Ep 46: alt-J

Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats.

Hey everyone, good evening. It's me again Stuart Stubbs, the man with the beautiful monotone voice, for another introduction to the Loud and Quiet podcast. Thank you for downloading episode forty six of Midnight Chat. My guests tonight are bona fide friends of Loud and Quiet. Old Jay have become one of the biggest bands in the UK and they do pretty well overseas as well, particularly America, where they

Naturally, we pick up.

The conversation though with me asking Gus about his appearance on Christmas University Challenge. For people listening outside of the UK to this, University Challenge is basically an extremely intellectual quiz show where universities kind of flex their brains and nerd out on BBC two under the watchful eye of a complete madman called Jeremy Paxman. I'm pretty sure that's all you need to know. If you do like what you hear in this podcast, please do check back and

Was was this a repeat of it would have been a repeat it was? It was on Christmas twenty sixteen?

So you were you were on it? It was on I wasn't.

I got the final leads the team I was on.

Yeah, this final was the one I saw great, didn't quit myself did pretty badly. I was Nicholas, what was the So this is the the I mean, they don't call it celebrity University Challenge.

Christmas University Change. It's alumni.

They call it like distinct wished alumni, because I think that sometimes they get I mean, I'm not you know, for example, I'm not a celebrity, but I suppose I'm

I guess.

Okay, firstly, Joe, why why weren't you on this team?

I well, initially I was asked, I was asked you, and you know.

I.

Essentially I was I was just like, I am not the quiz master in the band. I think Gus is master of quizzes. And I offered, I offered the job to Gus.

You passed it over, you know, like like a question did to the other side.

Yeah, did you instantly to be Yeah, I'm taking completely.

I mean I was like I was, I was hurt, an upset, and you know, not not with Joe. But I was just like I was gutted that they asked Joe, not like and I was like, it looks there's any chance they want, you know, somebody who's not the lead singer. I'd kill for this because I really, like, I did. I really grew up watching it. I love quizzies, I love general knowledge, and it's just you know, it was a dream and actually I never I didn't when I

And then they were like Gussard, we wanted, we wanted Joe.

But I thing is, Gus is media trained, and I think just because you know, you've had a good upbringing and you know you're you know how to kind of work the crowd and stuff, I think you have that gift and I think he should be part of a number of the sort of media productions.

I did get.

I think I got, I got off.

I think I got of it.

Mastermind, Well I think.

As a result of it, yeah, I.

Think mastermind, celebrity master chef. Who do you think you are? Maybe the Bacoff.

But yes, there's the.

Four that I think Gus would do really really well, excelling because you've got a really interesting family history. He's a very good cook, he's good at the general knowledge. So I think these are most I think most of these are deep sea based.

But you know you've got I won't do it. I won't do commercials. Bake Offf's now gone over, that's true. What Gus, What would Joe be good at him?

I think Joe would be good on you know, on count You know that thing.

Like on countdown when somebody sits next to the person with the dictionary.

Yeah, that because you're very good at helping and like an, we're very sort of guy, Doug.

You know, you wouldn't want to be the person with the dictionary because you're not that into dictionaries and stuff. But I think that you'd be you'd be charming at the elbow of Susan. Susie, I feel like I've damned you with fame praise there. But you can be gone on spring Watch as well.

You like how I was play an animal? Yeah? What about Pointless? Then the two if you could go?

Oh, team counter and my friend went on Pointless and didn't didn't do well.

Really yeah, one of our writers and a friend went on points he got to the finals.

It's blooming hard the final, Yeah it is. Yeah, I had a I was watching it the other day. This is what you do when you're not on tour, you watch TV. And then there was it was like films. It was like actors in I think it was Coen Brothers films or something, and they basically picked like films or something, and this mother and daughter just had no idea about any of these films and so they just had They were just like guess actors in these films. They just they were just making up. They were just

So what was Paxman like then on University Challenge? Was he a nice because I like PACs Men?

Yeah, he was nice.

He doesn't he kind of like comes in and gets down to business pretty quickly into the studio, doesn't sort of go around go to the pub afterwards.

Well, afterwards he did.

We had like a little kind of cheese and wine in the green room and came up and pressed the flesh, And there was one he made some joke about me, how I've been saying the right answer for ages while my team was deliberating, and I was going.

Thin legs, thin legs, legs, and they were going, I got you didn't see that.

Watched the first episodes on Fire.

