LY: So how would you sum up what your energy’s about?
LL: For us it’s about creating the atmosphere with the songs. That feeling you get when you’re with your friends on a Friday night getting ready to go out. It’s nostalgic, everything’s working out, nothing else really fucking matters. A space where people can live in the song. That’s what we’re shooting for.

LY: And where does that magic come from?
SK: The emotion we bring when we play.
LL: You can tell when a song has that feeling to it, it’s not technical, it’s just there.
JW: Do you think we’re better live or recorded?
SK: I think as a band you should always be as good as each other. The recording should be great, concise, easy to replicate. You should be able to do it exactly as it is on the record.
L: Listen to this Strokes song man.. It’s so simple, two chords, but it gets the message across and it creates that feeling.

LY: I feel you’re striving for a similar purity.
LL: Yeah strip everything down. People get so lost in five guitar over dubs, a million pedals and distortion.
SK: And we record everything full band to hold onto that energy.

LY: I imagine you play super tight live.
SK: We get so pissed off if its sloppy.
JW: We can be high energy, but always tight.
LL: The song will speak for itself if it’s good enough. Just play the song and let people relate to it.

LY: The best gigs are the ones where from the first note you play, everyone’s just so into it.
SK: Absolutely, having fun and letting loose.

LY: What are you writing about in the songs?
LL: Our song City Boys, is about if we ever go out of town and stop at gas stations in like Pennsylvania, people just look at you funny and can tell you’re not from around there. You’re a city kid.
JW: We’re obsessed with New York.

LY: You have big ambitions?
SK: I just want to raise my children without having to work a job.
JW: I play out of revenge, to make people feel bad about what they’ve done to me over the years, by living better than them.
LL: We all have ambitions and an idea in our minds about where we want to be and what we want to do. But I don’t think we want to define it, you know? Just let the natural course take place, there’s much more freedom that way.

LY: Do you think you’re developing in any different directions?
SK: It’s so different from the beginning, we’re constantly refining. Now we’ve found exactly what we want to do, this year’s just about running with it.
JW: Lucas has a five year game plan, in terms of the dream, he’s focused. And we’ve just turned a corner.

Jasper Clarke captures the energy backstage in a montage of stills and noise

MAN AW13 – backstage stills + audio mashup

TAGGED WITH

Read Next