NEWS
EVENTS
White Lies Interview
House | Wednesday 7th December 2011 | Osh
How did you find last nights (10th February) performance at Shepard’s Bush Empire go in your opinion?
Really good. London shows are really stressful with people badgering you all day, asking you what time you’re on and your friends and family all trying to come. But it was a really good audience, I thought we played really well and it was a nice homecoming.
Did you feel privileged when being asked to play for the NME on the 11th of Feb at Shepard’s Bush Empire?
No not at all (laughs). We just put their name on it otherwise we wouldn’t sell enough tickets. It turns out we sold them out in under a week. I don’t know why we are doing it to be honest.
Is it different playing in London then it is playing everywhere else in the world? Where was the best gig you have ever played?
We definitely have had some really good ones in London. When you play a good show in London, you feel a sense of achievement because we usually have friends and family there. A lot people still can’t understand how and why we are not in university and that this is actually our job. People come and see us and they are like ‘Holy Fuck? There are a lot of people here who seem to be really into your music.’ Some of the venues have been a privilege to play especially Brixton Academy. It’s probably one of the best venues in London because we all went there many times growing up as teenagers. I went to my first ever gig there when I was about 13. When you are standing on a stage like that, it still makes us nervous. We have played there 6/7 times and we still get nervous because it’s really special. On the other hand, we have a really big fan base around the world now and we have had some great gigs in some strange places. Chile, Sant Tiago and Poland we have big fan bases there and we have just booked our first shows in Singapore in April. There is no guarantee that London shows are going to be the best, often quite the opposite. They’re quite intimidating and the press are going to be out there reviewing it. Occasionally we have had some good moments here.
Who was that first band you went to see?
Oh, that was a metal band called Machine Head. I used to be really into Metal, I still am but I always used to listen to it when I was younger. That was my first show and I went to many more Metal gigs at Brixton Academy after that.
What experiences in your lives did you guys have to draw upon to create your second record Ritual?
Well, a bunch of things were drawn towards it. I wouldn’t say being on tour had anything to do with the lyrical content on it but being away from home and feeling like we didn’t have a home did. We got to the point where we knew our friends are in different places and forging a life for themselves. Whilst we were working hard, moving from place to place and we were getting some lonely moments travelling like that. I found my personal life collapsing. Being away led to a chain reaction of dramatic events within my personal stuff and equally, the things that we have seen and people we have met. I also went travelling in January 2010 to Tibet which was certainly inspirational for the song ‘Turn The Bells’, and I got a lot of good writing done out there as well. This record is certainly a lot more personal than the first.
You worked with Alan Moulder for this record. What experience did he add to your album?
I’m sure he added a lot. The best thing about Alan is that he is such a trustworthy, intelligent and respectable person. That started even before we got in the studio with him, we were already on friendly terms because he mixed the first record. Harry and I were coming up with musical ideas and recorded them on the computer. We would send him some stuff every evening for about five weeks and he would always call in the morning with comments and ideas and saying whether he liked this and that. That is really fantastic. He had a really old school, hands on producer role. Whenever he produced a record in the past like Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, etc, a lot of the times these big egos bands have just gave him the songs to record, whereas we have been with him since day 0 really. I think he really enjoyed being part of the band in some way. That was a really great working relationship to have.
How different was he to Ed Bullier?
He’s actually not a million miles away but he’s a completely different person. It’s not like a doctor where you are focusing on their expertise's; it’s much more about their personality and what they are going to bring to the record. Nowadays, it’s very easy to instruments and sounds that are impressive to the ears really, a guitar can sound awesome really quickly, same with drums. It really comes down to the way people express their ideas, the way they manage the band and encourage them to bring out the best in each member of the band. Everyone has different ways of doing that and that comes down to who you are as a person. It’s different but also similar working with different producers. Obviously, the record wouldn’t sound the same and be how it is without Alan.
Your album cover has a image similar to the twin girls from The Shining and your recent music video is inspired from E.T. What other film exploits do you have for future releases?
(laughs) Well the album cover wasn’t inspired by The Shining, although a couple people have noticed that there are identical twins in that film. But they are a lot uglier in The Shining. Film is something I am very interested in but it’s not something I have pushed on our music I’ve never came up with videos or artwork based on my love for film. Maybe that will happen in the future although I do like to keep things separate. When we are working with video directors, especially with their background based in film, or at least, they have a strong passion for it, they are bound to be inspired by things that they have watched. Sometimes you notice them like the Bigger Than Us video was a homage in some ways to E.T. with the director thinking it would be a good idea. In the other videos that we have made, when we have had the treatments, the directors have referenced other films that no one else has noticed before because they are much more suttle. I can guarantee the next video we do is going to be very very different from everything else we have done before and anything else that is out at the moment.
