Speaker 1: Loud and Quiet Presents Midnight Chats.
Speaker 2: Hey folks, welcome back to Midnight Chats and to what
Speaker 2: is the final episode of series seven of the podcast.
Speaker 2: I'm sounding a little bit horse today. I've had a
Speaker 2: bit of a cold for the past couple of weeks
Speaker 2: and this episode that I'm about to play was only
Speaker 2: recorded yesterday, so I'm sounding quite rough on that as well,
Speaker 2: So apologies for that, but thank you to everyone that's
Speaker 2: come on the podcast over these past ten weeks. For
Speaker 2: this series. We're going to take a break now over
Speaker 2: over well quite a long break, I guess, because we'll
Speaker 2: probably start putting series eight out in September time, maybe
Speaker 2: October time, which is quite a way off, but it
Speaker 2: give us plenty of time to get new guests involved
Speaker 2: and to record them and to make sure it's as
Speaker 2: good as it can be. And there will be one
Speaker 2: other episode between now and then, which will probably come
Speaker 2: out in a couple of weeks time, and we're recording
Speaker 2: that next week at the Great Escape Festival, which if
Speaker 2: you are in the area, if you're going to the
Speaker 2: Great Escape in Brighton, then you can come and see
Speaker 2: it filmed live in front of an audience. Can you
Speaker 2: I mean, can you imagine just how much fun that
Speaker 2: will be? What else would you want to be doing
Speaker 2: at ten fifteen am at a music festival if you
Speaker 2: are interested. We're going to be recording it with self esteem,
Speaker 2: so that's the big draw. She's going to be great,
Speaker 2: I'm sure. And it's at the Jury's in in Brighton
Speaker 2: on next Friday. So we'll put that out in a
Speaker 2: couple of weeks time, I'd say something like that, and
Speaker 2: then yet we'll be back in the autumn time. For now, though,
Speaker 2: we do have this last episode of the series, which
Speaker 2: is with Georgia Barnes, who records only under the name Georgia.
Speaker 2: And special thanks to Georgia for recording this with me
Speaker 2: yesterday because she had only just flowed home from the
Speaker 2: other side of the world. She'd been in Australia playing
Speaker 2: some shows with Jungle And if you've read a copy
Speaker 2: of the magazine this month then you may well have
Speaker 2: read a feature with Georgia. We've got feature in there.
Speaker 2: What can I tell you about her? We're not There
Speaker 2: is going to be a new Georgia album at some point,
Speaker 2: probably this year. It's a little bit under wraps still,
Speaker 2: so we don't talk about it too much during this conversation. Instead,
Speaker 2: we talk about kind of what George has been up
Speaker 2: to since she released her debut album in twenty fifteen,
Speaker 2: and she's had quite a lot going on, from hanging
Speaker 2: out with the Flaming Lips and becoming good friends of
Speaker 2: theirs to clubbing. We speak quite a bit about clubbing.
Speaker 2: Georgia's dad is Neil Barnes, who is one half of
Speaker 2: Left Field, and that's probably as much as you need
Speaker 2: to know at this point. Let's just play it. This
Speaker 2: is myself talking with Georgia, and anything else that's not
Speaker 2: clear I apologize for, but you'll work it out. You know,
Speaker 2: all of the people that we mentioned. If if we
Speaker 2: don't fully explain it, there's you know, there's Google and
Speaker 2: all that sort of stuff. So thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: This is myself talking to Georgia and yeah, come to
Speaker 2: brighton ten am ten fifteen, let's say ten am for
Speaker 2: a ten to fifteen start juries in either myself or
Speaker 2: Greg one of us will be talking to self esteem
Speaker 2: and you will be able to see how the magic
Speaker 2: of this podcast works in front of your very eyes.
Speaker 2: What an exciting time for now, though this is midnight
Speaker 2: Chat's episode number seventy three. Are you a good flyer generally?
Speaker 1: I sort of not really.
Speaker 3: No, I've you know, my mum and dad took me
Speaker 3: on planes as a young kid, and you know, my
Speaker 3: dad's sort of touring and being a musician. We are,
Speaker 3: you know, I got to go to some places, so
Speaker 3: I was I was traveling as a young kid, but
Speaker 3: for some reason as I've got older.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's got a little bit worse for me. I
Speaker 1: don't know why.
Speaker 3: I think it's just the kind of, you know, not
Speaker 3: not having a lot of space, and then.
Speaker 2: The idea of knowing that you can't get off.
Speaker 1: That's it.
Speaker 3: It's the knowingly and and and my ears are quite sensitive,
Speaker 3: and it's sort of you know, I think I have
Speaker 3: come off this plane and my ears are slightly blocked.
Speaker 1: So I think that's why. I was with my.
Speaker 3: Brother earlier and we were just catching up over some
Speaker 3: lunch and he was like, you're really shouting.
Speaker 1: I really am. I, Oh god, I'm sorry. I think
Speaker 1: it's because.
Speaker 2: Well, we should say at the start of this podcast
Speaker 2: that you have literally flown back from the other side
Speaker 2: of the world yesterday from Australia, so thanks for doing
Speaker 2: this I mean, this is probably you're doing okay, the
Speaker 2: jet lag hasn't hit you yet.
Speaker 3: No, I'm fine. This is what everyone keeps saying to me.
Speaker 3: The jet lag hasn't hit you yet, right, it's coming.
Speaker 3: That's that's more alarming. Actually, this is like this wave
Speaker 3: about to approach.
Speaker 2: Did you have a good night sleep last night? Yeah, slept? Okay,
Speaker 2: maybe you've beaten it.
Speaker 1: I think I've beaten it.
Speaker 2: It's all about I think it's a lot is in
Speaker 2: your head as well. If you tell yourself that it's
Speaker 2: going to then of course you're screwed. It will.
