and plan schedules for their weekends.

Visit http://www.vodafone.co.uk/vip to find out more.

EDM

By Charlotte Gay

EDM – the band formerly known as Early Day Miners – release their new album Night People on September 5th on Western Vinyl in the UK and Europe. As they geared up to release a record that has seen not just a name change, but also seemingly a change in approach to the way they write and record their music, the band answered a series of questions from us via email.

For those out there who haven’t yet heard your music, how would you describe your sound and set up?

EDM is primarily a 4 piece group.  We have a drums set, a couple of electric guitars and a bass.  There is singing and sometime synthesizer.  We tend to expand the material in recording and we like to collaborate with different people.

The sound of the music is not simple to describe.  We tend to draw a lot of influence from English music of the ‘70s and early ‘80s.  That sensibility is well integrated into our personal backgrounds in post-Seattle American punk culture of the ‘90s.  On a subconscious level, we all bring some of the traditional musical energy from  where we all grew up in the USA- the midwest, the southern gulf shore states and the soutwestern desert, respectively.

What are you currently up to at the moment?

Preparing for some performances to support our new record Night People.

Before, and during the beginning of EDM, lead singer Dan Burton: you used to be a part of band Ativin, and now your drummer Glenn Kotche is a part of Dreamers of the Ghetto. Do you feel that side projects have any kind of interference on the work of EDM?

Dan is in school right now, and he lives in Baton Rouge and the rest of us live in Indiana, so there are periods of inactivity with EDM.  Our different creative projects are not so much of a limitation for us.  I think we’ve encountered more problems arising out of personal issues involving resources, family, careers, relationships, etc…

Glen Kotche is the drummer for Wilco.  Dan has worked as an engineer on recordings by On Fillmore, Glen’s group with the great bassist Darin Grey from St. Louis.   Marty Sprowles is the drummer for EDM, and he plays in Dreamers of the Ghetto.

Stereo / Video by EDM (formerly Early Day Miners) by western.vinyl

You’ve been working together as Early Day Miners since 1999 and have brought in many different band members over time. I believe you described it as ‘musical cooperation’. What do you feel are the positives, and negatives, of having many contributors?

This has worked best when Dan works on recordings and then puts a band together to play them.  You benefit from a solitary vision of the recording of the material.  It gives a certain focus to the project that carries over in to performances. The Offshore record was a culmination of this approach.  Afterwards, Dan wanted to bring more of a collaborative energy to the initial creative process.  We started work on the next record, The Treatment by taking the core group into a recording environment, with little or no material, and began experimenting.  This really opened up a whole new musical palette for the group , but it was also a challenge to figure out what to do with all of our new discoveries.  Having four cooks in the kitchen during that phase of a project can be complicated.

Do you feel that having rotating members has affects your output, or do you think you retain a similar sound regardless?  If not, does EDM like having lots of different variations in style?

We have been a pretty solid core for the last two records and most performances for several years.  Regardless, I think as artists we tend to be influenced by people who grow and develop while maintaining aesthetic unity throughout our work.  We tend to look pretty deeply into the fundamental components of music.  From that perspective, I think there is a lot of continuity in what we do and it’s easy to hear.  I think we are at a point of extreme disposability in music culture.  Lots of music is made that tries to reference particular styles in a way that is ultimately superficial.  People consume music in an unconscious way, responding more to media and marketing than the actual soul contained within.  Like I said, EDM is a group of pretty intense record collectors and recordists. I think similar minded people recognize the group’s aesthetic as being consistent and individualistic, but they also appreciate the expansive and experimental nature.

What are three musical influences?

Brian Eno, Section 25, Spacemen 3

What are three non-musical influences?

Bourbon, Cormac McCarthy, David Lynch

In previous interviews you commented that you enjoyed listening to bands such as Bon Iver. Who else are you listening to?

I have actually not heard Bon Iver yet, but I’ve heard a lot of good things.  I haven’t been following a lot of current popular music in the last few years.  There are so many great artists in Bloomington and it makes it hard to get excited about a lot of the ephemeral releases that seem to come and go in popular culture.  The group Fat Shadow is probably the best band in Bloomington.  Their self-released record The Foot of Love is one of the best records I’ve heard this year. I also liked Dylan Ettinger’s New Age Outlaws a lot. I’m excited to hear upcoming albums from Tammar and Racebannon, too.

There has been a lot of reissues popping up of the last few years so I’ve been revisiting a lot of old faves:  Spacemen 3, The Cramps, Galaxie 500, La Dusseldorf.  I have enjoyed seeing the Sublime Frequencies label evolve over the last several years.  I have also been listening to a CD compilation my friend John Terrill (drummer for Indiana’s late ‘70s Beefheart worshippers The Dancing Cigarettes) of Giorgio Moroders pre-Donna Summer bubblegum production relentlessly for a couple of years.