What I like about University Challenge and Pacsmen because Paxton was obviously such a force and a notorious bastard on TV.

Is when someone.

When he likes you can really tell when he likes a team or he likes a person on a team, and they always, you know, I always feel quite pleased for them that they've broken the hard shell. Yeah yeah, and become friends. Did you feel you ever? I think that we were. I think that we were fan favorites as a team.

I think because we really like we really bonded as team with quite a lot of kind of joking around.

And you watched it, didn't you.

I think I think we were a good team, and I think that some of the other teams were not good teams. I think pa Packsman sensed that we'd we gelled, and I think he appreciated that, because obviously it has for the format to work, you know, you have to seem a bit like you're a team, not even just arrived in separate Addie Lee's and just met five minutes before going on into the studio, which I think was the case with so as I.

May say, so, do you keep in touch with the team.

I got an email from Kamal Ahmed a few days actually, and I need to email him back. I just I was on the bus and I just had to get it was my stop. So it's in my draft. If you're listening, I'm I'm sure you are right.

He definitely is. He's a big fan of the podcast.

Yeah.

Well, when he's not doing economics, he's very into indie music.

Yeah, okay, other TV in the world of Old j The Brits. You guys go quite a bit to the Brits these days.

You didn't go this year? Did you not go? No?

No, no, no. We didn't get any nominations this year. This is awkward now because I thought you did.

No, that's fine.

I think I didn't want one anyway, norm one, you know, we've we've five nominations, no wins. So it's almost like the reverse of like a really good boxing career, isn't it.

You know, we're none from five. What was it generally like at the Brits?

It's the Brits is one of those things where it's a bit like la in the You moan about it when you go, but most people don't get a chance to go, so moaning about it's a bit.

Isn't it. People are like, oh, bloody Brits.

Tonight you catch yourself doing that and like, how a minute, I'm moaning about.

Going to the Brits. You know, I said about La as well. People go to LA and it's.

Like, well, most people would love to go to La really, you know, yeah, Bridge is.

All right, it's a long way away, yeah too, Yeah, yeah, it's hard to go to taxi.

Home, Joe, do you want to take Yeah, those taxis. I like, I like going to any kind of award ceremony because you just get to dress up and it's it's it's it's not you're part of your regular sort of day to day life. And I think probably you feel that more with an award show than you do with anything else that you do when you're working.

You see some very famous people there, which is which is exciting. It's exciting to see Robbie Williams and the Donna.

And I think there's a genuine kind of crescendo with sort of anticipation and then actually going to the event and it's very I don't know, it's not it's not as good as maybe you thought it was going to be. And I think seeing that you see that in everyone, I think, yeah, kind of collapse.

Well with the Brits especially, seems to be it's kind of produced for TV, isn't it. It's made more as a TV show. Yeah, they say the room.

Yeah, well that's what they say with the presenting, isn't it that you have to present to the living rooms not to the room itself? And I think that's very true with everyone who's there.

Yeah, whereas the untelevised awards shows are a bit more you know, sort of yeah, anything goes really Yeah, it's looser, which is quite fun. Where's the bridge is like really tight? Yeah, which is quite impressive.

Actually, yeah, do you go to the parties afterwards?

We have done in the past, but I think we've never really felt because there's the three major part isn't There's like Warner, Sony and Universe Universal, And I don't think we've ever really been invited to those parties.

And I think we remember that last time we were nominated for two Bricks and we didn't get invited to the Warner party despite the fact that we're on Warner in America, and.

It was like cheers, I'm going to go home.

I didn't want to come anyway. It's fine. Things like that that you know.

But the thing is that the other side of that coin is that we don't cultivate celebrity status.

We don't seek it.

We're not and so you can't really blame people for not, you know, inviting us to the parties because we're not.

We we value our anonymity so much.

We don't want to be in like three Am whatever it is, you know, Gordon Smart, Bizarre or whatever, you know. Like not that I was saying we would be, but certainly other bands of our size are more like celebrities whereas we're not.

And we always say that we love that, which we do.

So it isn't really anyone that we're not that brands aren't falling over themselves like give us like free clothes or invited to sort of celebri parties because we pretty much project and imag you're not wanting to be at the party.

Really, Yeah, the secret is that we do.

But if anyone is listening from a brand or throwing a party, these guys definitely want to be Yeah.

Yeah's only got one shoe one? I really do. Yeah.