Speaker 3: And actually, you know from previous experiences, this whole thing
Speaker 3: of like, oh have I slept it off? I've only
Speaker 3: had five hours, so I need to have a bit more.
Speaker 3: This whole kind of anxiety around you know how much
Speaker 3: how many hours you've had to say, I.
Speaker 1: Haven't done that this time. I've kind of just gone.
Speaker 1: If I sleep, I sleep. If I don't, I don't.
Speaker 3: And actually, you know you've you've been, you've been you know,
Speaker 3: to parties where you know you've partied for like three
Speaker 3: days solidly with like three hours sleep, So you know
Speaker 3: you can do this.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be okay, it's going to be fun,
Speaker 2: all right. So what was it you're doing in Australia.
Speaker 3: So at the beginning of this year, I Jungle invited
Speaker 3: me out on their UK tour to support for them,
Speaker 3: and it was such a great experience and we kind
Speaker 3: of all became really good friends and it was like
Speaker 3: a touring family, and I think they just you know,
Speaker 3: they were like, will you come and join us in
Speaker 3: Australia too, And I was like, yes, let's make it happen.
Speaker 2: How many is in your band at the moment, It's
Speaker 2: just me, yeah, because I saw a video of you
Speaker 2: recently with like a stand up kit. You had like
Speaker 2: a little trigger kid. Is that your stage setup?
Speaker 1: That's my stage set.
Speaker 3: So this whole new set of songs were really inspired
Speaker 3: by the early eighties and mid eighties era of when
Speaker 3: electronic music kind of met pop music in the UK
Speaker 3: and in Europe and in America too, And I guess
Speaker 3: what came with that was like the technology as well.
Speaker 3: It was suddenly in the eighties you get the rise
Speaker 3: of an SSL desk. Suddenly stuff becomes digital, Analog meets digital,
Speaker 3: and it's really interesting tech for technology. And one of
Speaker 3: the things I noticed was it was like one of
Speaker 3: the first eras for drum triggers and the main brand
Speaker 3: were Simmons. And I remember watching this clip of Depeche
Speaker 3: Mode playing somewhere huge a stadium somewhere, and the drummer,
Speaker 3: I can't remember his name now, maybe it was Andy
Speaker 3: something was playing a Simmons kit standing up, and I
Speaker 3: was just like, that's fucking cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's something about a drummer standing up.
Speaker 3: Look, well, totally, there's a it's amazing and you know,
Speaker 3: a lot of a lot of that era of eighties
Speaker 3: electro pop music, the drummers are standing up and playing,
Speaker 3: and then obviously like watching Prints and watching Sheila E
Speaker 3: playing standing up and kind of there's there's just an
Speaker 3: energy I guess you get from from it. But you know,
Speaker 3: it is a kind of real thing with drummers of like,
Speaker 3: don't play standing up.
Speaker 1: You're going to really damage yourself.
Speaker 3: You know, yeah, yeah you're again oh yeah, oh my yeah,
Speaker 3: yeah definitely.
Speaker 2: In what sense like you're going.
Speaker 3: To be because yeah, physically it's really demanding because you know,
Speaker 3: on your legs, you're putting more pressure on your legs,
Speaker 3: you're putting more pressure on your arms, there's more physical,
Speaker 3: the physical side of it is.
Speaker 1: There's just there's a lot more. You know, you're not
Speaker 1: sitting down.
Speaker 3: Your weight isn't in your bum, your weight is on
Speaker 3: your legs, and obviously one leg is playing and playing
Speaker 3: the kick drums standing up. So I have to as
Speaker 3: a result, I've had to, like, you know, really consider
Speaker 3: warming up and warming down and making sure that an
Speaker 3: hour before, two hours before I go on stage, I'm
Speaker 3: like doing yoga, I'm stretching, because you can really seriously
Speaker 3: hurt your you know, it can lead to well, it
Speaker 3: can just lead to really bad things. You know, it
Speaker 3: could lead to you know, potentially like you know, bad
Speaker 3: injuries that make you know, can can harm your career basically,
Speaker 3: So it is a bit of a risk, but it's
Speaker 3: it looks.
Speaker 2: Cool, Yeah, it looks really cool. Did you manage to
Speaker 2: see the David Byrne show last year at all?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 1: Do you know what? I didn't? And it was really annoying.
Speaker 3: I got offered a ticket and I was I was
Speaker 3: in the studio and I couldn't go. It was I know,
Speaker 3: I know what you're exactly, you know what you're about
Speaker 3: to say.
Speaker 1: I mean, all the musicians standing up and.
Speaker 2: You know, well kind of took that kind of thing
Speaker 2: to a new it's called an untethered performance absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 2: which is exactly what it sounds like. But they kind
Speaker 2: of broke down the drum kit across say six people,
Speaker 2: well exactly, one person just literally had the snare exactly exactly.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a dance piece really.
Speaker 3: That's and you know, I think everybody knows David Burt,
Speaker 3: David Byrns kind of like amazing sort of left field
Speaker 3: approach to performance. And I guess you know, when you
Speaker 3: watch certain dance pieces, like you know, quite experimental dance pieces,
Speaker 3: they're they're sort of adding those sort of techniques. The
Speaker 3: company is all doing something that's adding to this whole
Speaker 3: collective experience. Yeah, I think, you know, dissecting it in
Speaker 3: that fashion is just really cool, really cool.
Speaker 2: When did you start drumming?
Speaker 4: Then?
Speaker 2: What can you remember, like, at what age did you
Speaker 2: because drums was your first instrument, right.
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, So there's a hard question to answer this one.
Speaker 3: I think it was around when I was about six
Speaker 3: or seven. I'm told perhaps my my dad's friend was
Speaker 3: a drummer. I should say that, you know, my dad
Speaker 3: was in left field and his other His other partner,
Speaker 3: Paul Daily, was the drummer in left field, and so
Speaker 3: I think the story is that I was my dad
Speaker 3: took me around to Paul's flat or whatever, and I
Speaker 3: and Paul had his kids set up in the in
Speaker 3: some room. I went into the room and I just
Speaker 3: started playing, and I think Paul sort of said to
Speaker 3: my dad, you know.
