Youthmovies – ClashMusic.com Q&A

Oxford experimentalists reveal their 'Polyp' EP

Oxford five-piece Youthmovies have skirted the fringes of the mainstream for some years, their inventive post-rock (meets proggy overtones and punk-informed passages) always close to the commercial zeitgeist without ever truly impacting upon audiences en masse.

As a result, as their peers have blossomed – Foals being the most recent Youthmovies-related act to break through – Youthmovies have accumulated critical adulation and rabid reverence amongst a small section of the discerning gig-going market; they’ve remained free to experiment, to move at their own pace.

This week sees the release of a rather special EP, ‘Polyp’; it comes (relatively) hot on the heels of the band’s debut album of earlier this year, ‘Good Nature’. Featuring tracks that spark and fizz with an instantaneousness infrequent on their LP, it’s a wonderful snapshot of where these five heads are at right now – dizzy of twists and dashing of charm.

Guitarist Al English – the band is completed by Andrew Mears (vocals, guitar), Stephen Hammond (bass), Graeme Murray (drums) and Samuel Scott (trumpet) – answered Clash’s timely questions…

“The album tour was nearly the end of us…”

‘Polyp’ marks quite the turnaround – an album and an EP in the same year. The result of a streak of productivity, or was the album released later than anticipated, so the EP tracks were already taking shape?

Well we’re certainly not planning to leave years between releases ever again. (There was a gap of four years between ‘Good Nature’ and 2004’s almost-full-length EP, ‘Hurrah! Another Year…’ – Ed.) But yeah, ‘Good Nature’ was finished by Summer 2007, so there was a wait until its eventual release in March 2008. We worked very quickly on the ‘Polyp’ EP though, much faster than on any previous release. So it was definitely a productive time.

Is the EP intended as a sort of stop-gap between albums one and two, suggesting album two will be out sooner rather than later, or is it absolutely its own thing, intended not as a collection of ‘spare parts’ but a coherent piece of work?

Each track on the EP was written or put together specifically for this record and we worked hard to make the songs segue and flow, so we definitely intended for this to be viewed as a stand-alone release. A lot of thought went into the slightly more low-key/stripped back/pared-down feel of the EP as a whole, so we’d be sad to see it viewed as collection of bits and pieces.

The EP seems, from the first few listens, more immediate to the newcomer than ‘Good Nature’, like some of the more ‘avant’ tendencies have been refined, I guess… if you know what I mean. It sounds more accessible, anyway – something that was quite intentional after ‘Good Nature’ and its more head-spinning arrangements?

It wasn’t a conscious decision by any means. Not that we’d have any issues discussing it if that had been the case though! We talk about trying to make things more pop all the time.

I think it sounds the way it does because it was written and recorded in a very different way to ‘Good Nature’. There was no long gestation period. No months of writing and re-writing. No arguments and over-thinking things. It was super-relaxed and off the cuff and pretty indicative of how we want to approach things in future.

I have always kinda preferred the more spontaneous and unplanned stuff that we’ve done over the years: ‘Honey Slides’ (EP with Adam Gnade), Vertical Montanas (side project with members of Jonquil), the improv sets (as seen at the Leeds Festival among others, one time featuring Saul Williams), et cetera.

One thing that was discussed I guess was the vague notion of wanting to set ourselves up to do whatever the fuck we felt like doing for the next record. So there could be no second-guessing, no natural progression in people’s minds. ‘Good Nature’ felt like the culmination of what had come before it, like we were building up to making that record all along. Now that’s done, we’re gonna start over again…

You’re touring in November, after a relatively quiet period for the band on that front – a few festivals aside you’ve not been out much. Because you were working on the EP, or did the band simply need a break? It wasn’t so long ago you were playing loads…

We needed a break. We didn’t hang out or rehearse or do anything band related for a good few months. The album tour was nearly the end of us. We all felt that if we didn’t walk away at that point then there wouldn’t be a band anymore. So many things needed to change. So we went off and got on with our lives, moved houses, got jobs, put Youthmovies to the back of our minds and concentrated on getting our shit together.

It was 100 per cent the right thing to do as now we feel stronger and so much more clear on what is important to us than we ever have done before. I don’t think we’ll be touring the UK again any time soon after November is done.

Although I’d argue there’s a greater accessibility about ‘Polyp’, the songs aren’t without their multiple facets (limbs, if you play up to the title I guess) – I love the ending to ‘Magic Diamond’ (and the title track) for example. Is this expansive sound something you’ll look to explore more in the future?

Who knows?! We never fully know what we’re doing from one record to the next. There’s definitely some stuff we tried on this record which we’d never done before that felt successful to us, so I’m sure ideas will carry over.

Having said that, we do have some very distinct plans for the next record.

You’re working with contributors on ‘Polyp’, too, including (American spoken-word artist and author) Adam Gnade again, on ‘Sad Trash’. How did your friendship with Adam first come about? Are there artists you’d like to work with in the future?

It’s funny that you should mention that actually as I’ve been contacting people this week with a view to collaborations for the next album. No one I can mention yet, but yeah, we’re certainly looking to work with some new people in the near future.

