Speaker 1: We're going to trounce meet Loaf, and we're going to
Speaker 1: fucking try and say years and Years down. And it
Speaker 1: was grotesque the way we did it in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways.
Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to Midnight Chat, a podcast of casual
Speaker 2: interviews with leading musicians, published weekly at midnight to suit
Speaker 2: these informal and often under researched conversations. This week's episode
Speaker 2: is hosted by me Stuart Stubbs, editor of Loud and
Speaker 2: Quiet magazine. On tonight's episode of the podcast, I'm joined
Speaker 2: by James Smith, the singer of Leeds based band Yard Act,
Speaker 2: who in January of this year, twenty twenty two, went
Speaker 2: toe to toe in a chart battle for number one
Speaker 2: against Years and Years spoiler alert. They didn't quite do it,
Speaker 2: but they charted at number two. And with James on
Speaker 2: this episode, I'm going to get into the margins and
Speaker 2: just how close the race was. The album that's always
Speaker 2: challenging for that top spot is called The Overload, and
Speaker 2: if you haven't listened to it yet, what are you
Speaker 2: playing at? You should not only check out the record,
Speaker 2: but I would recommend starting with their videos. It's something
Speaker 2: that we also talk about on this podcast. They're all
Speaker 2: extremely well put together, very funny, and for me, are
Speaker 2: what yard Acts are all about. It's a good symbol
Speaker 2: of where this band's at and how they're approaching things.
Speaker 2: They're certainly having a laugh with it, which perhaps comes
Speaker 2: down to the members of the band all being in
Speaker 2: various hindie bands over the years, including Hookworms, Menace Beach
Speaker 2: and in James's case, a band called Post War Glamour Girls.
Speaker 2: All great bands in their own right, but Yard Act
Speaker 2: seems to be the one that has connected with people.
Speaker 2: They are at the time of recording this the most
Speaker 2: booked band of the summer. They're playing almost every festival
Speaker 2: you can imagine, so maybe one that you're heading to yourself,
Speaker 2: so there's plenty of opportunity to see them. I have
Speaker 2: to give a special thanks on this episode to the
Speaker 2: Bedford Tavern, the pub in Finsbury Park. They opened their
Speaker 2: doors early for James and I to go and sit
Speaker 2: in their empty pub to record this episode, So thank
Speaker 2: you to the people at the Bedford Tavern. This was
Speaker 2: recorded back in April. This conversation the band had just
Speaker 2: returned from America, where they've been for the very first time,
Speaker 2: and they'd been storming south By Southwest literally a few
Speaker 2: days before we spoke, and that also just played the
Speaker 2: Jimmy Fallon Show, which is where we will pick up
Speaker 2: the conversation. If you do enjoy this episode and are
Speaker 2: interested in helping us make some more episodes of the podcast,
Speaker 2: then there's a link in the show notes to supporting
Speaker 2: us with a donation of your choosing. It can be
Speaker 2: amount big or small. It's very much appreciated. It helps
Speaker 2: us carry on making this podcast. We've had a long
Speaker 2: break between the last series and this new one that
Speaker 2: starts tonight, ultimately because we've been trying to work out
Speaker 2: how to afford it essentially, so any help from our
Speaker 2: listeners is very much appreciated. Thank you very much to James.
Speaker 2: He was a pleasure to talk to and I'm very
Speaker 2: pleased to see a band like Yard Act signing to
Speaker 2: a major record label and putting that money to some
Speaker 2: good use and having a good time. Thank you for listening.
Speaker 2: We'll be back next week with a new episode of
Speaker 2: the podcast, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. First.
Speaker 2: Up here is James Smith of Yard Act on Midnight Chats.
Speaker 2: You've just been to America. Yeah, it looked good on
Speaker 2: your Instagram feed. I was following south By Southwest stuff
Speaker 2: and you did Fallon, Fallon?
Speaker 1: How was that great? Was it?
Speaker 2: Are they recording that show with a live audience again?
Speaker 1: Now? Yeah, so we got to go into thirty rock
Speaker 1: and do that. I think they're still doing sessions from home,
Speaker 1: Like I think like wolf allis with the guests night
Speaker 1: before but they just sent him like a pre record.
Speaker 1: But like to be able to go in the studio
Speaker 1: was it was wicked and you know felt like quite proper.
Speaker 2: So who was there? Who were the who were like
Speaker 2: the guests on the show when you were there?
Speaker 1: Ethan Hark Okay, yeah, is it just him? It's just
Speaker 1: just him in a comedian called Jim Jefferies, who I
Speaker 1: wasn't and I'm not really aware of. But no, he's Australian.
Speaker 1: It's a shame because because of the because they've only
Speaker 1: just gone back in COVID was pretty the rules were
Speaker 1: pretty strict, so there was kind of no mingling. I
Speaker 1: went to the like I basically spent the day walking
Speaker 1: past Questlov's door and it was just locked.
Speaker 2: Just trying to just hoping you would time it when
Speaker 2: he was coming out and.
Speaker 1: Be like, hey, coming in don't worry about the rules.
Speaker 1: I'm questaler if I can do what I want? And
Speaker 1: then and then yeah, about and they start taping at
Speaker 1: like half four or five o'clock about sort of just
Speaker 1: gone for his door is just a jar as I
Speaker 1: went to the toilet, and I was like, the question
Speaker 1: was in there, but you couldn't get him. I mean
Speaker 1: I would have knocked on, but you know, there's it
Speaker 1: wasn't the vibe. And but Fallon came to see us
Speaker 1: before and after we played, and I didn't dare look up.
Speaker 1: But when we because like so the step where we
Speaker 1: are on the stage, if you're facing out, the audience
Speaker 1: is directly in front of you, but there's like a
Speaker 1: sea of cameras in front of the audience, so they
Speaker 1: can't really watch what you're doing, which is weird, right, okay,
Speaker 1: But then to the right is where Fallon sits with
Speaker 1: his desk and his interview. So fro into the left
Speaker 1: is where the Roots house band is. Yea, And like
Speaker 1: I didn't, I did not dare look up and see
Speaker 1: what the Roots we're doing. Ryan Ryan said. He raised
Speaker 1: his head and and Tarik and Questlove were just like
Speaker 1: non in their heads to the overload, So I'll take that.
Speaker 1: I'll take Ryan's word.
Speaker 2: Were you not tempted to just eyeball the routes go
Speaker 2: the opposite way? Yeah, sing directly at.
Speaker 1: Them maybe, yeah, I mean it's down down most people
Speaker 1: I would. But one of the is the roots.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's pretty They're.
Speaker 1: A big band for me growing up. You know, were
Speaker 1: you tipping point and just being like, yeah.
Speaker 2: Were you? Were you nervous doing it?
Speaker 1: It's all right, but it's the most nervous I've ever been.
Speaker 1: I think that the gravitas of the situation. I was
Speaker 1: aware of that, And for the most part with this band,
Speaker 1: I haven't been that bothered, which I think has worked
Speaker 1: in our favor, like genuinely, like I've been quite comfortable
Speaker 1: with whatever. And then even when we did, like when
Speaker 1: you do big things and you're like this could you know,
Speaker 1: this could really do something good for us and it'd
Speaker 1: be really handy if it did, like Jules Holland and stuff.