When you're there and there's these really famous people and it's quite a star struck moment, Madonna or as you say, do you go and talk to them?

Do you ever go? I'm just going to go, and I'm just going to go. And you have in the past, have you whoever you spoken to?

I've spoken to people like Johnny mar Warren Ellis.

I'm not We're not talking like you know, Ue celebrities, but we're talking like you know, Indie major, major defens people and really famous people.

I can't think of any more but demoo Leary.

But you know I've approached Dermota Lyrics twice. That nice guy.

So you know, it's one of the things I think you learn quite early on that you're not going to get very much out of it.

Really, nobody's going to much out of it, you or them.

Yeah, it can't go well enough, can it? Because I've done it very rarely. And unless that person says to you, we're getting on, so well, let's change numbers, go on holiday together and become best friends.

However, not unless they are as nice as that Tom from Savian, I'll start guitar text holiday. I think he drinks have been consumed on both sides.

He genuinely said that you and your family should come on holday with me and.

I love that story.

Yeah anyway, Yeah, you're right exactly. That's it's yeah, that's that's the best thing that could happen. Unless that's not going to happen. It's not going to uns It's Tom.

I think if I go up to anyone, as soon as I decide to approach them, I also make a decision to leave as quickly as possible. So I just want to be in and out drive by a drive by. Yeah, so what is it? Is it Tom them into the face.

I just wanted to say.

Just say I'm a big fan. I've listened to you since since I was little, and I still do.

I love you.

I love your work on X Factor. I've liked to present jobs Dermott.

Yeah. The second time I saw a Dermot, I was like, Dermot, it's me.

But yeah, it's in and out. It really is.

Because yeah, like you say, there's there's you're not going to be best mates, and you don't really want to be best mates. You just want to acknowledge. You want them to know that you acknowledge their greatness.

That you're a fair Once I just remembered one per famous person on the bricks. But when we met Harriet Harman and the Brits, which was quite cool.

Yes, we did.

And then we saw Vince Cable and what I did to Vince Cable was I thought, don't go up to him, so I just raised my glass to him and he raised his glass back and it was that was like that was great because I didn't have to involve any talking and disturbing. I just acknowledged that I think, you know, he's a good, good European.

I raised my glass and that was it, and it was kind.

Of like, you should do more of that less.

Yeah, yeah, I love all your work. Do that for dirmit next time.

Just raise the glass and they'd be like, who's like, I think I'm a waiter. Obviously, you have fans that come and do these say these things to you, so that probably helps when you're when you're meeting famous people like I don't know, Leary, you've been in that position. What do people come and say to you? Do they say? Do people do the same thing? Generally come over and just say Joe Gus I just wanted to say I'm

I think you get get varieties, yeah, all kinds.

You get the people who come up to you and don't know really who you are, but they know that you are in some way famous, which.

Is can be quite annoying because it's like, you.

Know, like, yeah, there's no value at all with this inituaction.

And you get some people who stick around so long that you and they don't say very much, and you have to make small talk.

I ask them sort of, you know, what they're doing in the summer.

And sometimes it seems like they're getting bored, and like, yeah, you're getting bored. Don't say anything then, But so I'm keeping this up. Yeah, you're not leaving.

You know. It's a very it can be very weird.

I had an interaction once where probably my most memorable was after a show, this woman came up to him, like, you did amazing things tonight. I was wondering if I could return the favor and do something amazing to you.

WHOA, that's like the kind of thing that people send a sixty.

Yeah yeah yeah, and I said no.

Thanks, no, thank you, goodbye.

Yeah, that was a nice in first so Gus used to have a restaurant close to here, yes, until fairly recently. Did did fans of the band know your involvement in it? And would they come because in a way, you're sitting duck there if you kind of say, hey, if you promote it as this is my thing, and they know, they're like, I know exactly where he's going to be today.

Yeah, I mean I was literally in there like three or four days a week, eight hours a day, like cooking and like wiping tables and stuff.

And it wasn't very glamorous, you know. Would people come in.

Sometimes not as many as I expect as a hot Well, yeah, because I think that most of our fans and probably outside London, and a lot of them don't have the kind of because a lot of the kind of teenagers, a lot of them don't have the kind of means to kind of come into London and visit what was, you know, a somewhat expensive place to eat, you know.

So it's like there wasn't that many.

There was a few, there was, There was definitely a few, But I was I was expecting more, not like I was disappointed, but actually I think that the place more or less had a reputation largely based on food.