Speaker 1: She's really good.
Speaker 2: Just naturally I couldn't. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I do think like I was a teacher myself,
Speaker 3: so I taught some kids at one time, and you
Speaker 3: can just tell. You can tell some kids have this
Speaker 3: kind of everyone's got rhythm, but some kids just have
Speaker 3: this ability to kind of like coordinate with the drums,
Speaker 3: and you kind of think, oh, they kind of get it,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 2: When you're teaching kids. Though, I guess you're not to
Speaker 2: say that, are you. You have to say no, you
Speaker 2: can't say listen.
Speaker 1: Well, I guess some teachers did in the back in
Speaker 1: the day.
Speaker 4: I guess that was the guy like you've got it,
Speaker 4: you haven't got it.
Speaker 1: You know, you might have it, but you have to work.
Speaker 2: But you just had it, like it was just kind
Speaker 2: of in you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, apparently, I just I just could do it, and
Speaker 3: it wasn't. It wasn't. So I do remember the feeling
Speaker 3: of just being like, this is the best thing ever,
Speaker 3: Like this doesn't feel hard to me. And then I
Speaker 3: guess that evolved into like, actually, you know, as I
Speaker 3: got older, actually you know, sitting down listening to drummers
Speaker 3: that I loved, or like reading certain drum you know,
Speaker 3: books music, because there's actually a whole you know, instrumentation,
Speaker 3: a way of writing drum rhythms. So I got into
Speaker 3: a bit of that, and then it gets hard.
Speaker 1: You know, that's the sort.
Speaker 3: Of where you're really trying to develop your technique. We're playing,
Speaker 3: and I had some points where I was like, you.
Speaker 1: Know, I don't think this is for me and the academics.
Speaker 3: Yes, it starts to become a little bit like a chore,
Speaker 3: you know, but but you know, the end result is
Speaker 3: that you can play this amazing jazz rhythm, or you
Speaker 3: can play this kind of cool rock beat, or you know,
Speaker 3: you can play this feel, or you can play this
Speaker 3: paradid or you know.
Speaker 1: So it's just like the process you go through of anything.
Speaker 3: So I went through that, and then at the age
Speaker 3: of kind of nineteen eighteen, got into you know, played
Speaker 3: in my first professional band and then was sort of
Speaker 3: touring by the age of kind of twenty one twenty two,
Speaker 3: so it was, yeah, it was just a skill that
Speaker 3: I you know, I just picked up and kind of,
Speaker 3: you know, saw a way. It was actually my way
Speaker 3: into a music scene in London. I always felt like
Speaker 3: I wanted to be part of a scene, you know,
Speaker 3: and playing drums really kind of opened the door for
Speaker 3: me getting into a scene.
Speaker 2: Was that particularly the kind of South London?
Speaker 3: Yeah exactly, Yeah, exactly, Alan and Quest and.
Speaker 1: Just that whole scene. Exactly.
Speaker 2: How did you meet those guys?
Speaker 1: Well, actually I went to school.
Speaker 3: I went to you I went to school with a
Speaker 3: Landamara and Alan started going out with a guy and
Speaker 3: we were good friends. And she was like I think
Speaker 3: I was seventeen and she was eighteen. She was like,
Speaker 3: do you want to come and meet my boyfriend? And
Speaker 3: I was like yeah, and it was Quest, and so
Speaker 3: we just became friends ever since. And then Alan started
Speaker 3: to play music and Quest was kind of already in
Speaker 3: that kind of South London Seed he was already friends
Speaker 3: with kind of you know, you're you're Adele's really young
Speaker 3: Adeles and and kind of Jack Pannarte and the kind
Speaker 3: of really young young Turks crowd and Alan was playing music,
Speaker 3: and so me and Quest became a Land's backing band,
Speaker 3: and then Alan and I became Quest's backing band.
Speaker 2: Because around that time, Ques played his first show that
Speaker 2: he fronted, Yes at the Shall Yeah, were you in
Speaker 2: the back?
Speaker 1: I was the drama okay, right?
Speaker 3: That was And I've been told that was a really momentous,
Speaker 3: momentous gig for a lot of musicians, up and coming musicians.
Speaker 3: I think samf was in the audience. Samfer, loads of
Speaker 3: other musicians were kind of in the audience watching that
Speaker 3: gig because everyone.
Speaker 2: It was great that gig. He was I remember him
Speaker 2: being super super nervous. Yeah, yeah, because he was singing
Speaker 2: for the first time.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Just he's quite a quiet guy.
Speaker 1: Is in the totally.
Speaker 3: I mean, I think for QUESTI I don't think he
Speaker 3: ever realized that actually, you know, he could he could
Speaker 3: actually really hold an audience on stage, and perhaps that
Speaker 3: you know, it was good that it was me and
Speaker 3: Alana's his backing band because you know, we were kind
Speaker 3: of like very supportive. It was just amazing playing for
Speaker 3: them too, because you know, they were they were in
Speaker 3: this whole scene, and as a result, I got to
Speaker 3: meet all these amazing, amazing musicians and people who would
Speaker 3: go on to kind of really shape the UK scene now,
Speaker 3: you know. I remember being at a boiler room really
Speaker 3: early on and it was it was a Young Turks
Speaker 3: night and Quest was DJing, and I think the billing
Speaker 3: was something like Hype Williams, Dean Blunt and then Samfer
Speaker 3: doing a little like mini set just with like a
Speaker 3: Corg mini and his voice. Then it was like Meeka DJing.