Speaker 1: But with Jules Holland, it was like it wasn't live.
Speaker 1: We were shooting it at the Bruin now, which we
Speaker 1: know that room inside out. You know, the crew were dead,
Speaker 1: chilled out. We had all day to do it and
Speaker 1: there was no audience, so it didn't feel like the
Speaker 1: pressure wasn't the same. We knew we had to get
Speaker 1: it right. We knew that it was going on Jules
Speaker 1: Holland and it was really important to us that we
Speaker 1: delivered something we were really proud of. But falling it
Speaker 1: was like one take, right, yeah, but they go, you
Speaker 1: can have a second if you want, but if you
Speaker 1: do need to redo it, everyone's going to cheer, the
Speaker 1: roots are going to play you out, and then just
Speaker 1: don't leave the stage and then we'll just do a
Speaker 1: second take and Jimmy'll introduce you again and it's like
Speaker 1: can you imagine, Like he was like, yeah, whatever you need,
Speaker 1: like you can do free if you really need to.
Speaker 1: And it's like but like, you know, we went out,
Speaker 1: we did it. It was like we're kind of sat
Speaker 1: waiting all day and then we went out and Jimmy
Speaker 1: Foulon and Questlove are kind of bantering with the audience
Speaker 1: off hammer to keep them sort of entertained whilst the
Speaker 1: camera is set up. And then like and then the
Speaker 1: production runners like or like you know, like the directors like, okay,
Speaker 1: we're ready to shoot yard acts now. So so then
Speaker 1: Jimmy goes back to his desk and the lights go
Speaker 1: down on the record and he does his hold on
Speaker 1: the record, you know, us TV debut performing the title
Speaker 1: track to their debut album, The Overload, Give It Up,
Speaker 1: four Yard Acts, and then it's like and then it's
Speaker 1: just like you see the red light going on, and
Speaker 1: it's like, all right, now we do it, and so
Speaker 1: we just blasted through it. And then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: Jimmy falling like runs over and he's like jumping up
Speaker 1: and down, shaking your hands, go yes, yes, yes, and
Speaker 1: then the roots all of a sudden kicking and he's like,
Speaker 1: good night, and then it's like and then it stops,
Speaker 1: and it's like, okay, do we need to go again?
Speaker 1: It might imagine if you said, yeah, like I've lived
Speaker 1: on the big ending and it's a fake ending the
Speaker 1: second time would be really depressing unless you'd absolutely cocked
Speaker 1: it up massively, definitely wouldn't have gone again.
Speaker 2: It looked good. I've watched it. It looked it looked
Speaker 2: like you know, I'm guessing you were you were happy
Speaker 2: with it. Yeah, yeah, that's great. Yeah, what's fanon?
Speaker 1: Like? I mean, I guess you like we met in
Speaker 1: pre and post show. He's hyped up. I've heard he's
Speaker 1: always like that.
Speaker 2: I was listening to a podcast recently, I can't remember
Speaker 2: what it was on, but someone was saying, how he
Speaker 2: is that guy, Like, yeah, it's not an act, he
Speaker 2: is that guy.
Speaker 1: I mean, it seemed since there was as it could
Speaker 1: have been. Within a few minutes we spent with him
Speaker 1: and we met his one of his managers and they
Speaker 1: and they were basically just like he's a massive, massive
Speaker 1: fan of music, like he has a big hand in
Speaker 1: choosing the act. And yeah, he's genuinely invested in the
Speaker 1: in the music on the show, and he and he
Speaker 1: loves bands, like you know, that's his thing. Like I know,
Speaker 1: he's you know, I mean he gets great guests on
Speaker 1: his show, you know, included exactly and and so yeah,
Speaker 1: so it's nice to know that it's not like a
Speaker 1: segment that it's like we put this in for a
Speaker 1: bit of variety, and he's kind of just falsifying it,
Speaker 1: like you know, and we were kind of watching from
Speaker 1: the from the in our dressing room. They're like, show
Speaker 1: you the TV and he like he was like hyping
Speaker 1: it up, like he must do that for every arts.
Speaker 1: I'm not a regular watch with the show. I can't
Speaker 1: get access to it easy, but I felt great like
Speaker 1: having him like making an audience get whipped up for
Speaker 1: what you're doing. It's nice. It's a nice thing.
Speaker 2: I remember, God, how many years ago would this have been?
Speaker 2: Maybe I'm going to say eight. It might not be eight,
Speaker 2: could be, it could be any time. But I remember
Speaker 2: when Eagles, Yes, that.
Speaker 1: Was a big moment.
Speaker 2: It was a moment.
Speaker 1: It was proud.
Speaker 2: It was like holy ship, it was like it was
Speaker 2: really cool. It was and yeah, yeah, you know, you're like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, that's Eagles, like on let that's mad.
Speaker 2: Do you know do you know those guys from Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: I know, I know we're Goldie and Tom Kelly pretty well.
Speaker 1: I ain't seen him since before the pandam I saw
Speaker 1: Tom Kelly and he works in a bar in Leed's
Speaker 1: Call works by swim in there not long ago, and
Speaker 1: yeah we are, Yeah, we're mates with different members of
Speaker 1: them and know them from around about.
Speaker 2: And I remember that moment and being like it happens
Speaker 2: every now and then when someone like you know a
Speaker 2: British band that you know or have followed, or that
Speaker 2: are local to you go and do something huge in
Speaker 2: the States, Like it's just such a like kind of
Speaker 2: a moment and kind of like Yard act on Fan
Speaker 2: and felt a bit like that's what it reminded me of.
Speaker 2: Maybe it's because of the Leed's connection as well, but
Speaker 2: just from what you.
Speaker 1: Were doing from a Leed's perspective when Eagles were on it,
Speaker 1: it really did feel like that. There was you know,
Speaker 1: the homesound Pride comes out of nowhere, and it was
Speaker 1: just like, God, that's massive. That's like, that's not just
Speaker 1: like this band's doing pretty good, like it's good, it's
Speaker 1: good to see that. Well, it was like that's amazing.
Speaker 1: And then there was like Pictures of Time with Bill
Speaker 1: Murray tattoo, Yeah, Bill Murray, And it was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's when it's just like when it's I
Speaker 1: mean it is when it's like just normal people and
Speaker 1: the underdogs in it. It's not the kind of I
Speaker 1: think I've put ourselves in the same category, you know,
Speaker 1: like it's not the kind of banuit expect to see
Speaker 1: on American telling. Yeah, and it's so it's you root
Speaker 1: for that, whether you you know, you root for that
Speaker 1: and yeah, yeah, and it's the shame Eagles kind of
Speaker 1: just disappeared, because great.
Speaker 2: How have you found like the Americans taken to like
Speaker 2: the British nature of you guys. And I mean, firstly,
Speaker 2: like when you did the fan and thing, did you
Speaker 2: were you tracking or were you told about the reaction?
Speaker 2: Like at the time, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't really I don't I don't really check.