Really more than the fact that I was sort of a.

There was that you talking about a funny story where Gus was sort of in the back doing some work and to access the toilets you had to go out the back, and this fan went to the toilet and stopped and looked at Gus and was like, aren't you an l chair?

I guess I was like, yeah.

He was like, why are you working a calf?

Yeah?

You can see our people apron on and yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because at the time, I mean, not that you're now on the way down, but I mean even then you were you were really big, like you'd already become really big. Yeah, and you played back Madison Square Garden. Yeah, And there is something kind of insane about being in a band that goes and plays Madison Square and then you come home and then but when you're not doing that, you are working in a in a in a kind of

Yeah, I really enjoyed it, and I you know, it was but yeah, it was a great thing for me. I mean, so it meant that, like, you know, we we had six months off, I really didn't do anything. Basically, we didn't we hung out a bit, or we weren't. We weren't doing like, we weren't in studio or anything. And so you know, the seven days and a week is a lot of days really, So like three days a week, I would go down to Dandy. I'd be there at seven in the morning opening up. And this

Yeah, Joe, what's your equivalent? I know that because you don't have Gus doesn't have the restaurant anymore. But Joe, in that time and since, what's what's your between records, between tours? What do you fill the day with? I hope it's something really really extravagant. By the way, the complete opposite of that. I want to I want to hear that you're in a speedboat most of the time.

Well I am, yeah, ok, yeah, no, I basically, you know, largely my role in the band is kind of to initiate the songs.

So actually I spend a lot of time doing nothing and waiting for that to happen. So I'm I just have to be very close to my guitar, you know, I have. I have I stay active.

I like to stay fit. I got boxing.

I got into boxing, did you, but not not not not working, not actually boxing club and not doing it for money. I was I was actually just working with the personal trainer who was a boxer. It was Ben Knuckle at times, yes, and yeah, no, I saw I was kind of doing that. And trying to pick up languages is something that ongoing endeavor of mine and sort of like failing at the first hurdle really, and that's

You told me about two years that you want Italian. But that's so good. Yeah, yeah, I mean you know Ben Ben, Yeah, yeah, how do you do you go to a class? No, I've only started.

I'm on a ten day streak on dual LINGO.

Good.

Don't know if I can drop can I drop names of apps?

Yeah? Of course?

Yeah, yeah, I think I might have plugged you a lingo on here before because I was trying to learn French for a long yeah, and I still am. But the problem is that I've realized and another thing I've picked up is learning the piano. But it's not like learning to drive a car, is it. You don't get to a point where you fit you're finish. Yeah, you've never finished learning. And so I'm kind of regretting starting now because I realized it's now a curse for the rest of my life.

Although it's a small improvement on my Italian from knowing very little to knowing a little more than very little. But I was walking today and there's a restaurant called left Keta and now I know.

I know that's the fork. Yeah, so let's work it.

So yeah, I can kind of speak Italian read Italian.

I'll give you a good tip for learning language.

Watch films like anything on but with like French subtitles, like a film you know well, film you know well, or just any film where you can where they're speaking English, and it just kind of like just you can just teach stuff, new words and stuff, and it's just quite a good it's quite a goods very low effort thing. It doesn't it isn't you know you're not watching French film.

That is a good too. I guessing I reckon you're good at languages. I'm good. I speak French and quite I'm quite good at languages.

He is very good at languages, especially the Romantic ones. But you also pick up You've picked up German quite quickly.

I want I've really looked in German. Yeah.

I tried to do Dore for a while. I should go back into it.

I just did a kind of weird shrug bow, I'm gonna go obviously, I don't know how to follow.

Why don't we end it? That's a micro draft Michael tim Peak, the astronaut.

Yes, yes, are you friends with him?

No?

We whether he would recognize us again? Again, I'm sure he would, because I'm sure that's a process that you have to learn as an astronaut.

To super recognition. Really, Tim, yeah, we were.

So we went to the European Astronaut Center, which is part of yes A as they call it.

European Space Agency which is in just As Colone.

And it was quite funny because we were being given a tour round and it was really cool, like we didn't know what to expect and they were just there was and then there were the two people have given us the tour, like just tracks going.

Oh, yeah, I think is Tim in today?

And they were oh, yeah, I've seen in the office and and they were like, oh, well Tim tim peaksin today, we might see if he's around, saying they're like, what Tim Peak?

Because you know, not.

