feel great about it!
Tere’s a notion of the career ladder when you see bands moving up the bill, but do you think of your band’s progression in those linear terms, or do you have a different set of goals? Erm, I think there are many different indicators as to how things are going and you try not to pay too much attention to that kind of stuff, but you always want to be taking a step in the right direction, to be sure. We’re definitely an ambitious band and we want to be around for a really long, long time and that definitely goes hand in hand with steadily getting more fans and getting bigger and bigger, so you know, it is important for us to see that trajectory, but how quickly it happens, or how slow it happens is not important – that it happens at all is the main thing.
‘Gorilla Manor’ was immediate and explosive live – I remember seeing you at the Norwich Arts Centre – do you remember that at all? I think I do because that night I burnt my hand on a flaming sambucca shot and had this ring on my hand for like, two weeks! Tat venue was really awesome and I think we took some pictures around there too, because there was some really sweet art around.
I read an old interview with you guys from Clash Magazine from around that time, in 2010 where you said you wanted to write a different album next time. As circumstances between then and now arose though, do you think you could have written the same album again, even if you’d wanted to? Erm… I think probably not, especially given what happened over the last couple of years; they were big moments that kind of change who you are. It’s just a part of growing up and getting older and getting, I don’t know,
accustomed to loss, accustomed to things that make your skin grow a little bit thicker. Even if we had set out to make the same album, it’d still sound different for sure.
As it is, ‘Hummingbird’ is painfully beautiful, and from knowing ‘Gorilla Manor’ so well, there are places where you expect vocals on the new album, and instead you get space. Do you think you needed confidence to experiment? It’s funny that you use the word experiment, because for us it was definitely going outside of our comfort zone to not fill up every space and so that was just something that we wanted to try and do and something that, I don’t know, we were just in to more.
Te songs were written in the unique environment of the studio, and are quite introverted, but now you’ve been able to tour them a little, do they take on a life of their own? Yeah, I think some songs find that they exist in a more energetic manor, or are better played a little more subdued. Tey definitely change and I think that’s something that we came to terms with when we were writing the record, ‘cause we were like, ‘let’s not worry about the live show, let’s just worry about the recording of everything’.
As I said, ‘Gorilla Manor’ was explosive live and now you have two albums with varying colour palettes. Are you able to engineer the set-list now to provide different kinds of narratives for the show? Yeah, I mean we can definitely cater something to be energetic throughout the whole set, but it’s nice to have these other songs to have it vary because I really enjoy seeing the peaks and the valleys when you’re seeing a band live, so I think we have more of that now. I think that goes well with where my head’s at, you know.
It’s been widely spoken of that Aaron Dessner of Te National produced the album, but how important do you think it was that his primary job is musician first? Tat was definitely one of the reasons that attracted us to him; we didn’t want someone to come in and analyse the
songs like they do that every day for their day job. It was so cool for him to come in – just being a musician who cares about songs at the core and the heart of the song. So that’s what I think made it work so well is that we wanted somebody to match our passion.
I’m sure you don’t pay too much attention to reviews, but a recent credible Guardian review compared it to Radiohead’s recent work – I know you’re a fan, so that must resonate quite nicely with you? Yeah! I did not see that - that’s awesome! Oh yeah, I definitely am; I think they are the best band out right now, maybe ever. I think I really do believe that. Tat’s just me though! [LAUGHS]
You’ve mentioned a few UK bands over the years and you recently defended Coachella’s line-up choices – are you a big fan of music from across the pond? Oh yeah, definitely; I thought the Coachella line-up was great. I know Ryan is a huge Stone Roses fan, so he was super stoked and we’re all in to pretty much anything Damon Albarn does, so Blur or Gorillaz or Te Good, Te Bad and the Queen, which is one I’ve been revisiting pretty heavily. So yeah, we have huge respect for music over here, definitely.
Finally, I think one of the most comforting things, as a fan, I read was that you recently bought a five-way headphones splitter. I think that speaks volumes about how you still share the process with these guys… Yeah, totally, I mean I like the idea of us wanting to be inclusive of each other on most of the things that we’re doing and the more outputs we have, the more we can share in something, for sure.
First Latitude, then we welcome you back to Norwich in October – perhaps we can buy you another flaming sambucca then? Yeah, yeah – you can teach me how to do it right!
Emma R. Garwood
Local Natives play the Obelisk Stage on Sunday at this year’s Latitude Festival in Suffolk. For tickets and more info, go to
www.latitudefestival.co.uk.
Read the uncut interview at
Outlineonline.co.uk outlineonline.co.uk / June 2013 / 21
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