Speaker 2: I mean we had probably best not to check.
Speaker 1: No. I definitely wouldn't google. I wouldn't like to Twitter
Speaker 1: search our name and find out what the general have
Speaker 1: you ever done that? I used to do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: as we started to get more popular, I stopped doing
Speaker 1: it because it's once you start getting popular, that's when
Speaker 1: people start to hate you start to read something about yourself.
Speaker 1: And it's like, Jesus, this person said they want to
Speaker 1: deck my lights out, And it's like I'm rubbing someone
Speaker 1: up the wrong way enough for them to say that
Speaker 1: on Twitter puts you on that slight scary thing. It's like,
Speaker 1: I'm aware that people are aware of me, that who
Speaker 1: you are. Yeah. Yeah, and then and they actively have
Speaker 1: an impression of me that that they're sieving enough on
Speaker 1: the Internet to say something violent about And like.
Speaker 2: Although I'd say that most Twitter is so heightened, isn't it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, don't actually probably haven't done much, you haven't done
Speaker 1: much together. Yeah, But I just think on general, you're
Speaker 1: in the impression of people all in, you know, on
Speaker 1: the internet, where whether it's typed or whether it's a
Speaker 1: clip or whatever, you get like you and if you
Speaker 1: see that pushing your face over and over again, as
Speaker 1: I know that, yeah, that has been if you're not
Speaker 1: into it, I'm aware that I'm I could be the
Speaker 1: most irritating, frustrating face mug on your fucking timeline over
Speaker 1: and over again. And and I'm sorry for that, but
Speaker 1: it's the way it is, like yeah, but yees, So
Speaker 1: I don't do that now, and I don't really even
Speaker 1: read nice comments that are underneath our own posts, like
Speaker 1: I get alerts for them, and I'm kind of not
Speaker 1: that I'm not grateful for them, but it is it's
Speaker 1: well to be honest, I wouldn't have any time in
Speaker 1: the days to no, it's just no, and it's and
Speaker 1: it is. You don't. I don't need my ego massage
Speaker 1: in and and if I did, i'd start reading the
Speaker 1: negative stuff as well to keep me in check. But
Speaker 1: I think I can probably keep myself in check just
Speaker 1: by not looking at it at all.
Speaker 2: So you have a because this sort of thing is
Speaker 2: my idea of hell, because I'm really thin skinned, right,
Speaker 2: And it would only take one back. It wouldn't matter
Speaker 2: how many good ones, it's only the bad one that
Speaker 2: you remember. Are you are you? Are you quite a
Speaker 2: thick skinned car even though you don't want to read
Speaker 2: this stuff.
Speaker 1: Well, like your monkey brain instantly reacts out of anger
Speaker 1: and upset like that. That and that lasts as long
Speaker 1: as that's like a primitive trigger. If someone says anything
Speaker 1: negative about you, you don't go, yeah, that's true, Like
Speaker 1: you go what? But then I do think I'm quite
Speaker 1: good at rationalizing After that, I mainly I mainly put
Speaker 1: myself in a situation where I've had those same thoughts
Speaker 1: and feelings on other bands. Not that I go on
Speaker 1: the Internet and say it, but I probably did when
Speaker 1: I was younger, like when you know the wild West
Speaker 1: of Facebook. In my early twenties, I probably had a
Speaker 1: million opinions on bands that I thought with shit or
Speaker 1: this is the best thing you'll ever hear, and like
Speaker 1: you kind of get past that and you get more
Speaker 1: comfortable and so I accept that for everyone's opinion on
Speaker 1: it and the superlifs they use, and you know, positive
Speaker 1: or negative to describe how they think about as that
Speaker 1: is heightened and it just passes anyway, So you kind
Speaker 1: of learn to cope with it. I mean, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just it's fine. Everyone has an opinion on music, and
Speaker 1: it's just what it isn't it?
Speaker 3: Looking for some fun? Let's scratch us either way, countless
Speaker 3: waste to scratch, Come join the plate instead of keys.
Speaker 3: What can you find? Think of something fun? Leave the
Speaker 3: coins behind your guitar, hold the pig tight, scratches your shrum,
Speaker 3: let the riddow MiG night with your drum sticks with
Speaker 3: a solo so great, or place the scratches on the turntable,
Speaker 3: scratch and rotate. So get creative and find you playful
Speaker 3: waste to scratch scratchers from the California Lottery. A little
Speaker 3: play can make your day. Please play responsibly. Must be
Speaker 3: eighteen years or older to purchase play or claim.
Speaker 4: Ready to disrupt your industry without disrupting your flow. The
Speaker 4: Lev Evening NBA program at Santa Clara University might just
Speaker 4: be the perfect fit. The Lev School of Business is
Speaker 4: where you'll reach new heights without compromising your current career.
Speaker 4: You'll meet your part time NBA cohort two evenings per
Speaker 4: week on Levy's campus in the very heart of Silicon Valley,
Speaker 4: where InnoVision and creativity thrive. Join Silicon Valley's premiere part
Speaker 4: time NBA program for working professionals Search lev Evening, NBA
Speaker 4: to discover more one more Time Levy Evening and BA.
Speaker 2: When I was on my way here, I thought, why
Speaker 2: are we going to start this? Well, where shall we
Speaker 2: start talking? Because there's a lot has happened. You have
Speaker 2: a big thing, I guess was the number one race?
Speaker 2: Which that looked really fun?
Speaker 1: It was?
Speaker 2: Was it really fun or was it really stressful?
Speaker 1: I think it was stressful for Pete one man career
Speaker 1: to get to like four places in a day.
Speaker 2: Is that your Tom manager?
Speaker 1: He was, but now his day's expanded. He's six feet No,
Speaker 1: he's like he's he's his first role as as sound engineer.
Speaker 1: In the first sort of six months to a year
Speaker 1: of playing live, he was also a driver and tour
Speaker 1: manager because that was what the budget allowed. Now we've
Speaker 1: expanded and we now have our friend Jilly as tour manager.
Speaker 1: And sharing the driving and then you know, hopefully by
Speaker 1: the end of the year we'll have a third crew
Speaker 1: member because it's not in fast and you know, and
Speaker 1: it's also used to be able to give our mates work.
Speaker 1: That's the we've kept it in the family so far,
Speaker 1: and that's that's important to us, and it's it's working
Speaker 1: and that's nice and it keeps us grounded having those
Speaker 1: people around as well. I guess it was a proper
Speaker 1: take away off Pete.
Speaker 2: I guess, poor Pte. Yeah, poor p it was. It
Speaker 2: was a proper campaign. You did like you went free.
Speaker 2: It was great. It was like impressive. It was like, yeah,
Speaker 2: we're gonna we're going to go for this. Yeah. And
Speaker 2: it was narrow. Did you know how narrow was.
Speaker 1: It at the end? In the end it was about
Speaker 1: it was like two thousand sales in the end.
Speaker 2: But that's not many, right or is it? I don't
Speaker 2: even know.
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess in the grand scheme things it's not.
Speaker 1: But I mean, so we did. We did seventeen and
Speaker 1: a half thousand sales in the end in the first week,
Speaker 1: which compared to what things used to shift is pittance.