Our friendship with Adam first came about through Drowned in Sound (music website and Youthmovies’ previous label). I think DiS were trying to help him tour here and the idea was floated that we take him out with us and maybe be his backing band too. Obviously it didn’t quite work out like that, but as soon as I’d heard (Adam’s album) ‘Run Hide Retreat Surrender’ I wanted to do whatever I could, in any capacity. That record absolutely blew my mind. Still does.

Once the tour was sorted we had one day off scheduled. So I actually booked us into a studio in Oxford on that day without speaking to Adam, in the hope that once we’d met him he’d be up for doing something with us. Anyhow, he was and we wrote, recorded and mixed the first two tracks from the ‘Honey Slides’ EP on that one day.

Now of course we’re the best of friends and I’m putting out his new album ‘Trailerparks’ in the near future. (Al co-runs the Try Harder label – Ed.) Last tour we broke his ribs, put cigarettes out on him and sent him to hospital in an ambulance. So I’m excited to see what happens this time around. He’s coming to stay with me for a while before tour so I hope he’s got some good fancy dress ideas for Release The Bats (reviewed)…

You’ve a remix on the EP (Jonquil’s Hugo Manuel re-works ‘Magdalen Bridge’, although the song is also performed by Jonquil as well as Youthmovies), and have had material remixed in the past too – is it easy for you to give over songs for this purpose, or are you very particular about who toys with your work? Do you fancy doing remixing yourself?

Nah, we always have people in mind, but we’re not precious about it. There’s only so many people you can ask to remix you for free anyhow!

With this record we always wanted Hugo to do a remix and when he chose ‘Magdalen Bridge’ we were right chuffed! People’s confusion over who ‘owns’ that song really tickles us and so the fact that there’s another version out there that involves both bands is a total winner in our eyes.

“We’re currently in a better place than we ever have been before…”

Hamm and Andrew do remixes from time to time.

The November dates see you supported by a host of up-and-comers – give us the lowdown on three that you’re looking forward to playing with.

Getting the nepotism out of the way first, Larsen B are a band from London with huge hooks and amazing vocal melodies. ‘Timeless, classy pop’. I’m biased obviously, but I think they’re hugely talented and we’re all massive fans.

Colour are my favourite of the Kingston bands. The first time I heard their song ‘Chutes’ it put such a big smile on my face. I feel like they’re coming from a similar place to us and I’m really looking forward to seeing them play.

You Animals rose from the ashes of Komakino and so have been friends of ours for years now. Every song in their set could be a single – they’re so well put together. There’s nothing that shouldn’t be there. Absolute pop gems.

Your album was released by DiS, but you were subsequently dropped – have you learned from that experience and has it made you a stronger band as a result?

DiS enabled us to make the album we wanted to make in the way we wanted to make it. We were able to record for an entire month and that was an amazing experience. I will always be grateful to them for that. They also introduced us to some wonderful people that we’re still working with. For that I’m thankful too. I should also point out that Debbie Gwyther, who worked on our record at DiS, is an amazing person and that we were lucky to have her.

What I can say is that we’re currently in a better place than we ever have been before (mentally – I’m definitely not talking about financially!) and that they made things easy for us in a business/legal capacity when they dropped us. They were very kind actually.

So recording was good and being dropped was good. The bit in-between I’d rather not talk about.

Band members are a bit spread out now, right, despite your Oxford roots? Who is where, and how’s it effect writing and rehearsing?

Andrew and Graeme live in Oxford still, with Sam about 10 miles away in Wantage. Hamm recently moved to Liverpool and I now live in north London.

As far as writing and rehearsing go, I’ll have to tell you in six months! Aside from putting the EP together in a matter of days, we haven’t rehearsed in months…

We have a plan though and change was the only way we were going to keep the band together, so we’re happy with our situation.

What are your plans, if any at the moment, for 2009?

Well, we just signed a deal in Japan and it’s looking increasingly likely that ‘Good Nature’ is getting a release in Europe and the US too… So more than anything we’re hoping to get out of the country in

2009.

Unless something comes up we’re not planning to tour the UK again until the next album is finished. We start work on the new album in January and hope to have it out before the end of the year.

There’s been a lot of talk amongst ourselves about exactly what it is that we’re going to do next musically and I for one am excited. We’ve never been short of ideas but we have some pretty big ambition this time around.

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The ‘Polyp’ EP is out now on Blast First Petite; ‘Good Nature’ is out now on DiS. Catch Youthmovies on tour from later this week, as follows (all dates with Adam Gnade as well as others – check MySpace for details)…

November (TICKETS)

6 London Water Rats

7 Brighton Freebutt

8 Kingston Fighting Cocks

9 Norwich Queen Charlotte

10 Cambridge Portland Arms

11 Birmingham Bar Academy

12 Bristol Cooler

13 Oxford Academy

14 Derby The Royal

15 Leeds Cockpit

16 Coventry Taylor John’s House

17 Sheffield Fusion

18 Manchester Night & Day

19 Liverpool Barfly Loft

20 Glasgow King Tut’s

21 Edinburgh Cabaret Voltaire

22 Carlisle Brickyard

‘Polyp’ is a previous Track of the Day – click HERE for a listen!

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