Loud and Quiet presents Midnight Chats.
Hey everyone, welcome to Midnight Chats. Is is episode seventy one and thank you for downloading it. We know that there are now one hundred million podcasts out there for you to listen to. It's a very crowded marketplace, so the fact that you've taken the time to listen to this
one means a great deal to us. My name's Stuart, and tonight my guests on the podcast are LEAs and Nathan Saudi, both from the South London band Fat White Family, who I guess are a group who more than anyone else, or more than anyone else I can think of, who have a reputation that tends to precede them, which is sometimes a bit of a shame because that White Family makes the really great records. But it might be that you know more stories of outrage about Fat White Family
than you do songs. And a lot of that comes down to the band's drug use and use of hard drugs, which is something that to their credit, they have always been very open about. They've never hidden anything. They've been very honest and very forthcoming with that part of their lives and how it affects them and the stress that that puts upon the group and the relationships within the group. So we do talk a bit about that within this episode of the podcast. It seems like something that is
unavoidable talking about. But mainly the reason I met up with LEAs and his brother Nathan was to talk about that brand new record. It came out today. It's their third album. It's called Surf's Up and Today, being good Friday, is the day that it's out, so you can you can go and check out this record as soon as
you've finished listening to this episode of the podcast. The main thing I guess we talk about is how the group removed themselves from the South London scene where they were getting so distracted and there was just a lot of mess in their lives, and they moved up to Sheffield into a house up there to record and make this record together. We talk a lot about that, and there is a warning that I have to let you know about, which is towards the end of the podcast.
Right at the end, there is a scaty logical story from LEAs, which you know is pretty gross. It's a pretty gross story that involves human feces. Now that might be something that you definitely do not want to hear. When it comes up in the conversation towards the end, you will be able to sense it. You will be able to stop the podcast at that point. But equally, if maybe you don't even want to risk that and you want to stop listening now, as obviously completely fine.
We will see you next week at the same time. But if you are still here, there's a lot of kind of fun in this podcast as well. I enjoyed talking to Nathan and LEAs because you know, as a couple of brothers, I have an older brother myself, and brothers have got this weird tension about them, especially if you're in a band as kind of chaotic as fat White Family I imagined, So it was really nice to
talk to them. They had just come from rehearsal, or they were about to go to a rehearsal they're rehearsing this week near our office, so they came by and I think they were feeling a bit stressed about that, but I had a good time talking to them. So thank you to both the guys for coming in and enjoyed this episode of the podcast. Of course, as always, please do subscribe if you like what you hear, check back there seventy before this one, and next week we
have a very very glamorous guest. Glamorous is that right? Well, yeah, I'm going to go with that glamorous until then though. Here is Fat White Family on episode seventy one Midnight Chats. Right, So, as you say, you've just got kind of back into like band world, You've had like a few weeks I guess presents and stuff, and now you're kind of getting back into like the rehearsals you're rehearsing this week.
Yeah, and then for when does the tour start?
Tour starts on May first.
So we got rehearsals this week.
And we got another home very nice, and then we got another another like sort of session of rehearsals before we begin the tour. I mean, I'd like to think that we will still have the same lineup by tour.
Okay, what are you giving yourself?
I'd say it's like kind of six to one, six to one. No, I'd say it's like I'd say, give me a good life.
The seven three to what I'd say, it's a three to one chance.
We make it to tour with the same membership that you'll see on like a.
Posting one because there's seven people in the band and the Bucky the house has to favor the best, So the sixty one seven in the bend, I'm giving you good ords.
I think that's pretty pretty pretty hard.
That's pretty cynical, but I mean, I'm I'm the book keeper at the moment. Despite yeah, despite you know, initial pangs of anxiety, I think we'll make it to May first with the same lineup.
How does it feel to be kind of back into this though, back into because it's been I mean, I've never done I've never done.
A promo season before really like this this thing, you know where it's been like it feels like just months and months of kind of like just talking about yourself and you know, promoting and selling the record, you know, like which is which is what's kind of fun initially, and then it's kind of I don't know, after after a few months of it, you started to just become all discombobulated and kind of detached, and you don't listen to the thing for I haven't listened to it for ages,
wandering around talking and talking about this thing, and then and then and then and then you've got to sort of switch that video brain off and go into sort of like playing again.
