Life has changed drastically for Glass Animals since the release of their debut record, ‘Zaba’, earlier this year.
Long gone are the days when the band sat in their secret shed-cum-practise room honing their dripping indie sound. Now, they worry about the size of the palm trees they’re supplied for shows.
“There has been an amount of chaos on this tour,” frontman Dave Bayley explains. “Simple things. Nothing has gone wrong – things have just been strange.”
Their manager has just raced out to replace the in-ear monitors that nobody can find, and a few nights ago they arrived at a venue expecting some sizable foliage for their show and, instead, came across, “like eight, really f*cking small palm trees. Instead of being like eight foot, they got like eight-inch ones. I’m not complaining though, it was funny.” The smile that warms Bayley’s voice supports his seeing of the brighter side to a very Spinal Tap situation.
Having known his three bandmates – Drew MacFarlane, Joe Seaward and Edmund Irwin-Singer – since their school years, Bayley believes that formative time together has helped to streamline the creative process.
“I think we know what everyone is going to say about ideas that we have. There’s a level of openness, because we’ve known each other for so long. If we don’t like something someone has done, we will just say. No one gets pissed off about it anymore, so it helps us to refine bad ideas quickly and makes the process more truncated, I suppose.”
– – –
Glass Animals, ‘Hazey’
– – –
When recording ‘Zaba’, the Oxford quartet had two simple goals. The first was to make a record they enjoyed. While that may seem a turgid point, Bayley is quick to stress bands can be rushed to release if they garner media hype and that was something Glass Animals wished to avoid. They took cautionary steps choosing a label, management and a recording studio: a mindset that Bayley is quick to cite as their biggest lesson to date.
“You’ve got to trust your gut instinct,” he says. “That mantra applies to so many things, and you have to learn to follow it without trying to over analyse everything.”
Their second goal was to release a coherent record that boasted a fluidity some modern, single-orientated LPs lack. “You put ‘The Dark Side Of The Moon’ on and 45 minutes later you get chucked out the other side. I think the album has been neglected a bit. Single culture is huge and has been growing for a while, but I do think there are artists returning to the album.”
“Personally, it’s an art form that I really appreciate and want to work at,” he continues. “When you can, achieve both – get the hit singles and a fully formed record, then you’ve really done something special. When the record becomes bigger than the sum of its parts, and it’s more valuable as a whole, that’s when you know you’ve hit a home run.”
– – –
Photo: Liam Cushing
All we want as a band is to make something of interest, something that will evoke thought…
– – –
Since its release, ‘Zaba’ has collected considerable praise, notably for its jungle-centric theme. Bayley admits he drew influence from films and reading material: Heart Of Darkness, The African Queen, The Mosquito Coast and The Island Of Doctor Moreau are all referenced in a loving tone. All of these influences, at their core, deal with themes of exploration into the unknown – and while that accounts for the concept of the record, I suspect the ideology runs a little deeper.
“It is hard writing about your own experiences,” Bayley confirms. “That’s why a lot of songs on the album are, lyrically, quite cryptic and abstract. I think I’m slowly getting over it, so some new stuff might be more tangible and raw, and obvious in a way. I disguised everything that was personal to me on that record.”
It’s clear that ‘Zaba’ is a valuable document for Bayley and his bandmates, but when I ask what he hopes the public take away from the album, he has to pause and think. While his previous answers have flowed quite naturally, he seems to construct this answer before letting it past his lips.
“I hope they at least find it interesting,” he says, stressing the last word. “All we want as a band is to make something of interest, something that will evoke thought. I guess if others find the record intriguing then that’s great, that’s what we really want.”
Touring is often touted as the dream job, with many starry-eyed youths dreaming of a way into the business. And while life on the road can be calamitous, crammed and downright boring, Bayley isn’t out to crush any dreams.
“It’s been a huge change in our lives, and something we’ve had to adapt to quite quickly,” he says. “I haven’t been home in two months, but it certainly isn’t a change for the worse. We are all really enjoying it. When you get to go on holiday with your three closest friends, that’s something. We’ve just been on the dream American road trip together and somehow our job allowed us to do it, there’s no way I can complain about that.”
– – –
Glass Animals, ‘Gooey’
– – –
The four-piece isn’t destined for Oxford anytime soon. Instead, they’ve got plenty more tour dates to tick off before they can think of returning home, or another album. Regarding a second LP, Bayley assures me that thoughts are turning to a sequel to ‘Zaba’.
“Things are always ticking over,” he says – creativity is a hard thing to stifle once it’s been nurtured, after all. “The ideas never stop – there’s no off button. But, having said that, there are no concrete plans yet. We have a lot of touring to do. When we do get to do another record, though, it should be quite quick, as ‘Zaba’ was a relatively straightforward process. There was a lot of pre-studio preparation, but once that was sorted the actual recording was painless.”
As has been Glass Animals’ transition from underground act of potential to a band big enough to pack London’s Oval Space with a sold-out crowd. The flora looks up to scratch, too. Perhaps the chaos is, just about, beginning to take a back seat.
– – –
Words: Sam Grant Briggs
‘Zaba’ (review) is out now, as is Glass Animals’ new remix EP, ‘Hazey’. Find the band online here, and see them live in 2015:
March
3rd – Academy 2, Oxford
4th – Belgrave Music Hall, Leeds
5th – Gorilla, Manchester
6th – Riverside, Newcastle
7th – Electric Circus, Edinburgh
9th – Concorde 2, Brighton
10th – Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
11th – Moles, Bath
12th – Buffalo Bar, Cardiff
14th – Academy, Dublin
Buy Clash Magazine
Get Clash on your mobile, for free: iPhone / Android