INTERVIEW: Heaters

Heaters2

“Play ‘Free Bird!’ Hey, play some Skynyrd!”

It’s surprising to think that after all these years, the above still gets shouted at rock bands who are just trying to finish their set. I personally stopped finding the line funny around age 14, but the same cannot be said for the sad twenty-somethings behind me whose idea of high art is probably the Fast and the Furious franchise.

I digress. The real victims of this sloppy heckle are not my ears, but rather the members of Heaters, a band who has come all the way from Grand Rapids, Michigan to play the annual Village Voice 4Knots Festival. Fortunately the vast majority of the crowd are brimming with enthusiasm for the group, who sound as tight live as they do on their recordings. They’ve recently released their Mean Green 7” on Beyond Beyond is Beyond records and will have a full length come September. Having played SXSW, and the Austin Psych Festival in the past couple of months, the band is still in a perpetual state of momentum. Fortunately for us at AudioFemme, they slowed down ever so slightly to give us an exclusive interview and chatted about the Grand Rapids music scene, playing bass on acid, and stealing other bands’ drummers.

AudioFemme: Welcome to New York!

Heaters: Thank you.

AF: Did you guys just get in this morning?

Nolan Krebs: (bass/vocals) We got in yesterday actually, we had the day off yesterday so we went out to the Rockaways and had a nice ass day.

AF: Are you in town for long?

NK: ‘Til Monday and then we play Boston.

AF: Do you have anything fun planned for the rest of the stay?

Andrew Tamlyn (guitar/vocals): We’re gonna go to Coney Island I think tomorrow.

NK: Yeah, we’ve never been.

AF: I love Coney Island. The Side Show is worth it if they still run it.

NK: Oh I’d be so down.

AF: It’s really good. Don’t go on the Cyclone.

NK: I feel like I would throw up. Is it intense?

AF: It’s not so much the motion sickness, it’s just that it’s made out of wood and it gives you whiplash. Every time you go around it feels like someone’s punching you in the back. So if you’re into that, go on it. So 4Knots! Your set was amazing, I really enjoyed it.

All: Thank you!

AF: Did you hear that guy yelling “play ‘Free Bird’” by any chance?

NK: Yeah, what a tacky, unoriginal thing to say.

AF: Do people still think that’s funny?

AT: I don’t know. It’s kind of like a “your mom” joke, you know?

AF: Who were you most excited to see at 4Knots?

AT: Meat Bodies.

AF: They’re great! I was just kinda like, oh, another band. But then they started playing and I immediately ran to the stage. Their guitarist is fantastic – so animated. I was very impressed by their set.

AT: Most of these bands I haven’t heard of, but I’m excited to see Happyness.

NK: Happyness are our friends.

AF: I LOVE Happyness.

NK: We met them at South by this year and they’re total sweethearts.

AF: Yeah I saw them in April and interviewed them in a tiny bathroom in a venue in Brooklyn, and they’re just adorable. They’re the sweetest guys. So, you guys are from Grand Rapids Michigan; what’s the music scene like over there?

AT: It’s weird, it’s kind of all over the place. There’s lots of metal and folk.

Joshua Korf (drums): There’s a lot of pop punk.

NK: They’re trying though. It’s a cool city and we moved there because we knew there would be places to play. Andrew and I were friends in high school and we kind of split up during college and shit, and then afterwards knew we wanted to try and do something with music so that is the best place in Michigan to try and start something. It’s young and looking for a foothold but it’s trying.

AF: Yeah I was going to ask why you were drawn to that city as opposed to other music hubs like New York…the big ones.

JK: It’s a cheap place to live.

NK: Yeah I feel like we had a little bit of space to breathe there and figure out what we wanted to do and what kind of music we wanted to make. Chicago isn’t very far away and we play there about once a month so sometimes we kind of feel like we’re a Chicago band.

AF: Well I think midwestern bands kind of get slumped into that one category a bit…Chicago and Minneapolis and such.

NK: Totally.

AF: I feel like you guys have recorded quite a lot in the small time that you’ve been a band. I know that the Mean Green 7” just came out in April- are you guys already working on anything new?

NK: We have our first full length coming out in September on Beyond Beyond is Beyond, which is a Brooklyn-based label. Our Mean Green record came out through them as well. When September rolls around we’ll be-we’re on a two month tour right now-but by then we’ll have some space to breathe and probably start working on something else.

