Do you have anything you take with you? Well you know, we’re always Skyping and talking to our friends and family and stuff, and wherever we go, we take a lot of pictures and do quite a lot of Dictaphone recordings, so there’s always a lot of things like that – memories. We do enjoy going back to North Wales, but we always have to travel quite lightly as well, you know. Even though Ritzy’s a fucking hoarder!
I’m really happy to be talking to you about your second album – it’s already been whispered about lots, even though it’s not out yet. Again, when I spoke to Ritzy last time, you were just finishing putting the first album together. Does that feel like a long time ago now? I suppose it kinda does, only in the sense that we’ve been so busy. We’re always writing, always doing something, always playing shows but even a short space of time can feel like a way away, because you’re constantly stimulated; you’re always doing something and there’s very little repetitive routine, but I think that’s exactly the kind of lifestyle we like to have, and we’re very privileged to have it. But yeah, ‘Te Big Roar’ does feel like quite a way away and even though we’ve finished this album, we’re always writing as well. I think you should always take down your ideas and inspirations whenever you feel them.
So in 2009, Matt was still a relatively
new part of the band – he was the new boy, but I imagine there’s been a lot of cementing of his part in the band after so much touring and experiences in the band together… Yeah, absolutely; as soon as he joined, actually, about a week later we were sort of gigging heavily, so he kinda got thrown in at the deep end anyway. And I guess it’s the best way to really get to know each other! At the beginning, the music was what drove us together, that’s the most important thing, so with that understanding there, we just get each other. It’s an added bonus that we all get on aspersonalities; it’s so important, because there are some great artists out there, but if you can’t get along with each other, then you’re in for a really tough slog!
I haven’t heard the album yet, but my interest has piqued already after hearing some of the titles, and learning of some of the stories you’re telling. It sounds like there’s more narrating themes than personal lyrics – is that fair to say? Er, no I’d say there are some really personal moments in it, but there is a lot of symbolism running through it. I think the same as ‘Te Big Roar’, really; first and foremost, each lyric means something and it has to come from you, so it feels like there a lot of personal stories entwined within it all, but yeah, there’s songs like ‘Te Leopard and the Lung’, for instance, are inspired by Wangari Maathai, who we were reading about when we were in Maine. Tere was a Kenyan environmentalist who was basically this really brave lady who stood up to the Kenyan government, basically by herself and took care of a lot of women. Tere’s ‘Te Turn Around’, which touches on Ritzy losing her grandfather, who was one of our biggest fans, and that changed her quite a bit. You know, we lost a few people on making this album, and that’s definitely crept in quite a bit.
YOU KNOW, WE LOST A FEW PEOPLE ON MAKING THIS ALBUM, AND THAT’S DEFINITELY CREPT IN QUITE A BIT.
I read a little bit about you guys writing in some classical orchestration into the album. I’m not a musician, but with classical sections, do you have to be much more structured than the way you’re used to working? Well we enjoy the challengers that just being a writer bring, really.
We’re very much interested in composition as a whole, so we never feel restricted by the instrumentation that we’ve got, or that we should be this ‘guitar band’. I think you should always question what that is, for instance, we enjoy artists that you never quite know what’s gonna happen with the next album, and as long as it’s not contrived, then a great writer can put his or her hand to anything. You know, we’ve always produced our music ourselves and that’s exactly what we did with this album, but we’ve just expanded the palate, you know. We scored orchestral pieces, we have harp on the album, we have keyboard and piano lines; there’s quite a lot going on, there’s a real breadth to the album, to the timbre and the tones.
You’re coming to Norwich in the New Year, which we’re really pleased about, but you’ve got your eye on bigger things, haven’t you – you’re headlining Te Roundhouse as well – that’s gonna be a huge gig. Yeah, that’ll be our biggest London show to date, I suppose. It puts a smile on our face that we kind of grow and grow for the right reasons; there’s not this two minutes of hype kind of bullshit. It’s people that want to be there at the gigs, they’ve told their friends and then they come along, or whatever, so it feels like a very natural process.
And I’m sure you’re aware of the big following you have in Norwich, partly because of the tireless support of promoter wombatwombat, who completely energised the city into loving Te Joy Formidable. Can you feel the love in Norwich? We do, honestly, we do; we always enjoy coming to Norwich. I think this show is at Te Waterfront, but we have very, very fond memories of playing the Arts Centre and you’re right, Annie [wombatwombat] has been such a big part of that; people like her are such an important piece of the puzzle, you know. Real fans of music – that’s what it should all be about.
Emma Garwood
Te Waterfront and wombatwombat bring Te Joy Formidable to the Norwich venue on January 23rd. For tickets, go to
www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk. Read the uncut version of this interview at
Outlineonline.co.uk
outlineonline.co.uk / January 2013 / 29
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