It's like, oh, right, this is the thing that we do. Actually, it's not just like I remind yourself what those songs sound like.
You got to remind yourself what those songs sound like, and then you're not like, you know, it's not your job to sort of traveling around talking and you got to get back into it.
But I mean, I don't know, I don't know.
We always play in South London in like little club nights and acoustic nights and stuff like that, so we're always performing and working on things anyway, So I don't feel like that much of a leap. It's just it's a bit more pressure and a bit you know, a bit more bit more time.
You know, it requires more time.
At the end of like the last bout of shows, I guess twenty sixteen, after kind of when you wrapped up that record, I guess, yeah, and kind of the you played that big show at Brixton Academy and yeah, everything and kind of from the outside everyone around that time thought that maybe like the band that was that was it the band We're going to vanish now?
And yeah, it was over.
That's I guess how people kind of put it across, Like the press were kind of saying that, and people presumed that did it Did it ever feel like that for you guys?
Did you always?
Oh?
Yeah, it did feel it did? Did it come close to that being the end of it?
It was like, it's like it's like Terminator too, when the things is all fucked in the bits or the rubbles or spared slowly congealing back, it comes back together. Got real bit it was really took ages. Really, it was like, yeah, they fucked him up, like it was. It was bit of me all over the place. You know, there's bitchy in New York by Campbell slowly sort of worming its way back.
To form form fulness again. I guess that's a good way to put it. But you knew it was going to come back. I think, deep in my gut, I kind of knew we'd get on with it. I mean, what else we were going to do? You know? Yeah, I mean it was of like kind of a lot a lot of gone.
Into it to just sort of throw it in the burn and I don't know, yeah, I kind of we signed a deal straight away and started planning on doing the next thing straight away, So there wasn't a sort of period of like we're not doing it anymore.
There was just a kind of like, all.
Right, well went from and liked that album, run to stress about the next one.
Really, but how we did it was the thing that was painful.
Yeah, it was like soul was gone. Right, you have to just deal with that.
You know, half the band are all on Heroin.
Have to just deal with that, and it's just it's just a lot of problems and if you really if you really really want to do it and you really believe in what you're doing or whatever, then and also if you're the added sort of sensation of never really having kind of amounted to I don't know, maybe your initial promise or whatever. I think that was a strong feeling of kind of like we haven't really.
Delivered that way. It seems a little bit like it was unfinished business that point.
A bit embarrassing to just finish at that point. It would have been difficult to sort of what what are we going to do now? Like after all that kind of hulla balloo and like scorn we poured on like everything else, it's kind of like it would be a bit of a shame to go back to like making pizzas or whatever.
Well, imagine Rocky Too. He comes out and loss.
Yeah, he gets a spray, gets a spray before the fight and just decides he doesn't want to do it.
You know, it develops a COLDI habit.
After pushing for that for a straw and Rocky One comes out and Rocky Too.
Well, okay, yeah, a sub text problem out of that half the lineup that was then at that moment, how many how much of that band is still this band now?
Half? Okay?
Yeah, there's me, Nathan, Adam, Harmer, Sol Him Chevski obviously that are kind of the the main group. And then there's Alex White, who came in around that time but wasn't like a full member, you know, who's now really prominent and plays about like seventeen different when we finally got we've finally got somebody in the band that knows how to play music, which.
Is really useful.
Really key Yeah, you can play He's got like a sax, a barattzo and sax, two different keyboards. He's got this because he's just surrounded by like instruments on one side, of the stage, you can harmonize like impeccably with anything.
I think that's that of our own ladies laziness as well.
I think I'm quite a difficult person to harmonize with because I can't.
I don't really conventionally like sing very well, and often I'll just sing completely different things every time, you know, much to like the chagrin of Saul over the years. But like Alex is so good at harmony. He just clicks in almost like whatever he's doing. He's been he's been a really great addition. He's a permanent member now for sure.
On your bassis.
We got a new but a new bassist, Adam Brennan, who's kind of just been playing around the scene in South London. He was in like twelve different bands. Like when these guys who's just like obviously really hungry, which is a great thing to have in a band. I think, you know, he's always there like bang on time.
Thinking about crime, we've lost a few, we've lost a few, gained a few, and you know, it's the same regime as before where you know, if you completely fed up mid tour, then.
