Latest / HEAVY Music Interviews / Cranked To Eleven: CONOR MASON Digs Deep Into The Belly Of STRAY DOGS

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Cranked To Eleven: CONOR MASON Digs Deep Into The Belly Of STRAY DOGS · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Connor Mason. My band is Nothing But Thieves. We
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: have a new record called Stray Dogs out on the.
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: 25th of September. And yeah, hope you like it.
• 0:11
  Speaker 3: Fantastic, brother. Thanks for joining us.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you very much. Thanks for having me.
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: My pleasure. As you say, Nothing But Thieves, drop your
• 0:19
  Speaker 3: fifth studio album, Stray Dogs, on September 25th. Not far
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: away now, man. How are you feeling? Yeah, good.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: Excited. It's funny.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: It's one of those things where I feel like it
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: might feel like it's really quick to the fans like
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: oh it's just it's about to come out but you
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: you write the songs a good a good year or
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: so ago so you're really sitting on them for a
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: while and like building a campaign and thinking about art
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and music and everything so it's um it's yeah a
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: long time coming so everyone's everyone's excited for sure.
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: And what's it what's this period like for you bro
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: like the album's finished you put it to bed and
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: you're just waiting for it to come out but like
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: do you stress about it think about what you could
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: have done differently or do you put it to bed
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: and just move.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: On Good question. Yeah, I mean, we're human, aren't we?
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: So you actually have to naturally have a cut off. Otherwise,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: you'll constantly be trying to change things. But there's kind
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of the beauty of this record is that we've allowed
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: a lot of imperfections. There's a lot of rough around
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: the edges. A lot of us playing in like our
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: old school sort of garage rock like we did when
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: we were kids. um so it was quite an easier
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: way to go let's leave it let's leave it like
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: this it feels it's all about how it felt for
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: us rather than almost how it sounded in a weird
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: way it was like does this feel like the sort
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: of thing we want um you know we were trying
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: to encapture what we do live and sort of the
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: the chaos of it and the roughness of it and
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: we've which is kind of wild that we've never really
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: put that on a record in a sense it's always
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: been record first and how do we then translate the
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: songs live whereas this time it was like we do
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: this sort of Wilder heavier show Why are we not
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: capturing that sound and just putting on wax, you know?
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: So that's that was the aim. So it's kind of
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: nice that there's things that's a bit more sort of
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: left That's a bit more rugged. So yeah, we it's
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: hard to say when you want to shut it off,
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: but we got there eventually.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah Now that did you find it more difficult doing
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: it that way like going and you say before like
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: you normally write the music then you Learn how to
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: play it live, but you did the other way around
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: this time But there much of a difference in the
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: process Yeah, man.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: It's just because I think we don't, you know, I
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: don't think it's always good practice to be like, we
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: can imagine this song on a stadium or imagine this
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: song in a big theatre. Like, you know, you end
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: up almost writing songs to fill a room like that.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: And it's a weird thing. So we've never really done that.
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: We've always just gone, let's just focus on the song
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: and make this as great as possible and then see
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: what we can do. Whereas it wasn't really... envisioning how
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: it was going to be live. It was more taking
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: practices that we do live, like how we'd end a
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: song or into like interweave songs connected to them or
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: like leaving room around drums that would be similar to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: live and just sort of, yeah, in capturing sort of what,
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: what we sound like in our sort of natural state.
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: But the record as a whole, actually, it's, it's kind of,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: it's not a concept at all, but it's, it's, essentially
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: a bit like a dream state live show so it's
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: like a track it's a track listing set list from
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: the start to the finish you know it's kind of
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: starts with almost a sort of fake ambient crowd noise
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: and like everyone's sort of walking into the venue and
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: and then it kicks off and then there's intermissions and
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: there's bits in between songs and i'm talking at some
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: point so it's it's like a whole like tangible experience
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: so that was quite fun as well to play around
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: with that you know Yeah, it.
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Would be, man.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: It would be.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: And you've just released a single, A Different Kind of Happiness, mate.
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: So tell us a bit more about that.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: Yeah, man.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: I think that is, so Dom in our band, he
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: produced it. I think, well, he produced our record. I
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: think it's the best sounding thing he's ever produced. It's
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: so fantastic and it's moving and it's dramatic in all
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: the right ways. I think it's one of those songs
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: that took, five albums to be able to write it's
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: it's from what i think of us it's it's 10
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: 11 12 years of working hard and learning how to
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: be songwriters and and i think this is one of
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: our best songs we've ever written you know i'm not
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: saying it's even that great song.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: You look like an honest person mate you look like
• 4:42
  Speaker 3: an honest person.
