For the latest instalment of NME's In Conversation series, Lovejoy talk about the meaning behind new single 'Normal People Things', when fans can expect their debut album, potential new music and more.
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MusicTranscript
00:00 There was no executive decision, "I'm going to make this band."
00:02 It was more me and Joe knew what we wanted to make,
00:05 we knew what kind of sounds we wanted to do,
00:07 and we were fortunate enough to run into these two lovely fellas
00:12 and then rinse them in interviews with enemies.
00:15 [laughter]
00:17 [music]
00:19 Hello, I'm Ali, and I'm here with Lovejoy
00:24 for the latest in Enemies in Conversation series.
00:27 How's everyone doing?
00:27 -Good. -Amazing.
00:29 How's tour been?
00:30 Good. Exhausting.
00:33 But very rewarding.
00:34 Exactly. It's the best kind of exhaustion.
00:37 I'd say it's languor.
00:38 Languorous exhaustion.
00:41 Nice. Nice word.
00:43 Thank you.
00:45 And it's been a big year for the band.
00:46 Obviously, the EP came out earlier this year,
00:49 number five in the official album charts,
00:51 big festival slots, obviously massive headline shows.
00:55 How's everything feeling in the band?
00:57 How is everyone?
01:00 Yeah, we're coping.
01:02 It's validating.
01:03 It's incredibly validating to see all our hard work
01:07 come to fruition in a mainstream, traditional sense.
01:12 Fruition, I guess, for us was the moment we finished it.
01:15 But to see it being loved and adored
01:17 as much as we put into it is very validating and rewarding.
01:21 Could you kind of tell that you kind of done
01:23 something special with that record?
01:26 I listen back to it a lot, which is a very good sign.
01:29 I have to revise every now and then.
01:31 You revise? I don't need to revise.
01:33 For me, it's a portrait of a blank slate into
01:36 'Call Me What You Like' is one of my most proud writing
01:40 I've done, I'd say.
01:41 And I think that's echoed by the boys too.
01:45 So, yeah.
01:46 I mean, why do you think that kind of record's
01:47 connected with people in the way that it has done?
01:50 I say how I've always gone into writing and production
01:55 in any creative media is that I've always wanted
01:58 to make something that I think needs to be in the world.
02:02 So, for instance, I've always wanted a kind of punchy,
02:07 like, bass-driven song about, you know,
02:11 not understanding where you fit in the whole
02:14 structure of romance.
02:15 So, it's quite hard to find that exact topic.
02:18 So, I decided to make it myself, you know, with the boys.
02:22 And I think that's why it's connected so well,
02:25 is because I've been honest in my lyrics
02:28 and for what I want to hear.
02:30 Amazing. Have you had any other highlights of the year so far?
02:33 Highlights?
02:34 We played a show in the middle of the desert.
02:37 It's called Pioneer Town.
02:39 It's like big cowboy town.
02:40 It's really cool.
02:41 We got to dress up and all that.
02:42 It's very fun.
02:43 Lollapalooza Chicago for me.
02:46 That was the biggest crowd we've ever had,
02:48 I think, by quite a way.
02:51 And, yeah, it was surreal looking out over, like,
02:54 10 plus thousand people.
02:56 It was crazy.
02:57 10 plus people.
02:58 Yeah.
02:59 It was definitely 10 people.
03:00 I ran out of fingers, so...
03:02 We did a head count.
03:04 Are you kind of getting comfortable
03:06 playing for that many people?
03:08 When you walked out, was it like,
03:09 were you like, "I got it"?
03:10 I was shitting myself, I won't lie.
03:13 The smaller shows, like, the under a thousand cap ones now
03:19 are significantly easier after that.
03:21 But, yeah, they all still make me a little bit nervous,
03:23 I won't lie.
03:23 I don't think I'm ever going to lose that buzz
03:27 before you go on stage.
03:28 And I don't think I ever want to.
03:29 Yeah.
03:30 It's just sometimes it's more overpowering than others.
03:33 Amazing. But you're not slowing down yet, obviously.
03:34 There's a new single, Normal People Things,
03:37 out by the time this interview airs.
03:39 So, yeah, talk to us about where that song's all come from.
03:43 That song's about finding someone who,
03:46 ironically, isn't normal.
03:49 And that rare connection you get where you go,
03:53 "Oh, damn, you're different in a good way."
03:56 What do you want that song to mean to other people?
03:58 Ooh, that's a really good question.
04:00 So this one's hard for me, because like I said,
04:02 all the songs I write are for myself, first and foremost.
04:06 It's a happy medium,
04:09 having the reaction being so positive back.
04:12 I'd say I want people to take from it a dancey, fun,
04:17 exciting rock song that people want to get up
04:20 and join in the movement, I guess, is the takeaway.