Like you're going to get sacked, you know what.
I mean it's like, no, I don't really have any there's no other way to do it. I don't see any other way of doing it. I don't see any Do.
You find those conversations when you have to kind of give someone their march in orders?
Do you find it easy to do? Hard to do? Not? Not a nice meal? Like in Jenny maguire take them down to Nando's. You brought me the Nandos to fire me? Your son up a bitch?
No, I mean, I mean Saul was the worst, but we just got our tour manager to do that, which we got Pete Hamley to do that. Man, I mean it was the the thing becomes so sour at that point, just so.
Bitterly bitterly sour. It was just like that was awful.
But I mean the one get in the van other than other than other than that, it's kind of like, I mean, if you've just come in the band, or you've been in for a year or whatever and you just can't be But most of the time, actually people walk.
They don't really get had one walker.
Jack Jack ever At walked several quit but that was post tours, so he survived the tour. He just didn't want to live in Sheffield, trying to think A lot of the time they just come and go with their own volition. Think of a lot they they'd be a laugh, Yeah, we'd be in a band playing football. Then people would be great, and then they're like, and you know what, actually not I'm going on.
It's a lot of hard work.
Yeah, it's a lot of hard work and a lot of nasty vibes a lot of the time, a lot of tension.
I think what's kind of like quite different a fat white family, and I've always thought it's quite quite a commendable trait of yours is that you've always spoken really freely about this kind of stuff about them, you know, like a lot of bands, I guess traditionally always kind of like to pretend that everything's fine and everyone's getting on and it's great.
And they don't want to crush the bread.
It does get like, you know, you go up pie and then you go down long.
Yeah, I guess we swing hard.
I know you mean though, Yeah, it's kind of I just find it impossible not to not to spill the beans really just just because you've got to you've got to vent, Like just like your therapy isn't. It's like, yeah, when you talk to talk you do things like this constantly, it does become kind of ever so slightly therapeutic.
It's like, oh god, yeah, it's awful at the moment.
But and why shouldn't people have a kind of picture of what it's actually like when you're you know, why they're doing it?
You know. I think it's like if you.
Worked in an office and there was someone in the office that was fucking you off, like you'd go home and you'd say and you'd say, yeah, like it's it's a similar kind of thing, I.
Guess, But yeah, I don't.
I don't think we go you know, we don't trash like other people individually personally sit there and name names or whatever.
You know.
But it's like, it's frustrating doing this because of you know, A, B and C, and you know, I guess it's why not have a discussion about that and let people know exactly what goes on to a certain extent.
Do you ever get tired of the fact that if people are defining the band as like this chaotic thing.
I get I get a little bit I get a little bit tired of Like recently, I mean We've been having like a glowing reviews for this record, and there's still like, you know, South London degenerates and it's like, well, hang on a minute, man, Like you know, sure everybody was like bang on the drug and the rest of it, but I mean everybody in this band's got like mental
health issues and the rest of it. And it's like, you know, I don't know where people get off like repeating that over and over and over again, even once you put something far more kind of like developed on the table. And what I mean, what other justification do we have to sort of offer to sort of like rid ourselves of that title?
You know, I think.
At least shows that we have been, if nothing else, kind of dedicated to the music. And that's kind of what it's about, not like behaving like a bunch of like morons, you know people. And we did behave like moron, but it wasn't the whole point.
I think you got to you gotta.
Let loose, don't you They be able to let loose on like boredom.
No, I mean you guys were so dedicated to it, in fact that you relocated to Sheffield, yeah exactly, which is not something exactly that's not quite a big feet.
Not a lot of people would go and spend a year or two of the life in another part of the country where don't know any and the social lives kind of gone and all the rest of it, just so they can kind of like get on with what they were doing.
You know.
I think became a kind of adopted a kind of president Stence and for two years, well like stopped but I don't know sensual things but then't fuck or anything like that.
No sex, just for music.
Monk like a hermitude up in Sheffield. That was what it was. It was a hermitude. Come on, were you still you were still wanking though, yeah, but not that much. You gave up on the sensual like you stopped sucking, but you were still you have a wank what every three days?
It's not a lot bashing, It's not I wasn't thinking like you know, I was lonely.
What about you know what about the spot about the truckloads of ganga that you were smoking?
Was that not sensual?