EDM - Night People

You all seem to be into having really creative album covers; I see you came in the top ten of NPR’s album covers. Where does your inspiration come from?

The current record cover is basically an homage to Section 25 and the packaging used by Factory Records.  Placer Found, All Harm Ends Here, and The Treatment all used photos that were already taken. We use an obscure and mystical process to psychically link with the responsible artists and fulfil our creative destiny.

Your new release via Cargo is coming out in the UK and US this month. Tell us about the project.

We had some demos of songs we’d worked on over a year or so.  Dan was home from grad school for  holiday break and we went to the studio and recorded and mixed a full length in five days.  We actually used a couple of old recording from sessions that had been on the back burner for a while, also.

Do you have a favourite track on the new release?

My favourite track is ‘Milking the Moon’.  It’s actually about getting a hand job in a bowling alley.

How does the new release relate to your debut, Placer Found? Are there any similarities or have you changed and developed?

In some ways, it is very similar.  Placer Found was recorded on an 8 Track tape machine.  We recorded this album digitally, but since we wanted to do it quickly, we took a more analog approach to the production.  We committed to sounds and arrangement during recording, instead of throwing down every single idea and then doing a lot of editing and automating.

I think the biggest change since the older records is the shift from having drummers that have some background with jazz techniques and using Marty who is basically self taught and has a very metronomic style.  This was a conscious decision to make the rhythm function as the foundation of the music, where before I think the drums floated on top of things a little more.

How has the balance of working a full time job and being part of EDM affected you? Do you all work alongside the band now?

Dan is in grad school in a different state right now, so that’s been a physical barrier.  We all work at jobs to live.  I have a full time job at Indiana University at the Archives of Traditional Music but they’ve been pretty flexible.   Marty and Jonny have flexible jobs. Jonny and Dan both have children, so that adds another layer of complexity to peoples’ needs and resource issues.  EDM has at best broken even over the years, but it has mostly been a labor of love.

How do you feel about your music being used on several TV shows / series? What’s your opinion on being considered mainstream?

I’m not sure of the details of what songs have been used, but I don’t think any of that exposure has yielded much fruit in terms of the public consciousness.

I think the idea of a “mainstream” is beyond myth in peoples’ minds, maybe to the point of being a mental illness.  The idea that there is some real “mainstream” or “normal” culture is a delusion.  I think people want to simplify individual behaviour into these categories and media projection is a manifestation of this.  PR and marketing are the best tools to manufacture a consensus of what is “normal” in public consciousness, and if you look at all the efforts to do so, you see it’s rarely successful. I look at all the emotional energy spent by people on how they identify as either mainstream or not, and I see that as a very convoluted way of being an individual.

After Wikipedia misinformed people that you had spilt up when in fact you had only cancelled a few gigs, how did that make you feel?

I think there were some rumours floating around locally that we had broken up, and a promoter in town who was doing one of the shows we cancelled had posted something about the band breaking up on some social media. Then it showed up on Wikipedia.  I think it was an interesting combination of small town gossip and high tech media.  I don’t think anyone was too upset, but it was a good demonstration of what sucks most about those two things, and how similar they are.

You commented on the Wikipedia mistake on your blog. Do you like to keep your fans in the know as much as possible?

Yes.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what/who would you want to be stranded with?

I would take a stopwatch, a sheepskin and a head covering.  That is assuming food and sex are taken care of.

What’s next for EDM?

Destiny.

By Charlotte Gay.

By Paul Brown

For a few months now, I’ve been excitedly looking forward to Slow Down, the debut album from Hyde and Beast, the North East super-group of sorts, comprised of Futureheads drummer Dave Hyde and former Golden Virgins member Neil Bassett. The record came out on August 15th, and as Dave tells us, has been a long time in the making: “We’ve known each other for twelve years or something, and we’ve been pretty good friends for a while, but a few years ago I was really busy with the Futureheads and kind of lost contact. We were doing our own things for ages, and then a few years ago, he was running a studio in Sunderland, and it seemed pretty perfect ‘cos I just lived round the corner from it!, We never intended to do an album at all, it was just that I’d had these few songs for years and years that I just wanted to get down.”