AF: How far into the tour are you?

AT: Just like a week.

AF: You guys did another pretty long tour in March?

NK: Yeah, March through May we went down to Texas for South By Southwest and Austin Psych Fest so it was kind of like back and forth driving to and from Texas.

AF: Anything ridiculous happen? Any good tour stories?

(Josh starts laughing hysterically)

AF: Oh, something happened.

(Continual laughter)

NK: I took acid way too late in the night before we played at Austin Psych Fest because we were watching Tame Impala and someone politely asked if we wanted LSD, so I said yes and didn’t end up sleeping that night, which sucks. I had a great time but didn’t sleep before our set…

AF: Did you play while you were high?

NK: Um, I wasn’t really high by the time we played but I remember looking at my bass guitar and thinking, “this feels weird. Something’s weird.”

AF: I can’t imagine performing while on acid. That sounds terrifying.

NK: Yeah, some bands can totally pull it off but personally I get confused.

AF: So you two (Andrew and Nolan) moved to Grand Rapids together, and Josh, you were their next-door neighbor. How did that courtship work? Did you just see a drum kit in a window and bring him a Jell-O mold, or?

AT: Actually, he was playing in another band and after his set we were like, “dude, we really like you! Come play with us!” So we stole him and then we all moved in together and just started hammerin’ out tunes.

AF: So now all three of you live together?

NK: Yep. We’ve lived together for like two years.

JK: It’s really convenient for stuff like rehearsing and practicing and recording in general. Instead of having to go to a practice space we can all wake up in the morning, have coffee and go to the basement and play together.

AT: We’re all brothers.

AF: Yeah, it’s impressive. The dynamics must work so well for you to not get sick of each other.

NK: It’s weird because I actually hate them both, so…..

AF: I can tell. I can sense the steely reserve emanating from you.

(All laugh)

AF: I was reading an interview with you guys recently and I believe Andrew you said that a lot of new music consists of people doing a kind of karaoke vocal track over prerecorded music.

AT: In certain genres, yeah.

AF: Do you feel semi out-of-touch with contemporary music?

AT: I’d say so, yeah. I feel like we’re a little out of touch with most radio/contemporary music, but I mean when it comes to just playing with other rock n’ roll bands, not at all.

NK: Contemporary music is kind of funny for us to listen to as engineers of our own music. We listen to it and we’re like “oh my god, this is so different from what we try to do in our basement.” But, to each his own.

A: I still respect it all. I’m not hating on anything.

AF: Hate on some things.

(All shake heads)

AF: No? All right. Speaking of contemporary music, what are you listening to right now?

All: The Fat White Family, Vocaloid.

NK: They’re a Chilean Psych band.

AT: On Sacred Bones Records.

NK: Amen Dunes, Mystic Braves…honestly the bands we’ve toured with have come to be our favorite bands. Mystery Lights. Wand.

AF: So your contemporaries.

All: Yeah.

AF: What are your goals as a band currently? Are there festivals you’re dying to play, or venues you’re trying to get into or radio stations you want to be on?

AT: I think it’d be cool to play the Fillmore in San Francisco. That’s pretty iconic.

JK: My dream was always to play Psych Fest.

AF: You did it!

JK: Yeah, when we got that email it was so surreal.

AF: It sounds like such a blast.

JK: Yeah, it’s the perfect festival in my mind, because everyone that’s there is there to see music. There’s a hang-out-and-do-drugs thing, but I’ve been to so many other festivals where it’s just about how fucked up you can get and it’s not about the music, and everyone I talked to and encountered at that festival was there to see good music.

NK: It was like, record nerds.

AF: Your people.

NK: Yep, our people.

AF: So my last question is kind of a silly one: do you have any music that you love which is a guilty pleasure? And what is it? But un-ironically, like you truly love the band.

JK: The Strokes (who are currently playing on the boat)

AF: They’re playing this for you!

AT: Grizzly Bear????

AF: Oh, come on.

NK: They make beautiful music.

AF: That’s bullshit. They’re a hip band.

NK: I don’t feel bad about any music…

AF: Not bad but embarrassed. Mine’s The Wallflowers if that helps anyone.

NK: Oh, ok.

JK: Guns N’Roses.

NK: Andrew and I listened to a lot of hardcore music when we were teenagers, so now listening back to that it will make me blush.

AF: Like Alkaline Trio or something?