Speaker 3: Then it was like Jamie XX DJing. Then it was Quest,
Speaker 3: then it was Hudson Mohawk. Then it was like Scream,
Speaker 3: then it was I remember like being in this room
Speaker 3: and thinking like I was just like, what is it.
Speaker 1: I'm in a room full of all this talent? You know.
Speaker 1: It was kind of like quite. I always remember that moment, just.
Speaker 3: Being like this is this is really nice to just
Speaker 3: sit here and just see all this talent, you know.
Speaker 3: And I guess for a long time I kind of
Speaker 3: was a bit like, you know, I was kind of
Speaker 3: just known as the Drama and I was kind of like,
Speaker 3: you know, I don't think people really knew that I
Speaker 3: was creating music behind the sort of closed doors.
Speaker 2: Really like study wise, did you studied at so Ass, Yes,
Speaker 2: and you studied at brit School. Yes, it was brit
Speaker 2: School before.
Speaker 1: So Yeah, Brit School was before so As.
Speaker 2: And what is Britschool like? When you're there? Do you
Speaker 2: get like what is it like? There is there this
Speaker 2: sense that does the reputation of it mean that people
Speaker 2: think that this is going to happen for me because
Speaker 2: we're at the brit School and you come here and
Speaker 2: then you become adele or wine house or whatever.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's interesting. I've never really spoken about brit School.
Speaker 3: I mean when I went so I went from fourteen
Speaker 3: so and I actually initially was in theater.
Speaker 1: I didn't do music, and.
Speaker 3: I just was you know, I was in a school
Speaker 3: before that that was just not very I wasn't very
Speaker 3: happy and it just wasn't really working out and I
Speaker 3: needed a change because I was getting into trouble. I
Speaker 3: got in with the wrong sorts of people. And so
Speaker 3: when I arrived at the brit School, it was like
Speaker 3: it was like something I'd never experienced before. It was
Speaker 3: just full of creative people, teachers that were very supportive
Speaker 3: and engaging and really thought provoking and you know, in theater,
Speaker 3: we were doing plays about David Bowie. You know, we
Speaker 3: were doing plays about also about kind of you know,
Speaker 3: the Holocaust, and we were doing plays about then we
Speaker 3: were kind of doing you know, all the traditional kind
Speaker 3: of Shakespearean plays and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But it was like it was so arty, you know, and.
Speaker 3: I don't never really experience anything like that before. And
Speaker 3: also it was so incredible about the brit school was
Speaker 3: it's free, you know, so you were with kids from
Speaker 3: all different backgrounds, you know, that all just shared this
Speaker 3: kind of love for something something in art.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 3: So from that from the age of fourteen sixteen, I
Speaker 3: just had the best time ever. And then I chose
Speaker 3: to move to music. And I guess around that time,
Speaker 3: Adele had come out and sort of got success, real success,
Speaker 3: and you know, there was always rumors of very successful
Speaker 3: people that had come out of music, and I felt
Speaker 3: that there was a slight pressure from other people that that,
Speaker 3: you know, that we were all that they were all
Speaker 3: going to be pop stars. And you know, and I
Speaker 3: think because of my background of like you know, my
Speaker 3: dad and stuff, I knew that actually it wasn't as
Speaker 3: easy as that. And you know, Adele was just incredibly
Speaker 3: like a one of one of a kind, and for me,
Speaker 3: I kind of went to music and I had a
Speaker 3: complete rebellion against pop music.
Speaker 1: It was really odd.
Speaker 3: I didn't I was like, I didn't really want to
Speaker 3: perform what the teachers gave me.
Speaker 1: I wanted to perform like Sonic Youth and kind of
Speaker 1: like and you weren't allowed to do that. It wasn't
Speaker 1: allowed to do it.
Speaker 3: Well we did, like, you know, we did Sonic Youth
Speaker 3: covers and I think the teachers were a bit like,
Speaker 3: you know, this is this is you know, perhaps Georgia
Speaker 3: needs to kind of have a bit of a rethink
Speaker 3: about And I don't know, I think I just I think,
Speaker 3: you know, the whole thing about the Brits School is
Speaker 3: is that there is that whole fame school around it.
Speaker 3: But I think because of my previous two years of
Speaker 3: just having a fantastic, incredible mind blowing experience, I was
Speaker 3: always you know, I'm always very positive about the brit School.
Speaker 3: But you know, but the whole kind of fame school,
Speaker 3: the side of it is kind of like a little
Speaker 3: bit you know, it's but but also the fact is
Speaker 3: is that I was kind of performing as well so
Speaker 3: that was fantastic. You know, I was given up. We
Speaker 3: were all given opportunities to perform, and that was kind
Speaker 3: of something that was really important because I guess now,
Speaker 3: you know, it's you know, I do, even though I
Speaker 3: suffer very badly from nerves. I'm kind of you know,
Speaker 3: you know, I've been performing since the age of you know, sixteen,
Speaker 3: So it's kind of it's amazing really when you think
Speaker 3: about it. I mean, it's and I think it was
Speaker 3: a really really important school and it's set a real
Speaker 3: president in this country of that free performing art schools
Speaker 3: kind of massively important, and especially where the school was
Speaker 3: as well. It was in a really you know, quite
Speaker 3: poor borough of South London, and you know, hopefully it
Speaker 3: kind of gave the whole that kind of East Croydon,
Speaker 3: you know, Selhurst area a bit of a light, put
Speaker 3: it on the map a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you know, Mike and Jemma were here.
Speaker 2: We're in your house at the moment, yes, say. They
Speaker 2: came here for a feature in the magazine about a
Speaker 2: month ago. And it's made my job easy for this
Speaker 2: because I could just read piece to find out what
Speaker 2: you've been up to. But one of the things that
Speaker 2: really stood out that you talk about in that article
Speaker 2: is how over the past couple of years you've learnt
Speaker 2: to go clubbing sober.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: You talk about that with.