But that's to go in okay, And the ket in that's to go in deeper, okay. So just masturbation kit him in weed booze. But other than that, totally non sensual.
Not even other than that, it was a it was a pristine almost you know, you don't take it.
You don't take it like them in to go out there like hey, I'm socializing with.
You know, you're on your own. I know you don't. You don't usually take Heroin to go out either.
You can anyway, Why do you have to bring it down that fucking alley.
I'm not going down to alley. I'm just you know, if you're going to deny the sensual, and then the sensual was denied, I will leave it at that. We'll leave it at that. What was it?
What was it about? So when did you move to Sheffield? Was at the beginning of twenty seventy.
We finished Mixton Academy, which was like what September or something October that year, and then we all went on We all went on separate ways for a bit. Nathan went to Mexico for a couple of months to get clean. I went to cambody allowed to sort of wander around, So I went to New York because everybody went really their opposite ways for a few months, and then me and Nathan relocated back up up north to Sheffield for the long haul.
It was the middle of winter.
And that was just that was just because you guys were like, we got to get out, get out of town.
It was it was a plan that had been floating around for a for a year or so. I tried to sort of move everybody up there a year before, knowing full well that it was kind of slowly employing, but it had just fallen through.
We didn't have the organization or whatever. But we had.
A new manager based in Sheffield, and I'd started working in Sheffield because of the moon landings, so we already kind of knew a few people up there who could find us a little house, find us little studio. So it was like just getting a van, wage and stuff, move up there and east somewhere for you that sort of start out.
You know.
It wasn't like just showing up in Sheffield and going down the estate. I mean, you have to sort there was a little bit of planning that to go into it. Sure, but yeah, we just packed a van full of stuff and it was and yeah, we had this little five bedroom house. It was like seven hundred pan a month or something like that. This little studio it was like twenty
five quid. It was like a bit studio, a bit like this, but like overlooking a little canal in like this industrial kind of like the state, this industrial kind of wasteland at a cliff opposite.
A place called City Sauna. Did you watched it?
It was a shown Channel four called a very British bro brothel.
No, I haven't. I've seen a trailer for. That's amazing.
It's amazing. Like episode one, they're trying to put in a glory hale, you know, but they put it in, they put it. It's not it's not deep, and I'm just it's not it's too shallow. It's too shallow to put it up too high.
It's it's it's too high up for smaller gentleman.
And they have to put like another gloryhole in and they have to make it slightly deeper, and it's like it's really it's really funny.
But that was opposite. That was like the only other.
Thing going on in the area was just this brothel, you know, right, ropey as hell, you know, But was it.
Just it was just you two that moved up first, Adam and Severn, but they didn't really stick stick it out too long.
Severyone really missed London. I mean fair enough for he's you know, London sort of born and bred, and it's quite a big ask really, And we didn't really have any idea what we were doing. It's not like we had loads of like song ideas to sort of like we was like day one, like what we're going to do from scratch, Yeah, like literally pissing around on keyboards and just like anything.
You know. So it was obviously going to take a long time. That became quite apparent. You know, it wasn't going to be done in a six months. It was going to take it was going to take a year. How it took a year. It took about a year. It took about it took about a year of writing. But yeah, was there a moment when it started to work when you felt.
Like there were a few There were a couple of so of Yeah, there were a few songs or like rough ideas like skeletons for tunes that were like, okay, we've kind of got some kind of direction. The main one was feet really, I think that was kind of
like it was good because it was so different. I mean, the original demo was just like real like ten minute long techno kind of like to me an acid sort of like jammed thing that was like, didn't that anything like fat white, But it was kind of it was curious to us, I think because it didn't you know, it was like, oh, this is interesting.
You know, it's kind of like a challenge in a way. You know, So it was.
Something a bit different, but we yeah, we could be there was there was a few songs that kind of start to show up, and then you get to a point where you've nearly got like half a record, and then you kind of know that it's just about yeah, you're gonna pull it off at some point, you know. But the first few months was a bit like, you know, did you like Sheffle though just generally like it as a place. It strikes me as like a nice creative place to be.
Yeah, it's good.
I think if you want to like get your head down and work or whatever, it's kind of perfect.
You know, it's so distractions, I guess doesn't.