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I i just think yeah i'm really proud of that
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: song we're all really proud of it um There's a
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: real classic songwriting core in the song. And I think
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: that's something we always strive for as writers. So yeah,
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I just, I'm really, really proud of that song. I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: think it sounds great. I think we played really well
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: on it and we just played it live last night
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: for the first time and it popped off.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: So it was great.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: Nice. Nice. And that goes with your previous singles, Evolution,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: Stray Dogs and Baby Cool. So would you say those
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: songs together are a good sonic representation of the whole
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: album or are they just scratching the surface?
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: No, it's funny.
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: I actually think they're, It's funny, when we set out
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: to write the record, we were like, do you want
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: to write a rock record? Do you want to get
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: rid of the synths? And that was our sort of basis, right?
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: We just sat down and we were like, we all agreed,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: you know, harmoniously, this is what we want. We want
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: to have like this band in a room like we
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: were at the start, just sort of jamming out riffs
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: and ideas and seeing what happens. And then the four
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: singles happened to be the most sort of eclectic spread
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: of stuff, which is quite funny because We kept saying
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in the interviews, this is our honing it in garage
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: rock record. And we still can't quite do that. There's
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: still this sort of elasticity of ideas, which I really
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: like about us. But we were almost trying to kind
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: of hold it together a bit more and create what
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: we think is like nothing but themes at its core.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: But then maybe we've answered that question itself. It's like
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: we are so sort of playful with our rock sound
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: that maybe that kind of is it at its core.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: um i would say yeah that they that these four
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: songs really pull pull out the genre like at the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: rock genre so yeah and then the rest of the
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: songs obviously no one's heard yet i'm i'm buzzing to
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: for people to hear there's a lot of rock in
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: it which people like yeah yeah.
• 6:31
  Speaker 3: Cool man and straight dogs follows on from your very
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: first number one album dead club city which came out
• 6:37
  Speaker 3: 2023 mate like You mentioned that you've sort of gone
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: down the more garage rock one on this one, but
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: was it tempting at all to stick to the same
• 6:44
  Speaker 3: winning formula off that album? You knew it worked. You
• 6:47
  Speaker 3: knew it went to number one. So was it tempting
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: just to rehash that or was it important to move on?
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: So boring to us, honestly, to rehash anything. Like I
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: think I just said now it's like, it's hard for
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: us to do that song by song, let alone album
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: by album. Like we are this, I just think, It's
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: like any art. There's so much good music out there.
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: And I.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Personally don't understand why artists or bands kind of stick
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: in one sort of lane where everything sounds the same.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: It's quite derivative and you end up sounding like your
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: old album and people can't differentiate it. Whereas we're just
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: constantly influenced by a range of different styles and people
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: would be shocked. It's all over the place. But that's
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: kind of what makes it so... different i think and
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: eclectic and i don't think we can ever do the
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: same thing twice so i mean even this record like
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the next record i don't know what it will be
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: yet but i know it'll be different like that's just
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the way it is so yeah no no way we
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: just always want to play experiment and also just we
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: just make it for us so us making the last
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: record was just us experimenting and having fun and seeing
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: seeing what would stick and then this was our you
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: know let's let's get back to our sort of just
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: roughing around in the garage playing grunge, really. So we
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: just do it for ourselves, you know, as I think
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: any artist should, really.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: Well, you've pretty much answered this next question I'm going
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: to ask you already, but I want to ask it anyway,
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: so you've got an outsider's point of view on this
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: and you can see where someone else is coming from.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: But I listened to the album while preparing for this
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: chat and you guys absolutely floored me with the opening track. Like,
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: it's hard to put into words, but there's a massive
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: sweeping intro made up of a swirling mass of noise.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: and soundscapes it's very beautiful and terrifying at the same
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: time like it was entirely consuming and drew me in
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: straight away but i was going to ask you what
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: the thought process was behind starting with that but you've
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: answered that by saying it was the crowd noise and
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: stuff but i've got to say kudos to that bro
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: like i've never heard your music before but that first
• 8:49
  Speaker 3: song just dragged me straight in and i listened to
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: the whole album after that so it's achieved its.