NK: Yeah that sort of bullshit, but whatever, that got us into a lot of guitar music so…

AF: Oh no, you don’t have to defend it.

NK: haha, thank you.

AF: The blushing part is what I mean. The fact that it makes you blush makes it that category.

Be sure to check out the title track off of Mean Green below:

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ARTIST INTERVIEW + LIVE REVIEW: Happyness @ Baby’s All Right

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photo by Madison Bloom
photo by Madison Bloom

How did I get here? I’m sitting on a trash bin in the backstage bathroom of Baby’s All Right. Across me, or rather, encircling me, are the three young gentlemen who make up Happyness, arguably one of England’s best new bands. They’ve just released their debut LP Weird Little Birthday, played South by Southwest, and are shaking the last leg of their first American tour. What better way to commemorate it than with a powwow in the john?

To my right, vocalist/keyboardist/guitarist Benji Compston is perched on the toilet. Bassist/vocalist Jonny Allan is cross-legged on the floor in front of me, and drummer Ash Cooper is leaning on the sink. It feels more like I’m cutting gym to smoke cigs with my middle school buddies than it does a professional interview, but I’m instantly at ease. It’s nice meeting other people who feel as at home on a bathroom floor as I do.

I could never have guessed that this was where we’d chat. The evening started as many do, neurotically watching the clock until the exact minute the interview was actually scheduled. Of course, this is never when they occur. Sat at the bar, I witnessed a man fully costumed as a taco run past me into the green room. No explanations, just some very fast food. I finally saw Benji and abruptly sprung at him from my stool, explaining the meet-up we had scheduled.

“Oh, ok, cool-do you mind if I go for a cigarette first? Do you want to come? Do you want one?”

Sold.

Outside I met Jonny, Ash, and their tour manager, Mark. They told me of the deli sandwiches they’d eaten, and that they were due to order more. I urged them to order a chopped cheese. They didn’t. We entertained the idea of doing the interview in their van, but the boys warned me it was far too messy and musty. (If they only knew…)

To the tiny lavatory then.

 

…………

Jonny Allan: We could do it [/fusion_builder_column][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][the interview] in the mirror!

Madison Bloom for Audiofemme: Yeah, take a long look at yourself while you answer these very basic questions. No one’s sitting on the toilet, which is a little disappointing

JA: Sit on the toilet, Benji.

Benji Compston: What?

JA: Sit on the toilet.

(Compston slowly settles sideways on the lidless throne.)

JA: That was so dainty! Look at you!

MB: I like what you did there. You’re doing sidesaddle on the toilet.

BC: This is how I always sit. Is this not how you’re meant to?

JA: No, that’s exactly how you’re meant to.

MB: So, this is you’re first U.S. tour…how’s it been?! Do you have any crazy stories of anything that happened?

BC: We got in a hot tub when it was raining and people outside the hotel window stared at us and laughed at us because traditionally people don’t go in hot tubs in quite cold weather in Dallas in March.

Ash Cooper: There’s more hot tubs in America so we were just excited to get in.

BC: Yeah just the idea of having a hotel with a hot tub was like, “Oh my god, we’ve arrived.”

MB: Not a lot of hot tubs in England?

JA: No.

MB: Why?

AC: Less pools.

JA: I don’t know, it’s kind of an item of luxury I guess, and I had not seen a hot tub in a while, so, being in a hotel with a hot tub was the BEST thing ever, and so we all went out there, smoked cigarettes and were pale, and people looked at us, it was kinda fun.

MB: So the craziest thing you guys did was get in a hot tub?

JA: Oh yeah then we met a Neo-Nazi Texan man who forced us to hold his loaded gun at ourselves, but….

MB: That’s somehow not surprising to me, like yeah, that’s America. And Texas. What’s been the funnest city to play? Or just to be in? You seemed to have a lot of fun in Portland; you went to Voodoo Doughnut!

JA: Oh they came to us. They delivered a box.

BC: Cleveland. We had a very fun time in Cleveland.

MB: What happened in Cleveland?

BC: (expectant pause) We…played a fun show….

JA: Hung out at America’s Best Value Inn.

MB: Wow, you guys are CRAZY! Hot tubs and…

JA: We fuckin’, we were like running around the hotel and someone set off an alarm…

AC: Yeah we were playing Sardines.

JA: Do you know the game Sardines?

MB: No.