Speaker 1: Him, Yes, I did.
Speaker 2: Particularly the reason this intro in particular is because I'm
Speaker 2: quite like most people who have never been I'm quite
Speaker 2: fascinated by the Bergheim. Yeah, in particular. Yes, and you've
Speaker 2: obviously been, yes, and you've now been completely sober.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: Actually, let's just start with clubbing generally.
Speaker 1: Yes.
Speaker 2: When did you first go to a club.
Speaker 1: As soon as I hit eighteen?
Speaker 2: Did you?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Did you feel that like.
Speaker 3: Oh gosh yeah, like oh yeah yeah yeah yeah, Like
Speaker 3: as soon as I hit eighteen or my eighteenth birthday,
Speaker 3: I was in the que for Fabric.
Speaker 2: That was the first club, the first club I went to.
Speaker 2: That's a good one to make your.
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I remember.
Speaker 2: Do you think that comes from your dad? That interesting?
Speaker 3: Yeah for sure, Yeah, absolutely, yeah, it comes from that
Speaker 3: whole culture really, yeah for sure. And but you know, also,
Speaker 3: you know, my mum was just always at music festivals,
Speaker 3: you know, she was at like Isle of Wight and
Speaker 3: all these in so she was always talking about these
Speaker 3: amazing collective experiences in music, and so I think, yeah, totally,
Speaker 3: it came from my mum and dad and obviously like clubbing,
Speaker 3: you know, came from the you know, the types of
Speaker 3: characters I saw and you know, were quite close to me,
Speaker 3: that were that were kind of associated with my dad,
Speaker 3: and I was always really fascinated by those characters, you know,
Speaker 3: the type of characters that were kind of like they
Speaker 3: was sort of like quite eccentric, you know, up for
Speaker 3: going out, you know, do a bit of this, do
Speaker 3: a bit of that, and you know that that was
Speaker 3: kind of their life dancing. It was just like yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: from that, you know, and they were like characters, you know,
Speaker 3: a bit like your Keith Flint's or like you know,
Speaker 3: and I was I was just always fascinated by them,
Speaker 3: you know, because they're quite incredible people.
Speaker 1: Really. Yeah.
Speaker 3: So as soon as I hit eighteen, I was I
Speaker 3: was straight in the fabric Q and I remember it
Speaker 3: actually I can't remember who was DJing, but I remember
Speaker 3: walking into that main room and thinking, wow, you know,
Speaker 3: this is just like this is amazing, but also feeling
Speaker 3: a bit like.
Speaker 1: I'm super young.
Speaker 3: I don't know if they you know, I don't know
Speaker 3: if because I do look really young, you know, and
Speaker 3: unfortunately I wasn't able to go out.
Speaker 1: I did go to a.
Speaker 3: SHUBs in South London now and see Scream and Benger,
Speaker 3: but that was another story.
Speaker 1: I'd broke in.
Speaker 3: Someone let me in to us in South Croydon, but
Speaker 3: that ended quite badly. We were to come out of
Speaker 3: that because I was like, I think there was a
Speaker 3: sort of like pretend shooting or something. So this was
Speaker 3: like a proper clubbing experience, and we were there till
Speaker 3: like six in the morning, you know, till the end.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it started at eighteen.
Speaker 2: Because you must have had in your mind what you
Speaker 2: thought it was going to be like, and like, yeah,
Speaker 2: the excitement of going to a club for sure. Fabric
Speaker 2: a world renowned club. From what you remember, was it
Speaker 2: what you thought it was going to be?
Speaker 1: I think yes and no.
Speaker 3: I mean my dad and my mum went to the
Speaker 3: opening of Fabric, and my dad always said back then
Speaker 3: it was the best sounding room in the world, and
Speaker 3: I think it was.
Speaker 1: It was. They were like I.
Speaker 3: Think Function one were like they were they were a
Speaker 3: particular Function one speakers and it was like the best
Speaker 3: sounding room in the world at one point. But I
Speaker 3: think when I went the old you know, it had
Speaker 3: gone through quite a lot of like.
Speaker 1: Sellers sold and then new sellers are boys.
Speaker 3: So so when I got there, it wasn't quite what
Speaker 3: I expected, but it was still like amazing just to
Speaker 3: see people on ecstasy and kind of just you know,
Speaker 3: dancing and kind of not caring and just having this
Speaker 3: total freedom. But but you know, but it was kind
Speaker 3: of in this controlled environment, and you know it was
Speaker 3: and all the kind of dark rooms and all the
Speaker 3: kind of colors people wearing neon, it was like a
Speaker 3: bit of a visceral experience totally. But you know, the
Speaker 3: bergheind just completely was just like broke all my expectations
Speaker 3: because I've been told about it and I was like, no,
Speaker 3: you can't, you can't be serious.
Speaker 2: So the burkeme we should explain to anyone listening who
Speaker 2: may not know what it is. It's it's probably the
Speaker 2: world's most famous club, isn't it. It's in Berlin. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's in an old power plant, and I suppose the
Speaker 2: thing that is the two things I guess that it's
Speaker 2: most renowned. For the guy on the door, the chances
Speaker 2: are not getting you might not get in. In fact,
Speaker 2: that's quite high that you won't get in, and it's
Speaker 2: quite gnarly when you do get in.
Speaker 3: Apparently, well it's a gay club, you know, that's as well.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's and is there one room?
Speaker 2: Is there like a room like a like a sex
Speaker 2: there is a particular.
Speaker 1: Totally yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: So when did you first go?
Speaker 3: I think it was like it was when I was touring,
Speaker 3: so it must have been I must have been about
Speaker 3: twenty two, twenty three, you know, so it's not so
Speaker 3: long ago, you know, five five, six years ago, and.
Speaker 2: You'd heard all of these kind of oh.