The songs, then, are almost entirely Dave’s, and as such reflect his own musical loves, and would appear to mark a bit of a departure from the furrow he ploughs with The Futureheads: “I don’t really listen to lots of modern music to be honest. Just old music a lot of the time… There’s quite a seventies format to the way the album sounds, it is quite old-sounding. I’d like to think it does have a little bit of something else to offer, but I understand that a lot of my influences are old, so it’s gonna probably sound like that, yeah. It’s great though, me and Neil are really pleased with what we’ve done”.

The band have started to build up some pretty positive press around their live shows of late too, and one particular gig in Manchester recently garnered a pretty sizeable chunk of attention, a large part of which was because of the unlikely support act they managed to rustle up in the shape of Lee Mavers: “It was very weird! I enjoyed his set, his guitar sounded amazing. He’s quite a legend, so it was a bit nerve-wracking to go on after him. It didn’t make sense to me at all, but it was good.” The band have announced some more shows in support of Slow Down, one of which is a slot at Sunderland’s Split Festival, an event running on September 17th and 18th which is pretty close to Dave’s heart: “Aye, it’s a festival we (The Futureheads) are running, we’re working on the day. It’s our festival. It’s our third year, we’re really excited. We all have different jobs, and mine is basically hospitality. Ross is pretty much the guy for the bands. He books all the bands. I’ve got it easy, like!”

With a line-up including the likes of Mystery Jets, The Charlatans and Frankie and the Heartstrings, Dave’s hoping to get a little time off his work duties to see some of Ross’ choices, “I’d like to see a bit of B>E>A>K, The Drums, Leatherface, Charlatans, there’s a few. It’s a pretty great line-up”. There’s a bit more to Split than just the bands though, especially for a family man like Dave: “We’ve got an acoustic tent and a kind of music playgroup, every hour there’ll be a fifteen minute lesson for kids, because there’ll be a lot of them about at the festival, so they can learn a few things whilst they’re there.”

It seems a bit early to be talking about the next record when the debut’s not even out yet, but it seems like Dave and Neil aren’t going to hang about in following up Slow Down: “We’re dying to make another one. We’ve got a whole new album on Neil’s phone, like a lot of these little ideas. We plan to put another one out relatively quickly but it’s just finding the time to do it.” Of course, there’s the little matter of the day-job to contend with too: “There’s loads of Futureheads stuff going on, we’ve got an a capella album coming out in the Autumn, so I’m going to be really busy”. He’s not kidding…

Backbeat - Soundsystem

Backbeat Soundsystem are Cornwall’s biggest reggae band to have breathed in the sea air. Charlotte Gay caught up with frontman Dean, sax player Tom and bassist Simmons before they funked out with the Leopallooza crowds.

Have you fellas played here at Leopallooza before?

DEAN: No this is our first time. We are Leopallooza virgins here today.

Do you think that with the audience being mainly of Cornish folk that there will already be some BBSS lovers in the audience today?

DEAN: I think if they are Cornish then they probably will have heard of us. Cornwall is quite small and there are not a lot of reggae bands, but I’m sure there are a lot of people who haven’t so it’s always about getting your music out to new audiences and new people.

TOM: We haven’t played North Cornwall before, so it’s nice to spread out a bit from where we usually play.

DEAN: So we can get some more fans.

It seems you guys are picking up fans fairly easily as you’ve already played at Glastonbury festival this year. How did that go?

DEAN: We did indeed, it was cool actually. It is like the big boy of the festivals.  It’s always a bit of a mission though, as it’s so big but it’s always really nice and magical to be there.

Did you meet anyone exciting whilst you were there, any idols or bands you’re fans of?

DEAN: Just the random general public really, they’re pretty exciting. No superstars.

TOM: They were all hiding away from the rain.

DEAN: We were gonna try and break into Beyonce’s dressing room but um, we decided it was a bad idea. But no we didn’t get to meet any idols that would have been good.

So although I’m talking to three of you guys now, there are actually eight members to BBSS. What is it like playing in such a big band, is it different to what you’re used to?

ALL: Nah it’s pretty different.

DEAN: I played in a metal band before, like way back and a few of the other guys played in punk bands and stuff as well. When they all sort of fell apart, we all just joined together quite naturally.

You’re not all naturally from a reggae background?

DEAN: Nah everyone’s different, like funk, and jazz and hiphop and y’know soul and all that kind of stuff. I think that’s why where our sound comes from.

So sort of like a natural progression?

TOM: Just different blends.

DEAN: Yeah we kinda wanted to start it originally as a bit of an experiment, just because we wanted to do something that people would enjoy live, something they can dance to, so that was where it started.

So it was you Dean who got the BBSS gang together then?

DEAN: Yeah initially, because I’ve got a little studio at my house and just decided to make some tracks. I then got Darren, our other singer, involved, then just different people joined the ranks really.

