A warm imaginary fireplace and the virtual e-mail presence of one of my favorite new bands of 2012 was enough for me to engage in a first ever conversation with a band. The band of course, is Dry the River, a band that wikipedia claimed was from East London, but as we will soon discover, was probably not the case. We talked about many things – abortion, gay rights, nazi propaganda, the grainy nude pictures of Kate Middleton and of course, stem cell research. However, that was all off the record, so instead, we will provide you the talks that were on the record.
Having played the likes of Reading, Frequency, Lollapalooza, Roskilde and T in the Park, it seems that you guys have definitely had your share of musical festival shows this summer.Which festival were your favorite and why? Conversely, which festival did not meet your expectations (was most disappointing)?
We had an amazing summer. there weren’t any bad festivals, I think they all exceeded our expectations. my favourites as an attendee were pukkelpop and roskilde, because the music there was so great. I think we’d say our favourite show was at Reading. it was our biggest crowd of the summer, and it felt , after touring the States and Europe, like a bit of a homecoming. We all had a great show and playing there holds a lot of sentimental value because we grew up going to Reading every year.
How do you guys feel about comparisions with Mumford & Sons (or do you just think it’s just a lazy comparision)? Did you ever consider filming a trailer for your debut album as well?
We don’t necessarily mind it but it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. we have a drummer for one thing! it is kind of lazy i guess but it doesn’t bother us, if it means more people listen to us then people can say what they like! We have some footage of us recording the album. I’m not sure if it will ever see the light of day though! some of it is in the videos that you get when you buy the itunes deluxe version of the record.
I read somewhere that some of the songs off Shallow Bed are almost four years old. Now that you have achieved success, there must be pressure to put out another release sometime soon. With the extensive touring you have done in the past twelve months, I imagine the time you have for songwriting is fairly compressed. So the question is,
a) do you guys feel any pressure to put out another record soon? and
b) are you worried you won’t have enough time to write the songs and let them progress, if you do feel pressure to release a followup?
We can’t wait to get started on a new record. its hard to find the time to work on it with the heavy schedule as you say. We don’t feel pressure from anyone but ourselves with it, really. we’re not trying to meet anyone’s demands but because the songs are so old, we want to make another record, for us!! The time constraint is a funny thing. I think it might benefit us to work quickly, so that we don’t overthink anything. we’ve become better at self-editing too.. so I think we’ll be ok!
Did you get a chance to explore Toronto the last time you played here? If so, any highlights?
We did not get to explore when we were last in town , no! hopefully we’ll have more time on this trip.
You guys are from East London, a previously non touristy area that seems to be gaining a ton of momentum in the past half decade (probably more now with articles like this). How do you feel about that? Was East London an inspiration for your music?
To be honest we are not particularly precious about East London. we’ve been there just a few years, and in those few years, we’ve been away on tour 90% of the time. I don’t think it really influenced us as a band. a lot of places there are quite pretentious, and I personally try and avoid it when I’m home! That said, we have noticed the upturn in its popularity, and I’m not crazy about it! i went on a night out there recently and you couldn’t even get in anywhere! our house is like a little haven from it in a way. once you’re inside you could be anywhere..
Dry The River plays the Garrison tomorrow, September 25.