04:24 Yeah, it's not the longest song in the world,
04:26 so it's a bit of like an explosion.
04:27 Yeah, absolutely.
04:28 Which we haven't really got in our discography as of yet.
04:31 No.
04:32 It was like two minutes ten, which is very short.
04:36 So we said everything we needed to say.
04:39 Is that the point now where you're writing songs,
04:41 it's like, "Oh, we need to feel this vibe in the set
04:44 or this mood."
04:45 Absolutely not.
04:46 Our writing is always the art first.
04:48 Yeah.
04:49 We write, but the length is just entirely down
04:54 to how long the song needs to be.
04:55 Sure.
04:56 And that song only needed to be two minutes or so.
04:58 If it had more elements I wanted to touch on,
05:01 it would have been longer,
05:02 but I like the simplicity of the subject
05:04 and I like the punchiness and the explosion of the outcome.
05:08 And so coming back to the idea of like,
05:10 what you want people to get from it,
05:11 are you kind of starting to think about that
05:13 a little bit more, or is it still very much quite a self,
05:16 not self-indulgent, but kind of quite a personal endeavor
05:19 before you kind of start thinking about other people?
05:20 Absolutely.
05:21 I don't think we're ever going to get to a stage
05:25 where we're writing for other people.
05:27 I feel like it's always,
05:29 the music has always been about us and our experiences
05:33 and lyrically, especially heavily into my experiences.
05:37 And I like to think that's how it will always be.
05:39 That's how it's been.
05:40 I've been writing songs for going on six, seven years,
05:43 so I hope it stays that way forever.
05:47 Have you been sort of tempted to kind of,
05:49 have you found yourself writing where you're like,
05:50 this isn't how I feel, I'm just kind of writing for...
05:52 Oh, absolutely.
05:54 Yeah, yeah.
05:55 It's hard to bring pen to paper sometimes
05:58 when you're writing, especially if the muse isn't there,
06:00 you haven't got the creative energy in you at that moment,
06:05 but you still want to write.
06:06 That's something, I've actually written a song
06:08 about that exactly, about that feeling of,
06:10 I want to write, but I can't turn my brain on,
06:14 which is quite common for me,
06:16 especially with the stress of being on tour.
06:18 It makes it difficult,
06:19 but it's a new experience we're learning about.
06:22 Yeah, have you found kind of much time to be creative?
06:25 'Cause you've been on the road a lot this year.
06:27 Less than I'd like, less than I'd like,
06:29 but we found time and I'm really happy
06:31 with what we've managed to write on this tour.
06:33 In fact, it's probably one of my favourite batches
06:36 of releases we've done.
06:37 Now, this song, is it a nice way to underline this year
06:40 or is it kind of leading into a new era sort of thing?
06:44 I don't like to cap anything I do.
06:46 Yeah, I like to leave everything open-ended
06:48 as to what's going to come next.
06:50 I hope that it weaves a tapestry
06:52 that is rich and fruitful for everyone.
06:54 Are you thinking debut album now or are you?
06:58 Debut album is something
07:00 that is constantly being thrown around by us.
07:02 I mean, it has to be done.
07:05 It's not an if, it's a when.
07:09 However, the when right now is very undefined.
07:12 Are you finding that the more,
07:14 'cause it feels like an ongoing thing.
07:15 I feel like as soon as you've released the first EP,
07:17 people are like, "So when's the album coming out?"
07:19 And with every EP it's like, "Yay, when's the album coming?"
07:21 Yeah, we've been getting that since 2021
07:23 when we released Are You Alright?
07:25 People were saying, "When's the album?"
07:27 And back then it was, "No, we're not ready.
07:30 "We haven't got our sound."
07:31 Whilst now the answer's a, "Whee!"
07:33 (all laughing)
07:34 Are you kind of, is there a pressure?
07:36 Do you feel kind of going into the album being like,
07:38 "No, not at all.
07:39 "I'm very excited to write it."
07:41 I don't, a pressure, oh.
07:44 - Yeah, we have, Ash was just saying, he doesn't speak.
07:47 (all laughing)
07:49 He only speaks to us.
07:51 But he was saying, you know, we want to do it.
07:53 The desire to create something
07:55 which is a bit more sort of full
07:57 in terms of the body of work
07:59 is always something that we've wanted to individually
08:01 and as a collective, so.
08:03 - I think one of the biggest things I've learned
08:05 on this journey is how EPs are absolutely great
08:09 for finding your sound,
08:11 but they're not so great for telling stories.
08:13 I would love to tell a story in a four-track burst,
08:16 but I feel like each track would be
08:18 about 12 minutes long, I think so.