Did you recruit the rest of the band through rumours of good talent around?

DEAN: There was Simmons who I had in mind anyway because I played in college with him, so he was pretty much the only person to do the bass. Sam moved down to go to Falmouth Uni and we pinched him there, and my brother plays the keyboards, and a few of the others came from other bands.

Did you ever expect the band to get this big?

DEAN: No, it was never really an intention to start a band really, we’ve been really lucky we’ve sort of grown every year and it’s been really nice.

What were you all doing before you became a part of BBSS?

DEAN: I dunno really.

SIMMONS: I was part of another band but it was a locally based thing, and so Dean asked me to play and I was up for it, so the other band sort of ran its course and ended.

DEAN: A few people came straight from university.

TOM: Yeah I came from University and so I’ve come to the end of that now.

Yeah, none of you are that old to have had that much of your life pass by.

DEAN: We’re still young!

Do you tend to do more festivals then your own tours?

DEAN: Generally in the summer, yeah. Because the summer is made for festivals – that kind of music – and we just love being at festivals.

Totally, it’s a completely different vide because you’re part of a lot of bands, and people have not just come to see you, but other bands too!

DEAN: It’s a good place to win new fans as well because obviously everyone else comes to see who they do and some people just go to a festival because they’ve heard a reputation. So it’s good to meet new people,

I hear you guys are also playing in France this September, is that the first time you’ve ever played abroad?

DEAN: Yeah, we’re driving to France, although we played in Jersey last week.

Does that count as abroad?

DEAN: Actually no I don’t think it does.

SIMMONS: We played in Ireland.

DEAN: We definitely looking forward to our first time in mainland Europe, it’s going to be nice to drive down there.

I guess that will be a completely fresh audience to BBSS

TOM: Yeah I’ll be surprised if anyone has heard of us in France, unless they check our website beforehand. It’ll be a pretty new crowd I’ll say.

As you’ve said, your sound is a natural progression and an experiment, you’ve been dubbed as Reggae but would you guys call yourself that?

DEAN: No, it’s kind of based in Reggae but not really completely traditional reggae.

TOM: It’s kind of funky.

DEAN: And it’s got a lot of emphasis on melody, coming from the pop side of things but also just whacking a load of hip-hop in there. Just making sure everything is pretty banging. We write tunes that are going to get people moving.

So to sum up, what has been your favourite part of the last year? Any crazy adventures on tour?

DEAN: I think every weekend is a wild adventure.

Ok last weekend, what happened?

SIMMONS: Oh no, don’t talk about last weekend.

DEAN: We went to Jersey. We were meant to catch a half six ferry over there but it turned out that had actually booked us a half six ferry in the morning, so we missed that one. So they told us that we were on the next morning’s one, so we got up at 4am waited for that ferry but we weren’t on that one either. So they booked us flights from Southampton, so we drove from Weymouth to Southampton. Then just before we got on the plane our drummer had lost his driving license so he didn’t have any ID but we managed to get him on. We had a really nice day at Grassroots, got very drunk and stayed in a nice hotel. Obviously on the way back, we caught the ferry, so when we were in Weymouth, we had to wait for guys to drive to Southampton and back which took about 4 hours. So me and our sax player (Tom) went to watch Harry Potter for the 2nd time.

SIMMONS: And a couple of weekends before that, we managed to break our drummer’s ankle as well.

Oh No, How did that happen?

SIMMMONS:  I rugby tackled him.

Did he do anything to provoke you at all?

SIMMONS: It was kind of out of drunken love.

Just so much passion you had to break a limb

SIMMONS: Yeah leg breaking passion.

The Datsuns

Kiwi rockers, The Datsuns, have been touring and making music for the last ten years. After stopping for a break in 2008, the boys are prepped for their return, starting with Leopallooza. Charlotte Gay joined their guitarist Christian Livingstone.

You guys seem to always be on the move, you’ve just driven down from London today right?

Yeah we all stayed over in London last night, we’ve just come back from Indonesia, we went to London and then onto here. We’ve come a very long way.

So are you all pretty tired out then?

Yeah we are pretty tired, as soon as we finish playing we’ve got to drive to the other side Belgium, immediately no sleep. So I’ll be more tired tomorrow, now I’m ok.

Sounds knackering, and you all live all over the world.

I live in London, Dolf lives in Stockholm, and the other two guys live in New Zealand.

That’s a lot of globetrotting then?

Yeah and a lot of the Internet.

Does it seem weird all living so far apart?

We’re only just figuring out how to do it. We all used to live in England, until a couple of years ago when we all started living somewhere different and so we’re just trying to work out how to do it.