JA: Sardines is basically hide and seek but instead of everyone hiding, one person hides and you go and you try and find them, and if you find them you just hide with them…

AC: Until there’s one guy left wandering around…

JA: …going like: “Has everyone else just left me?”

BC: We hid in a water closet thing.

JA: We hid in a laundry closet thing. A water closet’s a toilet.

BC: Oh is it? Sorry, I thought that was a waste closet.

MB: That’s also fitting.

BC: We stayed in a Motel 6 in Salt Lake City, and, I watched Ash-I thought Ash was getting violently assaulted and I watched out the hotel window and was just kinda like: “Ah, ok, let’s just see what happens next and then deal with it afterwards.”

AC: Story of my life really. Leave Ash outside and see what happens.

BC: Well I thought out of all of us you’d probably deal with it best. I thought you’d probably come back from it kind of.

AC: This isn’t the first time this has happened to me.

BC: Because if I was assaulted in a Motel in Salt Lake City I think I’d just, you know, I think I’d just give up.

MB: What was actually happening? You weren’t being assaulted…

JA: The Mormons were taking over.

Compston and Allan get down.  Photo by Austin Sandhaus
Compston and Allan get down. Photo by Austin SandhausMB: You guys played in Seattle, I was actually in Seattle when you guys played but I couldn’t make it.

MB: You guys played in Seattle, I was actually in Seattle when you guys played but I couldn’t make it.

JA: Ooh, that was a fun show.

AC: Actually I think Seattle was my favorite city.

MB: Really?! I’m from Washington so, a bit of pride there. I was emailing with Cheryl Waters from KEXP and she wanted me to tell you guys hi because she had a really good time.

All: Awwww!

JA: Yeah, we really liked Cheryl! She was really cool.

AC: We got a lovely photo with her.

BC: Yeah she’s awesome, that session was really fun.

MB: Well I’m glad you guys liked Seattle, just had to kind of rep it and tell you guys hi for Cheryl. You guys did SXSW too, how was that

BC: It was all quite intense.

JA: It was kind of hectic.

All: We didn’t have much time to do anything.

AC: It’s so hectic that you don’t see Austin. It wasn’t until the day after, when we did like a hangover show, that we actually realized that there was a city behind South By.

MB: Yeah I’ve heard a lot of mixed things from musicians, but it’s like a thing that’s really honorable to do.

JA: Yeah it’s nice to be asked to do it.

AC: It’s nice to have the wristband.

MB: Yeah? You gonna frame it? You’ve kept them?

BC: The CMJ one we could wear as like a lanyard, but the South By one was constantly on our wrists and we started to kind of look like fourteen year old festival goers because we just had wrist bands going all up our arms.

JA: Do you know what it does to a person having a shower with the same thing on your wrist every morning? It’s very stressful.

MB: It’s gets very smelly too.

JA: Well, I made a point of shifting…

MB: So it didn’t get the gross watch smell.

JA: Yeah, I didn’t have the kind of, arm decay, because, ‘aint nobody got time for that.

MB: I read an interview that said that while you guys were writing and recording your first EP and album you were working during the day. What were your day jobs?

BC: Um, I worked at a restaurant in South London, which I quite promptly got fired from.

JA: You painted canvases white!

BC: Oh, I was an artist’s assistant in London, and then after that I worked in a restaurant as a waiter and I was probably the worst waiter they’ve ever had.

JA: He got fired because he didn’t know what was in the risotto bowls.

BC: I’d just make stuff up, people would be like, “oh, what’s this?” and I’d kind of go (glances sideways, mumbling) “oh, ch-ch-ri-chorizo, with a bit of…rice and cheese and cream and paprika…..” and then I kind of would say things like: “oh, they put paprika in everything here.” Which they did.

(All laugh)

JA: Make that the tagline!

BC: There were some complaints about me…and I’d forget things and a woman once asked for cheese on the side because she was lactose intolerant-

AC: Why would she still get cheese on the side?

BC: And then I grated loads of Parmesan on top of it-

JA: At the table!

BC: Yeah, I put it down and was like (makes grating motion) and she was like: “What the fuck are you doing?” and I was like: “Parmesan! On your risotto!”

JA: I just worked at a pub. I basically served these guys. I would just kind of like hang out there all day and nobody else would come in and they’d come in and be like: “Can I have one of the soups?” and I’d be like: “Yeah.” I got to wear a nice shirt though.

