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Doubling Down En Route To Australia With GRANT NICHOLAS From FEEDER · HEAVY Music Interviews

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  Speaker 1: I'm grating Nikas from the band Feeder and we're looking
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  Speaker 1: forward to coming to Australia for our first tour in
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  Speaker 1: fourteen years, playing songs from my Black Red album and
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  Speaker 1: some Feeder classics.
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  Speaker 2: Fantasy Brother thanks for joining us. Today's all right, thanks
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  Speaker 2: for having us, Hi pleasure. So, as you say, Peeda
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  Speaker 2: returned to Australia for the first time in forteen years.
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  Speaker 2: It's April for run of show, starting in Perth on
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  Speaker 2: April the fifth, then you go through Adelaide, Melbourne and
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  Speaker 2: Sydney and finishing Brisbane on April the eleventh. So I
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  Speaker 2: guess first up, we got asked by if you neglected
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  Speaker 2: us for so long? Bro, Forteen years is a long time.
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  Speaker 1: I've been trying. I've been trying to get back. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it's like it's a long you know, it's a long way,
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  Speaker 1: and I suppose we've just been busy and it's just
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  Speaker 1: you know, the opportunities. There was a future times where
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  Speaker 1: we were going to come and then it fell through,
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  Speaker 1: and then another tour came in, and yeah, I know,
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  Speaker 1: it's crazy. I mean, I can't believe it's been so
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  Speaker 1: long because every time we've been there, we've had a
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  Speaker 1: great time and you know, we really love playing there.
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  Speaker 1: So you know what, hopefully it'll make people there come,
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  Speaker 1: you know, come and see us, because you know, you know,
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  Speaker 1: maybe a few people you know, might have missed this.
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  Speaker 1: Who knows.
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  Speaker 3: What's changed with the band in forteen years? Bro?
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  Speaker 1: So sorry?
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  Speaker 3: What what? What? What's changed with the band in that
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  Speaker 3: forteen years?
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  Speaker 1: Oh?
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  Speaker 3: God? Uh? What's changed?
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  Speaker 1: Did you say?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Well I got a few more gray hairs, that's natural. Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's for sure. Uh, you know what, we still do
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  Speaker 1: what we do really, you know, we've you know, we
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  Speaker 1: we're one of those backs. You know, we all want
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  Speaker 1: to try and do something that we're not. We've always
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  Speaker 1: it's always been about the songs for us, and I
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  Speaker 1: always just try and write the best songs I can
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  Speaker 1: and you know, hopefully songs that will connect with people.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we do music that we like
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  Speaker 1: and whether people like it. I think that's the best
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  Speaker 1: way of making music. Otherwise is that you know, you're
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  Speaker 1: compromising on the art or whatever you want to call it.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, we've always kind of done it our
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  Speaker 1: own way really and not really followed the trends. We've
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  Speaker 1: always tried to write songs that we feel like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: can hang around like a few years and be a
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  Speaker 1: bit more timeless. And you know, it's hard to do
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  Speaker 1: that because you know, there's only there's only one or
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  Speaker 1: two that ever really stick and have that longevity. But
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  Speaker 1: if you if you achieve that in a career, I
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  Speaker 1: think that's kind of what it's all about, you know.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, So what are your memories of Australian crowds made?
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  Speaker 3: Were pretty wide over here.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, lots of beer, lots of Yeah, it's it's fun,
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  Speaker 1: rarity but friendly, you know, and I love you know,
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  Speaker 1: I love that they kind of remind me a little
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  Speaker 1: bit of the Scottish audiences are a bit like that.
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  Speaker 1: You know, they really love a drink and they really
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  Speaker 1: they just really sort of have a great time and
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  Speaker 1: sort of like celebrate it. And that was my that's
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  Speaker 1: my memory of you know, fourteen years ago, like playing there.
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  Speaker 1: Obviously we did festivals and we came there before that
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  Speaker 1: with News and then Yeah, I mean I've always had
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  Speaker 1: a great time there and it's just sort of it's
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  Speaker 1: just a bit more laid back, you know.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, on the fot side of that, bro, what can
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  Speaker 2: we expect from you, like there's going to be a
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  Speaker 2: lot of parents bringing their kids along to sort of
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  Speaker 2: see you because I'm back when I was your age.
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  Speaker 3: I'll watch these guys. Oh what can I expeacin with that.
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  Speaker 1: Kind of band now? You know that, I think because
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  Speaker 1: we've been around since, you know, since this sort of
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  Speaker 1: ninety two ninety three, it's sort of you know, we're
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  Speaker 1: you We're in that kind of group where we have
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  Speaker 1: such a diverse audience here that it's almost like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: the die hard fans, some people that are into rock,
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  Speaker 1: some people into indie rock. And then we've got like
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  Speaker 1: the kind of kids that got into us through their
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  Speaker 1: mums and dads and through their older brothers and sisters.