Speaker 1: And it is and you know, we're completely aware that
Speaker 1: really it's all smoke and mirrors, like, yeah, of course
Speaker 1: nothing changes after it. Really, I mean, it shifts perception
Speaker 1: and that's the main reason we did it, and and
Speaker 1: it would have shifted perception a lot more had it
Speaker 1: been a number one, I think, but we're aware that
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter. And now you know, sales are
Speaker 1: never going to be eye popping like they used to be.
Speaker 1: And like people try and do it with streams now
Speaker 1: and it's like a billion streams and it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's not a billion people have actively listened to
Speaker 1: that sign, is it. It's like giant playlists and gyms
Speaker 1: and stuff. Yeah, but you know when you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's kind of become part of like a cultural conversation
Speaker 1: or not. And I think that week, for that week
Speaker 1: at least, I think it was like we just we
Speaker 1: just stared the music industry head on and went, look,
Speaker 1: we're on a major label. We've never been in this
Speaker 1: position before. We're not going to be cool than now
Speaker 1: and just go or whatever. We don't care if we
Speaker 1: land at number six, we're going to trounce meat load
Speaker 1: and we're going to try and say years and years
Speaker 1: now and it was grotesque the way we did it
Speaker 1: in a lot of ways, but it was also like,
Speaker 1: why not say something happens because it's.
Speaker 2: You didn't get any kickback on that, though, did you not?
Speaker 1: Really? No, No, I don't know we didn't.
Speaker 2: At all, because I feel like we've kind of got
Speaker 2: to a point. I mean I'm talking maybe I'm just
Speaker 2: talking about my own opinion as I've got older, but
Speaker 2: I feel like indie fans quote unquote have now got
Speaker 2: to a point where, because those numbers aren't what they
Speaker 2: used to be, everyone's on their ass and it's hard,
Speaker 2: like everything like in music is hard that now people
Speaker 2: are like, you know, if uggs are going to give
Speaker 2: you a thousand pounds to say you like that shoes
Speaker 2: or whatever it is. I feel like we've all got
Speaker 2: to a point where like that's fine, if that makes
Speaker 2: if that gets my band to make a new record,
Speaker 2: it's fine, you know. And with your with your campaign,
Speaker 2: it was just yeah, it was great to see you
Speaker 2: just to just go for it. Were you remotely disappointed
Speaker 2: that it was two and not one?
Speaker 1: For about five minutes when we found out we were
Speaker 1: on that, we were on that high of like the
Speaker 1: whole week was so exhausted. And then we you know,
Speaker 1: we got blasted at the bread Now on firstday night
Speaker 1: after the last show, and you know, like our booking
Speaker 1: agent was there, all our manager was there.
Speaker 2: And do you find out at midnight?
Speaker 1: Now you find out at like nine in the morning, right,
Speaker 1: But some of the some of the boys had stayed
Speaker 1: up all night waiting. I'd gone to bed, and I
Speaker 1: met them at the Weatherspoons and I got a phone
Speaker 1: call at half nine saying you've come in at number two.
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, that's all right, you know,
Speaker 1: after like and I was like, that's fine. I was like,
Speaker 1: we're at the Wetherspoons. We've got some champagne. And it
Speaker 1: wasn't it was prosecco. That was Island's man sucking budget
Speaker 1: marketing manager. We've got champagne for you at the Wetherspoons
Speaker 1: and it was prosecco. I was like, would it have
Speaker 1: been champagne if we were number one? He was of
Speaker 1: course it fucking would, And he was like yeah, he
Speaker 1: was funny, like he was brilliant, and we just totally
Speaker 1: we just loved the whole thing of it, really, and
Speaker 1: then we and then we all went out for a
Speaker 1: really nice pub lunch and sort of decompressed on a
Speaker 1: week and that's when we really reflected on what it
Speaker 1: was really about, and it's like, oh shit, we all
Speaker 1: just everyone just went hell for lever on something that
Speaker 1: we really believed in and sort of whilst knowing as
Speaker 1: well that it was totally like this strange position to
Speaker 1: be in, but we took it like we took advantage
Speaker 1: of the chance and kind of ran with it. And yeah,
Speaker 1: we're just completely honest about our intentions with it. And
Speaker 1: it was like, we booked about fucking ten in stores
Speaker 1: in trying to shift more records, and now I've got
Speaker 1: to fucking go and do them all, which is like,
Speaker 1: but they're only good places doing in like Warrington where
Speaker 1: I grew up, in Derby where Ryan comes from. So
Speaker 1: like you know, they're good, like good, meaningful shows. But
Speaker 1: it's made may look like absolute okay, but it was.
Speaker 1: It was. Yeah, it was worth it and I don't
Speaker 1: regret any of it, and you know, it was exhausting.
Speaker 1: We did twenty one shows in seven days, I mean
Speaker 1: and not sorry, twenty one in stores. I think we
Speaker 1: did sixteen shows five five and we're just signings. But
Speaker 1: like it was relentless, and we were running on like
Speaker 1: we were running on empty, and it was like it stops.
Speaker 1: We just knew that it stopped. As soon as the
Speaker 1: chart week ended, we were like, then we'll rest. And
Speaker 1: it was fun. I had fun doing it.
Speaker 2: When you like finished the record whenever that was last year,
Speaker 2: I'm pretty last March, last March, and you had it ready, Yeah,
Speaker 2: did you have any kind of goal or expectation of
Speaker 2: like this record. Obviously you're we're gonna put this record out,
Speaker 2: but had you signed at that point You hadn't signed.
Speaker 2: So once when you on the strength of just the
Speaker 2: music and the type of music it was and the
Speaker 2: way it sounded, did you have any thought of it
Speaker 2: being in the charts at all, let alone get into
Speaker 2: that point of a number one.
Speaker 1: Nice, not at all, but once it because basically off
Speaker 1: the strength of our wealthy EP had sold, we were
Speaker 1: kind of told, like chance, this album will go top forty,
Speaker 1: which for us was like what we'll have like an
Speaker 1: home in the top forty. And that's because you need
Speaker 1: to sell that two thousand records to getting the top
Speaker 1: forty or whatever. That's all you need to do in
Speaker 1: our week one sales is two thousand and the other
Speaker 1: thing that is often overlooked is that week one is
Speaker 1: not all your sales sold in one week. It's your
Speaker 1: pre orders from when you start campaigning three months before. Sure,
Speaker 1: So it's it's a bit of a again, like I said,
Speaker 1: it's smoker, and I don't mind admitting that, because of
Speaker 1: course you've got to face the truth head on, aren't you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but also go along for the ride and have fun
Speaker 1: with it. And then yeah, we were kind of told,
Speaker 1: you know, like based off the sort of buzz you've
Speaker 1: kind of got and how well this is so like
Speaker 1: you should get a top forty with your debut album.
Speaker 1: And that was like the time we were going to
Speaker 1: self release it. But we were talking to quite a
Speaker 1: few labels, but nothing was. Nothing felt right, and even
Speaker 1: like the big indies that we were speaking to, we
Speaker 1: were kind of like they want they want this much
Speaker 1: to do that. We were like, no, like we don't.