You did a great cover of Dancing In The Dark at Glastonbury two years ago. Have you tried a hand in anymore exuberant covers?
We’ve done a couple throughout our career. We did a cover of a Talking Heads song called Heaven. It’s something we really enjoy doing and we will do it again. It was just that time and place for the Bruce Springsteen cover to happen because we wanted to pay our respects to a absolute legend within Rock music. Perhaps if we do a few festivals this year and there is someone similar headlining, maybe we will decide to do something like that again.
I had a chat with Saul Milton from Chase & Status the other week and he mentioned it was one of his dreams to work with you guys. How did the song come about?
They just sent through a chord progression and they asked us to see what we would come up with. We did it in a couple of hours really. We sent it back to them and they send they really loved it. They had Harry and I go into their little recording studio in South London and in a few hours, after laying it down, tweaking it a bit and a little work on the rhythm track, it was done. I thought they did a really good job, it’s a really good song.
Who are you guys into at the moment?
I’ve only recently got into Lou Reed’s album Berlin, I’m listening to that album all the time at the moment. I just bought the new Sportman record and the Caroby record which we all have been listening to. We buy music from every genre all the time. Harry and I still listen to a lot of Metal and we always have a Heavy Metal half an hour in the dressing room before a gig. It annoys everyone else but us..
If you were invisible for the day, what would you get up to?
Erm, I dunno. I think spying on people would be boring because they wouldn’t be doing much. I think I would go into some places I know I’m not allowed to go. Restricted areas like in a zoo, getting into the lesser intimidating animals cages and chill with them... I think I might be a bit boring (laughs).
If you could have a swimming pool filled up with anything, what would it be?
It all and well saying something like chocolate but I don’t think I would find it very appetising eating something I have been swimming around in. I would actually quite like to have an ice rink. It would be cool to go ice skating whenever you wanted.
Can you give us an exclusive?
I can say we are going to be playing in the UK in May with a very exciting band. We are going to be supporting a band in the summer and we are really looking forward to it. (Kings of Leon)
Are you ready for another long stint at touring the word?
Yeah, I think we are going to do pretty well with it because we have been around the world two or three times. There are places where we have friends and places we like to go with bars and stuff. It makes it a lot easier and a little less alien when we can turn up in cities and feel quite welcome. It should be a lot easier this time around.
Really good. London shows are really stressful with people badgering you all day, asking you what time you’re on and your friends and family all trying to come. But it was a really good audience, I thought we played really well and it was a nice homecoming.
Did you feel privileged when being asked to play for the NME on the 11th of Feb at Shepard’s Bush Empire?
No not at all (laughs). We just put their name on it otherwise we wouldn’t sell enough tickets. It turns out we sold them out in under a week. I don’t know why we are doing it to be honest.
Is it different playing in London then it is playing everywhere else in the world? Where was the best gig you have ever played?
We definitely have had some really good ones in London. When you play a good show in London, you feel a sense of achievement because we usually have friends and family there. A lot people still can’t understand how and why we are not in university and that this is actually our job. People come and see us and they are like ‘Holy Fuck? There are a lot of people here who seem to be really into your music.’ Some of the venues have been a privilege to play especially Brixton Academy. It’s probably one of the best venues in London because we all went there many times growing up as teenagers. I went to my first ever gig there when I was about 13. When you are standing on a stage like that, it still makes us nervous. We have played there 6/7 times and we still get nervous because it’s really special. On the other hand, we have a really big fan base around the world now and we have had some great gigs in some strange places. Chile, Sant Tiago and Poland we have big fan bases there and we have just booked our first shows in Singapore in April. There is no guarantee that London shows are going to be the best, often quite the opposite. They’re quite intimidating and the press are going to be out there reviewing it. Occasionally we have had some good moments here.
Who was that first band you went to see?
Oh, that was a metal band called Machine Head. I used to be really into Metal, I still am but I always used to listen to it when I was younger. That was my first show and I went to many more Metal gigs at Brixton Academy after that.
What experiences in your lives did you guys have to draw upon to create your second record Ritual?
Well, a bunch of things were drawn towards it. I wouldn’t say being on tour had anything to do with the lyrical content on it but being away from home and feeling like we didn’t have a home did. We got to the point where we knew our friends are in different places and forging a life for themselves. Whilst we were working hard, moving from place to place and we were getting some lonely moments travelling like that. I found my personal life collapsing. Being away led to a chain reaction of dramatic events within my personal stuff and equally, the things that we have seen and people we have met. I also went travelling in January 2010 to Tibet which was certainly inspirational for the song ‘Turn The Bells’, and I got a lot of good writing done out there as well. This record is certainly a lot more personal than the first.
