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Interview: Tommy Evans from Submotion Orchestra
Indie | Friday 21st November 2014 | Annalisa
Five years ago, Dom Ruckspin and Tommy Evans formed Submotion Orchestra in Leeds. The band has gone from strength to strength, performing at festivals worldwide and hosting emotional and inspiring sell-out shows. Their fusion of ‘bass-heavy electronica, soul and jazz’ has set them outside the classifications of a particular genre, making their sound infinitely unique and hypnotic. Earlier this month they release their latest album, Alium, which maximises the musical strengths of each band member, particularly honing in on the sound of the electronic and acoustic. We caught up with Tommy Evans, the drummer about their unusual rehearsal routine and some strange performances, along with a game of word association!
For those that don't know, can you quickly tell us what Submotion Orchestra is all about and how you guys formed?
It was myself and a guy called Dom Ruckspin, the engineer and the producer of the band. We were asked to write some music for quite a weird project in York Minster Cathedral. They wanted to do some live dubstep kind of thing to celebrate a kids’ charity. It was a really weird project and it was musically very unsuccessful (laughs) but it brought the possibility to do something live. At the time, Dom was doing a lot of production and I was playing a lot of jazz and dub music, so we were trying to find something in the middle of all of that.
So it’s the perfect integration of two different approaches and influences.
Yeah, exactly. In Leeds at the time there was Sub Dub and Exodus, the big dub raves that we used to go down to. It was just beginning to come through. It had been around for years before but it was becoming more popular and it seemed like a good tool to bring together the combination of dub sensibilities and dance music in a dancehall. Interesting, contemporary jazz sort of stuff was the idea behind it. Obviously it progressed and evolved a lot since then, but some of those key ideas were still central to the music.
How long did it take for you to finalise your line up?
After a few weeks of just messing around with some beats, me and Dom decided, 'Let’s just do it and pick some musicians then'. At the time I was playing in lots of different bands in Leeds and between me and Dom we knew the Leeds ‘scene’ in terms of musicians that we would like to work with, so we kind of hand picked a band of people we wanted.
Then we got this residency playing at a bar called Hookers (laughs), which is not what you think! It’s a kind of shisha bar and we used to go down there every Monday night and played for free. We basically got paid in curry - 90 minutes of improvising, nothing planned. We would just go and play. It started off with not many people being there; maybe a few people in the corner trying to have a quiet curry, getting pissed off by the music. But by the time we finished there were people queuing outside the block. It’s amazing how quickly people latched onto it. That’s how it started and we have ended up with a band coming from different backgrounds that come together and sit nicely.
Great, so if we could just talk about the new album. Could you tell us what we should expect from it and how does it differ from your earlier work such as Fragments?
I think it’s an extension of them. We have been experimenting quite a lot over the last two albums and this new album Alium, is also an experiment. The first album was quite acoustic sounding, then with the second album we explored electronic sounds. With this album we have tried to take it further in both directions. We have definitely broadened the pallet and tried to find a happy medium between all our different influences and the thin line we walk between electronic and acoustic music, which is quite a hard thing to do. As soon as you start introducing electronics in with a live set it is a very slippery slope. Its really easy to find yourself playing everything to a click, line everything up and press play- this is the complete opposite of how the band started and what we wanted to do making sure everything is live. Essentially, when you see a live band you don't want to see some dickhead press play, you want to get into it and see seven people going for it. It’s a kind of balance, which is dictated by the music and by how electronic the track is. We are constantly tweaking and finding ways to get the bits we need into the set from the album without them dictating the music. We still want to have the improvisation and conversational jazzy feel we had to start with. Given that we are all jazz musicians, it’s what comes naturally.
Out of the shows you have done earlier this year, which stand out as highlights? Surely headlining Beacons must be up there?
Yeah Beacons was awesome. We have played there twice now. It is a special place for Ruby (vocalist) as she met her boyfriend there last year, so it was a special one for her. That was great. This summer, we have done 15 or 20 odd festivals and they were all really, really good. Big stages, good slots; it was a real step up for us this year which was amazing. The opening concert at Outlook was incredible. We were in a Roman amphitheatre supporting Lauryn Hill, so it doesn't get much better than that. We are also about to embark on our European tour now, which is good to promote our new album so lots to look forward to.
So you guys all do solo projects?
Yeah we all do a whole load of other stuff outside the band. Dom is one half of Order, Ruby features on other people’s tracks. I run my big band.
Do you find it hard to meet up and rehearse if you are all so busy?
Yeah, it’s really, really hard. Even just getting seven people in the same room together takes weeks of logistics and planning. At the moment five of us are down in London and two in Leeds. Just the logistics of planning one rehearsal is mind-boggling. It’s more on a project basis. We don’t see each other for a few months, then spend a few weeks together rehearsing, then go on a month tour.
So by the time you’re all together you've got a lot of material and it’s just a case of putting it all together?
Yeah pretty much. We do this thing every year where we go to Wales in January and hire a cottage for 2 weeks in the middle of nowhere, with no phone line, TV, internet, nothing. It’s in the middle of fields and sheep and we basically take a studio out there and all of our equipment, set up and write and play for two weeks. Everyone brings ideas to the table. We try them all and that becomes material that we play out for the rest of the year. It’s a really good way of doing it.
That sounds amazing! Can you tell us a bit more about your involvement and relationship with Ninja Tunes Imprint Counter Records, and how your collaboration came about?
When we first started the band, Dom and I were talking about labels and who we would approach. Ninja were at the top of our list. We have been on their radar for quite a while, I think they were planning on signing us but they took on Andria Triana at exactly the same time. As soon as we were out of our last record deal they got straight back in touch, asked for some demos and we went from there. They have an amazing history and it’s great being associated with the artists on the label.
If you could collaborate with anybody dead or alive who would it be?
That’s difficult. You could ask anyone in the band and something different would come up. (Pause). Doing a tune with Bob Marley would be pretty amazing.
That’s a very good impulse answer! What’s the weirdest gig you have ever been to? Have you had any weird gigs in your time of touring?
Umm yeah we get booked at a variety of places, as our music is easily transferable. Whether it’s working in a jazz club environment, a sit down theatre or a drum n bass rave with everyone gurning their tits off! We have also played at some strange places, we did a gig at a Bulgarian night club to about three people. We stopped playing, went off and they started playing techno and suddenly there was about 1000 people there going mental. It was a case of one of those promoters completely getting the wrong end of the stick.
If you were to throw a Submotion Orchestra dinner party, what would you cook?
O my God um. We all love a good Indian, so we would probably do a curry of some sort.
Ok so if Submotion Orchestra was not formed what would you be doing?
I think probably all of us would be on the dole, as we are completely unemployable! We are completely useless. I don't know, something in the arts I imagine.
One more thing before you go, this may seem a bit weird but Guestlist have started doing a bit of word association to end an interview. So if I say music....
Life
Marmite
Horrible
Pet
Dead (laughs)
Enemy
None
Drugs
Umm (laughs) I don't know what I should say maybe move on
Inspiration
Love
Failure
Daily basis.
For more about Submotion Orchestra, have a look at their website, Soundcloud and Facebook!
Ed Howe