Have the distractions. Everybody's really sound, everybody talks to each other. It's kind of it's kind of a good it's a good it's a good kind of it's a good community kind of feel up there that you don't Did you get really so much in London anymore?
I guess you know, did you miss it down here with elements? Yeah?
You were like I used to come back and said, but you know, you just move on. I left for different I was running a studio.
And a lot, but they're going tour.
There's no point keeping a studio going if you're going to be on tour where all your money is going to running a business, so you're not even going to be running like I had to like cut that.
If I didn't have a studio, there was nothing for me to work on.
So yeah, I mean I missed it.
I used to come down a lot of different weekends and cut loose or whatever, you know, just see friends and that.
But it's only two hours on the train.
You know, it's not that you're both back in town now moment.
But tom Bean, see where tour leads us? Yeah, exactly. You never really know when you start getting a bus and then about you later. You've got no idea what's going to happen.
I read that you guys whilst did Field we're listening to I think that the quote on your press release with the record is like Jesus and George my wamby.
Side one with just one whamb side? What is the wham B side? Blue? Armed with Love? Okay? Really yeah? Yeah, it's really odd. But how did you cut? Did you? Is this just a tune that you knew from? Like you he started playing? Now where does that come from?
I was just scrolling through YouTube and it came up and I was like, holy shoot, that's all right and Blue I keep talking talking something keep them.
I mean.
Yeah, I mean the yass thing was that? That was because I blame lou Reid for that. That was that talk has article he did about Jesus, you know, get artists to write I'm different. And I was never listened to Kenny West before, and I was like lou Reid was just bigging it up.
And I was like, oh man, maybe it's something in there, but he is.
Sold for already, but it is, yeah, I'm already what was it? The B side? Tiptop? All right? Okay, well tiptop?
Yeah, it does go on for about five minutes to.
Yeah, but we can talking listen.
I don't know, man, Once George starts going, it's a little I hear that so sexy, And I was.
I was sad when George when I was sad when I know it was at the end of that year when everyone.
When yeah he really he managed to really see it.
Yeah, but I was like, oh, yeah, that one. I don't know, it got me for some reason.
Yeah, But I mean, I don't know.
He just seem like a really kind of just seemed like a great guy, didn't he. You know, that whole let's go outside thing was just the best fucking thing ever, you know, really, that crystal Yeah, the way the toilet spam.
I love that attitude, man, love it, love it. I mean I've always liked I've always liked George Michael.
But then when he died and you get that thing, don't Yeah, you have a sort of like renaissance man.
He was.
He was amazing, wasn't he? Like?
I wanted him to sing on songs for our mothers. Saul shot down the idea immediately. I wanted him to do some like some of that groany ship he does there at the end of esn't and.
He would have done it, I reckon.
And what I hear what I hear about George Michael and his music tastes, and he's kind of like, you know, I don't know, he's his general kind of like joy de Vive.
I think.
I think there's a pretty good chance he might have been like, oh, yeah, I'll do I'll do it, you know, I'll do a groan for fat White Family.
I reckon it's a possibility.
Yeah.
I think it's sordid enough for George gotten into bed with it a little bit, you know.
So that's that's what you woure listening. You would be listening to that track.
We'll be listening to that track, and we've been listening to we were listening to users kind of obsessively.
I mean, it was it was just really the juxtaposition.
Between everything that he was banging on about and our like little gray terroraced house in Sheffield. I don't know, there was just something fantastical about it. It was like, you know, our little lounge with a head full of kettmen just this kind of like sort of sunken kind of like l a kind of like like this sort of incredible just towering narcissism and bombasts, you know, and just filth, just.
Absolute filth of very kind.
And I don't know it just felt like an affront to everything that I stood for, which I kind of I think I needed a shot of that. Sometimes you need to just let that it's just like, actually, fuck it. Yeah, yeah, I'm kind of on board with this. Actually a moment, was there an actual moment when the kind of the band all came back together that you can remember, Like, I mean, it came back together a few times and then split up a few times, and then you know,
it's like we're waiting for that. Yeah, we're still waiting on that. Yeah, I reckon in about two May first apparently rumor has it. Yeah, man, any any day there many we're gonna get him all in the same room at the same time.
I can't. Actually it's going to be a bo It's going to be but I'm bored. I'ms like from that, but from that moment where like you said that, once you finished the last Records tour and you kind of all went your separate way, Yeah, do spirts Recorders of the World?
