Seasefire Interview

Last month Grammy Award winning Producer Rik Simpson tweeted ‘’ I properly love (Falling) this song...’’ The music of Seasfire is certainly far reaching and gathering support from within their musicians community; alongside continued requests to return (twice already in a few months) to perform live by the BBC Maida Vale Studios. This notable appreciation, at first glance appears to warn the ears, for a band so new. However, remove that cynicism swiftly because what we actually find is a group that has authentically been developing a sound via tours with Bastille, King Charles, The Neighbourhood and gigs at both Reading and Leeds festivals (2012) via the BBC Introducing Stage. A band with further consistent support from their musical elders that are Huw Stephens (Radio 1) and Steve Lamacq (6Music) ;alongside lending Lana Del Ray their Remixing abilities. What must be known too, is that Seasfire as songwriters and musicians have the ability to create music that is all consuming for the body’s senses .
Front man Josh Thorn has plenty to say.

Hi Josh, This time last year the band were described as having "the general feeling of hopelessness in unemployment, and dreaming of escape" that depth of feeling was a signal to the sort of writing we could expect from the band and indeed you produced songs throughout the year that are filled with stories - So what is the band feeling/thinking at the start of 2013 so far?

Similar things, I think. A new year always brings fresh hope and optimism and thankfully that hasn’t died out yet. But we are still dreaming of escape - escape in terms of branching out, achieving things we want to in music, meeting and collaborating with other people. Collectively we are very ambitious. I think the important thing is that we are happier with where we are now compared to last year. It is still very early days for us, but we are becoming more comfortable with how our sound is developing and we have started to build a small fan base. That is rewarding.

Collaborations can happen/work for different reasons, so who is on your Wish List to collaborate with and why?

Well, in a dream world we would love to work with ASAP Rocky or Kendrick Lamar, definitely Abel Tesfaye (The Weekend). But I can’t see those happening in the near future! Maybe one day. I suppose different producers are more realistic for us right now. Jacknife Lee, who produced the second and third Bloc Party records is high on the list! Also Rik Simpson, who has worked with Coldplay and Jay-Z, tweeted us saying he loves our song Falling. So you never know who we might meet or work with this year.

Simon LeBon has previously talked about Duran Duran's music being deliberately the opposite and glamorous, as a response to the melancholy feelings of their time and the politics ; represented via their lyrics and style -How much of Seasfire's music and aesthetic is influenced in the same way?

I certainly don’t see us as an antidote, certainly not in our current form. And certainly not politically, that is not our domain. Maybe in the future. But I am more inclined to say that our style, or aesthetic as you put it, is influenced by a sense of desolation. We don’t think we have an image, and we didn’t set out to have one - in fact we consciously made a decision not to. But in a way, I suppose ironically, we’ve created a look that people recognise as ours. An image without an image, if that makes sense? Our aim was to make sure we didn’t have anything that detracted from the music or lyrics. That begun at our first few gigs, but to be honest it was pretty much how we dressed anyway. Black is the new black and all that...

What has been influencing the band (or you specifically) in terms of your visual style and why?
We are always influenced by bands we look up to and most of those don’t worry too much about how they look. I don’t have a problem with musicians being elaborate in the way they express themselves, as I often think it can compliment the music, as long as it’s not a gimmick. But it’s not for us. That’s quite a boring answer, sorry. Although in our videos things are slightly different and we have tried, on a limited budget, to channel Anton Corbijn, Yoann Lemoine (Woodkid) and some Solve Sundsbo. On a personal level I love the urbanity of Bradley Soileau.

That's a very specific (and knowing) list of Fashion & Music Photographers, so which other Photographers work do you admire and would like to work with?

If I find an image I really like, I’ll try and find out who it was taken by but other than that I’m not too aware of many photographers if I’m honest. That’s how I came across Solve Sundsbo, but also Mario Testino and Sam-Taylor Wood. As for Anton Corbijn and Woodkid, their videos are just consistently brilliant, Woodkid especially. “Iron” and his latest video “I Love You” are insane. But I recently discovered the work of Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, so maybe working with those guys would be fun - it would depend if they fancied directing a music video!

Which have been your favourite gigs to play?
Reading always springs to mind - both the festival and a show we did at Sub 89. We met a lot of great people afterwards. But also SWN Festival in Cardiff was crazy and our first headline show in Bristol at The Louisiana - there have been many highlights. Also, although not a gig, when we went to Abbey Road to record a session for The Mahogany Blog, that was probably the greatest day ever. Without a doubt that was the greatest venue.

How do you envisage the presentations of your live shows as the year progresses?
Well we are beginning to become more comfortable playing live, so I’m sure our presentation will develop naturally. Things are still on a small scale for us, but I would love to be able to incorporate visuals. I’ll be honest, this isn’t something I have given great thought to because everything has been about the songs so far. If we were in a position to experiment with different ideas live then it would not be something we would do lightly. It would have to have some kind of significance.

Tell me a little more about the song writing process for the band...
At the moment things normally develop from a piano idea that Joe creates. He will then share it with the rest of us and see what we make of it and can add. So beats, guitar lines, synths, bass - it’ll all get layered until the basis of a song is there. From there we refine the structure and arrangement before starting on lyrics. Normally someone will have an idea of what they want the song to be about and we will all see where we can take it. It is a very open process. And of course it rarely happens as seamlessly as I’ve just described.

What have been your favourite moments from 2012?
Abbey Road, Reading and Leeds, visiting Maida Vale a couple of times and shooting our latest video. Gigs wise touring with Bastille and supporting The Neighbourhood. For me one of the most surreal was when we played Cardiff and it was so rammed people were watching through windows because they couldn’t get in. Or when we sold out The Louisiana in Bristol, I still can’t really believe we sold out a show, it’s absurd.

And what can we expect from you in 2013?
We’ve spent a little while writing and developing some new songs that we are now playing live. We hope to make those available for everyone to hear fairly soon. We want to gig as much as possible, ideally do a couple of support tours. We’re also planning on releasing another single at some point, but I have no idea what that will be yet or when it would come out. Then come the summer, we want to play as many festivals as will have us. We want as many people as possible to hear about SEASFIRE and to come and see what they think of us live.
Thanks so much Josh speak soon.

No, thank you, it’s been a pleasure.

'Falling' single now available on limited edition 7" vinyl in Rough Trade: