1.
Wild Beasts are one of Britain's best bands. They have remained one of the most constantly innovative and exciting guitar-based groups ever since they released their 2008 debut album Limbo, Panto, and although critically acclaimed, are criminally little-known in America. Hopefully, their stunning fourth album Present Tense will change that. It's a wonderfully balanced, mature record, that sees Wild Beasts blending bold new electronic elements with the detailed, imagery filled lyricism and rich vocals of Hayden Thorpe and Tom Fleming that have become the band's hallmarks.
With Present Tense out February 25 (buy here), we spoke to Tom Fleming about the new album, the constant sensory overload of modern city life, and that surprising Lady Gaga remix. Listen to Wild Beast's recent mix of songs that influenced the new album (plus a beautiful Leonard Cohen cover) while you read the interview below.
It’s been three years now since the release of Smother, are you approaching the whole album release process differently this time, having given yourself more time between records?
Yes, definitely. That was part of the point. To be perfectly honest with you, there was a sense of exhaustion about touring for so long, and touring the same record, especially a record that was so not designed for touring. It’s almost a very gentle record.
Smother is quite personal, it’s quite a private record...
Yeah. And then suddenly, we were playing quite big festival stages. Ever since we made our first record in 2007, we’ve pretty much been touring records, touring records, touring records. And also, the thing about working in music, is it’s so ‘me me me me me’. So I think we wanted to go away and really think about what we’re doing and re-engage with what we like about music, why we think it’s important to us, and what we want to say.
We wanted to go away and really think about what we’re doing and re-engage with what we like about music, why we think it’s important to us, and what we want to say.
So I think that’s what that time was for. And through touring a lot, this was the first time we actually didn’t have to rush back in the studio because we weren’t absolutely broke! Any record is finished when you run out of money. That’s pretty much how it goes. We had more money, so we took more time, and we really wanted to—four records in—make sure this one was right.It signifies a new period for us. The last two records were companion pieces in some ways, they kind of play off each other, they were recorded in the same time period, and I think we were very keen to make a break from those.
What feeling was it that you wanted to re-engage with? What does it mean to you to make music, and to go out on stage and play it for people?
Well, I think of myself as a teenager. I think of how I felt, how angry I was growing up in a small town. We all did, we felt disconnected from the world, patronized, and not knowing how to speak, having nothing to speak about. I think I carry that forward bit. That sense of "if I don’t say it, who’s gonna say it for me." And also I think this record is intended to engage with the world a bit. You know, I’m approaching thirty, I’m trying to stop being a wannabe—what’s the word—troubadour. I’m trying to start putting myself in context within the world and actually say something. I still feel like we have something to add. There’s a lot of great music being made, but I still feel like we can do something within that.
Also you know, I’m probably unemployable, to be honest.
I like the first part of the answer more. That’s the part that people want to hear!
[Laughs] That’s the part I carry in my heart, at least.
The new album starts with “Wanderlust” which is quite an aggressive song with lyrics touching on a sense of discontentment with society that a lot of people feel. Did ‘Wanderlust’ stand out as an obvious track to start off the album?
Well, it was one of the first ones we put together in the studio. Considering how long we had, still everything was quite last minute. By the time we went in, we were still trying stuff out. It definitely informed what the record would sound like, and what was possible, in terms of simplicity and almost dumbness. We kept wanting to vary it more, but I think repetition is a big part of what that song’s about. I think the reason we put it first, and put it out as the first single, was because it says, "look! this is how we sound now."
Really, we're hoping that people would think they had put the wrong record on. As you said, that song is quite aggressive, and it’s quite difficult to place anywhere in the record. Plus I like starting big. I like opening hat tricks, so the first three songs will have to be "bang bang bang," then you’re in the record. Which is not really an artistic thing, it’s more how you go about engaging people, but it’s equally as important. I’m really into sure-shot records, so I think that’s part of the way to structure it.
I’m a country boy and I’ve lived in London for five years. It’s an extremely unfair city, in an unfair country.
Sticking with “Wanderlust” people might be surprised by the lyrical content. As artists, do you feel a pressure, or a desire to comment on the world around you, specifically its injustices?
Yeah, I mean I don’t want to overdo the political aspect of the record. I feel like getting political with a capital ‘P’ is a bit strong. But, I’m a country boy and I’ve lived in London for five years. It’s an extremely unfair city, in an unfair country. And it’s interesting to imagine yourself… well, not even imagine yourself, but to think about your place in the world. How did I get where I am? Why are all these other people jumping ahead of me? What or who do you have to trample over to get to the next stage?
And you know, I guess they maybe are quite idle concerns. While we have no desire to get old and be an adult contemporary band, you can’t be saying the same things at thirty that you were at twenty. I think you need to be able to contextualize it a bit. And not just "me me me" and troubadour moaning.
4.
Your previous albums were recorded outside London, but this one you actually recorded in the city. Has living in London affected the sound or content of your music?
You know what, I think the content definitely. I think things on this record are less abstract and more concrete, no pun intended. I think this record is more about concrete things. I’m not sure how much is about living in London specifically, but I think it’s about sensory overload. There’s a certain poignancy in just saying something boldly and letting it do its work.
In more practical terms, it’s very difficult to find rehearsal space that anyone who hasn’t got rich bankers as daddies can afford. And this is why London churns out a lot of great producers and not as many bands. There’s not a lot of room and it’s expensive, and I imagine New York is the same. So a lot of this record was written in blocks on software, rather than starting as a band in a room. We’ve always incorporated electronics and software, it’s always been around the band. The laptop kinda became the band initially, and then we married four people playing to that.