Obviously you’re all together for gigs like this, do you meet up just in the summer months for touring like this?

Yeah whenever there is a tour, we meet in Germany or wherever it is and go. No rehearsal, just wing it pretty much.

You guys are supposed to be releasing a new album soon right?

It was supposed to be out about now, which is why we are doing some shows, but it’s not out till the start of next year now.

What has this new album got to offer so far, how is it different to Head Stunts? Apart from it being recorded in Stockholm?

Well Dolf has his studio out there. I think every time when we do a record, for a rock and roll band, we like to do a few different things. Not like ACDC where every song is the same, which is great for them. We’ve done a few different things, but I think this album is a bit more cohesive, a bit more in one style of genre than the last couple of records, which were a mix of pop songs, rock songs, and psychedelic songs. This one is more in the same vein.

What vein would you say that is?

Obviously it’s rock and roll, just a little bit more stripped down and a little bit more straight ahead. It’s difficult to say, as we are going to do a little bit more recording in a few weeks to add to it, so it could go in any direction.

With what’s recorded so far, was it fun? Do The Datsuns enjoy experimenting with new tracks?

Sometimes it’s really fun, sometimes it’s really stressful and fraught with arguments – it can be a bit hit or miss. Recording with The Datsuns is a bit of a soap drama sometimes.

So what’s the latest episode like then?

Well the latest saga happened in January, there was a really bad vibe, which has all been forgotten now and we’re all excited to be recording again and it’s all starting fresh again.

What happened in January?

Nothing, just everyone was really focused on it, I really think the song should go this way – oh no no, it should be more like this. We’re all working for the same purpose, just different angles.

Isn’t it good to have different opinions on the tracks?

It can be, in the past has proven to sometimes be a bit bitter through a little bit of creative tension.

You mentioned ACDC before, are they any kind of influence on The Datsuns’ music?

Not really, we like them but I wouldn’t say they were a much of an influence. People sometimes say we sound like them but that’s only because they think we’re from Australia and we’re not. It’s just a kind of obvious rock and roll reference to make. We do think they’re cool but think we’re from a Zeppelin/T-Rex kind of angle really.

Do you think it is good to be compared to bands like them though?

I’d much rather someone said we were like ACDC than people like Boyzone.

Or The Darkness?

Yeah or The Darkness, which is really confusing because that’s another New Zealand band that begins with D, so that’s an easy mistake to make.

Where are you guys off to after Leopallooza and Belgium?

Well we came from Indonesia, then London, here, onto Belgium, France, back here, and then Sweden.

And then is it a rest from then?

We get a bit of a rest, but then over to Australia and New Zealand, then hopefully a little bit of a rest and then the album will be out at the start of next year and we’ll be back over here.

Are you looking forward to all this touring?

Yeah well we haven’t done much over the last couple years, but we spend pretty much the entire last decade on the road till 2009, then we had a little bit of a break.

How long have The Datsuns been together for now?

Sixteen years, that is quite impressive in this day and age.

Do you have any usual fan bases in random countries aside from your homeland and here?

We have quite a big following in Holland and Belgium. We spend most of our time playing in Europe actually.

Do these audiences react differently to your music?

That’s really hard to say, it’s more like towns that vary rather than countries and what day of the week it is because a Friday night is always going to be more crazy than a Monday night.

Finally do The Datsuns’ have any adventures on tour that they would care to share?

Have you heard the phrase what goes on tour stays on tour? Nah the problem whenever anybody asks is that we can’t remember as we were too drunk at the time. We stayed at the Columbia Hotel in London, which bands used to stay at all the time, and someone got me to stand on the vending machine in the lobby and I fell off that and broke my heel. I spent like a month with a cane, in various magazines trying to spot me with my cane.

They didn’t try and photoshop that out of the picture then?

No, somebody’s got a picture of me mid-air falling off the vending machine which is quite a good photo and went up on the website.

So is that the craziest thing on tour?

It’s not the craziest thing. I’ll tell you, we were just in Indonesia and everyone owns a motorbike. We were driving down the motorway and we saw not just once but several times, a man on a motorbike, a woman on the back, holding a baby under one arm, with no helmet, going like 100kph. Then we also saw a woman breastfeeding a baby going down a motorway.

Did you get a photo? That’s the main thing!

No, we should have got a picture. That’s just the way they live in Indonesia.

James Vincent McMorrow

The beautifully-voiced James Vincent McMorrow joined Charlotte Gay before his performance at Leopallooza festival. The Irish singer songwriter, famed for songs such as ‘This Old Dark Machine’ and ‘If I Had a Boat’, talks about his band, creativity and the US.

