Sunderland punk-funk tykes The Futureheads have spoken about a new emerging independent culture.
Parting company with their long term home of 679, The Futureheads simply picked themselves up and formed their own label. The band had previously used Nul Records to release their debut single, and returned to it for their album ‘This Is Not The World’.
Self-funded, self-produced and self-released the album was a triumph. Scoring their biggest chart success for some time, The Futureheads celebrated with a typically manic nationwide tour.
Speaking to the BBC, guitarist Ross Millard admitted that ‘This Is Not The World’ was dominated by their recent history.
“I think on the last record the music itself was overshadowed by the back story,” he admitted. “It was almost deemed a comeback and maybe surprised some people that we made a record and released it in that fashion.”
“But now a lot of people are doing that – the time is right for that kind of independent thinking” he argued.
The Futureheads could be right, with more and more bands deciding to simply self-release rather be tied to a label. With Radiohead splitting from EMI and Weezer pondering their independence, the argument has reached some of the biggest acts on both sides of the Atlantic.
“It doesn’t cost the earth to make a record anymore,” the guitarist said. “You’ve got people with laptops in their bedroom making perfectly great-sounding records these days. The costs are down.”
The Futureheads’ new album ‘The Chaos’ is out now.
