The Futureheads' first interview
- By Jack Preston -
- Apr 02, 2012
With a sharp change of direction, in the form of an a capella record, it almost feels like make or break time for The Futureheads. On the eve of their tour and album release Ross Millard tells Virgin Red Room all about the band’s first times and the feeling of invincibility following their first album…
The first job I had was working in a book shop, luckily I graduated from university and then we quickly signed a deal.
The first album I bought was Automatic for the People By R.E.M., we didn’t have a copy in the house so I had to save up and go get it.
The first film I saw at the cinema was probably Bambi, like. [Did he go with The Ting Tings? Red Room wonders...]
The first time I got drunk wasn’t a very good experience, me and my school friend went out and were getting older friends to buy us triple vodka and orange – which is a fairly porno drink now I think about it. All very embarrassing to look back on.
Our first gig was about seven minutes long, we did four songs at Ashbrook Cricket Club in Sunderland – which is where we now hold Split Festival. It was inside the clubhouse as there weren’t many proper venues to play in Sunderland, we rehearsed about six months in the build-up.
The first Futureheads song we wrote didn’t make it onto an album and has disappeared from our live shows – it’s not even recorded, which is actually the only Futureheads song I could say that of. I love the back catalogue and we’re constantly honouring it in the live shows.
The first Futureheads review was in a fanzine called ‘Alphabeti’ based out of Aberdeen, it was in response to a load of demos I’d sent off. They wrote some really nice things about us, it was a real thrill to read something written about us from so far away – I still remember the feeling.
The first festival we put on, Split Festival, is now a really big part of our lives. It’s a really exciting thing to be involved in and it’s something that we now spend a lot of time on.
This album is a big change for us. Looking back I think ‘News and Tributes’ is my favourite album of ours, when we were making it we were in this complete bubble after our first record did so well. We felt absolutely invincible when making it, like we could do no wrong. The album came out and got completely slaughtered but I stand by it.
For a whole host of worst times to go with these first times check back with Red Room tomorrow...
The Futurehead's new album, 'Rant', is out now. They will be playing across England throughout April.
Did you enjoy those first times? How about some more from; The Ting Tings, We Are Augustines, Katie Melua, The Jezabels, Sleigh Bells, Kyla La Grange, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, Blood Red Shoes or Charlie Simpson?
By Jack Preston. Senior Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
