Hello, hello. It’s a while since we’ve had an interview to share over here at Picky Bastards, so it’s particularly exciting to be returning to the format by chatting to the band which took down on our Album of the Year spot on the podcast last year. You can listen to that podcast if you want to hear more about what we think of the band and the debut album, but, most importantly, make sure you stick their album on now and spend some time reading this very enjoyable conversation…
Fran: I’ll go straight on to talking about Post-Industrial Hometown Blues. It was our podcast album of the year and my personal album of the year last year, so you’ve definitely got some fans here at Picky Bs. But I was really taken by surprise by the album and, as much as I love it, I don’t know how to describe it. So, I’d love to know how you describe the album. And also, please tell me a bit about how you’ve found the reaction to the album since release?
Joe: Well, we don’t describe the album because we don’t know what the fuck to say about it either! Which we’re glad for in a way – we don’t know exactly what it is, but maybe that’s a good thing.
But yeah, the response has been unreal. We’ve been trying to do this for so long, so it felt like the culmination of years and years of work and uncertainty – so for it to have come out and for it to have resonated with people like yourself, for it to mean something to people, well that’s just class. That’s the hope, isn’t it?
Cal: Yeah, it’s really affirming for us honestly. This is a first step into a proper music career really, and we’ve been trying for so long, so to actually get it across and for it to be this album, this thing that we’ve worked on together as best mates for so long, it’s really fucking life-affirming man. I think we’ve finally grown a bit of confidence off the back of it, too. We actually believe people want to listen to it, which is a nice feeling.
Fran: That’s really good to hear! And I’m interested in what you say about how long you’ve been at it, as you seemed to come out of nowhere to me. So how long have you been going? I get the sense some of these songs have been borne out of poems you’d written previously and that kind of thing, but how long has it taken to get to where you are?
Joe: Well, this band came together in lockdown – so that’s when we first started thinking about this and writing things down together. So there was a good few years playing and getting it all together.
But we’ve been doing music for sixteen years now – we had bands together back in the day. Cal’s been in another couple of bands, too, and I’ve been in other bands – and I did a bunch of solo stuff. So we’ve been cracking on for a long time, while working and everything, and it’s only these last couple of years that I’ve got anywhere really.
Cal: It’s the first time anyone has ever really given a shit about anything we’ve written, so it’s been a bit of a learning curve to be honest. It’s been a long journey.
But I think as this band, well we wrote the album in lockdown – we gigged for the first time in 2022 as we couldn’t do any shows for 2 years. So it was a bit reserve-constructed in a way, like we knew what we wanted and what we were before we even got out on the road. I think that had a really massive impact on us as musicians – the only thing we could do as a band was just to keep creating, keep writing, and keep digging into what we wanted this to be. So by the time we came out of lockdown we were in a really good position because we knew the band inside out by the time we got on stage.
And then we got on stage and started gigging and it just developed even further.
Fran: So what do you think is the difference between this one and what you did before? What’s cracked this one over everything else?
Joe: It’s made everything else feel like stepping stones, I think. We’ve acquired experience. And for me, I’ve always struggled with confidence so I’d just stick to what I’d already done and invested time into. And all that kind of went away in lockdown and I felt like I could just start again, I had a feeling like I could just do the spoken word stuff and be a bit more free while performing by not having an instrument and just focusing on the vocals.
And I’ve always tried to be honest with my music, but I just found the tools and what Big Special give back. I just really felt like I’d found what I was supposed to be doing. I felt like I’d got rid of my insecurities about making music and adjusted my philosophies about that kind of thing.
And we’re doing our thing, now. We’ve carved our line.
Cal: I think it was coming back together, as well. I mean, we’d both reached the point of just being totally dissatisfied with what we were doing musically.
Joe had been an acoustic artist for like 10/15 years – this guy here’s like the Bob Dylan of Walsall, I’m telling you. And by the time we started the band I was doing weddings and stuff, doing Marvin Gaye covers on the weekend and that. Creatively, we just both at the end of our tether with what we were doing.
So having that break, having that lockdown – just having time handed us to us to just try whatever the fuck we wanted to, do what we want, there being no reason not to do that…
Joe: I had a big period of bitterness first, though – thinking ‘they’ll shut the bloody world down before they’ll allow us to do music.’
But yeah, it came from that – I was bitter as fuck, like. I didn’t play music for a few months. And then just went back to writing poems and stuff, and I suppose it did all come from that in a way.
