Lewis, what's happening?

Nothing much.

Yourself?

Nothing.

You know, we're at the.

Where.

Where are you?

I'm in Brighton.

Right.

So we're at the opposite ends of our days.

Yeah.

I'm at dinner time, you're at breakfast time.

Did you have dinner yet?

No, I've.

I've actually prepared everything so I can have it after this because I've just been.

I've just been working.

Yeah.

Are you from Berlin?

Brighton.

No, from up north, actually.

We all are.

I went to school with Tom.

We've known each other since we were young.

Young kids.

And then we went to college, which is like high school.

Yeah.

Right, you guys.

And that's where we met Chloe.

Yeah.

Okay.

And then we moved to London.

And actually, I mean, our basis, that's playing with his life.

I met.

He was in my area at college.

So we've all kind of.

We're all from up north, apart from Nathan, who produced both our records.

He's Spanish.

Oh, he's from Spain.

Yeah.

And he's from Spain.

He is, yeah.

He's Spanish and he's from Spain.

So you've, in a sense, in some sort of triangular, quadratical way, you've all kind of known each other for quite a while.

Yeah.

And I've been listening to your records and you all have quite the command of your instruments, to say the least.

Well, thank you very much.

What was your musical education or relationship with music growing up?

Well, I started playing when I was nine and had lessons when we were.

Since when we were kids, and then sort of started off on rock.

And you started with drums?

Yeah.

The best instrument.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

So, yeah, started off, I'm just playing rock and then just eventually got curious about other things, especially when we went to college.

Just wanted to listen to other things.

I. I kind of started, to be fair, before that.

I kind of got into jazz or actually my teacher at the time put it on to me.

Yeah.

And I wasn't as into it as I got into later.

So when we was at uni and stuff and it kind of just.

Just curious and sort of spiraled on from then.

It's like, for me, I mean, I'm a rock player at the heart, but I also love jazz, so it's kind of like the.

The two melded together, which is like my sort of playing style.

Right.

But it's the same.

I mean, to be honest, Chloe's just always been an amazing vocalist.

And Tom.

Yeah, and guitarist, of course.

Of course.

And Tom, the same.

He's just like, just A really enthusiastic to learn and to just kind of, you know, play like his heroes, basically.

Yeah.

What about shows?

Did you see shows when you were in college or university?

Yeah, I mean, we was always.

Yeah, we were always going to shows.

I mean, the thing about moving to London from where we're from, which is Grimsby, by the way.

Me and Tom are from Grimsby.

I don't know if I said we're actually from.

I don't know where Grimsby is.

Yeah, not many people heard of it.

It's northeast coast.

Do you know Lincoln?

I think so, actually, in Lincolnshire.

That's where our college was.

That's like a town just outside, sort of inland.

That's where Matt's from.

And that's where we met Chloe.

Where's I going with that?

Was shut.

Yeah.

So coming down to London, to the big city.

Yeah.

So, like, there'd be so many bands that we never get to see that we could see in London.

So, like, I remember we, you know, we'd always go see OCS every time they come up.

We're big fans of all that kind of San Francisco garage cyc scene.

So we, you know, saw Ty.

Ty Siegel.

Yeah.

So every.

Every time we got a chance to go see.

See someone, we would.

Right.

Man, I. I didn't make the OC's connection, but now it's very clear.

Yeah.

Yeah, good.

A little deer hoof as well here and there, but not to pigeonhole anyone, as I said, I've been listening to your record or all your records and.

Side note, the split with White Denim is.

That's a really fun.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what it was at first and I was, like, trying to figure it out and I didn't.

Yeah.

I try to be naive when I listen to something and then interpret it backwards and.

And I. I figured it out.

But swapping singers, that's exactly it.

That there isn't a manual with it telling you what.

What happened.

But it's fun.

Yeah, you.

Yeah, it was.

That was really fun to record.

We just kind of went.

We got Nathan down and just booked a day at a little studio down the coast and just smashed it out.

It was really fun to record.

You can feel that fun.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was.

But your new record, Flare is what I've been really digging into and it retains the prog and psych textures of all your previous stuff.

But, man, there's something different about it.

Partly the recording.

I'd like to talk about that later, but it seems like you've got a little more of A angularity to it, you know, kind of like Faust, maybe even Devo or something.

But with a lot of music like that, I think you just naturally find repetition.

And what I kind of came up with is that repetition brought on this really pretty irresistible catchiness that I would say you didn't necessarily have before.

And that's exactly it.

Yeah, it's a really fun listen to especially listeners I'd encourage to listen to your entire body of music.

It makes this new record so much more fun to listen to.

I listen to complicated music, let's just say, and psych music and weird music and I don't need catchiness.

But it's.

I love it when it.

When it sneaks in there.

So.

Yeah.

How'd you approach this one?

We did.

We definitely approached it differently and went into making this record.

I mean it's a.

