Interview with The Joy Formidable: Part 2
"I refuse to believe that Chas and Dave have never been amazing" June 22, 2009, 09:02 PM Views: 661
Comments: 5
 Altsounds – (to Ritzy) Going back to the Manchester thing, I was talking to your mother before so I’m aware that’s where she’s from - does that make these Manchester shows any more special for you? Does it feel a bit like a homecoming? Do you play Mold much?
Ritzy – Not really
Rhydian – We’ve done bits and bobs, but like I said because there isn’t much of an infrastructure and you’ve just gotta be careful not to overplay there you know – and we’re all about making nights feel special, and I think that’s what promoting should be about anyway. We did that with the club night, not to be too arrogant, so when they do happen, it’s something really special. But I think we’ve definitely got an affinity with the northern kind of culture , you know? Just that kind of letting go and wearing your heart on your sleeve...
Altsounds – (to Ritzy) I think I read you describe it as an “in your face attitude”.
Ritzy – Did I? Did I say that?
Altsounds – I think so yeah (I have since checked and it was actually “a fuck off attitude and a sense of humour” – and she’s right).
Ritzy – What a tw*t (laughs).
Rhydian – And actually it’s because we are in London now...it’s actually a bit of a breath of fresh air isn’t it to...
Ritzy – I don’t think there’s erm...we’re not a particularly poncy band, there’s not a lot of erm...we’re not particularly erm...
Rhydian – We’re certainly not over-stylised...
Ritzy – Pretentious – there are not many pretentions, that’s the word.
Rhydian – Which obviously isn’t what London is all about...
Ritzy – No and there are so many nuances to all the different places, wherever you play.
Rhydian – You certainly know what you’re getting when you come and play Manchester don’t you?
Ritzy – Yeah and there’s definitely a certain amount of audience reaction.
Rhydian – Same with Glasgow, we always like playing there
Altsounds – Yeah every band seems to say that.
Rhydian – Yeah no inhibitions, which is always nice because you wanna...it’s always weird doing these tours where...just how the crowds vary - you can do a gig somewhere and you think “my god did they actually like that? They didn’t say anything”, and they’ll come up to you at the end and they say it was absolutely mind blowing – it’s just so peculiar.
Altsounds – I think sometimes when I’m at a good gig and the crowd appears sort of subdued, I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed because I hope the band don’t think we’re not enjoying it. But then I think sometimes you just know the crowd are enjoying it, even when they’re completely silent, sometimes because they’re completely silent you know they’re really stunned by how good it is.
Ritzy – It doesn’t bother me honestly, I’m really anti-bands-who-are-like “come on, make some noise”. I don't jump around and scream at every gig I go to. It's as much about the silence , waiting for every word when it's quiet, and allowing the dynamics to mesmerize you.
Altsounds - Are you guys still unsigned?
Rhydian – It’s a very hard one to answer, we get people asking us this all the time, and in some ways you’d say we aren’t...I mean we’ve had releases on different labels each time, but you know in the traditional model, like a permanent home, a five album deal, then no.
Altsounds – It’s just kind of bizarre because you go on forums or whatever, and there just seems to be nothing but positive things said about you. You’d think that a label might pick up on that and think “there’s something happening here”.
Rhydian – Yeah I just think it’s just a strange time at the moment, and we’re not concerning ourselves with anything other than putting out records and doing stuff for the fans and as long as you concentrate on that, whatever happens, will happen. You just gotta really knuckle down and be proud of what you’re creating I think.
Ritzy – Just on this tour the amount of times we’ve been approached by bands that are supporting us or new bands in general and they ask “How did you get signed” – first question, and I dunno it shouldn’t be the main object, the main object should be writing good songs, getting yourself out there, playing good shows and really, really believing in what you’re doing, and everything else should be secondary to that. There seems to be some infatuation with idea that you all need to get signed and its bullshit.
Altsounds – I think from the fans point of view, the people who they so really admire, they just want to see them rewarded for what they do.
Matt – I think ultimately the labels probably can’t do that to the artists. They won’t reward them, they’ll just divide the money between more people and cause them (the artists) to be in more debt.
Ritzy – (laughing) Yeah.
Altsounds – Well seeing as you have your own club night, have you thought about starting your own label?
Rhydian – Well I mean absolutely, I think the thing is with that is you need a lot of money but we don’t have a lot of money.
Matt – I think at the moment, we are our own label because we’re releasing our own stuff so we are our label basically (laughs)
Altsounds – For me A Balloon Called Moaning is possibly the finest release of what seems to be a really good year so far, but what are some of your favourites of 2009?
Rhydian – This year has been taken up a lot with touring and doing stuff like that it has been difficult to actually grab the chance to listen...
Ritzy – I like El Guincho’s album, it has some really good moments.
Rhydian – I wanted to say The School of Seven Bells...
Ritzy - ...some great tracks, but I'm not sure of the whole album..
Rhydian - ...but it wasn’t consistent
Matt – I was really liking that NASA record. It was like a compilation of hip hop artists, all on one big CD. NASA stood for North America South America.
Ritzy – Passion Pit.
Altsounds – I reviewed their EP last year and really loved it, but then I saw them where you are playing tonight earlier this year, and it was a real letdown, but then the sound was terrible.
Ritzy – I haven’t seen them live.
Rhydian – I imagine they’re a quite a hard band to properly nail live.
Altsounds – I suppose sometimes it’s nice before a band gets to that stage when they’re ultra-tight , it’s nice to see them warts ‘n’ all.
Ritzy – Yeah, yeah. Well it’s all a journey ultimately. I’ve always been suspicious of anybody who is perfect from the start...
(Matt laughs loudly)
Matt – I refuse to believe that Chas and Dave have never been amazing.
Rhydian – I like Future of the Left, we played with them recently...
Believe it or not tis interview actually went on for longer, but from here on in the recording of the interview is ruined somewhat by the bar staff suddenly playing Kings of Leon rather loudly in the bar we are in. Sadly it was too close to the gig for us to relocate anywhere else, but hey – this is rock n roll, I’m not about to complain about music being too loud.
So what did you miss? Well, the band discussed what they’ve been reading on the road this year (Brett Easton Ellis, Bukowski, Japanese trilogies and the history of Wales) and their fond experiences with Falco and Future of the Left (not to mention our shared love for Mclusky). I also asked them all which band they would be in if they could be in any in history other than TJF (Rhydian chose Led Zeppelin or Captain Beefheart, Ritzy chose The Flaming Lips and Matt chose Frank Zappa), and their plans for the rest of the year and beyond (finishing their debut album ‘proper’, playing festivals and playing in Japan and America for the first time).
If you’re sorry you missed out on bagging A Balloon Called Moaning for free at NME.com, then pop over to Music Glue: The Joy Formidable to give yourself the greatest gift you’ll receive all year. Just tell ‘em the Good brothers, Sense and Taste sent ya!
Last edited by Heron : June 22, 2009 at 09:23 PM.
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An interview with The Joy Formidable: Part 1
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