Speaker 1: You know. It was like it was like I love
Speaker 1: this label, this is my favorite, one of my favorite
Speaker 1: labels of all time, but I can't It's I can't
Speaker 1: give them that much for what they want to take
Speaker 1: and give us up. You know. It's like and that
Speaker 1: was That's when we kind of that's when like loads
Speaker 1: of major kind of labels got in touch and we liked,
Speaker 1: we're like, none of these work. This is all weird.
Speaker 1: But then Ireland kept coming back and they totally got
Speaker 1: what we were about, and it was like we knew
Speaker 1: it was like a completely different sort of world to
Speaker 1: what we were used to, but we're so used to
Speaker 1: the indie world that we kind of know it's limitations
Speaker 1: because it does have limitations, and we were kind of like,
Speaker 1: if they're going to put this money in, then I
Speaker 1: don't know. We were just at a point where we're like,
Speaker 1: shall we just see what happens if we let a
Speaker 1: major label go with it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, And I guess that's probably part of like because
Speaker 2: you'd all been in bands and you've been on indies,
Speaker 2: and it's also like, well why not just try something different?
Speaker 1: Right, Like that was exactly it.
Speaker 2: Let's just do let's just try a different thing and
Speaker 2: if that doesn't work, it doesn't work, and yeah, that's fine.
Speaker 1: That is it. It's like, what's the worst has happened?
Speaker 1: It's like you'll get dropped after one album and then
Speaker 1: you're going to do what you did anyway, and it's
Speaker 1: like cool, sure, let's try it then, And it seems
Speaker 1: to have fade so far. But it's the other thing
Speaker 1: is that people always think that, like people put so
Speaker 1: much on the future in the longevitive stuff, but that's
Speaker 1: also not the most important thing. Like bands don't have
Speaker 1: to exist forever. And I think we just knew that
Speaker 1: we would do music. We'd all hit that point in
Speaker 1: our lives where we knew that we were never going
Speaker 1: to stop making me I've said this in so many interviews,
Speaker 1: but it's just because it's true. Like I would play,
Speaker 1: I will write songs and release them to no one,
Speaker 1: and I will play. I will play gigs to ansty rooms.
Speaker 1: I won't tor to empty rooms because I'd be boring,
Speaker 1: but I'll still go out and play shows to a
Speaker 1: handful of people when all this ends, because I just
Speaker 1: love it, and I do, and I love bands. I've
Speaker 1: realized that as much as I love music and song
Speaker 1: right and I love bands, I still love the romance
Speaker 1: of a band. And they seem to be making a
Speaker 1: comeback at the moment, and I think, I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe after the pandemic and people being isolated so much,
Speaker 1: they want that camaderie of a band again. They want
Speaker 1: to see people together and see themselves within that.
Speaker 2: I don't know, but I think that's a really good
Speaker 2: thing that comes with getting a bit older. As someone
Speaker 2: who's older now, is like when you're a younger and
Speaker 2: you see, like, so you see a band that had
Speaker 2: that moment and then now that they went to the
Speaker 2: top and now they're back down and playing in your
Speaker 2: local path to a few people. When you're a kid,
Speaker 2: when you're like a teenager, and you see that, you go,
Speaker 2: this is so sad? Isn't so depressing for them? But
Speaker 2: you can't really see that. They're they're enjoyed that, they're
Speaker 2: actually they want to be there. They're not doing it
Speaker 2: because they they they they've just got to that point
Speaker 2: where they're like, this is what I do and I
Speaker 2: used to do it to lots of more people than
Speaker 2: I do now, and that's fine, Like it's completely fine.
Speaker 1: The exact thing happened with a you know, a younger
Speaker 1: friend of mine when we were watching a show in
Speaker 1: Leads where someone who you know, they are in a
Speaker 1: legendary band and their side projects sort of plays to
Speaker 1: twenty or thirty people and me and Ryan and our
Speaker 1: friend were watching them and like we were like, it's
Speaker 1: fucking so good seeing his old dudes just rock out,
Speaker 1: like they just love it, you know. They were like
Speaker 1: they were they were great. They were so good, and
Speaker 1: they just like there was probably a bit of disheartenment
Speaker 1: that they were playing at thirty people, but they were
Speaker 1: just playing their songs and it's like they've never given up.
Speaker 1: I think me and Ryan saw ourselves in that band
Speaker 1: that night and it was like we use the term lifers,
Speaker 1: like we're like they're lifers. And I remember when Ryan
Speaker 1: first said to me, you're a lifer and I was like,
Speaker 1: and he basically was like, we've seen like you're not
Speaker 1: going to give up. Like this is basically him and
Speaker 1: a couple of other people that are in bands in
Speaker 1: leads like Pulled part by Horses and that, like Ryan
Speaker 1: was in Menace Beach. They were like, you know, you've
Speaker 1: just kept going and you're not going to stop. I
Speaker 1: was like, no, I love it. And it was like
Speaker 1: you're a life and you're not like moaning that there's
Speaker 1: ten people at the show, because we've all been in
Speaker 1: bands with people who do that and they bring they
Speaker 1: drag you down and We're like why are you here?
Speaker 1: You know, like what did you expect? And a lot
Speaker 1: of people are entitled and expect stuff, but maybe like yeah,
Speaker 1: our friend anyway, she was like, this is so depressing.
Speaker 1: I was like, it's not.
Speaker 2: They're amazing.
Speaker 1: Look at them going and she was like, but no
Speaker 1: one's here. I was like, yeah, you know, if if
Speaker 1: a legendary band plays thirty people but the other twenty
Speaker 1: seven thousand and nine hundred and seventy aren't around to
Speaker 1: hear them play, did it happen at all? Like you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, it's like that. It was like, no,
Speaker 1: it's this is this is what it's really about. All
Speaker 1: the other stuff comes and goes as exciting as it is. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know, you don't want it and you don't
Speaker 1: love it, but it gets beyond that. Yeah. So that
Speaker 1: and yeah, I was like and I think I said
Speaker 1: something like pastronizing and say like when you get older,
Speaker 1: you'll understand because it's like, no, it's these guys know
Speaker 1: what they're doing.
Speaker 2: And what was your first band? Then your very first band?
Speaker 1: My first band was post war was one before. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I played in like sort of covers bands and that
Speaker 1: as a teenager, and I didn't actually know I did.
Speaker 1: I had a band back in Warrington called City Lights
Speaker 1: with a couple of friends from school. But you know
Speaker 1: that was kind of yeah, a lot of covers and
Speaker 1: small time smart, small town small time. No, it's good.
Speaker 1: It was really important for me that band, and it.
Speaker 2: Because post post war Glamor Girls did well for a
Speaker 2: first band, for your for essentially.
Speaker 1: Your first band. Yes, I started that in Leeds. When
Speaker 1: I came to Leeds, I went to the College of
Speaker 1: Music and and and that that band's city Lights actually
Speaker 1: ended because our singer, I was the drummer in band,
Speaker 1: and our singer Joe passed away and and that hit
Speaker 1: me so hard that I kind of said I was
Speaker 1: never going to do a band again, which is very
Speaker 1: a dramatic thing that an eighteen year old will say.