Did you then, Like, when was the moment when you kind of I mean, I suppose its different because you guys are brothers, you're kind of always in touch.
I guess say that Unfortunately it's not necessarily true.
Thirty years, maybe you don't feel like it's true.
Is it Is it hard being in band in a band as brothers or do you get that feeling like.
They don't really think about it because we've always been in a band brothers.
It's weird.
It's weird you don't well, I mean, I don't know. I think I think it's like it announced, it's got you've got cloths and cons there in it.
I think you can irritate each other in ways that.
Are kind of unfathomable to like normal people that are like just bystanders to the situation.
People that are kind of.
Your parents always drive you in exactly, why are you being addiced to your mom like she's yeah, exactly, you've got aund someone's house and it's like, man, why are you talking to your mother? Like it's exactly like that, you know, like there's certain things he does that make me want to like smash his face in that well, like other people are just completely.
Like you wouldn't even notice them.
Yeah, and obviously there's kind of like you spend that much.
I mean, me and him have always.
Been in each other's company. It's like, well, forever.
Really.
I came to London when I was eighteen and I think that was the only year I lived separate to naighth And he showed up a year later and I stiff, I could if you could sleep on my couch because he got thrown out of school and he said he's going to stay for a.
Week or two. That was fourteen years ago.
He's still, he's still, he's still, he's still living.
Like at my at my flat now, you know.
I remember, sure he showed up at Liverpool Street station with a little bag and that was that was the end of our time apart like but I guess because of our parents kind of like divorce and all this kind of crap that happened when we were growing up, moving around and stuff. We were always quite quite tight inevitably, yeah, and we were, you know, we were living in Scotland and Northern Ireland and you know it's like always shifting around.
How many years are there between the two two three two three quarters?
Two and three quarters?
I think I'm I think I'm looking younger.
What do you do? Do you think it looks younger?
I've got I think Nathan's got the course huge not just.
That comes that comes before the end. But you look good.
I appreciate the understand.
I give it a try.
You know, my brother's two years older than me, so I'm like that you in that in that situation, being the younger.
Do you do you have any other siblings. We've got we've got a big brother. Yeah, okay, all.
Right, okay, that's a little bit different because it's just me and him, and so I've always been like the youngest and therefore like the kind of you know, the youngest always the favorite, right.
You got called the chosen one, my father calls me the chosen to be chosen, to be chosen, to be it is cold.
But to be chosen by your father is meaningless. And so it's all about your mother's love. That's that's the love of the charts.
That's true. Nobody father's love. It's irrelevant, man, for your mum's favorite. Of course, he is little little. She wouldn't hold me as she wouldn't know. That's because you shit and scream and vomit everywhere the whole time. But she still put up with you. That's how deep he love is.
Yeah, I guess you know there's a love there.
So in terms of making stuff up when you were making it, when you were all together and you were putting it, putting it together up there were you all getting on, was it or was it like a happy record to make?
Well, I mean yes and no.
When we were actually doing the record, it was fine.
But there was a whole kind of like beef that went off with Nathan just before we started the proceedings and he was basically well, he went.
On strike or he was asked to leave.
It was kind of a bit it's a bit confusing now actually exactly what happened. But Nathan wasn't there for the first bunch of sessions and that kind of cast a big shadow over everything. But it was all to do with hang ups with Saul from the past when sort of been like mad on crack and a complete like fucking barbarian and traumatized everybody really kind of back then, you know, And it was kind of to do with all that behavior, all those star was kind of claims
came to this one clean and lucid. There were a lot of hang upstairs and a lot of shitty politics to sort of sift through. Eventually it's fine, but initially it was kind of like well, we couldn't really be in the same room together.
I mean we did for a while. We had some good times.
We went out to Norway to plan the record with our friend on like a little house up by a fjord there and do the last bit of writing and we planned everything. But it wasn't exactly smooth now, but when we were actually in the sessions.
It was all quite This time around was actually really quite fun. Songs.
For our mothers was just pure pain. But this was actually everybody working around each other. It was a bigger team of musicians as well.