Where have you come from today James?

Camp Bestival, in Bournemouth. It had a great feel to it, a very family festival. Music was almost secondary, not in negative sense; it had a lot of families and lovely food.

Have you done a lot of travelling around this summer so far?

Yeah a lot, June and July have been sort of constant, then after this one I’ve got maybe five festivals in August but they’re spread apart by weeks.

Are they all in the UK?

No, actually Greenland festival in the UK, then one in Germany, The Netherlands, one in Ireland and one somewhere else.

What is it like coming back home to play in Ireland? Does it have a homecoming feel to it?

We haven’t played many Irish shows since the record came out over here, and it’s gotten way way busier. Last year I was out there, but it was on a pretty small scale, just me and my guitar wandering around Ireland playing shows. Then the record came out here and it’s all gotten pretty crazy back home. We haven’t had a chance to play since because we’ve been so busy here and in the US.

Are you looking forward to it then?

Yeah, we did one show in Galway, which was a bit mental, it was just rammed and everyone was singing along. So it’s nice, it’s a different thing, we’ve done a lot of big festivals and shows, but a lot of it are festivals where the majority of the audience don’t know your music but you have to put on a different kind of performance, you have to try to win them over more. Whereas we had forgotten there were already a lot of people we had already won over. So going home was nice for me it was nice to be in a room full of people who already new every word.

Did it feel great to have your lyrics sung back to you?

Yeah it was. We had been in touring mode for so long that when we came back from playing Latitude and some continental festivals, huge festivals where people have no idea who we were, so we were used to putting our heads down and just playing but after two songs we realised where we were.

Did you find that you changed how you performed?

We just got into it more, just a bit looser I guess. We just let everyone sing along and accompanied their singing.

So you’re actually signed in the US aren’t you? Did they spot you before we could get our mitts on you?

I licensed the album in the US in around September of last year, which is around the same time that I licensed the record here, but I did a little bit more work over there early on and in October I did a couple of tours and everything sort of started up here in January. Everybody I guess is hearing the record at the same time, at the same speed across the continent which is great but it’s also quite tiring because it means you need to be in four places at once to keep it all going.

If you were to go it again would you have just focused on one country and then moved around?

In hindsight it is easy to say yeah we probably should have just focused on one country but you never know. If you focus on one country and it doesn’t go then, you’ve put all your eggs in one basket. The idea was that this is a little independent release, so the idea is to hedge your bets; you’ve got all these opportunities so you have to take them all. As the album starts to go and sell, people hear it and pass it around, obviously then you could go oh we should have focused on the US or the UK. It’s manageable, barely but it is.

I hear you tried living in London to write the album but it didn’t work out for you?

I love London, London is my favourite city, it’s always somewhere I enjoy going but it didn’t work out from professional stand point. I wasn’t really happy with the music I was making or just what I was doing generally. But I love London.

Maybe it was too distracting?

Maybe it is, maybe living in North London. But I was working every day, I just wasn’t getting anywhere, and wasn’t really equipped for making music in that point of my life. I was pretty fresh to it, had written some songs and found myself living in London, being in studios with producers and engineers and people who knew way more than I did. You’re kind of going with their opinions and ideas often to the detriment to the song or the overall feel. I was just making and playing music I had no heart for.

You ended up making your own album back in Ireland by yourself; did you find that better than having these producers influence?

That was my immediate goal, just to remove all that other shit that comes along with music, with so many opinions and ideas. I think music should be based on one opinion and idea, and then everyone else can fit in around that. I’m not a dictator, I have no problem with people’s ideas, but when you come from behind people where they know more than you do, the instinct is just to follow their lead. Even in my own staggering naivety to the music business and how to record stuff, I figured I’d be happier with something that was 100% mine not 80% mine and 20% someone else’s, especially if that 20% is the important 20. So that was the idea to make a really simple record, really simply – everything else was motivated by that.

At least now you know you have all 100% of your own influence; have you felt like you have learnt from it?

Oh yeah, I know how to make a record now from start to finish, which is something I never thought of myself. It’s a whole different aspect of music. I’m so glad I did it. For the next record I’m going to be making it myself again with more means.

Will the record be quite so ‘Homemade’ now you are signed or with more outside influence?

Whatever homemade means, yes, I think the first album was very homespun, because it was made with very limited equipment and means and that was its gift and its curse. I was hampered by what I could and couldn’t do. I’m not hampered by those things anymore because I have what guess I didn’t have which was money. I can buy the things I need to make a record sound good. But it’ll still be the same homespun feel, I’ll come up with the ideas and I’ll bring some people in as well to help me in areas. It’s just a confidence thing, I had no reason to be a confident recorder of music at that point.

