Interview with The Futureheads
The lads from Sunderland are back, this time with a new album and on their own record label. ************* meets opinionated guitarist, Ross Millard and talks to them about a comeback on their own terms and the state of the music industry.
What have you been doing since your last album, News and Tributes in 2006?
We basically had a little bit of time off and then started some new tunes. It was difficult at first because we didn’t know how we wanted to do it but we started our own label and then the songs came pretty quickly once everything was resolved.
Are you excited about the new album? Does it sound different to your old stuff?
Oh most definitely, I have a good feeling about this one and I think it’s definitely our best record. We’ve kinda gone through the mill this year and now we can see the four of us are really buzzing again.
With our last album, the sound was completely different to the first one (The Futureheads) and people didn’t seem to go for that! I think we’ve figured out what we’re best at and the new album is somewhere in between those two. It’s a mixture between the energy of the first and the song writing of the second.
Were you disappointed with the reaction to your last album?
Yeah, ‘679’ (their previous label) didn’t do a very good job at pushing it and I’m not afraid to say that. But on top of that, if Radio doesn’t play you then people don’t buy your records. There’s not that many people in this country that are totally enthusiastic about music, you know. I lot of people wash their cars on a Sunday morning, go to Tesco and buy their albums there and our second album totally passed that lot by. That’s fine but it’s not the end of the world and I think in time that record will do us alright cos we’re proud of it.
What do you think of the new music that has come out since you’ve been away?
New Rave is alright, I dunno, I think a lot of those bands are quite shambolic live. The Klaxons have made a really great record but every time I’ve seen them live they’ve been pretty appalling. But they’ve made a good record and that seems to be what counts.
We’re all into DJing at the moment. I love bands like Digitalism and Glasvegas, I’d love to do something with them.
Do you still enjoy touring? What about the student dates of the tour?
Oh yeah, I mean it’s the reason we got the band together. You never sure if you gonna make an album or get a record deal but you are sure that you can give it all you’ve got live and have fun.
This tour has been great playing to students and took us to a lot of places we haven’t played before that we missed the first time around. The set list is a mixture of old and new and we want people to have a good night. We don’t get annoyed playing the hits like ‘Hounds of Love’ and it would be foolish as it’s better to have hits then no hits! It’s kinda ripping people off not to play the favourites.
What do you think of the state of the music industry today? Is the album dead?
Well I think it would be awful for us to think that the album is dead, it kinda renders our job pointless in a way. We’ve set up our own label for our new record and I think that’s the future for a lot of music. Young bands should probably think about taking that road rather than looking for a record deal because companies are scrabbling around taking shares of bands like merchandise and stuff which they have no right to take. For me, I feel that we’re one of the first bands adopting this new model of business. Even Radiohead have farmed their business off to XL (who released their album on CD) and bottled it a bit. They’re ok to stick their new record online and say you decide what you wanna pay for it because they’re already millionaires. It’s not as brave as they could have been and I think what we’re doing a lot of people will do in the future. It is a bit make or break, and if it fails we’re fucked but at the same time it’s quite exciting.
Don’t you feel that now though you’re businessmen and not musicians?
No I think it’s the other way round because now it’s solely for the music. The minute you make the decision to put an album out there, you have to think about the whys and wheres, how it’s being marketed and how it’s being received because otherwise it’s not yours anymore. The stupid people in labels just see you as a product like a bottle of water but now we’re in charge and doing the job for the right reasons.
New single “Beginning of the Twist” is out 10/3/08
The lads from Sunderland are back, this time with a new album and on their own record label. ************* meets opinionated guitarist, Ross Millard and talks to them about a comeback on their own terms and the state of the music industry.
What have you been doing since your last album, News and Tributes in 2006?
We basically had a little bit of time off and then started some new tunes. It was difficult at first because we didn’t know how we wanted to do it but we started our own label and then the songs came pretty quickly once everything was resolved.
Are you excited about the new album? Does it sound different to your old stuff?
Oh most definitely, I have a good feeling about this one and I think it’s definitely our best record. We’ve kinda gone through the mill this year and now we can see the four of us are really buzzing again.
With our last album, the sound was completely different to the first one (The Futureheads) and people didn’t seem to go for that! I think we’ve figured out what we’re best at and the new album is somewhere in between those two. It’s a mixture between the energy of the first and the song writing of the second.
Were you disappointed with the reaction to your last album?
Yeah, ‘679’ (their previous label) didn’t do a very good job at pushing it and I’m not afraid to say that. But on top of that, if Radio doesn’t play you then people don’t buy your records. There’s not that many people in this country that are totally enthusiastic about music, you know. I lot of people wash their cars on a Sunday morning, go to Tesco and buy their albums there and our second album totally passed that lot by. That’s fine but it’s not the end of the world and I think in time that record will do us alright cos we’re proud of it.
What do you think of the new music that has come out since you’ve been away?
New Rave is alright, I dunno, I think a lot of those bands are quite shambolic live. The Klaxons have made a really great record but every time I’ve seen them live they’ve been pretty appalling. But they’ve made a good record and that seems to be what counts.
We’re all into DJing at the moment. I love bands like Digitalism and Glasvegas, I’d love to do something with them.
Do you still enjoy touring? What about the student dates of the tour?
Oh yeah, I mean it’s the reason we got the band together. You never sure if you gonna make an album or get a record deal but you are sure that you can give it all you’ve got live and have fun.
This tour has been great playing to students and took us to a lot of places we haven’t played before that we missed the first time around. The set list is a mixture of old and new and we want people to have a good night. We don’t get annoyed playing the hits like ‘Hounds of Love’ and it would be foolish as it’s better to have hits then no hits! It’s kinda ripping people off not to play the favourites.
What do you think of the state of the music industry today? Is the album dead?
Well I think it would be awful for us to think that the album is dead, it kinda renders our job pointless in a way. We’ve set up our own label for our new record and I think that’s the future for a lot of music. Young bands should probably think about taking that road rather than looking for a record deal because companies are scrabbling around taking shares of bands like merchandise and stuff which they have no right to take. For me, I feel that we’re one of the first bands adopting this new model of business. Even Radiohead have farmed their business off to XL (who released their album on CD) and bottled it a bit. They’re ok to stick their new record online and say you decide what you wanna pay for it because they’re already millionaires. It’s not as brave as they could have been and I think what we’re doing a lot of people will do in the future. It is a bit make or break, and if it fails we’re fucked but at the same time it’s quite exciting.
Don’t you feel that now though you’re businessmen and not musicians?
No I think it’s the other way round because now it’s solely for the music. The minute you make the decision to put an album out there, you have to think about the whys and wheres, how it’s being marketed and how it’s being received because otherwise it’s not yours anymore. The stupid people in labels just see you as a product like a bottle of water but now we’re in charge and doing the job for the right reasons.
New single “Beginning of the Twist” is out 10/3/08
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