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UNPEOPLE: The Most Beautiful Chaos in Modern Heavy Music · HEAVY Music Interviews

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hello, I'm Em from the band Unpeople.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: And I'm Richie from the band Unpeople.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: We're half of Unpeople and we've got our album coming out. Well,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: it's out. It's called We Are Unpeople.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: It is indeed. Thanks for joining us, guys. That was spectacular.
• 0:14
  Speaker 4: So let's just say that your debut.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: Album, We Are Unpeople, is out October the 9th. So
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: how are you feeling, guys?
• 0:25
  Speaker 4: Like, is it a relief to get it out there
• 0:26
  Speaker 4: or is it a nervous time for you?
• 0:29
  Speaker 5: A little bit like that i'm just so excited for
• 0:32
  Speaker 5: the world to finally hear what we've been hearing.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: For months because i think it feels pretty.
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: Good we love it we hope you do too and.
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: What sorts of people are you like once it's finished
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: and put your bed and you go through all this
• 0:45
  Speaker 4: time waiting for it to come out like do you
• 0:47
  Speaker 4: sit there and think oh shit i should have done
• 0:49
  Speaker 4: that or i could have done that better or do
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: you put it to bed and just move on.
• 0:54
  Speaker 5: We spent so long making the album to make sure
• 0:57
  Speaker 5: that that didn't happen. We were just like, everybody happy
• 1:01
  Speaker 5: before we actually put in the paintbrush down.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: And we're all more than happy.
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: No stone left unturned.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: You're a lot more professional than I am. Can you
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: tell us a.
• 1:14
  Speaker 4: Bit more about the album from a musical point of
• 1:16
  Speaker 4: view then, guys, and what you're going for with it?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: Pretty much just trying every possible option at every possible time.
• 1:23
  Speaker 6: See what made us feel the best. And so the
• 1:26
  Speaker 6: way the songs have turned out just feels.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: The best to us.
• 1:30
  Speaker 6: It's the best version of those songs and we love
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: those songs.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's cool.
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: What sorts of things do you think about going into
• 1:38
  Speaker 4: a debut album? Do you meticulously plan everything out or
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: do you sort of just throw in your best stuff
• 1:43
  Speaker 4: that you've got?
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Or how do you approach it?
• 1:47
  Speaker 5: I think we were kind of like, we know the
• 1:49
  Speaker 5: general sound that Unpeople has in the sense that there
• 1:53
  Speaker 5: isn't really any limitations.
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: So it was kind of pushing all of the boundaries
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: of that to make something that fully encompasses us within
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: 12 songs and about 42 minutes.
• 2:04
  Speaker 6: We also got better at the writing as we went
• 2:08
  Speaker 6: through the process. So we got about halfway through and
• 2:13
  Speaker 6: then we stumbled across Clouds. which eventually became the single.
• 2:18
  Speaker 6: And we're like, oh, we've done something here. And we
• 2:23
  Speaker 6: were really in the swing at that point. So we
• 2:24
  Speaker 6: just carried on writing more and more and more. And
• 2:26
  Speaker 6: we ended up writing too much and then cherry picking
• 2:29
  Speaker 6: our favorite bits, which is the nicest position to be in.
• 2:32
  Speaker 6: So it's not like having to fill a quota and
• 2:35
  Speaker 6: be like, oh, we need to write that. We need
• 2:36
  Speaker 6: to write that. We need to write that. It was
• 2:37
  Speaker 6: more like, here's a bunch of stuff that we really like.
• 2:40
  Speaker 6: What do we like the most? And that was just.
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: And how did you know that Dan, like what you
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: had too much, like was it a democratic vote on
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: everything after that? Or was it like, I'm throwing my
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: toys out of the codified and get that one in there.
• 2:52
  Speaker 4: How did you approach it?
• 2:54
  Speaker 6: Dan doesn't seem to function too well if anyone acts
• 2:57
  Speaker 6: like that. So we've been in lots of projects where
• 3:01
  Speaker 6: other people act like that, or maybe we act like that.
• 3:04
  Speaker 6: And it's not really an environment any of us wants
• 3:06
  Speaker 6: to create or be in.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Got to put all the egos aside.
• 3:10
  Speaker 6: Mutual respect and just, you know, try to get your
• 3:13
  Speaker 6: point across with whatever your personal taste is. Like the
• 3:19
  Speaker 6: more gentle you are, normally the more chance you've actually
• 3:21
  Speaker 6: got getting your point across effectively anyway.
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: Yeah, very true.
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Now you mentioned there's 12 songs on the album and
• 3:27
  Speaker 4: you've released five of them as singles, which I guess
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: shows the quality of the music on there, but you've
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: released Clouds, The Garden, Waste, Friends and Blueprints. So do
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: you reckon they're a good Sonic Rec presentation on what
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: to expect overall, or is there still a few treats
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: to be had over the album?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: There's definitely some curveballs still coming.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah, in there.