We recorded the last Terrapath.

We recorded just all live, just like straight in tape, just live band to just capture to that, to do that vibe.

This one we did a little bit differently.

It's like half sort of live playing in a room together and half kind of fragmented recording overdubs and so it's a hybrid record.

Okay.

So that in itself, I don't know, welcomed a bit more.

We went into the writing a bit more intentional with what kind of, you know, like what kind of energy and emotions we want to get out of a song and what kind of effect and you know, what you want to get out of it.

We kind of went into writing, yeah, just a bit more intentional and yeah, like you say, repetition was a huge part of it because I mean we never sat on anything for too long on Terrapath.

It was all.

It's a very fast moving record.

Especially like sort of later kind of second half of it, which is like fun and it's, you know, it's really fun to play and I think people like it, it can be exciting.

But we just wanted to really get them like get the most out of every idea.

So we would.

And it was different for us as well because we, when we were writing something we'd kind of think like, okay, what happens next?

Okay, another idea, what happens next?

And that's kind of how we built Terrafath, but with flare.

It's like, no, how can we like make this idea evolve and, and you.

Know, like what can happen next?

Yeah, and like the, the feeling it gives and kind of just sitting on things because they feel good and you know, it doesn't have to just change all the time and you know, but like Emotion was a big part of it as well.

It's like, what kind of if.

If we've got the most, you know, kind of emotive feeling out of that section and where we can, you know, push it and stuff like that.

And I'm not sure how to put this because it might be stating the obvious, but I'm going to say it anyways.

Chloe's where her vocals sit in this record.

This is where it's going to really sound dumb.

Sounds like a fourth instrument or an additional instrument.

And I know voice is an instrument, but just in the dumb sense.

I think I know what you mean.

In the dumb sense of an instrument.

Non vocal instrument.

It.

It has the, like.

You forget that it's a human voice kind of.

Again, I. I knew this was going to make me sound so good.

I know what you mean.

It's really interesting how it functions over the whole record.

It's just this piece that kind of sticks out that happens to be voice, and it's really beautiful.

Well, it's like what she does with harmonies and.

Is incredible.

Yeah.

And the way it all blends together, it really is like.

It's.

Yeah.

So I get what you mean when you say that.

There's so many layers and like the.

You know, when she's working on, you know, the melodies and harmony is just.

It's very intertwined with all our instruments and it's kind of.

It sits like that and it does.

So I get.

I do get what.

What you mean when you say that, like.

Yeah.

Well, I'd like to play a little bit of dozer.

Is that cool?

Absolutely.

All right, here we.

I want to be somewhere cozy.

Help me feel it.

Oh, no.

Sa.

That.

It's okay.

I'm lazy.

Either version of that song, the radio edit or the Long is a wonderful journey.

I recommend the.

The Long, but I didn't know that there was a radio edit, and it kind of popped on today while I was driving around, and it was like, that's great too.

Get to the point.

We did, actually.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

We.

We put that out a little bit later as well.

It came out a little bit later, but, yeah, we just thought it'd be fun to just compact the.

More energetics.

Yeah.

Parts of the song and just like, put them together and just kind of have that as a fun little ditty as well.

Yeah, it's cool.

And they.

The middle is wild.

I was listening to the middle with my.

My kid.

It's just a great jazzy breakdown with the.

With the kind of Like Bill Frizzell guitar playing, like filthy jazzy guitar.

It's really cool.

Kind of like reminds me of like a weird jazzy circus kind of psychotic circus weird thing.

I don't know.

Oh, sorry.

My.

My doorbell's just running.

I have no idea.

It's fun.

It also kind of reminds me of like a John Zorin kind of freak out.

Yeah, as you said.

Yeah, it's definitely that freak out we.

We do.

You know, funny thing about that.

That section just before we move on is we.

We had.

There was this.

I think it.

Where we recorded the album.

There was this like tape machine thing that.

That Nathan was using with some effects.

And on.

There was a reel that was already on there.

And so we was just messing about playing it and there's some weird kind of violin orchestrally sort of sound effects that you'll hear in that section and they're like reversed and stuff.

And those are things we recorded in from this just random tape like reel that was.

That was on this tape machine.

Yeah, it's kind of cool.

Yeah, that's great.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And sort of back to the recording and writing a little bit.

Did you.

Did you go to a proper studio and do it in a couple weeks?

Pretty much, yeah.

I mean, well, we.

We actually record.

We went away to Wales to like write and demo ideas just at this sort of private.

It's just like a big barn that was converted and it's just at this guy's house that Simon hooked us up with.

And we intend.

The original intention was just to go and demo there and.

Because we can stay there and it's just like in.

Overlooking like Snowdonia, which is beautiful mountains and national park area.

So it was just great conditions to write in.

We loved it so much that we just.

Then the drum sound in the room was just incredible that we was just like, well, let's just record the album here.

Yeah.

And we.

We got like an.