Speaker 3: Gosh, yeah, well you know, everyone who's interested in the
Speaker 3: Burke Eye hears all these myths and all these kind
Speaker 3: of crazy stories, and and I was like, you got no,
Speaker 3: you know.
Speaker 1: Don't be ridiculous. And a part of me was like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, really I.
Speaker 3: Want to go and experience that.
Speaker 2: And and.
Speaker 3: You know, it totally exceeded all my expectations. I had
Speaker 3: the best two nights of my life, and and.
Speaker 1: It was it was just like we got in for
Speaker 1: to get well, actually we didn't cueue for that long.
Speaker 3: I mean, because I was with somebody who who had
Speaker 3: been before and was also friends with the owner, which
Speaker 3: is also That's another thing to mention is that the
Speaker 3: owner is a really important figure in the whole Berlin
Speaker 3: Rave kind of club being seen in Berlin. He's a
Speaker 3: he's a very like Maverick character who believes, who has
Speaker 3: very strong ideas of clubs and what a club should
Speaker 3: be and how it should present itself and how it
Speaker 3: should be a freedom of expression. But that freedom of expression, obviously,
Speaker 3: like with its rules of how you know, not letting
Speaker 3: people in, has been quite controversial.
Speaker 2: But like that paradox, this is a place of complete acceptance.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you have to be in a yeah exactly.
Speaker 3: Not for you totally, but I kind of respect I
Speaker 3: don't know, I mean, it's really it's a hard one,
Speaker 3: but I do sort of respect it in a way
Speaker 3: because also you have to think about the people in
Speaker 3: that club expressing themselves in a certain way and being
Speaker 3: safe to express themselves in a certain way. And if
Speaker 3: you're going to let in any old you know, Tom
Speaker 3: Dick and Harry and suddenly loses.
Speaker 2: That especially tourists just want to.
Speaker 3: Well exactly, and Burghine is going to be protected by
Speaker 3: the whole of the DJ community because not only that
Speaker 3: it's just like for a DJ to play the burghind
Speaker 3: is like a real like you know, I've made it
Speaker 3: moment or Panorama Bar. You know again, Panorama Bar is
Speaker 3: like you know, to play that is like you know,
Speaker 3: I'm here. You know, I think that's a real moment
Speaker 3: for a lot of DJs. So it be forever protected,
Speaker 3: I hope, you know, by the DJ community. But no,
Speaker 3: it totally changed. It changed my whole perception of clubs.
Speaker 3: And and then you know, when I went about three
Speaker 3: four years ago, I was I stopped drinking. So I
Speaker 3: did one trip to Berlin where I went to the
Speaker 3: berghind sober and actually found it quite amazing.
Speaker 1: But I didn't last very long. You know.
Speaker 3: You know, you get to about sort of three o'clock
Speaker 3: and you're a bit like three o'clock in the morning,
Speaker 3: I should say, and you're a bit like really struggling,
Speaker 3: and there's only so many club martes that I can drink.
Speaker 3: But there are other clubs in Berlin that I went
Speaker 3: to with my so As friends. In fact, because so
Speaker 3: As was quite quite a sort of you know, my
Speaker 3: university experience was really like kind of drug exploration time.
Speaker 1: As his most.
Speaker 3: People's university experience, and so I met again another group
Speaker 3: who are like my best mates, and we just sort of,
Speaker 3: you know, danced and did all sorts and you know,
Speaker 3: so I went with them to Berlin on this one trip.
Speaker 3: My friend's partner is a really amazing DJ called Gato Fritto,
Speaker 3: and he was DJing at this club and I've forgotten
Speaker 3: the name.
Speaker 1: It begins with an oh.
Speaker 3: I think it was Ramada Ramada or something, a really
Speaker 3: amazing club in Berlin. And I was completely sober. And
Speaker 3: it was the first time actually, because the burd kind
Speaker 3: sometimes the music can be very full on, and of
Speaker 3: course everything else is so you know, visual, and it's
Speaker 3: all a bit it's I found it a bit much
Speaker 3: sober actually. But this other night that I went to,
Speaker 3: the music suddenly was just like for not. I suddenly
Speaker 3: was like in the middle of the dance floor, not
Speaker 3: caring that I wasn't on anything. I was just like wow,
Speaker 3: and all these people dancing and it was just a
Speaker 3: real moment. That's what about what the dance floor is about.
Speaker 3: It was just it was I can't you know, it's.
Speaker 1: Hard to explain.
Speaker 3: Really, It's just this you feel when there's this collective
Speaker 3: moment of people that you don't know, you wouldn't see
Speaker 3: them again, but you feel like one raving and it's
Speaker 3: it's that cliche, but but I hadn't felt that before,
Speaker 3: but this time it was kind of.
Speaker 1: Felt kind of almost like therapy. Really.
Speaker 2: I mean, this is all kind of fed into your
Speaker 2: second record. We're not had to speak too much about
Speaker 2: your second record just yet, but I mean your first
Speaker 2: one was twenty fifteen, which is it's not forever ago,
Speaker 2: but it's long enough ago for it to feel like
Speaker 2: quite a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no it is.
Speaker 2: And you were twenty one when that came out.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: When you think back to that time of putting out
Speaker 2: your first record, yeah, what do you What are your
Speaker 2: kind of memories of it and how that experience was
Speaker 2: of putting out a debut album.
Speaker 3: Well, I was, well, I was a little bit older
Speaker 3: than twenty one, right, I was, like I started writing
Speaker 3: the record when I was probably when I was about
Speaker 3: twenty one twenty two. The album came out when I
Speaker 3: was twenty four, but it was, you know, it's really
Speaker 3: it was kind of like just an experiment actually, you know,
Speaker 3: and I was sort of going through quite a lot
Speaker 3: and i'd you know, I didn't. I'd been because I've
Speaker 3: been session drumming. That was the sort of main focus.