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  Speaker 1: We've got a bit of a sort of you know,
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  Speaker 1: younger sort of you know, kind of a student ly
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  Speaker 1: sort of skaty following as well. You know, we're very
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  Speaker 1: lucky because it's quite it's quite difficult to achieve that
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  Speaker 1: because you normally just often just have just the same
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  Speaker 1: fans can be your gigs all time. But somehow we've
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  Speaker 1: managed to have brought a bit of a new generation
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  Speaker 1: of fans to come as serious. Maybe it's just because
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  Speaker 1: kids are like discovering like, you know, nineties music a
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  Speaker 1: bit now and things like that. Maybe because we've stuck
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  Speaker 1: around long enough that we've become more relevant now than
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  Speaker 1: we were ten years ago. Who knows, but yeah, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I'm sure it'll be a bit of a mixture.
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  Speaker 2: As you said, you know, last Cout made you guys
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  Speaker 2: had released twelve studio albums and forty three singles over
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  Speaker 2: your career.
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  Speaker 3: So must be a nightmare coming up with a setlist. Bro,
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  Speaker 3: you got that much.
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  Speaker 1: That's what gives me more great hairs. Really, it's really
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  Speaker 1: tricky because you know, we want to play new stuff,
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  Speaker 1: as every band always does, but we also appreciate that
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people want to hear those old songs.
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  Speaker 3: You know.
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  Speaker 1: It's the same for me if I go and see
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  Speaker 1: a band I love, you know, I want to hear
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  Speaker 1: some most classics as well, And I think you feel
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  Speaker 1: a bit short change if you don't get a few
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  Speaker 1: of the big hitters. So you know, we're going to
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  Speaker 1: try and you know, give people like a really good mixture. Obviously,
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  Speaker 1: we want to promote the new record. We know, we're
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  Speaker 1: really proud of Black Red and a previous one like
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  Speaker 1: Torpedo as well, so we've been playing some songs from there.
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  Speaker 1: We'll probably go back right to the early stuff and
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  Speaker 1: do something from polo theme and maybe we'd sort of
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  Speaker 1: pick a few odd ones from each record. Obviously we
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  Speaker 1: can't play everything because we'll be up there all night,
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  Speaker 1: but you know, we're going to try and give people
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  Speaker 1: a nice mixture. So like across between a new album
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  Speaker 1: tour and a kind of festival best or set, I
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  Speaker 1: guess would be the best way of how I'm probably
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  Speaker 1: thinking that we're going to do it, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: we may very deset a little bit from city to
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  Speaker 1: city and see what works the best.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and the most recent record your release was the
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  Speaker 2: double album Blood Red, which you just mentioned, that came
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  Speaker 2: out middle of last year.
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  Speaker 3: Bro, So how was it received.
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  Speaker 1: It's gone on great. I mean, I mean like Black
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  Speaker 1: Red and Lot Torpedo. But you know, the last two
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  Speaker 1: albums have done really well here and there. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it's our first double album. It's quite brave to do
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  Speaker 1: a double album in the current climate of music moving
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  Speaker 1: so quickly. But you know, I'm always writing songs and
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  Speaker 1: we just had so much stuff and it felt like
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  Speaker 1: a big body of work. So it became almost like
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  Speaker 1: a trilogy, so like Torpedo and Black Red are kind
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  Speaker 1: of connected, so it's almost like three albums that are
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  Speaker 1: kind of that feel like they almost almost like belong together.
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  Speaker 1: And I just thought, you know, when you've been a
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  Speaker 1: band for thirty years, you've got to be brave and
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  Speaker 1: try new things. And I thought, I've always wanted to
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  Speaker 1: do a double albums. It minded me of a lot
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  Speaker 1: of albums. I grew up with those kind of live
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  Speaker 1: albums and sort of yes like double albums and all
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  Speaker 1: that kind of era, and I just thought, hey, you know,
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  Speaker 1: why not. I think we've reached that point now as
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  Speaker 1: long as the songs are good on there, and we
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  Speaker 1: don't there's not too much fuller. We just thought, you know,
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  Speaker 1: let's go for it. And I don't know if I'll
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  Speaker 1: deal a double album again, but you know, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we've done it, so I can tick that box.
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  Speaker 2: You know, going back in history, bit Bro, like you
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  Speaker 2: started Beata Beck in the mid ninety nineties, so once
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  Speaker 2: it rose and musical climate liked it, gave birth to
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  Speaker 2: the band, and where did you fit in?