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: It was honestly trying to pick the singles for this
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  Speaker 5: album was so hard because we all love all of
• 3:50
  Speaker 5: the songs so much. But I think we were all
• 3:52
  Speaker 5: in a position where like realistically any of them could
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: have been singles. I think Blue is probably the biggest
• 3:58
  Speaker 5: curveball of the singles just because it's like a bit
• 4:01
  Speaker 5: more of a ballad.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: But it still sounds like us, you know.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah, very cool.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: And you guys have been famously described as the lightest
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: band at Bloodstock and the heaviest band at Kendall Calling.
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: So for a debut record like we are on People, how.
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: Conscious were you of balancing the crushy, dirty riffs on
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: tracks like Clouds with a massive radio, four-part vocal harmonies?
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: Did you make a conscious effort to balance everything out?
• 4:26
  Speaker 6: Made a conscious effort to make sure it sounds good
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: to us yeah that's like quality control and it sounds
• 4:32
  Speaker 6: good to all four of us we're like pretty yeah
• 4:34
  Speaker 6: like do.
• 4:35
  Speaker 5: It selfishly we're not we're not writing our music for
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  Speaker 5: other people really like as long as it's all four
• 4:40
  Speaker 5: of us are really happy with it then all we
• 4:42
  Speaker 5: can hope is that people enjoy it as well but
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: if you don't that's fine.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: No listen easy isn't it.
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: You guys are very DIY and you handle so much
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: of the writing, recording and editing on your own. So
• 4:57
  Speaker 4: while that ensures the record is exactly what you want,
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: what was the biggest hurdle in getting We Are Unpeople
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: out and ready to go this October?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Oh, that's so easy. Time management. What we don't struggle for.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: is ideas.
• 5:17
  Speaker 6: We've got ideas in abundance and it's more about closing
• 5:20
  Speaker 6: doors than it is trying to come up with something.
• 5:23
  Speaker 6: We have an abundance of tangents and side missions every
• 5:27
  Speaker 6: second of the day. So when we're doing a task,
• 5:30
  Speaker 6: it's like, stick to the task, do the task as
• 5:32
  Speaker 6: well as we can, done, put it down.
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: And then at that point, because it's passed all our
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: quality control, we all really are like, okay, that is done.
• 5:40
  Speaker 6: But things tend to take a little bit longer than
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: we think because we love it so much.
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: It's not because of any other reason.
• 5:47
  Speaker 6: We just love what we're doing and we love the
• 5:49
  Speaker 6: music that we get so involved in it.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Just want it to be perfect in our eyes, you know?
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: It's so refreshing. So refreshing.
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: Now, Em, you joined the band in 2025 after coming
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: from Delair the Lion. Jake's previously mentioned that you became
• 6:04
  Speaker 4: absolutely indispensable to unpeople because of your timing skill and
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: the unique perspective of having been and outside observer first
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: but also like stepping into the into the machine right
• 6:14
  Speaker 4: as the album was starting to come together like was
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: it pressure for you or.
• 6:19
  Speaker 5: A little bit yeah but it was also just like
• 6:21
  Speaker 5: I'm I'm just so grateful to be stepping into a
• 6:23
  Speaker 5: project with three of quite literally the best musicians I
• 6:26
  Speaker 5: have ever met and not only good musicians but also
• 6:29
  Speaker 5: like the kindest souls you know it's like It's just
• 6:33
  Speaker 5: been an absolute honour to meet the guys and now
• 6:36
  Speaker 5: be able to call them my closest friends and now
• 6:38
  Speaker 5: go around the world together.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: You know, I literally could not ask for more.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: This is beautiful.
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: I'm going to go and watch a love story now.
• 6:45
  Speaker 4: I'm not going to watch Lioness. I'm going to watch
• 6:47
  Speaker 4: something with a bit of soppy in it.
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: It's beautiful. So a lot of those lines have been like,
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: other people rely heavily on all four members contributing vocals.
• 6:57
  Speaker 4: So when you came along, Emma, how did the dynamic
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: shift in the writing process when Emma came into it?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: Funny, because I can't write songs. I'm not a very
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: good writer.
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: I heard you accidentally call her Emma.
• 7:18
  Speaker 6: Which immediately, I forgot the question because it turns out
• 7:22
  Speaker 6: to just be like a light trigger for Em.
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: Oh no, she's still swallowing her. She's not throwing anything. Sorry, Em.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: On the defensive.
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: No, it's really wonderful.
• 7:31
  Speaker 6: The very first time that Em came in and jammed,
• 7:37
  Speaker 6: I remember that first jam because we were so locked in.