Speaker 3: But then I played a couple of people what I
Speaker 3: was writing, and they said, well, this is really good
Speaker 3: and you should maybe focus on this actually, because you know,
Speaker 3: if you really worked on this, I reckon people would
Speaker 3: really dig it and you could, you know, you.
Speaker 1: Could perhaps have a bit of a career in this.
Speaker 3: So then I took it quite seriously and I kind
Speaker 3: of locked myself away in the in the studios that
Speaker 3: I tried to, you know, use my dad's studio at night,
Speaker 3: and then I remember using Hot Chips studio like like
Speaker 3: in central London, and then I was using some other
Speaker 3: student but you know, and it was all a bit
Speaker 3: of an experiment, of an expression of kind of no discipline.
Speaker 1: It was just like throw everything at it.
Speaker 3: And it was quite a mad time because my parents
Speaker 3: were breaking up and it was yeah, it was just
Speaker 3: it was all a bit of a crazy, crazy time.
Speaker 3: And the album kind of reflects that, I think a
Speaker 3: little bit of a window into what could be, but
Speaker 3: it's not that accessible because I think it's just very like,
Speaker 3: you know, there's so many textures to the songs.
Speaker 1: I love that album. I really do.
Speaker 3: And actually it's all part of this journey because with
Speaker 3: the first record, I didn't feel it was that accessible. Really,
Speaker 3: it's got a really interesting sound to it, but the
Speaker 3: accessibility is not It's a very niche sound. And so
Speaker 3: with this second record, I really wanted it to sound
Speaker 3: a bit more like So and So could hear it
Speaker 3: and be like, Oh that's wicked or So and so good.
Speaker 2: You know, it's really worked, isn't it? Like the two
Speaker 2: I mean I've heard that. I have heard the whole record,
Speaker 2: but the two tracks that people will have heard that
Speaker 2: are out there, Yes, they've been doing really well, like
Speaker 2: Radio one place, which no, it's still a huge thing,
Speaker 2: isn't it. Like getting on a Radio one list and
Speaker 2: getting getting your single page is massive.
Speaker 3: Totally, And you know the first record never did that,
Speaker 3: you know, it was quite it was a very underground record,
Speaker 3: you know, Which is which is I? You know, I
Speaker 3: I love that piece of work, I really do. But
Speaker 3: for me, every single part of this is like I
Speaker 3: want to develop. So even now the second record, I'm like,
Speaker 3: I know what I do for the third record.
Speaker 2: And in that interim as well. Between these two albums,
Speaker 2: you've been writing with Flaming Lips, haven't you. Yes, they
Speaker 2: live in Oklahoma.
Speaker 1: They live in Oklahoma.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well Wayne and Stephen and Derek and some of
Speaker 3: the other band members Nick and yeah, they live in Oklahoma.
Speaker 3: Some of the other players live in elsewhere, but no,
Speaker 3: Wayne resides in yeah.
Speaker 1: Oklahoma City.
Speaker 2: So how did you get to know those guys? That happened?
Speaker 1: It was an amazing story.
Speaker 3: Actually, we were playing Wilderness Festival and the Flaming Lips
Speaker 3: were headlining, and we were on at a really early
Speaker 3: hour and I think people were just sort of waking up.
Speaker 1: So we didn't have that early day.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was like twelve o'clock on a Saturday, but
Speaker 3: it was like you could clearly see that people were
Speaker 3: still were kind of like hungover and just like getting
Speaker 3: their breakfast buns or whatever. And we were on the
Speaker 3: main stage and we uh And it was when I
Speaker 3: had Henako Maurium in the band, and and me and
Speaker 3: Hanako were kind.
Speaker 1: Of like, oh this.
Speaker 3: We were looking at each other going this is this
Speaker 3: is a bit of a push, this is a bad one.
Speaker 3: And suddenly I looked to the left of me and
Speaker 3: I was like, fuck, that's way in Quint just like
Speaker 3: losing a shit to one of my songs, and I
Speaker 3: was like, I was so surprised. I actually stopped the track.
Speaker 1: I think I stopped the chat and I was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, like Wayne coy is sounding on the side
Speaker 1: of the stage like losing ship.
Speaker 3: And then basically we got off stage and I was
Speaker 3: just like, where's where, you know, and I went to
Speaker 3: the backstage bit and I just immediately went to it
Speaker 3: and I was just like, that was the best moment ever.
Speaker 3: Thank you. That saved honestly because it was such a
Speaker 3: it was a bit of a bad show. And Wayne
Speaker 3: and it was like he was like, gosh, you know,
Speaker 3: it's cool ship and you know, would you you know,
Speaker 3: would you write? He was really interested in in the
Speaker 3: whole process and the music and he loved it. And
Speaker 3: then that went to come and join us on our
Speaker 3: UK leg.
Speaker 1: So we did that. We supported we did.
Speaker 3: Not only UK but did Europe with them, and then
Speaker 3: from that I basically got a unicorn tattoo with them all.
Speaker 2: Really yeah well on on that tour, yeah, it was
Speaker 2: called there will be yeah wow. So you've all got
Speaker 2: the matching. We've all got matching, you know, you and
Speaker 2: the rest of the flame. Yeah.
Speaker 3: In fact, I've got another tattoo that me, Wayne and
Speaker 3: Katie got as well, and it was part of their
Speaker 3: engagement party thing that everyone got this love skull tattoo.
Speaker 3: But yeah, that went from me becoming really good friends
Speaker 3: with Wayne and his wife Katie, and then Wayne invited
Speaker 3: me out to Oklahoma to start, you know, kind of collaborating,
Speaker 3: and that's gone on to now have been about four times,
Speaker 3: and I'm planning my next trip, but it's kind of
Speaker 3: been on hold because Wayne and Katie are expecting their
Speaker 3: first child, so which is due any kind of time
Speaker 3: this month actually, I think the beginning of April or something.
