Interview: We Have Band
- May 19, 2009
We Have Band, unsigned but seemingly unstoppable. I was able to have a quick phone call with member Darren Bancroft before they take off for a series of shows starting with this Thursday's London leg of the Stag and Dagger festival. The whole band were in attendance for the interview, but unfortunately, due to two very bad phone signals all I could make out from Thomas and Dede were "Hello" and "Goodbye!"
Tom Sowerby: So how are you guys doing? I hear you're still unsigned, how are you finding the workload of having to do most things yourself?
Darren Bancroft: Yes, but we're good at the moment; we've got loads of festivals should be a good summer. We entered this Emerging Talent competition for Glastonbury which we won, which has led to a lot of shows like Stag and Dagger, Great Escape and loads of other cool things. So yeah we are unsigned but we have so much going on we don't think about that kind of thing.
TS: Have you found that not having a label is giving you more space creatively?
DB: Well yeah it certainly means that you're not answering to anyone where as with a major label you'd maybe have to get things approved before you do things and we're enjoying getting to do any festivals we want, any gigs we want, or remixes and lie low. Obviously when you get a deal it helps, but we're right now we're good as we are. We're enjoying ourselves and if you're lucky enough to be doing something you really love which we are now, then you just have to keep going. If you sign a big deal you're sitting on several hundred thousands of pounds, but doing everything ourselves we have to keep going and we're liking it.
TS: You mentioned the emerging talent competition, how did that take off for you?
DB: Our manager put up in for it and basically we didn't know we were in for it. There was a big panel of judges or Michael Eavis, Emily Eavis, someone from Radio One and some Q journalists and a lot of bands and they just picked us! So we went down to the play in front of the panel, and it was quite weird because you had to play quite quickly but we played and they later announced we won. We got to meet them all and it was just a really nice time because these people obviously know a lot about music.
TS: Now, you're playing Stag and Dagger, is that important to you, being that a couple of you are from London?
DB: It's a good one, it's done by the guy who does Field Day and Adventures in the Beetroot Field. He's been very nice to us; we played for them at the Amersham Arms very early on and they've just supported us and given us things here and there. And being a fairly new band we didn't want to play anything too big really and just take it sensibly
TS: So what other festivals are you most looking forward to?
DB: Oh, well Glastonbury and there's a festival in Corsica called Calvi on the Rocks which we're really looking forward to. We did SXSW and that was amazing.
TS: your new single You Came Out is being released in a month, how are you feeling about it?
DB: We're very excited about it, we actually just did a music video which is really, really fucking cool, it's like stock frame animation video which is all photographs, there's no footage, and it's looking quite exciting. The songs getting a good amount of radio air play, so it's cool.
TS: Is it right you all started out at EMI, what exactly were you doing there?
DB: It wasn't very related or helpful to what we're doing now but I think EMI was really fun; we got to listen to loads of good music and go to a lot of good gigs, which is I think the reason we kind of went there in the first place because we really love music, but I think what we're doing now is the live side of thing which is great and its been quite an eye opener for us.
TS: You say that the live show is a hugely important thing to you; do you consider it more important than the releases themselves?
Erm, no I wouldn't say its more important. We're 100% focussed on the album. We love playing live and it's important as and it helps, especially financially, but it's definitely not more important to us than the album. Albums in general mean a lot to us and we want to make a great album. The live side of things is cool and has taken us very far but we feel that's only one level of us and we won't feel complete till they've got something in their hands. So we take it very seriously.
TS: Yeah, how is the album coming along?
DB: Well, it's all written and we're actually just going into the studio soon and we're deciding if we need anyone to produce it or not because we produced You Came Out ourselves, and our previous single Oh. We've enjoyed producing them ourselves but you do wonder if someone might come in the room and just say "Maybe you could try this or..." and that could be good. So yeah, we're just deciding if we need someone to produce it, someone to mix it.
TS: And where do you record?
DB: At the moment we do it in Thomas and Dede's flat, which is in Notting Hill. We used to do it in their old house and in my old house, we've never really been in a studio, and we've certainly never written a song in a studio. But it's nice we'll do some writing, then have lunch and write a bit more, then have dinner and write a bit more... so it's nice! In a studio you could feel a pressure of time, but we're very comfortable working here.
TS: Are you guys big festival people, will you be sticking around the whole time?
DB: Yeah, we love festivals as long as we have rooms in our diaries we'll definitely stick around. It's not always possible; for Latitude we're playing their on the Friday, then going to Germany for the Saturday and then playing in Istanbul on the Sunday! Glastonbury we were quite adamant from the beginning that we wanted to do it all weekend. We didn't know we'd be doing four gigs but... we are!
TS: Finally, is it true you describe yourselves as a Disco-Rock trio?
DB: No, it's not, actually. I think it was the Guardian who first printed it, but we've not said that, it's cool though we want people to make their own minds up about what kind of music we are. I mean every time you make a record that is similar to someone else people will come out and brand you, but it happens.
