On the second night of their current debut headline UK tour deadletter played Glasgow’s The Flying Duck. The 6-piece are beginning to cause quite a stir, so I grabbed the opportunity to speak to Zac (singer), George (bassist) and Alfie (drummer) before the gig to find out just how life is treating deadletter. Along with Poppy (saxophone), Will (guitar) and James (guitar) introductions were completed and thanks conveyed, and as an opener I asked about their photo shoot in Paris for the luxury fashion house Celine.
Just as way of introduction, it was quite a surprise to see you do a photo shoot for Celine. How did that come about?
A few years ago Hedi Slimane (Creative Director and photographer for Celine) saw us play in one of our previous bands and he took some snaps and published them online. Then a few months back we got asked to go to his studio for the day to take some photos. I think he collects photos of up and coming bands. And then we got the offer to play the aftershow party after the Celine show from him. We weren’t really sure what we were in for, but we got treated really nicely in Paris for the day. These guys (George and Alfie) turned up at the Gare du Nord and were met by a guy with an ipad with a deadletter sign in his hands! That’s how it came about, he just asked us and we thought we’d go and do it and see what it’s about.
I looked back at the release dates of your first couple of singles (‘Good Old Days‘ and ‘Fit For Work‘) and they were in 2020. That was a tough time to start making music, being in a band during lockdown. How did the six of you get together?
We actually did it before Covid. And those first songs that came out were recorded before Covid. I think they came out two weeks before, so they came out at the start of it all. But also it wasn’t the six of us at that time. We were sort of in between members. It was us four, with Will. At that point there wasn’t even a saxophone player as a permanent member of the band. We got a lad in to record the ‘Fit for Work‘ session and we weren’t really aware of the fact that the sax would then become such an integral part of the live show. The six of us have been playing together now for almost a year. And this line-up in itself has kind of stuck, and it definitely works, well it’s not broken!
Us three (Zac, Alfie and George) have recently hit the 10-year mark of playing music together. So it’s not like it all came together at the Covid time. What I would say is that what the pandemic really helped with us with was to take a bit of time to refine our sound, and get to grips and come to terms of what we were because before that we were playing gigs at such a regular rate that we’d write a song in a rehearsal and play it the next day and that kept happening over the course of about three years. I think when the pandemic hit because we were focusing on a set list of songs, I think when you are only focusing on the songs because you’ve got such limited time to get to rehearse those songs it then means you have a bit more structure to what you’re actually doing. It was nice to have the music but it was not nice because it was frustrating, but it worked well. We could put out our music but people couldn’t come and see that song the next day, whereas we were playing four gigs a week at that point in the same city, it was a little bit of an illusion where people could make their own minds up before they could actually come and see it.
Nice Swan manage to have this knack of finding quality bands early in their career. How did you come to attention of Nice Swan?
I’m not really sure, I think one of them was maybe at one of our shows last August, oh and the producer Theo Verny who regularly works with Nice Swan, I assume we maybe caught their attention when we recorded a few singles with him. They contacted us and Dan our manager had known them previously, and they contacted us and asked if they could put a single out so we did that with them (‘Pop Culture Connoisseur‘ / ‘Hero‘ ). We just did the one single with them and we’re on So Recordings now.
With your music, your lyrics are very opiniated and they are wrapped up in this post-punk/ saxophone sound. How do you create your songs? Who writes the lyrics?
I write the lyrics (Zac). We don’t ever write a body of music and then I go and write a load of lyrics for it. I just write lyrics and it usually comes together in a room. Typically its Alfie and George who will start playing something, the drums and the bass, and then I will flick through the lyric book and find a set of lyrics that could go to it. The stories are already there, they are then added to the bass and the drums. It’s never thematic from the get-go. Sometimes it might be guitar, sometimes it might be a sax line, whatever it might be and the lyrics are put over that. The story is never told from the moment we all get in the room.
Could you talk a bit about the current single is ‘Binge‘? Would I be right in thinking it’s a play on words of “Lifes a bitch“?