Lexxx produced this album, rather than Richard Fornby, who produced previous records. How has that affected the new album? What was behind that decision?
The whole point was that we decided to do something different. And Richard, we have a great amount of respect for him. We want to work with him again, because he’s taught us so much, but Lexxx mixed the last couple records as well. Lexxx is 33 or 34, and he’s worked with big, big pop guys. He’s been the go-to for Madonna records, Shakira records, and that kind of thing.
His approach is so futuristic, but without sacrificing the heart of the music. And we’re not the sort of band or on the sort of label that prefers the big guys which is actually a benefit. I think we can kind of catch guys like Lexxx and Leo Abrahams, who’s also on the record, kind of at the crest of the wave. I think with this record they really, really cared because they can work with other artists easily, but I think that this wasn’t just a job to them, I think they really saw the same opportunity with us as we saw with them. The opportunity to make something really good.
You have to piece it together from the bits you’re given. That’s kind of what modern storytelling is like and what modern life is like. There’s no grand narrative, everything is questioned.
The album art is really striking, it’s a combination of bright textures and colors with mundane everyday objects like the train and a dilapidated building. Who’s behind the artwork and how does it relate to the album and to the “present tense” idea?
Well, firstly, our default setting is being quite measured and quite quiet, I guess. And I think we wanted to smash some color on there and make it look brash and a little tasteless, in the same way we’ve been more anxious to use cheaper sounds on this record. This record was written with ten Chrome tabs open and Logic running. I guess unexpected sources, that was part of the point.
It’s a play on the nature of our own music. Those images are so throw away and in a broader sense that is the nature of music nowadays, when nobody pays anything! This is kind of our artistic response to that. All of these things are free and out in the world on the internet so it’s our job to respond to that.
This our attempt to channel the constant noise or barrage of information. That constant access to almost anything. It’s supposed to be trashy, it’s supposed to be noisy and the idea of fragmentation... that’s part of the same thing. There’s no narrative, you have to piece it together from the bits you’re given. That’s kind of what modern storytelling is like and what modern life is like in a lot of ways. There’s no grand narrative, everything is questioned.
But alongside this constant barrage of of information, and the overload of living in London, there are love songs on this record. Songs like “Mecca” and “Palace” that are positive and hopeful.
Those songs are definitely... I mean they are love songs. They’re songs about the clouds clearing. Our last couple of records are quite difficult records and I think there’s a sense of having to have done that to get to this point. Even in the darker moments on Present Tense, I don’t think they’re necessarily despairing, but kind of saying, ‘Okay, this is bad and I know this is bad.’
I also hate like, Paul McCartney positive music. It’s artistically almost our responsibility to be positive but not patronize people, to wallow in the misery of life sometimes. I mean, everyone has to go through shit and there’s no reason to glorify that over anything else. At least at this point, I feel like this is an attempt to make a positive record, and in some ways it’s bit—I don’t think it’s serious—but it’s a wiser record.
I also hate like, Paul McCartney positive music. It’s artistically almost our responsibility to be positive but not patronize people, to wallow in the misery of life sometimes.
A couple of years ago you guys remixed Lady Gaga’s “You & I” which was amazing and rather surprising. How did that come about, was it a label thing? Were you surprised to be asked?
We were hugely surprised and… it’s too good to turn down! It was like, ‘Oh fuck, of course!’ But I think a lot of “cool” English bands were involved in that; The Horrors did it, Metronomy did it. I think it was just maybe her personally or her people were kind of open to those kind of musicians. Fun thing to do and we certainly like pop music. I have no problem with Lady Gaga like I do with say, Ke$ha or Katy Perry.
What about Justin Bieber? He’s just been arrested again. He was drag racing with his friend in Miami in a Lamborghini, apparently he was drunk and high, or maybe leaning.
Oh, has he? I don’t follow that! Bieber leaning on promethazine, like come on, no one’s convinced. I remember speaking to a Canadian journalist from MTV long ago, maybe four or five years ago. And she was like, “We’ve got this little kid coming up who’s always hanging around and talking like he’s from the dirty south,” and it was Justin Bieber.
I’m old, what can I say. I remember when Justin Bieber wasn’t a thing.
You’ve only got two US dates booked right now. Are there plans for a bigger tour in America soon?
Well, kind of. It’s all in the dark. It’s very expensive to get to the States. We’ll definitely do it soon though. We’re gonna come to NY and LA and see how the album lands. But you know, as long as it’s not a total flop, we’ll be back!
What I do like about, though, one of the good aspects is when people are into they’re really into it. There really is a passion. There’s a real heavy support. People drive 5 or 6 hours to come see you. People will want to talk to you about the finer points of what it is you do, something really obscure. Or there’ll be people in Orlando and Tampa with Wild Beasts tattoos. It’s like “Jesus Christ, we have to get there!” But it’s really just the logistics at this point.
I think because we do play a lot with Britishness and Englishness and what it means to have grown up in the situation we’re in, I think maybe the reaction is a bit colder than some. And maybe we don’t quite want to sound like The Ramones as much as some other English bands. But people are intelligent, I think people will get it.
Thanks for your time, and thanks for the new album. I’m really looking forward to hearing it at the NY show.
I’m really glad you liked it, and if you do catch one of those make yourself known because we’re a long way from home!
