music, you know, it’s not actually like a marriage.


album in a different way, just in terms of time and situations, the way it went, probably more songs would have sounded like ‘Ruins’. Te album wasn’t super intentional; it wasn’t like I had this vision of ‘let’s do this kind of album, now let’s try and write songs that fit into that paradigm’. It was more like, ‘I’ve had this idea for a new wavey, post-punk kinda song, like the bassline’s just two notes – let’s jam on that.’ Definitely when we did ‘Ruins’ for the first few times, it was the whole band’s favourite – I really thought, ‘this is the way to go!’ [LAUGHS]


We have a guest editor this month who’s a photographer. I know you come from a mixed media background – do you think your sympathy for photography and all art forms makes you a treat of a band to photograph? I’ve seen some great images of you guys… Oh really? I haven’t really thought about that, but I guess it goes both ways really, ‘cause since I have quite a strong visual angle, or like ideal for myself, as a visual artist I have a kind of aesthetic that I prefer, so maybe it’s hard for people to work with me sometimes, ‘cause I always want to be involved in everything, but I don’t know, maybe even just the way I represent myself in the way I dress or emote, it shows that I’m a very visually aware person.


I think it’s a good thing that you offer your input though, because I can’t stand creative apathy and I don’t understand how a creative person can take control of their music and not other aspects of their output. I think it’s crazy too, but the thing that is kinda crazy to think about is that people who are releasing music don’t often even want that much musical control these days, like, there’s a lot of singers who are being marketed as being writers and creative forces, but actually other people are writing their songs for them. To me, that’s crazy because everyone has the potential to be holistically creative and have their music come from a real place, but I think a lot of people have their fear of vulnerability or failure that takes over.


Now, I usually think that it’s lazy to ask about a band’s influences, but having


seen a few of yours, I can’t let it slip! Eminem, Hanson, Adam Ant… [LAUGHS] Have you been reading my Twitter?! [LAUGHS A LOT]


Oh yeah! To ask you about just one of them, Adam Ant - don’t you think that he looks like a 70-year old woman now? He’s gone a bit jowly. [LAUGHS] Yeah, haha! I thought he looked pretty cool, I don’t know. He didn’t look like his 24-year old, hot-as- fuck self, but he was super energetic and very impassioned. For me, like as I was saying; if someone deconstructs their identity and just becomes their energy, that’s the truest thing you can do. You think he looks like a 70-year old woman?! Even that’s kinda cool.


What do you think of artists growing old in the music industry though? Do you want to be of Grace Jones calibre, or will you move on to another adventure? Oh, I see different adventures within the music world, even like the adventure I’m having right now is so much different from when I started the band. For me, there are many different adventures to have within a career in music, so I don’t think you need to choose one thing, or do everything at once.


You’ve already had a couple of mini- adventures within Friends. People often see line-up changes as destructive, but I think saving face and staying together can marginalise output. Given your own experiences, how do you feel about the changes? Oh, I think that you have to just roll… with the punches. I kinda don’t like that phrase ‘cause it makes changes sound negative, but you have to just let changes evolve. It was the right thing, for the band to change, members wise. I’ve even been talking to Oliver and


Nothing is destructive. Ever. Everything is evolutionary. It’s


Nikki, who are the members still in the band, about changing the band’s name because it like a different band. So we’ve been talking about like, what it means to be adding new people, or putting new energy in the mix, but nothing is destructive. Ever. Everything is evolutionary. It’s music, you know, it’s not actually like a marriage.


You say it’s not a marriage, and we know you’ve previously said, in song, “If you love someone, let them be free…”, but are you actually getting married, or is it faux Twitter spiel? [SAM LAUGHS EXCITEDLY] Well… what is marriage?


Well, a public and lawful commitment of your relationship? Well I don’t really believe in laws as stated, like, I hate to just sound like some trite idealistic rebel, but I don’t think anybody is ever gonna tell me what to do, or give me definitions of what things mean, but me and Dev [Dev ‘Lightspeed Champion’ Hynes] are very much together, like, sure – we’re married! [LAUGHS]


Well at least get a ring and a party out of it. Tat’s what marriage is really about! [GIGGLES] Yeah, we’ve been talking about getting shredding – not wedding rings, but shredding rings! But yeah, I like that.


So finally, the best thing I saw on the internet today was your edit of Miley Cyrus and Te Exploited – - Oh my God, you saw that??! I’m glad you liked it! [LAUGHS] It’s like ‘hey, there’s a party in the… fuck the USA’! I don’t know, I think Miley wants to be a punk, like, she obviously wants to stir up trouble but I don’t know if she’s going about it in just the right way yet. She should probably move to a squat for like, a year and remove internet and go train hoppingand dumpster diving and get a lot of stick and poke! Get arrested a few times… I think that’s actually what she wants. Maybe she should drop a lot of acid in the desert or something, I don’t know.


Emma R. Garwood


Friends play as part of the Latitude Festival line-up (www.latitudefestival.co.uk) and also at the Norwich Arts Centre on July 14th (www.norwichartscentre.co.uk).


Read the uncut version of this interview on Outlineonline.co.uk


outlineonline.co.uk /July 2013/ 39


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