Speaker 1: And I was just going to go to union, you know,
Speaker 1: make beats. It's going to be a beat maker. And yeah,
Speaker 1: and then I slowly found the rest of the members
Speaker 1: of Postwar Glamour Girls, Alice, James and Ben and yeah,
Speaker 1: that went on for a long time, but that was completely,
Speaker 1: you know, pretty much completely ignored by the industry, and
Speaker 1: we just couldn't really, we did some really big things
Speaker 1: considering we couldn't get a break, you know, like.
Speaker 2: Three records he made, Yeah, we.
Speaker 1: Did four and four years well because yeah, because we
Speaker 1: did a live album. But the live album had news
Speaker 1: songs on it, and we and we rewrote it as
Speaker 1: a six piece. We did a lot on a shoestream,
Speaker 1: but I was always obsessed with moving on and we
Speaker 1: never really let anything sort of gestate. And I could
Speaker 1: never also wait for responses from emails. I was like,
Speaker 1: this person clearly hates so let's just do it on
Speaker 1: our own. And you know, like looking back, I well,
Speaker 1: I was a twenty one year old managing a band
Speaker 1: of twenty one year olds with no understanding of the
Speaker 1: music industry. Was because he was a pretentious twenty one
Speaker 1: year old was obsessed with I just want to make
Speaker 1: my art and I don't want to be a part
Speaker 1: of this industry that has no interest in me. And
Speaker 1: what it really was was that, like people get a
Speaker 1: thousand emails a day, and if they don't replies me
Speaker 1: in two days, it doesn't mean that you can't send
Speaker 1: a follow up, you know, it means that. So yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was a weird. Yeah, it was a weird time.
Speaker 1: But I just feel like I learned so much in
Speaker 1: that band about myself. And I grew up in that
Speaker 1: band basically, and I was so angry in my early
Speaker 1: twenties just at the state of the world, which now
Speaker 1: it was like a place I'd love to go back to, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and just you know, kind of stuff that was going
Speaker 1: on in my personal life as well, and I didn't
Speaker 1: think about it at the time, and I just wanted
Speaker 1: to challenge music and that's all I ever wanted to do.
Speaker 1: And as I grew up, I kind of couldn't maintain
Speaker 1: that anger that I had that I used to have.
Speaker 1: I was like, this is some signing, and I felt
Speaker 1: like I couldn't deliver it anymore. And I started feeling
Speaker 1: like I was doing an impression of my younger self, right,
Speaker 1: and I don't, but I don't think I had the
Speaker 1: sort of self belief or the guts to be me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so that band kind of came to an end
Speaker 1: because because everyone was kind of moving away and stuff,
Speaker 1: and we've given it as long as everyone else was
Speaker 1: willing to give it before they were ready to do
Speaker 1: other things, you know. So now I did this band
Speaker 1: cruel world, which I was like, we just again, we
Speaker 1: just couldn't catch break. But like musically, I was just
Speaker 1: so into it, and that was like really sort of
Speaker 1: like so right. I kind of went the opposite so
Speaker 1: far away, and I didn't want I was so sort
Speaker 1: of ashamed of my own voice that I kind of
Speaker 1: tried to neutralize it as much as I could.
Speaker 2: Do you mean like the sound of your voice.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the sound like I've never liked the sound of
Speaker 1: my own voice, like I don't think many people do,
Speaker 1: and is nice that I've enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: It's like a goose. No it's not you, but you
Speaker 2: know when you listen back to your voice, Yeah, it
Speaker 2: just sounds like a kind of monotone, honking goose. That's
Speaker 2: how I described it.
Speaker 1: Right, Well, I find it quite comforting. I'm going to
Speaker 1: listen back and see it. Yeah, if it sounds obviously,
Speaker 1: everyone sounds deeper in their own head.
Speaker 2: Ye, you've got.
Speaker 1: A lovely voice, thank you. That's just what I clarified.
Speaker 1: It moved on.
Speaker 2: I'll just be clipping that bit and yeah into a stick.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe certainly that my beats folded, I'll make you
Speaker 1: a beat. Yeah, I got so. Yeah, I just was like,
Speaker 1: but I was also convinced that the way that I
Speaker 1: delivered those songs and the aggression and the anger in
Speaker 1: my voice on those records was like the reason that
Speaker 1: we hadn't had the success that I wanted, And so
Speaker 1: I started neutralizing everything, and I think it culminated in
Speaker 1: like some songwriting that I'm really really proud of, but
Speaker 1: I suck my own I like deliberately edited my own
Speaker 1: personality out of these songs because I didn't have the like,
Speaker 1: didn't have the sort of guts to be myself again
Speaker 1: at this point, and like post what I felt like
Speaker 1: it was a really extreme version of myself that I
Speaker 1: then couldn't get to grips with changing, and so I
Speaker 1: stayed stuck in this sort of impression of angry me,
Speaker 1: which was kind of I'd learned to cope with my
Speaker 1: anger in a different way. And then cruel World kind
Speaker 1: of became me going, hey, I'm so mellow and relaxed now,
Speaker 1: which like most of the time I am, sorry most
Speaker 1: of the time I am, but so relaxed. I just
Speaker 1: like most of the time I am, but it's not
Speaker 1: I'm not one thing or another, and I'm and I
Speaker 1: think Yadat. By the time that came around, I find
Speaker 1: as it started to do well, I started to have
Speaker 1: the confidence to be completely comfortable with who I am
Speaker 1: and accept that I do have these bursts of anger
Speaker 1: and frustration, but for the most part, I am on
Speaker 1: this level which we're at now, and I think that's
Speaker 1: kind of how we approach everything we do. The performance
Speaker 1: is kind of in me being me, Yeah, which is nice.
Speaker 2: So now when you hear yourself back, whether it's like
Speaker 2: on a recording like this or singing.
Speaker 1: Yeah, are you at piece with it? Yeah? Because I
Speaker 1: just realized it doesn't matter anyway. I'm not. I'm I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know at what point it happened, but I
Speaker 1: I think I basically think once we got an audience
Speaker 1: that we realized was sticking with us for the time being,
Speaker 1: at least I felt I was like, they just like
Speaker 1: me doing what I do, and so I don't need
Speaker 1: to study myself or worry about that. I don't need
Speaker 1: to worry about the people. I'm not conscious of what
Speaker 1: the people who don't like it think anymore. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: yet I think it's what I don't know, Like I'm
Speaker 1: not being smug about it. But I think it's what
Speaker 1: everyone's trying to achieve in their own life, is to
Speaker 1: be comfortable in our own skin. And I feel like
Speaker 1: I'm finally as close as I'm going to. I've got
Speaker 1: there for the time being, and I'm really.
Speaker 2: Very young to have got there. You're like thirty one.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thirty two this year, thirty two.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's good going, I think if you've sussed it, yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean it might.