When you write your songs what sort of things do you do to inspire yourself?

Not necessarily a good mood, you could be in the worst mood in the world. Creativity is a very fickle thing so it comes and goes. Making the record over the space of six months meant that I could manoeuvre around the mental blocks for a little while if they crept in, which they invitably did. You can just focus on other things, even if I am having a mental block with lyrics or melody, there’s always something within the mix I can turn my hand to and focus on. Whether its drums or banjo parts or just mixing or trying to re-record stuff. There were definitely moments when mental blocks occurred and I could work my way out of them, I’ve always managed to work my way out of them.

Things like reading books, just writing words on a page, even if they mean nothing can help because things might be good but you might not realise at the time because mental blocks put you into a negative space. So I write a lot of things, ignore them for a month, then look at them again and they might be really good. They might be utter rubbish but just keep working. Just keep grafting away.

Creativity is not just a bolt of lightning for me, maybe it is for some people, I doubt it. I think a lot of people talk about writing songs in five minutes and I think that’s probably the exception rather than the rule. I think creativity is something that has to be sustained and drawn out slowly. That’s the way I’ve looked at it – patience!  Without patience I don’t think anybody would ever be able to make anything in any fruitful sense.

So did you always want to be a musician?

It’s the only thing I’ve ever known. Not even known, because even when I was twelve/thirteen I wanted to play music but I just wanted to be around it. Then I learnt the things I needed to learn, over the space of when I left school to when I left college. Three or four years just studying the fundamentals of music. It was all I ever wanted to be a part of, so just a matter of finding my place within it. The fact that I am making music is amazing but it could have easily gone the other way, could have easily decided I wanted to be something completely different in music, like working at a record label. I just wanted to do something but music was the only thing that really made sense to me.

Obviously you started as a solo performer but tonight you’ve got your band behind you, is it  nice to have a team with you? Or do you prefer being on your own?

I like them both, and equally, they are both very different. I really enjoy playing by myself at the moment because it’s just quiet and crowds are always lovely, they listen and they pay attention. They pay attention for the full band too but dynamically it’s different, it’s a big thing, and there is a lot more to think about. When I’m only thinking about me singing and playing guitar I can focus. Whereas the nature of my mind means that even if I have people I have 100% faith in, which I do on stage, I’m still thinking about the part they’re playing and how they fit into the overall composition. So there is definitely more thought that goes into it.

But when it goes right does it feel more of a success?

When you come offstage having played a really compelling full band show, the feeling is amazing, like sharing it with others. I’ve played solo shows which I have really enjoyed but when you come off stage your just by yourself but there’s just that automatic quiet thing.

By Charlotte Gay. Images by Hannah Wheeler (Daisyrock Photography).

Wolf Gang

Wolf Gang’s Max McElligott abandoned his degree to pursue his career in music. Charlotte Gay nabbed him for a cheeky chat at Leopallooza festival to tell us about his how he got to create his very own wolf pack.

I’m joined here with Max from Wolf Gang, and I guess you could say you are the brain child behind the whole operation?

Yeah I guess, I write the songs and stuff.

So before you got the band together you did solo work?

Yeah, I mean I’m a solo artist but I set up the band to help me play my songs live, so I still do all the writing, and I recorded the album by myself. But I have a band with me, the same band who help me play live.

Do you find that when you are the one who is writing that you are the one taking the lead? Giving all the direction? Or is it a matter of team work?

I guess I have a fairly clear idea of how I want things to be in my head, but at the same time, I let the guys come up with ideas and it very much feels like a band, especially when we’re in the bus together.

Did I hear correctly that you are a self-taught musician? Was that, not easy, but was it something that came to you fairly naturally?

Yeah I always loved picking up instruments and playing with them, I was always hearing things and then reproducing what I heard, on the piano or guitar and it was a very natural way of doing it. I guess I’ve grown up in a very musical household, my mum is a musician, she is a violinist, and everyone in family plays something. It was very easy, almost like a process of osmosis that I picked it up.

Would your family have been almost disappointed if you were not a musician?

No actually, I think they always liked me doing it as a kind of fun thing. When I told them I wanted to do it seriously, I think they were actually a bit worried. It’s a very hard thing to do and make a living from it, so they were kind of against it funnily enough, but now that they see that I am serious about it, they enjoy it.

Obviously you’ve done well so far is it as it’s quite difficult for new musicians to break through. How long have you been performing now?

I guess I’ve been doing this for about two and bit years. I was doing a degree and reached the finals of my last year and dropped out last minute. I just wanted to something completely different; I had a sudden change of heart.