It actually isn’t! I realised after that a lot of people were mouthing back “Lifes a bitch” at us while we were playing it! It was completely unintentional. Maybe subconsciously I’d heard “Life’s a bitch” and felt that “Life’s a binge” worked but it’s not deliberate. It’s nice to hear it on the radio though, because at the same time if I didn’t know I would just think that you’re saying the word “bitch” and it’s great that that can actually slip though the net. People might get offended and that would be fucking fantastic! It’s like in the song ‘Time‘ by David Bowie there is a line: “Falls wanking to the floor” He went on an American show and sang “Falls swanking” so no-one would realise he was saying “Falls wanking” so he got that one through the net on live American TV! ‘Binge‘ is a reflection on humanity and the fact that you hear the word binge and you might associate it with a specific thing you jump too upon hearing it but actually bingeing is everywhere it’s in everyday life, it’s in everybody’s everyday life. It doesn’t necessarily mean I ‘m talking about alcoholism or over-eating, or anything like that. You’ll find in every human being there is something that they do to an extent which could be called bingeing. I just find that really interesting.
Because it has a negative connotation, but it could be positive……
It may not even be necessarily positive or negative its just circumstantial and it’s just the way things are. You go to church every Sunday, that’s bingeing, that’s an obsession, a fixation.
So you’ve just started your first headline tour. How is it going so far? Second day!
Newcastle was awesome, so good. First time there, great support and great crowd.
What I think is really cool live is that you don’t talk a lot to the crowd but your performance manages to generate a moshpit, a real energy which is fantastic to see as its very natural. It says a lot about the music and the songs. There is an intensity particularly in your performance Zac.
I wanted to ask briefly about The Great Escape in Brighton and being filmed on the BBC Introducing stage, being introduced onstage by Steve Lamacq, and it was filmed. How was it? Were there any nerves beforehand?
It’s not necessarily a case of “oh shit we’re playing for the BBC we need to do everything differently“. Every night you should play as if you are being scrutinised, I think that’s important. I guess when you are aware of the fact that every slight thing you do is being filmed and recorded it adds that little bit extra anxiety but I think that’s a good thing. That extra bit of tension only leads to good things when you are a performer. Obviously that led to BBC Introducing at Leeds and Reading. There was definitely nerves there. Big field, empty space, as far as the eye could see. What you mean is the potential of an empty space, it wasn’t ACTUALLY an empty space – it was really full! Festivals are quite overwhelming anyway. I imagine you get to certain level where this isn’t such a worry but you are in a place where there is almost always something else going on. It’s not like you are in a venue where you are the only thing going on. Thats where my nerves came from as the general demographic at those festivals in not actually post punk bands and post punk fan so to be going to somewhere we went as kids and thinking “are there going to be any people there?” that’s where the nerves built up. But we had a really fun time. We only had five songs to play there which I think also adds to it. You wait a long time to play for 19 minutes, it’s a lot of energy and anxiety for a very fast quick performance.
Coming out of Covid and with gigs starting up it’s a very saturated scene at the moment with a lot of bands. Are you getting any sense of the best way of generating interest in deadletter?
I think just going up and down the country as many times as you can. Just keep playing everywhere. It’s the gigs – just play. I mean you can go and try to get playlists and all that stuff which is wicked because you get the streams but we’re never going to be an internet band. We are a live band and that’s why people like it. I think the other thing is to not get too bogged down in statistics. At the end of the day we didn’t start to scroll through statistics. The first time we played in Glasgow it was to like, what, not much more than 15 people. The second time it was more like 40 and tonight hopefully it’s more like 50. The more you do it and go back its to more people.
And congratulations on 100 Club being sold out on 28 September!
Thank you, it’s pretty cool, an iconic venue.
Bearing in mind you’re quite early on in the tour, what are things you are most looking forward to and what are the things you are dreading?
Most looking forward to tonight, and dreading tomorrow morning! Actually dreading the 29 September, the day after it all, but it’s ok because we’re going to support Tropical Fuck Storm at Studio 9294. And then at XOYO with Do Nothing the day after that so that will be a nice week. We haven’t played that many shows in London this year so that will be three in four days which will be great. After that back to work, and after that to Europe and Rotterdam for Left of the Dial festival. Really excited about that.
Finally you have announced your Debut EP Heat which will be released on SO Recordings on 18 November. What can we expect from the EP?
It’s our first collection of songs rather than putting out a single here and there. So maybe it’s a bit more revelatory as to who we are. The thing is with a single when you release it on its own its a moment time. With an EP its maybe “this is deadletter“, there are five songs and one of them is ‘Binge‘, and there are four more…….
deadletter continue their UK tour before then supporting Tropical Fuck Storm (30 September at Studio 9294) and playing with Do Nothing (1 October at XOYO) both in London.
Following that will be a trip to Rotterdam for the Left of the Dial festival in October.
New single ‘Weights‘ is released on 28 September and debut EP Heat will be available on 18 November via SO Recordings.
For more information on deadletter please check out their facebook and instagram.