Speaker 1: Not last time. No, no, don't. Well, I've had a
Speaker 1: good run. I've had a good run in life over
Speaker 1: the last few years after quite a turbulent you know,
Speaker 1: late teens, early twenties, I feel like everything's kind of
Speaker 1: come up James for a little bit, and and I'm
Speaker 1: not taking it for granted that there will be turbulence ahead,
Speaker 1: because no one gets that easy run, you know.
Speaker 2: Can we quickly talk about your videos? Yeah, of course,
Speaker 2: because I'm a big fan of all of them. Yeah,
Speaker 2: particularly the Magic one.
Speaker 1: Ah, Yeah, that's my favorite.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm going to put a link to all
Speaker 2: of them in the in the description of this podcast,
Speaker 2: because they're all worth a watch. How one question I've
Speaker 2: got is who are the who are the people in them?
Speaker 2: Because there's like there seems to be like some recurring
Speaker 2: actors in there. Yeah, who's the who's the guy with
Speaker 2: the braces, the bald headed guy?
Speaker 1: Ah yeah, Gareth, Yeah, I appreciate.
Speaker 2: Are these people you know? Are these people that you
Speaker 2: cast once and then thought we'll just get you back
Speaker 2: for like other ones.
Speaker 1: Most of them are people that the production crew know,
Speaker 1: like family and friends and a couple of castings. Some
Speaker 1: are like street castings. So like Kaylee, who is the
Speaker 1: dancing orphan with the lettuces. She appears in Payday and
Speaker 1: The Overload. She when we me and James Slater, who
Speaker 1: directs the videos, we went to Lee's Bradford put car
Speaker 1: boot to do a recie see if it would be
Speaker 1: a good location.
Speaker 2: Was it shot there?
Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, yeah, and yeah there was. There was two
Speaker 1: castings from the car boot. One was Kaylee's mom was
Speaker 1: just running a stall and Kaylee was just like dancing
Speaker 1: next to the car, just entered saying herself. And James
Speaker 1: and Jack and Rosie, Jack and Rosiere, the producers, they
Speaker 1: they were just like, she'd be great for the video.
Speaker 1: Let's go and ask if she wants to do it
Speaker 1: next Sunday, like let's get that dancing in the video.
Speaker 1: So she was just a punter at the car boot
Speaker 1: dancing and she and she was like, yeah, I would
Speaker 1: love to do it. And she came back. And then
Speaker 1: the One Eyed King he him and his partner live
Speaker 1: in their camper van and they visit the car boots
Speaker 1: to sell sell their wares every now and then. And
Speaker 1: we were like, would you be up for wearing an
Speaker 1: eye patch and a crown and being in this and
Speaker 1: he was like, yeah, of course, And and you know,
Speaker 1: they're like, you know, I follow them on Instagram now
Speaker 1: I follow that. They live the hashtag van life and
Speaker 1: they just travel the country with their dog, having van
Speaker 1: meet ups from that, and so it's nice to stay
Speaker 1: in touch with them. So Gaff is Jack's stepdad, and
Speaker 1: he's just the loveliest man. And I can't remember what
Speaker 1: he does now. I think he's I don't know, I
Speaker 1: can't remember what he does. He's great, he's just great.
Speaker 1: He just came along and then he's just like I think,
Speaker 1: I don't think he'd even heard of us before the
Speaker 1: first song, and he's been in three of the videos
Speaker 1: and he's like he's a big fan now, like he's
Speaker 1: he drops his messages and that. Yeah, it's great. There's
Speaker 1: loads of wicked people in them video.
Speaker 2: I think like you did some pretty good acting in them, right,
Speaker 2: Like you know, it's Land of the Blind, isn't it
Speaker 2: with the Magician one? Yeah, yeah, where you're sporting a goate.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, su yes, yeah, slick back to David Brent
Speaker 1: with the slip.
Speaker 2: But there's that bit where you make the fifty pence
Speaker 2: disappear and you crawl out the room.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm going to make me and this fifty pence
Speaker 1: piece disappear.
Speaker 2: And that that was I love that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, that wasn't meant to happen.
Speaker 2: That's prettiant. But the but but yeah, there are parts
Speaker 2: that there are bits in all of them where you like,
Speaker 2: have you ever did you act at school?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I was in the place and that I used
Speaker 1: to Yeah, I used to like, yeah, yeah you did
Speaker 1: play did the artful Dodger? And Oliver did say that?
Speaker 1: Yeah I did.
Speaker 2: Did you have to do a Cockney accent for that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Of course it's dead easy. I won't do it now, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah I played think what else I did?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I did fat studies at a level as well. Basically
Speaker 1: there wasn't enough subjects that I would have been allowed
Speaker 1: to do if I hadn't have done like all the
Speaker 1: pretend subjects. So I did fat studies, Media studies, English Language,
Speaker 1: and music Tech. That was me. That was me, big
Speaker 1: four and yeah, I always loved it. And then I
Speaker 1: went Then I kind of went off it because of
Speaker 1: some of the other people who do it that take
Speaker 1: it so seriously.
Speaker 2: But I did it as well exactly.
Speaker 1: I know, did you continue it? Did you pursue it?
Speaker 2: I pursued it. Yeah, Well I went to when I
Speaker 2: went to UNI, did film and drama amazing.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I knew as soon as I got there
Speaker 2: to day one of the drama side of it that.
Speaker 1: Hang on, Yeah, I'm out of my league here. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you know, when you're in school, you can
Speaker 2: be it's quite easy to be the best in your school.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, you were you the best in your school. Well,
Speaker 1: sounds like that's what you just said.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm going to you know, I'm going to lean
Speaker 2: into that and say, yeah, but there is there is
Speaker 2: a caveat by the end of myol by my sixth form, Yeah,
Speaker 2: there was three of us in the class cool and
Speaker 2: one of them then got kicked out, so we could
Speaker 2: only do two.
Speaker 1: Man plays deal logues, yeah, and actually a deal logue, right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what we did a lot of wreck And if
Speaker 1: I'm honest now i'm thinking of it, I think I
Speaker 1: was probably the second best in the class, nah to it.