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  Speaker 3: We did it.
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  Speaker 1: I mean we started kind of really the idea of
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  Speaker 1: Feeder just before we met Tackle was about in ninety
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  Speaker 1: two ninety three, so he's been around, like, you know,
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  Speaker 1: quite a long time, a lot longer than people realize.
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  Speaker 1: It didn't happen overnight for us, you know, we had
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  Speaker 1: to work really hard, I mean, finally got a record deal.
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  Speaker 1: But the musical climate was here in the UK it
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  Speaker 1: was very much about it was it was very scene
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  Speaker 1: lead and very trend led, and it was all like britpop.
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  Speaker 1: And then in America you had the kind of it
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  Speaker 1: was coming out of that whole eighties rock thing, and
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  Speaker 1: you had bands like the Vana and Smashing Pumpkins and
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  Speaker 1: bands like that or in the Peel Jams or kind
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  Speaker 1: of you know, starting to get big. So we kind
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  Speaker 1: of fitted somewhere between the two. I guess we're almost
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  Speaker 1: that mid Atlantic I suppose, if the best way of
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  Speaker 1: like describing us, because we're influenced by both the UK
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  Speaker 1: and US bands, So we didn't really fit in perfectly
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  Speaker 1: to what was happening in the UK. But somehow we
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  Speaker 1: managed to build a really good sort of like following
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  Speaker 1: and then each gig we did, you know, more people came,
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  Speaker 1: and then eventually Record Company started to come and see us,
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  Speaker 1: and it went from there really, but it was a
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  Speaker 1: lot of hard work and a lot of gigging and
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  Speaker 1: doing it the old school way, you know. But we've
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  Speaker 1: always done our thing, you know, we are what we are,
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  Speaker 1: and we've never really been labeled that much. I think
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  Speaker 1: in some ways, you know, maybe it was hard for
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  Speaker 1: us because we didn't fit into the trendy scene, but
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  Speaker 1: I think it's been the seat my longevity in some way,
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  Speaker 1: because like trends come and go, and I think there's
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  Speaker 1: only certain bands that come out of those trends that
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  Speaker 1: really have long careers, you know, and I think that
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  Speaker 1: we've managed to somehow do that, but but without you know,
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  Speaker 1: without being a hyped band, if that makes any sense
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  Speaker 1: to you.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's actually the perfect segue to the next question,
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  Speaker 2: because there has been a lot of musical phases coming
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  Speaker 2: go since you guys started, but you've always sucked your
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  Speaker 2: own path, like we ever tempted the change with the
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  Speaker 2: chimes and sort of you know, try and rush it
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  Speaker 2: through all just happy to stick on the way you were.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, the things we do, we do and
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  Speaker 1: we don't want to lose our identity, and I you know,
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  Speaker 1: we have a style and we have a sound, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, we do. You know, we have evolved a lot.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, you know, we do. You know, there is
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  Speaker 1: a lot that goes into Feeder Records now, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we're you know, we do a lot of I did
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  Speaker 1: loads of you know, second production. Like there's loads of
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  Speaker 1: string arrangements and loads of keyboards all in there. It's
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  Speaker 1: not just bassed drums and guitar. And that's something which
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  Speaker 1: has kind of evolved from the first album onwards. Really,
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  Speaker 1: I think we were very much a three piece band
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  Speaker 1: we started. It was more about that. And then as
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  Speaker 1: as the sort of songwriting I developed and I got,
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  Speaker 1: you know, more into all the kind of arrangements of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: I started kind of messing around with, you know, keyboards
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  Speaker 1: and you know strings and all that kind of stuff.
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  Speaker 1: So I think we have evolved, and I think we
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: have tried a lot of new things on our on
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  Speaker 1: our albums, but we've managed to hopefully still keep our identity.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: I feel that we've had a lot of freedom. You know,
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  Speaker 1: We've always had quite a big musical canvas because we
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  Speaker 1: know we can go from really heavy to like an
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  Speaker 1: acoustic track or like a song with our piano one
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  Speaker 1: and it's still feeder, whereas you know, we're not stuck
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  Speaker 1: just doing that one thing. I don't think we're that
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  Speaker 1: kind of band. I don't think we'd ever be happy
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: being that, you know. I think we like to have
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  Speaker 1: that freedom. And you know, that's what I loved about
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: bands like led Zeppelin and stuff like that, that they had
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: those you know, rock and roll songs and songs like Cashmir,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: but they also had like all those folky acoustic songs
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: and you know, stay with the Heaven and things like that.
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  Speaker 1: And I always loved bands like that, and I think
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: that we we've always wanted to have that freedom, and
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: I think that, you know, we've managed to be quite
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: lucky that we've managed to do that