To us, but I'm aware that he's like a major celebrity in the UK, like I think that every school kid like has opposed to Tim Peak bedroom more basically.

And so they brought out Tim Peak and we chatted to him. Yeah.

It's kind of the equivalent of going to like your Atlantic and then saying, oh, I think jay Z's around.

Yeah, we just I think he's around. We can get can we get?

Yeah?

Okay?

And jay Z coming up to you, I'm just like, yeah, Tim pea yeah, and he's you know, safest pair of hands in Britain.

Yeah, what did he have to say for himself? And what did you ask Tim Peak?

We the thing is that we're not really space freaks. The thing, so it's a little bit awkward when you you know, when you're It kind of goes back to that Newton celebrities thing, where like you you an't just celebrity and you realize that you've just got up to them because they're famous.

And you're not even a fan. Really.

Yeah, and it's kind of like Tim peaks. I'm only very.

Aware of what he did or who he's an astronaut. I know he'd recently been in space. I know he's an a marathon in space. What Yeah, he did a marathon in space on treadmill.

But isn't it well okay, I'm I'm not going to even get into that. Okay, So these are the things he knew.

These are the things I knew to get. Yeah, but I just what do we ask him?

I think he asked ask small questions because you know, it's easy to ask a band astronaut, I should be easy to ask what's it like in space?

He must be so sick of that, Like he probably thought you guys are really cool because you were really.

Maybe really indifferent going. Yeah, I don't know. I asked him if you liked living in clothes, he said, I actually live in bond. Yeah. That was good, good chat.

Yeah, he was very much like we were kind of sort of like, you know, the interaction between someone who works the land and someone who owns the land. You know, we're not looking them in the eye, and you don't know what to say to them. And you know, I didn't know what to say other than bloody great job what he did in space.

You know, in the world.

He didn't know our band, we didn't know his work, you know what I mean. It's a little bit kind of like but it was fun. Yeah, it was cool. I mean I think a lot of people were, you know, I think a lot of our crew and got back their kids like all like obsessed with Tim Peak and it was like, oh my god, I can't wait to tell little you know whoever that you met Tim Peak because.

It is mental. Yeah. He's really nice guy, very nice guy. He seems like a nice guy. Yeah.

I mean, to be honest, I don't know what he did either. The space thing I've actually got a bit of a problem with because I think it's a waste of money, now, do you Yeah.

I just think like, do we need to send a probe to the Sun. Ye doesn't that happened recently?

Yeah?

And I think and I'm also I'm there getting in trouble if I'm not recycling my tea bag. And then they set a rocket off and it's like, that's just shouting all those tea bags I've ever.

Yeah, yeah, and I just think what was that for?

And I said, what we want to just see what we want to, just see if we can reach the Sun. I'm a bit like, come on, let's talk a bit about your show. That is fairly soon, isn't it in Forest Hills in New York? An immersive show? Is that next month?

Yeah? It's June. Wow? Next month is June? Two months? Two months? Yeah? So what what is it exactly?

It's a it's it's in a stadium in New York, and it's an im as much as I know, it's an immersive show.

Yes, I think the idea is that it's going to be sort of like surround sound. It's going to be sonically immersive. We're working with an Acoustics, which is a sort of cool speaker company, and they have these very state of the art speakers, and so we've been in a studio remixing our sort of songs for being played live, where we can put different things in different places and hopefully create quite a cool thing.

It's about just good way something up, I think, isn't it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think it's it's.

It is.

It's less about a constant surround sound. It's more about just having nice moments that feel as though you were in the middle of I think.

So, how's that done?

And they're like millions of little speakers hidden everywhere or is it certainly not normal?

You know?

But yeah, lots, yeah, yeah, and I think that you know, it means that we you're talking to the two least techie members of the band, maybe any band.

People.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, just leave it up to them basically, like so you know, you can sort of like we have sort of quit a lot of sound effects in our songs and things, right, so like Adeline, for example, it's like helicopter and you can kind of like you can you can make the helicopter kind of like fly like over people's heads, like from behind and things like that, or like something like complete there's these kind of sirens and we've made it so the sirens are going to

It's going to be like you're surrounded by police cars, which is that's what I want from all my cards?

Yeah, yeah, so you know things like that hopefully, And you can even do pretty cool stuff like you could you could throw a beach ball into the crowd and you could the crowd would throw the beach ball around and you could map the path of the beach ball with a sound and it would seem as though the beach ball was controlling the sound.

