This page contains a Flash digital edition of a book.
DEAF HAVANA C


oming atcha straight outta Sunny Hunny


and King’s Lynn, have been together since their college days back in the mid noughties. Two of their tracks have been Zane Lowe’s Hottest Record In the World, they’ve supported Bruce Springsteen and Muse, and their brand new album has just come out, All Tese Countless Nights to rave reviews. We spoke to Matt, Deaf Havana’s axe wielder about the return of cassettes, Brixton Academy and being mates with your fellow band members.


You’re not a band that’s known for sitting still - is there anything new to expect on the new album? Tere’s a lot of it that will be familiar to everyone. Te songs are still written the same way, and I don’t think that James knows how to write any other way! Te


lyrics are always going to be personal, but musically it’s a lot more expansive that we’ve done in the past. We’ve been unafraid to try new things, and for me, it’s the first album that really flows and takes you on a journey rather than just being a collection of songs. It’s not all the same pace, and I like that about it. Another surprise on the album are some of the formats you’re releasing. Cassette is a brave move? Yeah, and it was one of those things where we could do it and we thought “why not?” Te album’s being released in a few formats, and we’ve got a couple of vinyl versions too, including a nice limited edition red vinyl. We’ve already had people saying that they’ll buy a cassette for their car, so there’s still some people around that have them. Are the band excited to be going out on tour again soon? Yeah, it’s been a long time since we did a proper UK run of dates, and we’re looking forward to playing the new stuff live. We’re only out on tour in the UK for around a week, but it’ll be great to dust off the cobwebs. We start on 17th February in Manchester, and finishes in London a week later, and of course we’re coming to Norwich on the 23rd so it’ll be good to see the Norfolk crowd.


Who are you bringing with you on your UK tour? We’ve got a couple of bands. One is Dinosaur Pile Up, and opening for us is a band called Dead. DPU are signed to our record label, and we really like them, and a couple of the guys in Deaf Havana know the guys in Dead, so we asked if they’d like to come out with us, and everything worked out in the end. It’s a nice package all round I think. Are there any venues that you’d really like to play one day? Realistically we’d love to be able to put a headline show on at Brixton Academy. Tat would be awesome. It’s a great venue, and it’s one of the ones we loved going to see shows at when we were growing up, so to come back as a performer rather than a punter would be awesome. Has the band changed much since you joined in 2012? Yes it has, quite a lot actually. For one thing we’ve all grown up a lot, so our attitudes have changed, which is quite interesting. Musically we’ve changed too though. As we’ve been together such a long time, our musical tastes have grown up with us, and that in turn comes out in the music. We’ve also grown a lot tighter as a band. Te new album does reflect that, and seems a bit


more polished. Was that intentional? Of course, this time around we worked with a really good producer who took the demo of every song that James wrote and really broke them down and worked on them to make them the best they could be, whereas before we never really changed much from the first version we heard to the version that went on to the album, so for us, working with a producer who could bring out the best in us was really important. Who was your biggest inspiration to pick up a guitar and start playing? Tere’s a couple really - the first would have to be John Frusciante from the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. Tey were one of the first bands I got into, and his guitar playing blew me away. I loved how scrappy they were, as they had to be well thought out to be played that way. Second would be Johnny Marr from Te Smiths. His style is completely the opposite, being very pretty and precise.


JON SEYMOUR


INFORMATION Deaf Havana play at the LCR on 23rd February. Tickets are available from ueatickets.ticketabc.com


OUTLINEONLINE.CO.UK / FEBRUARY 2017 / 29


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48