• 7:39
  Speaker 6: It's like my bass drum and Em's bass were so
• 7:42
  Speaker 6: locked in and so tight. I was like, wow like
• 7:46
  Speaker 6: this project is going to be unstoppable and then i
• 7:49
  Speaker 6: heard you sing and it's like your tuning's insane and
• 7:53
  Speaker 6: your voice sounds great and actually your voice has even
• 7:56
  Speaker 6: improved i feel like you found your voice over the
• 7:58
  Speaker 6: course of um we when we recorded early stuff all
• 8:02
  Speaker 6: the way up until when we started the album recording
• 8:04
  Speaker 6: and um yeah you really found your voice and so
• 8:08
  Speaker 6: it's only you know we've all all improved but m
• 8:12
  Speaker 6: stepping in was just amazing yeah really.
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: What would you put that down to em would you
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: put that down to confidence or right keep repeating singing
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: or practicing like well how do you think you've improved.
• 8:24
  Speaker 5: I honestly well i think all my motivation is just
• 8:27
  Speaker 5: like when i was a teenager i was just a
• 8:29
  Speaker 5: huge scene kid fan girl i would be queuing outside
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  Speaker 5: gigs for hours and hours and it's like my biggest
• 8:35
  Speaker 5: motivation is just trying to honor my younger self and
• 8:38
  Speaker 5: now be on like the other side of the stage
• 8:40
  Speaker 5: i guess you know It's just always striving to, you know,
• 8:44
  Speaker 5: make my younger self happy.
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: Emma does a really good job of that.
• 8:48
  Speaker 6: It's like she sees young girls on the other side
• 8:52
  Speaker 6: of the barrier and she wants to be this example,
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: you know, and inspire people in the way that she
• 8:56
  Speaker 6: was inspired. And it's been really, really lovely to watch
• 8:59
  Speaker 6: you go through that. And just, yeah, you're doing yourself justice.
• 9:03
  Speaker 6: A little bit, yeah, a little bit of the confidence
• 9:05
  Speaker 6: as well.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Yeah, confidence as well.
• 9:07
  Speaker 6: And the practice, because it was baptism of fire recording
• 9:11
  Speaker 6: this album.
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: It's just like you record, and then you record another song,
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: and then you record another song, and then you record
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: another song.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: That from Kelma. Throw her in the deep end, and
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: she can swim. She's great if not.
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I had the choice to sink or swim, and I.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: Chose to sink. Very cool.
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: The term un-people historically refers to marginalised or politically dismissed individuals,
• 9:35
  Speaker 4: but you guys have reclaimed it as a celebration of
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: shared humanity and individuality. So how does that philosophy bleed
• 9:41
  Speaker 4: into the lyrics of the album? Like, is there an
• 9:43
  Speaker 4: overarching concept or story that you want people to take
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: out of it?
• 9:47
  Speaker 5: I mean, Jake is the main lyricist of the band,
• 9:50
  Speaker 5: and I think from his perspective, he's very much trying
• 9:53
  Speaker 5: to say, like, here's my view on this thing. You
• 9:56
  Speaker 5: can interpret this how you want, but also... I don't
• 9:59
  Speaker 5: have the answers. Like, I think it's very it's very
• 10:02
  Speaker 5: important to be like, I have this space to voice
• 10:04
  Speaker 5: my opinion doesn't mean it's right.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Leave it open.
• 10:08
  Speaker 6: Ended and let the audience come to their own opinions
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: about what they think about something. It's more like thought-provoking
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: than it is giving prescriptive solutions.
• 10:22
  Speaker 5: I like that.
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: That is very, very vague. I like that.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: Very ambiguous. You guys have been tearing it up through
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: the UK and European festivals. You've been downloading Slam Dunk, Reading, Leeds.
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: You got the debut album out. You haven't got anything
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: else to do. When are you coming to visit us?
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Oh, hopefully tomorrow.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Hopefully, imminent.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: No plans? No plans in the wind?
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: We would absolutely love to.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: Like, I know it's all very high on all four
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: of our lists, like, to get over to the other side,
• 10:58
  Speaker 5: because I don't think any of us have been to
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: Australia before.
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: Oh, jeez.
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: We would get to visit the.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: Country purely because of our band.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: Like, what an honour.
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: You guys are probably too happy to come to Australia.
• 11:10
  Speaker 4: Like, if you're just too happy, Australians get the shits
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: really easy. You guys are just too happy.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: Everyone we meet has been a delight.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: I'm not saying we're not delights.
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: It's just I've never seen anyone smile the whole way
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: through an interview before like you guys have.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: It's so cool. I always smile. I don't stop.
• 11:36
  Speaker 4: Well, thanks very much for your time tonight, guys. It's
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: been a pleasure chatting with you. The album We Are
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: Unpeople is out October 9th. It is a crack of
• 11:44
  Speaker 4: an album and the guys want to get to Australia,
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: so start buying their albums and prove they should come out.
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.