You know, does it affect do you feel like the music that comes out of it? Do you think that's greatly affected by just how well you're getting on, Because you know, there are some bands, like historically a band like Black Sabbath, for example, believe that if you were friends with the rest of the band and that was going to make for terrible music. They loved the fact that they kind of hated each other as we As I've already said, like some bands kind of feel like
they have to pretend that they love each other. Do you think it like affects the end result? Like the music is like this record compared to your previous records and the relationships that you've all had.
I think, I think, on on on one level for us.
It's definitely way better.
Everybody's communicating quite openly and getting on, but they're on another sort.
Of almost more profound level.
I think what's kind of made this record for me the best one anyway is that other people's ideas are at the at the four and I guess the war that did occur within the group over this record was over that and other whose ideas get prominent and who is the kind of overall caretaker of those ideas and who Nathan wrote a bunch, So the conflict kind of
came from that situation. So even though there was a kind of contentment open communication within the studio when he wasn't there, the whole thing was kind of born of this sort of like this conflict of interest and his power struggle. So that didn't really go away completely. It was just sort of like omnipotent in a way, you know, like and it took.
Ages to resolve. So it's a it's a bit of it's a bit of both worlds.
I mean, personally, I mean, I'd rather I'd rather it or you know, I'd rather everybody got on and and communicate it openly. But there's always I think there's always going to be a part where it's kind of a it's kind of a war, a bit of a conflict. When you're collaborating, it's kind.
Of you can't really foresee any external kind of forces coming coming within sometimes, so you could get everything said within the band, but then something happens outside and it throws a whole spanner in the works.
Is you know, it's the same in any relationship. It's always going to suck up. Yeah, you need you need a bit of conflict in it.
The more the more the more conflict, the more you I think you're trying to use it that situation, I think the better you'll be able to handle it in the future, you know what I mean.
I think as a group of people, you're working your way through like these conflicts and these things. You know, you're working your way through your relationships with each other, and you're trying to sort of salvage it by doing this music.
You know, you're like, if you got a puppy, you'd want your puppy to be shitting on the floor as much as possible, and it's for six months, so you could then not shop on the floor after, you know, just like so you have to give a little snack, you get into violence and anything about snap and its neck, okay, and.
Then the crime of passion, and then it will be a good dog.
Do you think with this obviously because the record came out last week, no this week, do you think that because people have kind of historically loved to be outraged by your music, do you think there's anything in this record or do you think people are going to be going to be able to find the amount of outrage they will want.
To think if Davey, if they sift around long enough, they'll find the outrage that they sort des I definitely put some outrage in there. I just made it slightly less explicit this time. I think I've had a lot more kind of of an open approach to writing the thing, and kind of it's definitely more idiosyncratic as far as I'm concerned, and I haven't been kind of so conscious of giving people sort of signposts and ironic kind of like explicitly ironic kind of gestures and things like that.
Just keep it kind of I wanted.
It to sort of be sort sort of elusive, you know, like you have to sort of chase it a little bit to kind of get it, you know, like it wasn't just sort of like a courteous away. That's the way I've thought about that much. Sounded incredibly pretentious.
I don't know.
When I told a friend of mine who writes for the magazine and Daniel till Ray, I told him that we were recording this, and I said, is anything you think I should ask for these guys? And he's from Sheffield sid there forever still lives there, and he asked me the three questions he told me to ask.
They're all Sheffield bays.
One of them said, ask them about their first ever gig in the city and the football who looking.
All right, yeah, what is that first time? The Blades crew? Yeah right, Sheffield.
Yeah, it sounds a lot more than they'd called the Blades.
Yeah.
Yeah, they've got a lot of the BBC they call him.
But he did come in with a big machete.
He took Adam Harmer's guitar and walked off the street with it.
He threatened everybody in the bar. Where was it?
This was on London Road where we ended up living like five years later, like just this little pub I can't remember the name of it that's changed hands, changed hands, I think, yeah, what year is this, like two thousand and fourteen, early days, you know. It was a tiny pol There was about thirty people there and we you know, this is our first time and we were just like, man, this proper sketchy up here in it, proper ship all.
We never fucking going back to Sheffield. Man, don't get out of the van.
Man, you were playing a show in this problem. What a guy turns up yeah with a proper.
Heavy yeah yeah, and a fair fair blaze of the landlord.
He went out after him up the street, you know, and they got the police and they managed to get Adam's guitar back, you know, but he was really angry.
It was really upset.