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: Point so much yeah no it's um it's been fun
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: to piece together this like like i said like a
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: sort of dreamlike set list where You don't know if
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: you're in a live show or if you're, you know,
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: listening to an album. And I think Purse, like, purposefully
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: wanted to make a piece of art, a record that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: people have to listen to it as a whole to
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: get the kind of idea for it and get that
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: it's that sort of dreamscape and there's these moments between songs.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I think that's super important for us in the day
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: and age where everyone flicks to the next song after
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: 10 seconds or, you know, it's all about the singles.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: We're very much an albums band, you know. Yeah.
• 9:34
  Speaker 3: And obviously in your pocket breakers, I listened to a
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: lot of music and a lot of albums, but that
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: was probably one of the best opening songs, as in
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: drawing you in for engagement was that I've heard in
• 9:43
  Speaker 3: a long time, man. So thank you, man.
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. Thank you very much.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. No worries. A lot of bands sort of yap
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: on about going back to their roots with each new
• 9:53
  Speaker 3: album cycle, but you guys actually did it in the
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: literal sense. Like you went back to Angelic Studios where
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: you made your self-titled debut. Like, was that a conscious
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: effort early in the process to do that?
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: No, it's just a really well-priced studio.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: No, I'm joking. I told you I thought you were
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: an honest bloke.
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: It is true, though, to be fair. It is good.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: It's well-priced.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: No, Dom.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Don was obviously recording this record and he, he loves
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: the drum sound in there. It can be as simple
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: as that. Like you don't need a big room for vocals.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: You need a fairly good room for guitars, but you
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: can kind of get away with them anywhere.
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Drums. It's all about the drums. So he.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: Remembered from our first record, that drum sound was fantastic.
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: He knows people that have gone back there. He was like,
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: let's go back there. We also had a fun time.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: It's like we had fun memories of this. It's like
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: going away to almost like a boarding school or something
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: like that it's like really old school english sort of
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: cottage farmy um lovely landscape horses and chickens and sheep
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: running around and dogs and and it's just like a
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: nice environment to record a record so we're all like
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: let's let's go back to that and we had all
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: this fond memory of all the food there and then
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: the woman's still cooking there 10 years later so we
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: were like this is great um but yeah mainly mainly
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: just an incredible sounding room you know um Weird coming back,
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: imposter syndrome in a sense, because it's like we are
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: now at the head running it rather than having producers
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: and engineers doing it for us or helping us. We
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: are making every single decision. So you realise your age
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: a little bit. You're like, wow.
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: Let's not go there.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Yeah, but yeah, you're like, oh, shit, you're that person now,
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: which is interesting.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: The writing process was a little bit different too. You
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: actually set aside a five-month block. But writing this song,
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: did you find that was easy for you? Or was it,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: did it put more pressure on you? Do you think, like,
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: put it in a block?
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: It had pros and cons.
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: Like, you know, one huge benefit was it was, our
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: studio is so close to where we all live. We
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: all live fairly close to each other anyway. But our
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: studio was sort of bang in the middle of each other.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: So having the ease of coming in whenever you felt creative,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: whenever you felt like you wanted to, was great. And
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: having all that time off. But And I think the
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: boys agree. I personally like getting away from the studio
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: for quite a while, listen to the songs on the
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: plane or a bus or in dressing rooms and being like, oh,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: that's good.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Or I'm not really sure about that. Let's shift that.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: Let's change that.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Or the problem is you don't really get that escape
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: and that, um, that freedom from the studio. Because if
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you're in the next day, you don't really want to
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: spend the night listening to the song you just made.
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: You know, you need a break.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: So it's a tricky one. So the perspective can get
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: a bit lost. And also, you know, when you're just
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: there for six, seven months, like you kind of stay
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the same person a little bit. You might be listening
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: to the same music. You might be thinking the same thoughts.
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: So that's another interesting thought. But I would say what
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: the benefit that came out of it was, we could
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: spend so much time going into detail on the demos
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: and knowing where we wanted to head. That was a real,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: we've never really had that before where it was almost
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: pretty certain where we were going with each song before
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: we even stepped into the studio. And it's bloody pricey recording,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: so you've got to have your wits about you with that. So, yeah,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: that was a huge benefit, like really, really get into
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: details on everything. Yeah.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, cool. And the album announcement was preceded by an
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: incredible five-day guerrilla campaign, mate. You had posters across the UK.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: There's a cryptic YouTube channel. There's secret shows on the
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: pseudonym of stray dogs. It's a lot of work to
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: go into that, but it's obviously got to be rewarding.