To the crowd. Are you going to do that? Well, this has been it's been talked about, it's been talked about.

Some pretty doesn't seem so sore, which the speakers I think, you know, I think that we are. That's the kind of thing that you can do. So we're hoping to have some fun and on those lines.

And this is in New York in the Forest Hills, which is an old state. It's like it's an open air music then, isn't it. It's not a football stadium. It is a concert place. Have you been over there whilst doing this and working this out?

Have you been there? Not been there?

No, We've been working in the anacoustics studio, which is in sort of like Highgates, but we've not been there, forest Soils. I guess it's like outside the city maybe, or maybe in some distant part of I.

Think it's in between Brooklyn and Queens.

Right on Long Island somewhere anyway, Yeah, yeah, but.

It's gonna be cool.

Yeah, And is the idea to take that elsewhere or is this a one off? If people want to go, they want to experience being surrounded by a million.

Police guards at Old Jay show, then it's it's now.

I think it's now, and hopefully ever Okay, not never, you know, I think that hopefully we can if it goes well, we can see about doing it, you know, on the road.

I think it's kind of like where we're testing the walls really Yeah. Yeah, but you guys play in the States a lot. We do go tomorrow.

Is it safe to say you can find out tomorrow? Yeah, to do a bunch of shows or well, got Coachella, so we're doing We're doing that three weeks, aren't they. We spoke the other week about Coachella, you and ICUs, Oh yeah, and you were saying, how it's that's another place where you feel like you're not getting invited to the right parties afterwards.

Yeah, it feels more fun until you're there. Yeah, kind of thing.

But you're going to play both weekends of Coachella and then in between plays and shows.

Right in between. And also you know, sence, Yeah.

And you bigger in the States, would you say than you are here. I've got that in my head for some reason. I know you are really big here, but in my mind maybe it's maybe it's because I know that you did Madison Square so early on in your career, Like in my mind, you can't just do that without being really really big in the same I think they.

Are probably bigger in the States and are here particularly regionally. Yeah, you know, I think that here our popularity is it's fairly London centers, or so we're told, because I think that in the States we have quite spread quite nicely across the whole country, which is quite I mean, that's you know, it's quite rare, I think because we I think it's because we went out there early on and when we played you know, Kansas City, and we played

Yeah, yeah, what is it you think that the Americans get about it the most?

That's a good question. Of course, we've allays stronger to answer. Really, so people ask that a lot and it's like, I mean, I don't know a little bit.

Yeah, I think that we I think that we have I think that we feel quite a quirky you know, we were sort of like the quirky band of this of the first half of this decade maybe for America or something.

I don't know, you know, we were like the the in the you go. Well, I think we've.

Consumed a lot of American culture, whether that's music or film. Those are the two kind of main areas of America that we enjoy the most. I think in terms of their exports and that and their shoes, their sneakers and burghers, and that's quite likely.

But yeah, so I think we.

I grew up listening to a lot of American music, like a lot of the Laurel Canyon kind of folk stuff like Crosby Steel's and Nash and Joni Mitchell and you know, Jackson Brown and James Taylor, And I think I listened to that from a very young age and I still listen to it now, and I think, you know, writing, maybe that kind of comes out in some of my writing, and.

Gus responds to it.

In a completely different way because he has a completely different musical upbringing, and that classical upbringing that he grew up with creates a quirkiness. But certainly the core of that is music that Americans can identify with, I think. And it's also very audience friendly in terms of demographics. You have teenagers that are into our music and then they play it to their parents, and their parents get into the music. So I think we have quite an American sounding.

Sound.

And you know, we were once confused with an La band, I think when we first started playing in Leeds and again Tom his production is very kind of universal at the moment. It's not specific to a certain country. It's kind of that bedroom producer kind of sound, and I think you can there's a part of that that's going on in our recent music. So yeah, I think it's something that they understand. But it has a quirkiness which may allow a certain sense of I don't know, maybe

It, yeah, like being yeah, we're good at that. Yeah.

So when you're playing a big show where it's like the O two here or Madison Square or the Forest Hill Show, I'm always interested to know because I've never been around it. What goes on before the show as the band, Like when you turn up to the venue. It's obviously a world away from turning up to a pub where you carry your own gear in and you know, you might be given a rider of free red stripe between you or whatever.

What.

