Interviews
Shout4Music interview
Source
2010/12/23
As 2010 comes to a close, it’s been a rather hectic year for Everything Everything. They’ve released their debut LP ‘Man Alive’, featured in many of the year’s top album lists and hogged countless spreads in the tastemakers. Not wanting to be left out, we got a little sofa time with the boys to chat about this years experiences, signing with Geffen Records and the YouTube clip of the band that every fan should see.
Hello Everything Everything! What the hell are you up to at this exact moment of time? Apart from answering to us.
Travelling to London to play at Union Chapel with our orchestra ‘The Man Alive Ensemble’.
Each band member with their weapon of choice and current hairstyle…
We were given a load of little guns that fire tiny plastic balls by an interviewer recently, they all got broken. Our haircuts all come from the ’camp to damp’ range, with alex’s being the dampest. By far.
It’s been a pretty hectic and successful 2010 for Everything Everything. Any regrets? Any tips?
Not many regrets, though it would have been nice to play in India which was on the cards at one point. Tips would be to try not to get ill, and always have a spare drum machine.
You signed to Geffen Records, what were your motives behind signing with that specific label? Did you have any guidelines to what you required from a label?
We met a load of labels and went all over the place for advice, we were advised to go with the people we liked best, because if you aren’t friends the whole thing is pointless. Geffen are (despite the borrowed American name) a totally new label and we liked the idea of learning together, instead an old-school, WE ARE THE LABEL AND THOU ART THE BAND kind of thing. We wanted the same as every band since time began which is total control over everything etc etc, we get an awful lot which is really great.
You’ve got your debut LP out now. Have you been impressed by the glowing reviews of ‘Man Alive’ across the board? I can’t remember a bad one.
I can remember a few, but overall we were very surprised at how well it went down.
Where did you record the album?
In a haunted welsh farmhouse called Bryn Derwen, and on an industrial estate in London, opposite a fish packers, called Cream studios. With some of the crappest paintings known to man on the wall.
Did Geffen just leave you to your own devices?
Yep, they actually did.
Your headlined your first UK tour this year. Was it quite a humbling feeling to see a crowd that had turned up solely to see you guys perform?
It was amazing, it was amazing to see people singing along to songs we’ve only ever drawn confused looks from. Really made us proud of the work we’d done, and grateful.
How did you find such a busy festival period and the crowds?
Playing festivals is great, a lot of them have combined in my mind. We had a really good summer, and next year is looking even better.
Your favourite festival of the year?
Airwaves in Iceland made my year, it was wet and dark and cold, but I love how alien that place is, with the volcanoes and steam.
Some quick ones;
The first radio station that played Everything Everything?
Probably 6 music, or Chris Long on BBC Manchester.
The record that the band are collectively mad on at the minute…
Dutch Uncles
The venue wish to play again soon…
Queens Hall, Hexham.
The YouTube video of the band every fan of the band should see…
What have been the highlights of 2010 for the band…
Japan, Glastonbury, reading and Leeds, the making and releasing of the album.
An interesting fact about the band…
Half of us have never seen our own video for ‘Schoolin’, not the one that’s animated, a very different ‘first draft’. It featured a mammoth made of sand getting blown up with dynamite, no shit.
An interesting fact you wish was true about the band…
We’re supporting radiohead next year, all year.
If you weren’t telling everyone about EE you’d be telling them about…
The Road by Cormack McCarthy
Aspirations for 2011…
To meet, treat, beat, heat and eat Fleet Foxes.