What was your degree?

Social Anthropology, so I suddenly realised I needed to do something completely different and since then I’ve just worked really hard.

Your album was quite DIY, in that it was fairly self-produced, but you worked with Dave Fridmann (who produced MGMT, amongst others), what was that like?

Amazing, yeah I went over to New York to record it, and it was really cool. It was in the middle of nowhere in these woods, in upstate New York, so not in the city. I went out there four or five times over the course of last year just recording with him, and it was amazing.

How did you meet him in the first place?

I really wanted to work with him, so I asked someone at my label to put me in touch with him and send him one of my bedroom demos just to see what he thought.

So one of those ‘your people in touch with my people’ kinds of things?

Yeah, well it was a total stab in the dark, but he got back and was like ‘oh I really like this song and y’know would love to work with you’ and so invited me out there to try this track. It worked really well so he was like let’s just do the whole album.  I was really lucky.

Was it weird having someone helping you that closely with your music with there being a lot more control in someone else’s hands? Was it quite a harsh process?

No no, we co-produced it and I guess I had a really clear idea of how I hear each sound being anyway. So my bedroom demos, before I took them to him, were already all the parts pretty much and arrangements pretty much together. So with Dave it was just a case of him choosing the good ones, knocking the bad ones on the head and adding a few more things. Just catching a sound really perfectly so it was a really good team effort. We weren’t treading on each other’s toes too much.

Did you play at all when you were out in New York?

Yeah we played two shows in New York, we played a show in LA, and we played down in Texas a couple of months ago for South by Southwest. It’s crazy, it’s like a town that gets completely taken over by thousands of musicians, and it’s really cool and fun.

What are American audiences like? Do you find that international audiences react differently?

I love American audiences; they always seem to be really positive. In Australia that’s the best audience, and in New Zealand are actually the best audience we’ve ever had, just the most enthusiastic. Even in Norway a couple of weeks ago we played a festival and they were just all dancing around. I think once you leave Britain actually the audiences seem to get better.

Wolf Gang

So we’re tougher to please over here, a bit more critical?

Not always. You play some great crowds in Britain too, but maybe just in London. I guess people are kind of spoiled in Britain for so many bands. Y’know you can go see a band every night of the week but in a place like New Zealand an international band is not that often, so they really enjoy themselves.

Had they heard a lot of Wolf Gang music before?

I think a song or two had been played over the radio a bit so there was awareness out there. I think at one point we were sort of better known in Australia than we were known here. We were playing to bigger audiences out there than here.

Are you looking forward to playing Leopallooza today, what are you first thoughts on arrival?

Yeah it’s great, we’ve only just rocked up so I haven’t really had time to look around but it seems like you say a nice DIY kind of feel to it and quite chilled out. Which I totally like, because the last few festivals have been like T in the Park and Glastonbury, have been super organised.  Even just getting into the festivals, you get taken to like five different gates and told by other people and ringing up other people but here you just rock up and you’re there.

You’ve performed with some really big names like The Naked And Famous and Florence and the Machine, and they have become some really big household names. Do you think Wolf Gang with be the same in five years’ time?

I’d hope so, obviously that’s what I’d like but you don’t know what’d going to happen. It’s nice when you’re supporting a big band you’re put in front of a massive audience. Like a couple weeks ago we supported The Killers at Hyde Park. That was literally to about 20,000 people. It’s such an amazing feeling, you get such a rush that nothing compares to. I would love to be playing to those audiences in my own right that would be the best thing in the world. I’m looking to release another album this time next year, so I just want to keep going at it and keep working hard.

So big audiences, like you said in Hyde Park – are they what you prefer to small intimate gigs or are there qualities in both that you enjoy?

They are both different types of beasts. I love the big audience and the big stage and being able to move around and everything’s loud, and big impressive imposing kind of thing. And intimate things are good for a whole other reason. We did an in-store gig the other day in London in front of about a 150 people and that was really intimate and I felt like it was much more emotional.

Just before I finish, what have you guys got any crazy stories of what you and the band have been up to this summer?

What can I actually talk about, I got stung quite badly by jellyfish when we went skinny dipping after a big night out in Norway after we played a festival, with all these naked Norwegian girls and a few guys. All of a sudden I was swimming; it was about four or five in the morning, I started getting stung everywhere. It was like a nightmare, it was horrible.

Oh dear! Did you have to go to hospital?

They weren’t like serious stings, just like being stung by nettles or a wasp. Just not what you want when you’re pissed and having fun.

By Charlotte Gay. Images by Hannah Wheeler (Daisyrock Photography).