It's a huge thing now and there's catering, and there's you do have a huge team of people, and you have your text and all of that. But what's it like in the middle of that, is you three guys and what is that like?

I think playing at the O two or paint Man Square Guards. It's the same as playing like a eight hundred cap venue in the sense that you walk down a corridor and you go into a room. When you go into that room, you've got Gusts and Tom waiting there and they look up from their phones and they're like, all right, And that's pretty much what happens whether you're in a big room.

Sometimes I'm reading Yeah, I think it's it is like that.

Yeah, it's a really, it's a it's a it's not there's not a huge amount of difference really because you think you're right exactly. It always comes down to a dressing room and a stage kind of you know, and they might be bigger.

I mean, they both might be bigger.

But yeah, I remember, like as a kid watching this Oasis documentary I think it was called There and then Right, and it was some backstage pitture. Then playing at ELL's Court. Played a big show at Elve's Court, and they all turned up and there were these five scooters waiting for them and they were burning around the floor in these racing these scooters. That, in my mind, is what everyone's doing.

Essentially, Yeah, I think it does play into the part of exactly what you were saying earlier with fame, and with fame becomes opportunities, and I think because we're not we like to sort of hide away from that element of fame where you have a lot of opportunities where, you know, I think I think when like Taylor Swift plays a gig, there's about sixteen companies that have stalls before the fans go into the actual main auditorium area.

You know?

But we don't have those. They're not the channels that we go down the band the thing. We just get on and play the gig without any many many flourishes around the build up.

Are you totally used to playing those big rooms now?

I think we are. I think we are.

Aren't We to the point where it's actually you know, that's why our answers to questions like that are actually quite undwhelming. Because we're not really we're not like beating our chests and just like sort of, you know, whatever it is that you know, you might imagine bandstaying beforehand, kind of doing crazy rituals or sort of like.

Bathing in champagne, or I don't know, whatever it might be.

You know, we're just kind of sitting around really in the way that we usually before a show.

I think, you know, I think you're more the flagship shows. You are definitely more self aware, nervous, and you know, focused on knowing that this is a really really big deal because the all the kind of the country's media are there, and you've got your fan family there, all your friends have come to this show. You're playing to eighteen thousand people, and you don't want to fuck up, and you go on stage and you are somewhat playing with all that in mind, and it feels like you're

We don't treat it any differently do.

I always feel like those moments might be key to keeping it exciting and fun, because I wonder we have a band like the Rolling Stones, for example, who have played football stadiums for the past forty years. What differentiates Toronto in two thousand and five Chicago last week. It's the same size, it's always the same size, It's always the same show essentially, And that to me is kind of almost a bit sad that they that it's almost for them, it would be so normal to like, that's just.

What they do. Does that feel that way for you? Yeah, I mean I think that you're right.

I think, you know, I think for some really big acts, I think it even comes down to the furniture, and they would travel with all of their own backstage furniture so that the dressing room pretty much looks identical every day, you know, or as at least we're like company chairs today or not very company chairs today, you know. But it can become you know, you do that to a

It was now I.

Think that offer wouldn't even necessarily make its way to the band. That would have been turned down before it got to us. Yeah, which is a bit sad, isn't it. I think that we and we do try to quite un quite kind of keep it real.

We don't.

We don't like to be too protected or too you know, little kept like little kind of princes in the tower, because we do want to have that element of having fun on tour and spontaneity, I think is what I'm looking for, you know. But you know so many memories of an awesome wave where you know, just doing really mad stuff like that, meeting a lot of people, and it was huge amounts of fun, and that does necessarily drop off when you get when you get bigger.

Yeah, Like you know, I remember, I remember a number of times where you'd be loading all your equipment back in the splitter van and so girl be like, do you want to smoke some weed in my car? You'd be like yeah, but then now.

And then then we come back to my house, not like to have sex, but like with like with all my friends, and we'd like go back to people's houses and parties after gigs all the time.

Yeah, it never really happens now, you.

Know, Yeah it would probably would range us probably wouldn't even get to our family of people representing two start and stop with the security. Can I speak to the band? I want to see if they can in my car?

No, that's not you know, these happened and the people used to like throw notes on stage, being like call us for a good time, and we'd be like better call this another you know, like just see what happens, and you usually meet some fun people and you usually end up going back to the house and drinking a lot.

So it was more because people could talk to us. You know, Yeah, that's sad.