Brought in a desk and stuff because we needed some other bits.

But yeah, yeah, we just.

We record it there and it was.

It was a great experience actually.

Yeah, the drums do sound amazing.

Yeah, definitely some amazing drum sounds on the album, for sure.

Can you send me a version of just the drums isolated, maybe?

I could probably get that, yeah.

Like to practice your drum parts.

I'd learn a thing or two.

And then with writing, I see that you all kind of get credit for writing or composing.

Do you all individually come up with a riff or a rhythm?

It seems like maybe it might be something.

Pretty much, yeah.

I mean, especially for this record, we usually come in with an idea.

Like, I also play bass as well, so I might write some.

An idea kind of, you know, pattern, a sequence melody on a bass and then bring it in.

And kind of.

It always starts with one simple idea that anyone could bring in.

And then it kind of.

We just kind of take it somewhere and one thing leads to another and then it's like, what if we do this?

What if we try that?

What if we try this but in, you know, in a different way and we kind of just.

And then, you know, we might find something.

We'll jam on that for extended periods of time and just see what works, figure out parts and one thing leads to another and that's pretty much all the album went in that kind of fashion.

So we all contribute equally, really.

To write in.

Well, whatever you did, it yielded some fruit.

Wonderful fruit.

And I was perusing the world wide web and looking at a bunch of your performances and I saw something from last year, I think that was shot in a warehouse.

And he was at the state 51.

I think so, yeah.

And you had a percussion player with you?

Oh, yeah, that's Nathan.

Oh, that's Nathan.

Okay, that's Nathan.

Yeah.

All right.

So he.

He also has produced both our records, so he's a good friend of ours and we're all very close, so.

Yeah, it was really cool to see that percussion, you know, to see.

To see him.

And he.

I did.

I was kind of like putting him under the microscope, wondering like, you know, like is real and obviously it's real.

I. I didn't think it would be totally fake, but just like.

Oh man, he knows the parts.

Cuz some of the parts are, you know, challenging.

Yeah, he's.

He's a drummer as well.

He's a really good drum, backup vocals and.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

You and Nathan had some pretty good eye contact here and there.

Definitely.

Yeah, definitely.

He stares me down.

Yeah.

Does he ever go.

Does he ever shake his head?

No, like, you just fucked up now.

You'Ll look at me and go faster.

Faster.

No, I might do though.

You might.

Yeah, we have a.

We have a good time.

There's a fun presence when.

When Nathan's there and the whole party kind of energy.

Right.

And, and do you have plans to tour?

Yeah, yeah, we.

We're actually off to the Netherlands for Eurosonic Festival.

That's not tour, but.

And then in February, March, we have 14 dates, UK and Ireland and that sort of space of a month.

Okay.

So.

Yeah.

All right.

It should be fun to get back on the road.

Yeah, yeah.

And the record comes out January 30th on Bella Union.

That's right.

That's right.

And what.

What will you.

What's your instrumentation?

Typically, when you tour at the core.

I guess it's a quartet, but for this tour, we're branching out.

And a good friend of ours, Callum, he's going to be playing Some keys and BVs Nathan, unfortunately, won't be joining because he's in Spain now.

Yeah, he's moved to Spain, unfortunately, so we miss him.

But, yeah, it's been a lot of quartet in the minute.

Just kind of two guitars, bass, drums.

But, yeah, we're sort of just figuring out this extra keys kind of thing.

And a lot of the stuff on the new album, we've got a lot of keys on it.

We just wanted to find a way to hopefully translate that a bit better live.

So.

Yeah, and I. I guess I wonder this too.

Are you a loud band?

Yeah, I think, yeah.

I've been playing the new songs really loud, like.

Yeah, really well.

Works.

It's quite a dynamic, for sure.

Like, you know, like, especially like the Parasite, the first song just comes in.

It's like, wow.

Yeah, just kind of straight off the bar.

I think when we go loud, we go really loud and we really kind of thrash it.

But, you know, it kind of is dynamic in a way.

We might have some more quiet sections and more sections, you know, kind of.

But when we're up there, we're.

We're up there.

That's great.

Sure.

Yeah.

Well, if you come to the States, I'll find you.

Oh, we'd love to.

Love to see you.

Yeah, we'd love to.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, we'd love to.

We'd love to get over.

I don't know when we will, but hopefully this year, next year, who knows?

All right, well, if you make it to Seattle, they'll find you.

I won't wear earplugs or anything.

I want.

I want to be blasted good.

All right, well, have.

Congratulations again on this record, Flair.

Thank you very much.

Again, it's out on the 30th of January, Bella Union.

When you get out there traveling, travel safe.

Take care of yourself.

Nice talking to you.

Thanks.

Bye.

The waters is precarious.

I'm the defensive, I'm the defense.

Been letting, going, going nowhere.

This feel so loaded.

Once I got it, I forgot it again.

To come out to say.

Sam.