Speaker 2: But you know, but you know when you're like a
Speaker 2: bit younger than because by then, you know, by then
Speaker 2: I was fifteen sixteen. When you're like, at my school,
Speaker 2: if you could remember the lines, you were the best. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you didn't really need to actually put anything down.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: But then you go to like university and you go, oh,
Speaker 2: there are people there who are like theater people studied,
Speaker 2: and so I was. I was instantly I moved away
Speaker 2: from it. I completed the degree, but I moved away
Speaker 2: from it. But I know exactly what you mean. Actors
Speaker 2: can be the worst, can they?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean not all of them. I don't want
Speaker 2: anyone thinking I'm down on all actors, but some actorly
Speaker 2: people when they're being actors a lot of the time,
Speaker 2: it's a lot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but you're always forgiven when they do something amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have to be in that frame of mind where
Speaker 1: they are already amazing when they've not proved anything, which
Speaker 1: I guess musicians do as well a lot. Well they
Speaker 1: know they don't. I don't know. It's a weird one. Yeah, basically,
Speaker 1: there was just yeah, it's just want your people, I'm
Speaker 1: going to do see drama because I'm going to get
Speaker 1: to slide around on my knees in the schoolhole for
Speaker 1: a couple of years and funny about my mates. And
Speaker 1: then when it gets to a level and they all go,
Speaker 1: we're not doing drama now, we're doing like physics and
Speaker 1: maths and that, and you go, right, whom I left
Speaker 1: with and you know, some of my best friends. But
Speaker 1: it's yeah, it's it's it's the people that take it
Speaker 1: very seriously, who can't act that really again because like
Speaker 1: I never had. But also it's like it's the people
Speaker 1: that like it's like the great, the great actors, like
Speaker 1: how do you have to be very resilient to do
Speaker 1: that in high school? The serious stuff like I just
Speaker 1: did pratted around and said we did comedy because it
Speaker 1: was like that was easy because that was just pratting
Speaker 1: around as far as we're concerned. But for someone to
Speaker 1: deliver for a fourteen year old pimbly kid to do
Speaker 1: some brutal monologue about like the you know, like the
Speaker 1: fucking like Irish famine. Like it's it's playing like a
Speaker 1: fifty year old like starving man. It doesn't work quite
Speaker 1: the same as a fake.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like it's like you're going to go for those deep,
Speaker 1: serious subjects and you should be encouraging chilled there's you
Speaker 1: should be encouraging children to do that at that age,
Speaker 1: Like you should be getting to try and tap into
Speaker 1: something deeper about themselves and to convey and deliver something
Speaker 1: that's so emotive it can make a teacher cry. But
Speaker 1: you're going to have a bunch of immature lads on
Speaker 1: the front row sniggering, like I wish that's not how
Speaker 1: the world worked, maybe changed, but I mean that's what
Speaker 1: it's like for me. But that's that's my own immaturity,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. That was I was a
Speaker 1: late bloomer and it took me a long time to
Speaker 1: grow up. So yeah, so I have nothing but respect
Speaker 1: for those people. I do, but that wasn't where I
Speaker 1: was at at that time in my life, you know,
Speaker 1: And so I didn't really pursue it. I did do
Speaker 1: fat studies and I did. I did really enjoy it,
Speaker 1: and I wrote me and some mates wrote like a
Speaker 1: musical about Summerfields, the supermarket that's kind of our perfect
Speaker 1: field is gone now Yeah yeah, I think we all
Speaker 1: used to work at the one in the village, so
Speaker 1: that was kind of that was what it was written about.
Speaker 1: And there was like a turf war between that and
Speaker 1: the co Op, which was quite That was what it
Speaker 1: was about.
Speaker 2: Well, history has proven co Op one. I think they
Speaker 2: bought I think they bought out Summer Film.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think that's why. That's why there's maybe that's what's
Speaker 2: ripe for a sequel.
Speaker 1: Yeah, co Op. Yeah, Summerfield strikes back. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So the another thing I wanted to ask you just
Speaker 2: about the videos is what is with the fifty p
Speaker 2: the recurring callback to fifty pence pieces? So I guess
Speaker 2: we play on I should explain that this is something
Speaker 2: that recurs through these through your videos.
Speaker 1: Seeing every everything in the whole universe costs fifty everything
Speaker 1: costs fifty p which is kind of communist in a way,
Speaker 1: but that's not the fifty p to me really symbolizes,
Speaker 1: like obviously, the first album really kind of leans into
Speaker 1: nostalgia and like, you know, I wrote a lot a
Speaker 1: lot of it because a lot of it was written
Speaker 1: during lockdown and I wasn't really sort of out and
Speaker 1: about experiencing things. I kind of delved into my own
Speaker 1: past quite a lot and sort of my own childhood
Speaker 1: and upbringing to kind of you know. So it's got
Speaker 1: like a real sort of retro sort of slant to it.
Speaker 1: The album, you know, it kind of plays on that
Speaker 1: it's set now, but it's also set in this like
Speaker 1: rosy past of in England gone by when things were simpler,
Speaker 1: because everyone loves to think everything was better in their
Speaker 1: day even though and fifty P for me felt like
Speaker 1: the automate symbol of a lot of money but worth
Speaker 1: fuck all. Like like fifty P is like, like you know,
Speaker 1: I always think about the fifty P mix because that
Speaker 1: was like that was like one day, that was like
Speaker 1: birthday mix. It was like fifth you got fifty P
Speaker 1: or the kid with the fifty P at school was
Speaker 1: swinging yeah, like you know pound that's like the league
Speaker 1: you put that and you put that in your piggy bank,
Speaker 1: like you say.
Speaker 2: That's a banker.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but fifty P was it felt like a
Speaker 1: lot of money. It's also for course, it kind of
Speaker 1: to me symbolizes like our It kind of symbolizes our
Speaker 1: first for wealth and our our view of it and
Speaker 1: how we sort of see it and what it is.
Speaker 1: And do you remember those like windy penny press machines
Speaker 1: that would like press like a logo of where you've been, like.
Speaker 2: It flattens it to an oval.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I wanted to do one of them on tour
Speaker 1: that we could have a yard at one where you
Speaker 1: put your fifty p in and you press it and
Speaker 1: it flattens your fifty p and you get it back
Speaker 1: with a yard that logo on it. And there must
Speaker 1: be someone out there that can make that contraption. It's
Speaker 1: only cogs and it must be a press, isn't it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Because you know every ceaside town will have that. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so there's somewhere that makes the stand he's got inside town, right.
Speaker 1: But I've never seen one with a fifty P. They
Speaker 1: might have to trigger, like they might have to re
Speaker 1: reshape the shoot, but I think a fifty p might
Speaker 1: be too thick. That's what I mean. You're going to
Speaker 1: need some real strength, like.
Speaker 2: Someone with a big arm to be put in there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, what's Pete's arm, Like Pete's arm, well, friends, which
Speaker 1: is mixing anders because that's slightly bigger.
Speaker 2: Because it could be a new job for Pete.
Speaker 1: Pete does need more work. Maybe maybe our next crew
Speaker 1: member will be someone with a big arm. Just one
Speaker 1: big arm, require one big arm. Yeah, I did want
Speaker 1: to get one. I'm done there. But again, this was
Speaker 1: you know, like when I suggested it, like spitball, it
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, you could, like it could be like
Speaker 1: one pound fifty to get you fifty p press and
Speaker 1: I was like, no, it'd be fifty p. It's a
Speaker 1: freebie for anyone who's got fifty p on it. I'm
Speaker 1: not trying to capitalize. Yeah, yeah, it's got to be
Speaker 1: it's got to be money it mate. Thank you for
Speaker 1: coming on the podcast.
Speaker 2: I never know how to end. Don't you think we've
Speaker 2: missed anything?
Speaker 1: No, I don't even know what we've talked about, but
Speaker 1: I have nothing to say. Perfect.
Speaker 2: For previous episodes of Midnight Chat, simply search your podcast
Speaker 2: app and don't forget to follow or subscribe in order
Speaker 2: to receive new episodes as that published every week at midnight.
Speaker 2: For more information on the music magazine, that makes this series.
Speaker 2: Visit Loud and Quiet dot com anyway, good Night,