I mean it's not it is sad, but it is sad, but it's it's a controlled it's the fun is more controlled, and I suppose our girlfriends would probably prefer it that way.

So, like, you know, I thing in thank god they've got so big that those notes don't reach the stages.

It's literally too far.

Let's talk just a little bit about Relaxer. I mean, it's been out for ages now, but it is your most recent album, Chatto one things I love about it. It seems like a strange thing to say how.

Short it is.

I just like the fact that it's so it's eight tracks, and when you take that to your label after you know, two years or whatever it was, and you say here is are they totally fine with that? And they're like, oh cool, Like we'd put these eight out because that feels to me like a hard sell, especially for a band your size to be like at his a new album and it's eight tracks long. I can imagine they would have said, well, this is half of your album.

You well.

I think the cell wasn't in the number of tracks. It was in the length of the album. And I think we figured out I think it was it had to be over thirty there's thirty one minutes or thirty four minutes, had to be over a certain minute. And I think once we realized it was over that, it's about forty minutes, isn't it. Yeah, then we got very little problems flat form.

Yeah, And I.

Think that increasingly, you know, it's like you need to have It's more it's like tracks, isn't it. You know, there were there were deemed to be enough tracks or singles or whatever on the album that that was okay, I.

Think, you know, and we know we'd put in just as much works because we had a lot of we had two or three other songs that we had worked on and we just didn't think that they suited the album, and I think we quite liked the idea of having a short, punchy album Stocky. It was it was a different album for us, you know, for you know, in terms of how we displayed the album and how it looked it was aesthetically it was. It was a different album for us, and I think we, I don't know,

The visuals of it are my favorite that you've had so far. Oh yeah, the rendering of the tron esque computer game. Yeah, yeah, nice, I'm into that.

Yeah. More of that, please?

Yeah, more of the computer games?

Do you guys play game? How did that come about? Is that?

I think it was that Tom found this image on Twitter thinking it was like a digital painting or something. We didn't know it was from this game turned out to be a still from this sort of cult nineties playstession game called Nasty Dream Emulater, And then we just took it from their Really, I mean in terms of I.

Think we've all I think we've all grown up. I think we've all growne up with computer games.

Were the first generation, you know, to have had them our entire lives. Never never, never thought of them as a new thing, you know. But I mean I'm not a really a computer game person.

No, No, Sometimes I think why don't I have v R?

Because it looks like so.

Much fun if you see people using it online. There's a lot of compilations of people, like a lot of people losing their ship and falling off their chair and falling from a standing position.

They is any people think they're on the edge of a building and they get pached off or something by their friends.

No, what you mean like the stag do trick where Yeah, something like that. I don't know, just talking.

I'm talking like they're doing a climbing similar similar, right, and then and they're watching themselves climb and then they fall and then falling scared and so much that they lose contact with reality they fall forward.

Yeah, okay, yes, yeah, very.

Funny because it's very confusing and you you you you wonder how can you suspend disbeliefs to such an extent where you forget you actually are.

Must be that good. Now, maybe it's just that it does look so good. I've not tried it.

I've just read this article with some where somebody was all about VR and somebody with somebody was the journalist was trying out this thing where they were they were they were in a VR.

They were in a VR, as.

I believe they said, and they were in a VR where they were they were playing Sigmund Freud and a patient and the they had to start it off. The person started off as a patient by saying a problem they thought they had, and they were like, I feel guilty that I don't see enough of my mum because she's in a nursing home a long way away from where I live.

And then they switched to Freud and.

They had they this person had to create both sides of the conversation. But they were switching back in the VR from psychoanalysts to and they came out of it feeling like they've had a really really good conversation and they'd like solved a lot of shit if they've just been talking to themselves in a VR.

Isn't that crazy. I like that.

That's when I think VR is good. Yeah, yeah, I mean I like the idea.

Of making someone fall over.

And there was another thing that they did where if it was in Spain, where they make violent men domestic abusively domestically abusive men go into a VR and they get VRD where they have to be a small like a woman and there's like a bit and in the VR there's a big man like bullying them and they it makes men understand how physically threatening they can be if they don't even know they're being that physically threatening, because the VR is so realistic that they genuinely feel

So there's really a lot of good VR out there.

But yeah, should I do my im dropping.

Midnight Chats is a Loud and Quiet podcast. Music courtesy of gold Panda. Search Midnight Chats on iTunes for more episodes and to subscribe. For more information, visit Loud and Quiet dot com.

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