MB: Oh!

JA: It was short-sleeved, and it was kind of maroon-y

AC: I visited you and you looked very fetching in that shirt.

JA: I did. Yeah, I did, I looked nice. I looked like a nice boy.

MB: Ash, what about you?

AC: Um, I draw baths for children.

(Silence)

MB: I don’t believe you.

JA: No, he does, it’s true.

MB: I’m sorry, you what?

AC: I draw baths for children.

BC: Please explain a little bit.

MB: Yeah, can you, um, that sounds, just, creepy.

AC: I’m a glorified manny.

JA: What’s worse is there like, 14.

AC: These kids can’t fend for themselves.

MB: But that’s all you did? You didn’t like, feed them, or take them to the park? You just bathed-well, you didn’t bathe them…

AC: No, I took them to the park

BC: You took them to the fish restaurant and made a fuss.

AC: I took them to the fish restaurant, well, that wasn’t me that made the fuss – I took them on a run in the park, I took them to the drum shop because we had a free day, I took them to the, eh, oh, what’s that bike race called that goes through Paris?

All: The Tour de France?

AC: I took them to the Tour de France because it came through London and we had a day out, it was great. But yeah, glorified manny. Put glorified manny.

MB: Ok, so, glorified manny, bartender, and shitty waiter. No offense.

BC: Oh, no, it’s fine.

MB: So I’ve read that there’s kind of a movie concept thread running through the new album, but what was the inspiration for the lyrical scalping of Win Butler?

BC: I was walking with Jonny like years ago and I just kind of said the lyric to Jonny and was like…that’s a thing.

JA: We used to talk about Win Butler’s hair. We used to be very, uh, we used to dress kind of, wonderfully in a just appalling way.

MB: Like in suits?

JA: No, we were part of the whole London teenage thing where everyone would wear very tight jeans and really fluorescent shoes.

MB: I don’t know that movement.

JA: Oh, it was a real thing. It was the underage scene in London and we used to really like Win Butler’s hair.

MB: So you don’t actually dislike Win Butler, in fact, you loved him.

JA: Yeah, we loved him.

BC: I just thought one day it would be quite funny, because Win Butler at that point had a hair cut, and it was the haircut and it was part of his thing, and I thought it would be quite funny to cut off part of his head, and wear it.

(Silence)

Cooper between beats.  Photo by Austin Sandhaus
Cooper between beats. Photo by Austin Sandhaus

MB: So in interviews you guys are often pretty self-deprecating of your own music-I’m guessing that’s mostly an act? Or do guys actually kind of feel like: “How the fuck did we get to this place? How are we successful?”

JA: Are we successful? That’s news to us!

All Laugh

AC: We’re doing an interview in a toilet.

BC: So you’re asking, are we actually surprised? Yeah, I think we probably are.

MB: Ok, because I figured, oh, they’re self-deprecating, they’re just British, whatever.

AC: Yeah, it’s partially the British thing I guess…

BC: But lastly, when you leave, we’ll all stand in this mirror and go: “We’re very famous. We’re very famous.”

AC: There’s a story in there somewhere.

MB: So, I’m not going to ask you guys about the “Y” in the spelling of your name because I know you guys get asked that all the time-

JA: The Beatles is the answer to that question.

MB: No! That’s not the question! It’s an announcement actually, because I know you guys mentioned that there’s a band in Finland (Happiness), the hardcore band that is spelled normally, but-

AC: Are you going to start the lawsuit? Is that what you’re announcing?

MB: I will, but I need to start two lawsuits because there’s another band in Rhode Island that’s called Happiness, normal spelling, and it’s three guys from Deer Tick…

JA: Fuck. Them. When did they start that?

MB: I don’t know, but they’re just in Rhode Island, so if you guys wanna just take a car like, a bit north, you can kill them while you’re here.

AC: But wait, now we can start the lawsuit!

JA: It would be very hypocritical of us to start the lawsuit.

BC: That’s very interesting you told us that.

MB: I just felt like I needed to tell you; I didn’t want to start any drama but-

JA: The drama is RIFE.

BC: I think we may have started before them.

JA: I really hope. Cuz like, if you just google the word ‘Happyness’ band

MB: Well, which spelling?

JA: Oh, that’s a good point… Well, they must have found the Finnish heavy metal band…so they’re fucking assholes.

BC: I’m going to pretend this conversation never happened.