You worked with Alan Moulder for this record. What experience did he add to your album?
I’m sure he added a lot. The best thing about Alan is that he is such a trustworthy, intelligent and respectable person. That started even before we got in the studio with him, we were already on friendly terms because he mixed the first record. Harry and I were coming up with musical ideas and recorded them on the computer. We would send him some stuff every evening for about five weeks and he would always call in the morning with comments and ideas and saying whether he liked this and that. That is really fantastic. He had a really old school, hands on producer role. Whenever he produced a record in the past like Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, etc, a lot of the times these big egos bands have just gave him the songs to record, whereas we have been with him since day 0 really. I think he really enjoyed being part of the band in some way. That was a really great working relationship to have.
How different was he to Ed Bullier?
He’s actually not a million miles away but he’s a completely different person. It’s not like a doctor where you are focusing on their expertise's; it’s much more about their personality and what they are going to bring to the record. Nowadays, it’s very easy to instruments and sounds that are impressive to the ears really, a guitar can sound awesome really quickly, same with drums. It really comes down to the way people express their ideas, the way they manage the band and encourage them to bring out the best in each member of the band. Everyone has different ways of doing that and that comes down to who you are as a person. It’s different but also similar working with different producers. Obviously, the record wouldn’t sound the same and be how it is without Alan.
Your album cover has a image similar to the twin girls from The Shining and your recent music video is inspired from E.T. What other film exploits do you have for future releases?
(laughs) Well the album cover wasn’t inspired by The Shining, although a couple people have noticed that there are identical twins in that film. But they are a lot uglier in The Shining. Film is something I am very interested in but it’s not something I have pushed on our music I’ve never came up with videos or artwork based on my love for film. Maybe that will happen in the future although I do like to keep things separate. When we are working with video directors, especially with their background based in film, or at least, they have a strong passion for it, they are bound to be inspired by things that they have watched. Sometimes you notice them like the Bigger Than Us video was a homage in some ways to E.T. with the director thinking it would be a good idea. In the other videos that we have made, when we have had the treatments, the directors have referenced other films that no one else has noticed before because they are much more suttle. I can guarantee the next video we do is going to be very very different from everything else we have done before and anything else that is out at the moment.
You did a great cover of Dancing In The Dark at Glastonbury two years ago. Have you tried a hand in anymore exuberant covers?
We’ve done a couple throughout our career. We did a cover of a Talking Heads song called Heaven. It’s something we really enjoy doing and we will do it again. It was just that time and place for the Bruce Springsteen cover to happen because we wanted to pay our respects to a absolute legend within Rock music. Perhaps if we do a few festivals this year and there is someone similar headlining, maybe we will decide to do something like that again.
I had a chat with Saul Milton from Chase & Status the other week and he mentioned it was one of his dreams to work with you guys. How did the song come about?
They just sent through a chord progression and they asked us to see what we would come up with. We did it in a couple of hours really. We sent it back to them and they send they really loved it. They had Harry and I go into their little recording studio in South London and in a few hours, after laying it down, tweaking it a bit and a little work on the rhythm track, it was done. I thought they did a really good job, it’s a really good song.
Who are you guys into at the moment?
I’ve only recently got into Lou Reed’s album Berlin, I’m listening to that album all the time at the moment. I just bought the new Sportman record and the Caroby record which we all have been listening to. We buy music from every genre all the time. Harry and I still listen to a lot of Metal and we always have a Heavy Metal half an hour in the dressing room before a gig. It annoys everyone else but us..
If you were invisible for the day, what would you get up to?
Erm, I dunno. I think spying on people would be boring because they wouldn’t be doing much. I think I would go into some places I know I’m not allowed to go. Restricted areas like in a zoo, getting into the lesser intimidating animals cages and chill with them... I think I might be a bit boring (laughs).
If you could have a swimming pool filled up with anything, what would it be?
It all and well saying something like chocolate but I don’t think I would find it very appetising eating something I have been swimming around in. I would actually quite like to have an ice rink. It would be cool to go ice skating whenever you wanted.
Can you give us an exclusive?
I can say we are going to be playing in the UK in May with a very exciting band. We are going to be supporting a band in the summer and we are really looking forward to it. (Kings of Leon)
Are you ready for another long stint at touring the word?
Yeah, I think we are going to do pretty well with it because we have been around the world two or three times. There are places where we have friends and places we like to go with bars and stuff. It makes it a lot easier and a little less alien when we can turn up in cities and feel quite welcome. It should be a lot easier this time around.