Speaker 3: But they've just become like Wayne's become such a close
Speaker 3: friend of mine and Katie has two and actually, you know,
Speaker 3: he's just he's an absolute creative enabler. He's one of
Speaker 3: a kind person and I truly truly mean that. He's
Speaker 3: you don't just go and create music, you go and
Speaker 3: get a sense of like this whole world this man
Speaker 3: has created with art, and you know, and anyway, he
Speaker 3: would hate me talking talking about him like this because
Speaker 3: you know, he would just say, well, we just you know,
Speaker 3: you got to do what you fucking gotta do. And
Speaker 3: this is you know, we didn't have much and you know,
Speaker 3: we didn't have money, but we just made this this
Speaker 3: world for ourselves, and you know, and it's easy to do.
Speaker 3: You just got to do it.
Speaker 1: So that's the.
Speaker 3: Kind of energy you're getting off him. It's just like,
Speaker 3: just fucking do it, if you know. And and and actually,
Speaker 3: you know, I really feel like I have kind of
Speaker 3: taken taken that advice on a little bit, and you know,
Speaker 3: it's really inspiring.
Speaker 2: That's nice to hear that he is exactly as I
Speaker 2: would imagine him.
Speaker 1: He's the nicest man in music.
Speaker 2: Do you realize by flaming lips as I'm embarrassed as
Speaker 2: by how cliche this is. But that's the song that
Speaker 2: makes me cry. Yeah, whenever I hear that song. Do
Speaker 2: you have a song like that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: For me, it would be Waiting for a Superman And
Speaker 3: it's actually on The Sorcerer's Orphans. He Stephen dissects that song,
Speaker 3: and that song makes me cry because it's I mean,
Speaker 3: Wayne Stephen and Wayne's sort of songwriting partnership is such
Speaker 3: a great partnership because Wayne, because Stephen's like a musical genius, right,
Speaker 3: But but Wayne has this kind of incredible lyrical approach
Speaker 3: and it's the way he delivers it and voice, you know,
Speaker 3: and his tone is a very unique tone. And Stephen
Speaker 3: obviously writes in the key to him. So when when
Speaker 3: you when he dissects a song where he has to
Speaker 3: like take it up a few keys to Wayne's, the
Speaker 3: song becomes Wayne's song, you know, And and you know
Speaker 3: that there are there are very there are voices in
Speaker 3: the world where that can make you cry. But I
Speaker 3: think Wayne particularly has a tone where, because he's just
Speaker 3: totally singing from the heart, you can't help but get emotional.
Speaker 3: And waiting for a Superman is for me, is just
Speaker 3: you know, it's it's it's it's a total example of that.
Speaker 3: You know. It's just one of the most beautiful songs
Speaker 3: I think of that kind of era of music.
Speaker 2: Are you generally like a good crier when that moment happens?
Speaker 2: Do you just go with it or do you do
Speaker 2: you find it?
Speaker 3: No?
Speaker 1: I don't. With the music. I mean music.
Speaker 3: I have a very emotional connection with the music and
Speaker 3: I always have as a kid. I can remember even
Speaker 3: like crying to you know, Mama by Spice Girls. You know,
Speaker 3: It's like music's always been a very emotive thing for me,
Speaker 3: and and you know, there are certain there are certain
Speaker 3: songs that yeah, I just.
Speaker 1: You know that will make me, that will make me
Speaker 1: really cry.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, And and it's best to just let it out,
Speaker 2: isn't it. I'm quite bad at that, yeah, especially it
Speaker 2: happens to me most when I'm at shows, especially if
Speaker 2: I'm at like a festival. Yeah, I'm at a festival,
Speaker 2: and sometimes it'll be a song that I never kind
Speaker 2: of felt that about before, but just in the moment
Speaker 2: and I'm there, Yeah, i'd my face and someone to
Speaker 2: see and be like crying.
Speaker 4: Yeah. No, really, we're going to have to, like I
Speaker 4: have to see you at a festival this year and
Speaker 4: be like we'll both be like crying together.
Speaker 1: I think festivals should be an emotive.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it should be, right.
Speaker 1: That's when I.
Speaker 3: Think when you go to festivals and it's not emotive,
Speaker 3: that's when I'm like, this is not this is not
Speaker 3: a great festival. This is just like you know, I
Speaker 3: think Glastonbury everyone will have cried at some point during
Speaker 3: that weekend.
Speaker 2: Definitely.
Speaker 3: I mean not only because they've you know, going through
Speaker 3: kind of like mad drug experiences, but definitely they would
Speaker 3: have gone to have seen one of their favorite bands
Speaker 3: with their best friends and they're standing there having this
Speaker 3: amazing and yeah, you know you're going to be crying.
Speaker 2: That's what it's for. Did you go to Glastonbury really? Like,
Speaker 2: did you go as a kid?
Speaker 3: I went once as a kid when left Field headlined
Speaker 3: the other stage. Yeah, and that was sort of I
Speaker 3: can't really remember it, but all I remember it was
Speaker 3: like feeling incredibly proud.
Speaker 1: Of being there with my mum and seeing there.
Speaker 3: I mean, I was just like, I remember being on
Speaker 3: somebody's shoulders. I was always on somebody's shoulders, you know,
Speaker 3: And I always had a left Field T shirt and
Speaker 3: I was always like the mascot, you know, the little mascot.
Speaker 1: And I remember looking behind me and just not seeing
Speaker 1: the people.
Speaker 4: End.
Speaker 3: It must have been like eighty thousand people there to
Speaker 3: see that show, and it was an incredibly special show
Speaker 3: because it it was like the prime time Saturday night
Speaker 3: like sunset, you know, other stage, dance music, people on
Speaker 3: lots of drugs, and I do remember that as a
Speaker 3: kid in it being like, wow, this is quite a
Speaker 3: special moment.
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