MB: I’m still going to put it in…

BC: You’re like God.

MB: Are you from London proper, or are you just based there?

All: No, we’re from London.

MB: Well, you never know, you could be from…

BC: Greater…

JA: Croydon…

MB: Devon…

JA: My Mum and Dad live in Devon!

MB: I hear it’s very nice.

JA: It is nice!

MB: Do you find that that’s a big part of your identity? Like I feel like there are bands that really identify as an American band or “We are a British band. That is intrinsic to our identity.” Or do you just happen to be from there.

JA: We just kind of happen to be from there. The amount of people who when we started were like: “Oh! The scene in London is so great right now!” We were kinda like “uhhhhhhhhh…..”

BC: There were a few people who were really trying to make the South London thing happen, and were like “South London band Happyness, from South London!” It was like…ok.

MB: I’ll just put “general English band.”

JA: (chuckles) Yeah, “Non-descript English…”

BC: “Non-descript, trans-Atlantic band.”

MB: I had a question about your song-I listen to BBC6 like, everyday when I’m at work, and Marc Riley’s my favorite, but I never hear him play “Marc Riley in a Karesansui” and I’m always really pissed off! Like, “why won’t you play this?!”

BC: He never has! Can we speak to him about this because-

MB: I want it to be his new intro song!!!

BC: I think he might have not found it very funny….

MB: But he takes the piss out of himself all the time!

BC: The session we did with him was actually really fun, and we actually did really well.

MB: He just seems like such a sweet dude…

BC: No he was really sweet, he bought us some beers and chocolate, which was really nice.

JA: I think it was too long for the radio, but they asked us to make a jingle, and we did it, and that’s why we did it, and then they never put it on the show, so we were just like…

MB: Wait, so you actually made it for them?!

JA: Yeah! And then they never put it on the show.

MB: I’m gonna have a word; I mean, not like we know each other, but maybe….

JA: Email him! Say: “Marc, big fan. Where’s that song?”

MB: Ok. I’ll do it. I’m glad you guys were worried about that, because I was. If you guys had some kind of freak accident and could not play music, what would be your fallback plan, aside from waiting tables?

BC: I’d probably quite like to run a small delicatessen somewhere?

AC: City farm.

JA: Like a petting zoo.

MB: We need those.

BC: Actually, my deli could be part of the city farm.

MB: You could slaughter the animals and use them as the deli meat!

JA: That’s the only reason we’d be growing them in the first place.

BC: Ooh yeah, and we could name it, we could say (puts out hand as if to serve a sandwich) “this is Persephone the pig…”

JA: Angelo, the camel.

BC: Peter, the boa constrictor.

JA: Hey, I’ve got a penny from the floor of the toilet!

MB: Oh! That’s good luck.

JA: Yeah that’s good, urine-y luck.

MB: Do find there’s a big difference between the audiences you play to at home and here?

JA: People make more fun of our accents, which we like, in a kind of masochistic way.

A fully-focused Allan.  Photo by Austin Sandhaus.
A fully-focused Allan. Photo by Austin Sandhaus.

MB: You’ve been on tour for weeks and weeks now; what have you guys been eating mostly?

JA: Bad stuff. Sonic.

BC: Can you tell???

MB: No, no, I just like asking this question because you’re on tour and basically on wheels for a month.

BC: Here’s (NYC) been the best food we’ve had on tour.

BC: Yeah, the food here’s been unbelievably good. Really good.

JA: I had pork belly eggs benedict.

BC: We’d mainly been eating, like, really processed fast food.

JA: We went to a Sheets.

MB: A what?

JA: A Sheets. It’s like a gas station where you order on the-Mark knows about Sheets, he showed us.

MB: Sheets? I don’t know about Sheets.

Mark Miller (Tour Manager): It’s the coolest truck stop. They have a bunch of different food and you order on a screen and then they hand it to you, rather than like, going into a truck stop and eating like, a hot dog on a roller. You can get wraps.

JA: I have a confession to make about Sheets, now remembering: very impersonal.

MB: So that’s a full statement?

JA: Yeah, that’s right.

MB: What are you guys most excited to do while you’re in New York?!

BC: I’ve got a friend, several friends, who live in Central Park Zoo, and, we’re going to go see them.

MB: They live in the zoo?

BC: They live there. They’re sea lions.

MB: Right.

JA: We’re going to go see them; we didn’t see them last time.