I don't know what he was upset, but the same guy right randomly the next time we came to play Sheffield. Yeah, this had become like you know, folklore within the band, like Sheffield Man, the fucking nuts up there, Blades Crewed BBC, you know, And we got to Sheffield and everybody was kind of a little bit you know. For the next gig and it was like a little sold out show at the Harley, and we were all like sketching anyway because we're on torn or hagging from the speed.
And we were all sit downstairs.
In the bar and the pine and he walks in the exact same guy. He sits down in opposite three of us sat there, he points at the goes.
You pull here. It was just like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? You know? Is he like following the man around? And so like, how are we what have we done to aggravate It's like, did your drama go over to it?
No?
Man, we all went upstairs if we didn't come back down until the gig. We were like, fuck Sheffield, man, this place is wrong. You know it was. It was.
It was terrifying, man, because I knows we're already rattled from that first bout of proper touring.
But you came so that so that was your first ever gig in the city. Your second was the Harley.
That was the one where I covered myself and my own ship like it was like it was a native That was then second question, yeah, second, yeah, that was so the second one that the guy showed up at.
That was the dirty protist.
Yeah, because they went they were it was you know, you got given drinks talkings. It was like you have you can have a cider or an air. It was like I have a beer and they were like, no, you can't. And I was like, it's a sold out gear.
I mean, this is my first ever proper tour where it's like fourteen gigs in a row, and this is like six, you know, so I've already started to learn that if you take a lot of ecstasy on night one and a lot of speed that buy a gig like five or six, you pretty much want to hang
yourself and never go on stage of it again. So I was learning like the hard way, and you know, and I was very angry at this point in time because you know, I don't think we've been signed yet, so you're working full time, but you're still just destitute.
You know.
It's kind of like what is going on here?
All these people are here, Why don't you know, why don't I have like a hotel room or like.
Anything, you know, and now you're being refused to beer. And now you're being refused to.
Beer right, and you know, I get like gut right anywhere, and I get terrible nerves, and I've been kind of like schooling myself on Gigi Allen, And at that point in time, I was like, well, nobody really cares, but obviously it's kind of like let's just see how far we can push this, you know what I mean, Let's see how like how nasty are kind of like performance you can actually put on just to sort of.
Just to see, just to test it. Yeah, it's happened. What was the reaction? I mean, it was like it was like Moses.
I felt like Moses, you know, It's like you could just cut through this this this crowd of people, like they were like not not even there, you know, but I put my hand down and shut in my hand and put put it across my face like like you know, Indian warping or whatever, and they just started going at it, you know, like going at just attacking the audience and that. But it was, it was it was amazing, and my whole band were terrified, and even Saul was scared of me.
For once I went towards Saul on stage, he was like backing off.
You know at that point, what were you thinking? At that point? It's just it's smell horrible. It smelled really bad. We you're just thinking he's lost he's actually lost his mind.
Now, Oh no, I didn't think he'd lose his mind.
It's just hot.
It smell like baby ship, didn't smell like adults ship. So it's just like, fuck off, get away from ny Man.
Yeah, it was funny.
The only one that didn't notice was Adam Harmer because he was on so much Drugger. So I ended up like tonguing him on stage, like covered in my own ship, and he didn't notice. After the gig man, but there was one guy in the crowd who was really into it. It was really weird, and I was like I was naked from I was wearing a suit, but I was naked from the waist down.
And this guy, you know, he kept like pushing into me.
Was the only guy who would give it any you know, And I ended up I ended up like on his shoulders, riding him around, like whipping him with his belt, and somebody got his belt off and I ended up on his shoulders and I was like riding him around the Harley like he was like he was a horse or something, covered in this ship wearing this suit but with and it was like it was. It was really like as kind of low down as I think it's.
So Sheffield's got the energies in Sheffield. What did you think the next day?
Like when you I thought, I bet the rest of the tour is going to sell good now, right, people don't want to see this band.
After that, I'm not sure.
I felt proud, man, I felt like, you know, that was a you know, that was another frontier. I don't have to do it again and to do it every night or anything, but at least I was interested to know how that feels to be in like a crowd of people and have this music and a microphone and be covered in your own feces. You know, it's just like a curious no regrets at all over that one, and then they call us degenera. Yeah, that self expression at its most like visceral.
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