Fran: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense when you hear the music I think. Okay, then – well, from that, from playing weddings and not playing music at all, you’re about to go on tour with The Pixies (note – this interview was recorded prior to the now ongoing tour). And I saw you at Deaf Institute in Manchester on your tour last year. And now you’re gonna be playing the likes of the Apollo and a lot of huge, amazing venues. How are you feeling in the build up to that?
Cal: Well first of all, that Deaf Institute gig – whenever anyone asks us what our favourite gig of all time is – it’s always that one. That was one of the most amazing shows ever, man.
Fran: Oh, really? That means I was on the front row of your favourite gig ever, that’s good to hear..
Cal: It was one of them shows, mate – it was in May, the first headline tour for the album and I remember looking at Joe sitting down on the stage and thinking ‘fucking hell, people are singing, people are caring…’
Joe: yeah, they were singing the lyrics back to us weren’t they…
Fran: You could see the emotion on your faces, I’m not gonna lie. It was quite obvious you were enjoying it, but it’s really nice to hear that it was up there with your best.
Joe: Yeah, that gig was when it was like ‘fuck, this is it. We’re a proper band now. This feels real.’ It was at that gig.
Fran: Well, that’s great to hear. So how does it feel then, going from that, and from the weddings, to touring big venues with a legendary band like The Pixies?
Joe: Buzzing, to be honest. Being a support act is kind of like there’s a lot of pressure off. It’s more the social anxiety of going about with The Pixies that’s hard, but we’ll be trying to fish a few of their fans in our net. It’s nice doing support stuff.
We did a few shows with The Pixies last year in the EU and it was dead nervewracking, but then it’s almost too cool a thing to be too nervous about. It’s the fucking Pixies, man.
Cal: And I think that if you like The Pixies, even though we’re a different sound, a different genre, there’s a good crossover you know. They have open-minded, proper music fans.
We did Prague, Helsinki, and Luxembourg with them last year – which was really random, but really fun. But it feels ever better to be back in The UK with them, because all my friends are Pixies fans and we’re coming back to the UK and doing legendary venues that we’ve always wanted to play at.
There’s a little bit of nerves, as usual – there’s always nerves when you’re going on stage. But like Joe, says – these are the easy gigs are support gigs. People are there to see The Pixies and the worst that can happen is they don’t really like you.
When it’s your own gig, people have paid money to see you and the pressure’s on – but this is relatively pressure free. And at the end of the gig we get to take the gear off stage, have a pint, and watch the fucking Pixies every night. You can’t complain when you get the see the best band in the world. Really excited for it.
Fran: Amazing. Right, well I just have one more question for you really. So I’d say the debut was really distinctive, quite unique, so it feels hard to kind of predict what you’re gonna do next. Are you at that stage in your thinking yet? Is there anything you can tell us?
Joe: Ah, we’re well ahead of you mate. We’re well ahead of you.
We’ve been doing a lot. We were a bit quiet in Jan and Feb so we planned to do a lot of jamming and writing, so we’ve been on it, brother.
Fran: So you’re not gonna be one of those bands that comes with an amazing debut and ten years later we get the follow up…
Joe: Na, that’s not in us mate. We were talking about the other day, actually – we move on from things quite quickly in our heads and that. So if we take too much time we would probably lose a lot of stuff that we wanted to have put out there at some point.
Cal: Yeah, and this is the only chance we’re gonna get. We treat everything like it’s the big thing and it’s never gonna happen again, so we want to get cracking on the next thing. And we’ve got some bits coming, we’re working on stuff.
But we’re quite picky, that’s the only thing, we’re picky geezers – we’ve done a lot of writing, but we’ve got to make a bit of plan and figure out when we’re happy with stuff.
But I wanna be a band like Big Club or King Wizzard, I’d love to put out a couple of albums a year…
Fran: I’d argue King Gizzard put out too many albums – give us a chance to get through one before the other comes out…
Cal: And that’s the hard thing in a way. We had all the time in the world for the first album, but we’re just gigging and touring so much now that you don’t really get that much chance to say ‘you know what, we’re gonna take two months off now in the studio.’
We’ve got some time planned, though. They’ll be some magic on the way, fingers crossed.
Fran: Well, brilliant – I’ll forward to it. Best of luck with it.
Cal: Cheers, man.
Fran: And I’ll see you at Deer Shed Festival, too, if you’re wandering around.
Joe: Ah, nice one man. Looking forward to that.
Well, what a privilege that was – one of my favourite things about doing Picky Bastards is getting to interact with the people who make the music I love, so it doesn’t get much better than talking to the band who made your most recent album of the year! Thanks again for talking to us, Joe and Cal. And if anyone reading this hasn’t listened to the boys yet, then make sure you do.
Interview by Fran Slater
Picky Bastards 