BC: We didn’t see them last time, we didn’t have time, but we know them quite well.

MB: I’ve actually never been there, I’ve lived here seven years and I’ve never been there.

BC: You should come!

JA: Do you want to come? Monday.

BC: Peter, Andrew, Angela and Nigel. My friends from Central Park Zoo.

JA: They smell worse than our van.

 …………

 

For all their jest and cheeky remarks, these three get very serious on stage. Of course there’s a level of welcome banter and rambunctiousness, but their focus is admirable. The brief set at Baby’s was fun and full of messing around. Allan and Compston smooched each other’s cheeks en route to switch instruments, and finished off their final song with a good tumble on the ground, tangled with their guitar cables and dodging the inevitably sloshed beer.

I can’t say I’ve ever met a pack of musicians as kind or as clever as this lot-they’re as laid back as they are hilarious. As long as you don’t ask them why they spell their name with a “Y,” you should miss the snarl. Seriously. It’s like asking a crust punk if he knows he’s got holes in his jeans.

I hope to hear news of many more albums and American tours to come. And I hope that one day I can talk Happyness into ordering a chopped cheese.

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ARTIST INTERVIEW: Carmen Villain

Carmen Villain

Carmen Villain’s voice projects the vibes of a psychedelic witch, singing in a spooky fog-covered lagoon, especially in her new track, “Quietly.” Its counter track, “Let it Go”, sounds like its mostly-instrumental sequel. This half Norwegian/half Mexican babe is about to embark on an UK tour with Neneh Cherry, and there is no doubt that she will be wooing audiences with her hypnotizing dream-like performance. I had the chance to ask Carmen a few questions about her growth as an artist, style inspirations, and cover song choices. Take a gander.

AudioFemme: How has your sound changed and grown since the release of Sleeper?

Carmen Villain: It’s still evolving all the time, but there’s definitely some elements that have been left behind, but I have also taken some of them further. I think there’s a bit more light in my music now. Really trying to let most of it pass the song test: whether they can be stripped back to their core and still work. Also been working with different recording techniques and been re-amping a lot, sampling, and also adding some new instruments, like the piano.
AF: What things inspired you while recording the “Quietly / Let it Go” 7”?
CV: Just life and my surroundings. I had just moved back to Oslo from London when I wrote these, so they are definitely influenced by these changes. “Quietly” came about by just messing about with different tunings and just playing for hours in my apartment during winter. “Let Go” was the result of a walk by the seaside (I had missed this a lot in London!) in which I recorded all these seagulls and my dog going bananas. I later took these recordings and played around with drones and different frequencies, and the melodies came from there.AF: A while back you covered Kurt Vile’s “Childish Prodigy.” Are there any other artists you have been covering lately or would like to?

CV: (We covered “He’s Allright”!:) ) I haven’t covered anyone for a while, but at rehearsals we sometimes finish off with TLC’s “Creep” just to blow off some steam!

AF: Based on videos, it seems like in the past you have had other musicians playing with you on stage, and more recently you have been performing alone. Are you going to be solo for your upcoming dates with Neneh Cherry?

CV: Yeah we used to be a four piece a while back to be able to play the way the songs were arranged on Sleeper, but the new stuff is a lot more flexible, so can be performed in different ways. Sometimes solo, sometimes three of us, and right now on this tour there’s two of us, myself and Mona.

AF: Tell us about who you chose to be accompanying you on stage on this upcoming tour.

CV: I’m really lucky to have Mona come along with me on this one, she plays additional guitar, keys and sings. Mona is also part of a duo of her own called Mona & Maria, they make beautiful folky pop. Maria used to play with me, but she’s on maternity leave right now.

AF: Your style rules. Who are some musicians that inspire what you wear while performing?

CV: Why thanks! Hmm can’t say there’s anyone well known in particular, maybe mostly my friends. I guess I just wear what feels comfortable at the time.

AF: If you could go back in time to be an artist during any era of music, which would it be?

CV: I’m good where I am!

AF: What’s on your everyday playlist as of 2015?

CV: Dean Blunt, Jessica Pratt, Grouper, Connan Mockasin, Todd Rundgren, Crosby Stills Nash, Ras G, Kurt Vile, Alice Coltrane, Harold Budd…

AF: Any talks of a tour or any shows in the US in the near future?

CV: US tour is right at the top of my wish list, so going to be working hard to make that happen!