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: But what was the best part about that process for you?
• 13:51
  Speaker 3: Like what came together the best?
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: That's great.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: I think a lot of it is just it feeling
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: like almost like you're starting again, like you're a DIY
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: band piecing it together.
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Like we.
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: Like we were saying last night as well, we just
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: played in our hometown of Southend. And it's probably one
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: of the best gigs I've played in my life. It
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: really felt like going back to the roots of just
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: being in front of people and connecting in that sense.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: And then these sort of, like you said, this guerrilla
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: gig under stray dogs where people didn't really know we
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: were playing until the last minute. And you're just there
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: face to face again with, you know, three, four hundred fans.
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: And that's one thing about getting bigger. is that disconnection
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: from the arena shows and the theatre shows.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: I love both.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I love a big, dramatic, you know, escape and, like,
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: being on stage in that sense and I can become
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: a character. But I also love being able to be
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: right there, you know, in the splash zone.
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: In front of the fans.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: So I would say that, really, like, just being able
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: to be that up front with them all and connecting
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: in that sense and going back to that sort of, yeah,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: more rock and roll start. Playing those smaller shows has
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: been really fun.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: Cool. On the subject of shows, man, like you've been
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: doing some stripped back performances paired with question and answers
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: for the Stray Dogs Outsource Tour. So how does playing
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: those intimate, vulnerable sets compare to preparing for the massive 27,
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: 2027 Bereta Tour where you'd be hitting places by the O2?
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we haven't started those yet. The installs, they start, no,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: they start next week. but um no we've done a
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: bunch in the past but yeah no I love them
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: I really do I all right.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: You you said I'm an honest man I'll be an
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: honest man I love them because I.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: It's just a really nice time to just sing and
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: it sounds really corny but like it's so stripped back
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: simple I can just sing my best of the song
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: in a really easy setting there's no production there's no
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: big drums and guitars.
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: Everything, which I do love, don't get me wrong.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: It's just really nice to be able to just sing
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: the song in the most stripped back setting and showcase that.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: And I just, you know, most basic thing ever, but
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: I enjoy singing more than I enjoy anything else.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: So I just, it's just a joy for me.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: And yeah, again, just being there in front of, you know,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: how many fans are there each day and seeing their reactions, seeing.
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: much it means to.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Them i think when i was younger i could take
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: that for granted because you're on the hamster wheel you're
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: just working and working and working and trying to build
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and build and build you can take for granted how
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: much it means to people so now i'm older and
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: reflective um you can really see that in their faces
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: and i really like that so those real intimate shows
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: um are great for them yeah um but the reading
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: shows don't get me wrong like christ yeah they're they're
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: so fun, so, so fun, I, it's, again, it's more of, like,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: a character, and you go into this, sort of, world
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: when you're on stage, but I love it, and I'm
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: trying to work out a way to make it feel
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: conversational and intimate, still, like I would at a smaller show,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: but in an arena, I just gotta figure that out, that,
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: I think that's gonna be my, like, sort of, like,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: stick as a frontman, like, I'm not the big, sort of,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: grand Dave Grohl scream at the audience thing, it works for,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: for him, and that sort of thing, but it's um
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: i want to i want to find a way for
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: it to feel like they're with us they're almost like
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: in a living room but a huge one.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: All right we'll finish up right um do you remember
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: the first time you heard one of your songs played
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: on the radio and what song was it where.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Were you yeah man we um i was with dom
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and joe we were in essex at dom's house where
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: we wrote all the first record And we just signed
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: our publishing deal. I think we were like.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: 19, 20.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: And we were going out clubbing that night to celebrate.
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: And then Zane Lowe, who was at Radio 1 at
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: the time, played a song called Emergency. And we were
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: in Dom's kitchen. We knew it was coming on, obviously,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: but we were having pre-drinks and we were just like,
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: oh my.
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: God, we're on the radio. And then we went out
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: and got smashed.
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Oh, fantastic. Well, thanks very much for your time, bro.
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: It's been an absolute pleasure talking with you. The album
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: is straight on. It's out September 25th, and it's a
• 18:13
  Speaker 3: fucking good album, man. Like I say, I've never heard
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: you guys before, but you get me going start to finish, bro,
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: so best of luck with it, and hopefully you get
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: back out here soon.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Thanks very much, mate. Yeah, see you next year.
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: Actually, we're trying to work out an Aussie tour at
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: the end of next year.