08:21 So an album where I can itemize my thoughts
08:24 and, you know, put that down into words
08:26 whilst having the boys doing their magic over the top
08:30 is very exciting to me and not stressful at all.
08:33 I won't let pressure get to me in terms of that.
08:36 - I guess kind of looking back, you know,
08:38 when you first started, what were your kind of ambitions
08:40 when you released that first EP?
08:41 - What were your ambitions, Joe?
08:45 Because mine were entirely to create music
08:47 that connects people, makes people want to come out
08:50 and sing along with us live and, you know,
08:53 shout it in their bedrooms as I've been doing
08:55 since I was a little kid.
08:58 How about you?
08:58 - It is similar just to have songs that resonate with people
09:01 that stand the test of time as well.
09:03 But it is also for me personally,
09:07 like to be able to build up to something a little bit bigger
09:11 whether it be that album or "Wake Up and It's Over."
09:14 Like I would never have dreamed that we would create
09:18 "Wake Up and It's Over" in its sonic state
09:22 when we were over, you're right, so.
09:24 - That's the growth.
09:25 - That's the growth and I love to see that.
09:28 - I suppose, although the message to ourselves
09:32 is very important in our music, the takeaway we want,
09:35 I think the volume is more important
09:37 than the message for the takeaway.
09:38 If people come away from listening to our music with,
09:41 yes, I want to play that loud, I want to scream the words,
09:45 they don't even have to know what the words mean
09:46 as long as they get that energy that we're putting into it.
09:49 That's the takeaway I want.
09:51 - I mean, and who were those bands when you were growing up
09:53 that kind of made you want to play music loud
09:55 and shout along?
09:57 - For me, it was always Lost Camp Sceners.
09:59 They've been my favorite band since I was the littlest kid
10:03 and I've followed them all over.
10:06 I've done what the people outside are doing right now,
10:08 queuing to come and see us and it's been,
10:11 yeah, it's very humbling to have that happen back for me.
10:14 Lost Camp Sceners are by far and away
10:16 my biggest inspiration by a huge degree.
10:19 I know Mark cites heavier influences.
10:21 - Yeah, man, yeah, and a thing with a bit of double kicking,
10:24 but my poor parents had to discover that
10:26 from when I was about eight to 10.
10:29 I was discovering metal and turning it really loud
10:31 in my room 'cause it sounded sick and they hated it,
10:34 but yeah, just pulling influences
10:36 from all different parts of music
10:38 is kind of what I think makes our sound kind of unique.
10:40 It's cool.
10:41 - How about you, Joe?
10:43 - I love the Arctic Monkeys, Tudor Cinema Club,
10:45 just like loads of UK, British bands
10:49 in around 2000s, 2010s, I was just listening to it all.
10:52 I think I might've saw someone here, I can't remember who.
10:55 I think it might've been- - I saw Lost Camp Sceners.
10:57 - Yeah, I think I saw a camper here.
10:58 - I got told off for standing up.
10:59 They have the seating area, so I had a seating seat.
11:03 I spent the entire time standing up and shouting the words,
11:05 security kept telling me to sit down.
11:07 I got told to sit down like four times in the end.
11:09 - You've known the bad guys. - Pixies, Files.
11:12 - You've known the- - Yeah.
11:14 - Oh, he knows, he knows.
11:17 - Ash likes his '90s rock going into the late '00s.
11:23 - Yeah, Ash likes his old people music.
11:25 Ash likes his 1920s flapper.
11:28 He's gone really into just percussion on its own.
11:35 A single snare drum being hit at 40 BPM.
11:40 That's his jam right now.
11:45 I think one of my favorite things about Ash
11:46 is that he can't argue with me about.
11:51 He's into something called Goblincore,
11:54 which he's obsessed with.
11:55 - You're obsessed with Goblincore.
11:56 - We can't stop him.
11:58 We can't stop him.
11:59 He's always the one that, "We are the ants."
12:00 He loves that one.
12:01 (all laughing)
12:02 That's his favorite one.
12:04 You can't stop him, every day.
12:06 It's his alarm clock on the bus.
12:08 It's crazy.
12:09 - You mentioned, obviously, the fans outside and stuff.
12:12 And obviously, you would, that when you were younger.
12:14 I mean, what is it about music in general
12:16 that you think inspires that sense of community
12:19 in that sense of like, it's not just turn out to a gig
12:22 and singing along for like an hour and a half.
12:23 It's kind of that, you know,
12:25 meeting your friends in the queue,
12:26 kind of talking online,
12:27 sort of really being absorbed in the whole world.
12:30 - Absolutely.
12:30 I feel like it's the emotional connection.
12:32 It's, we're heading into a scary world
12:35 where it's, although everyone's much more connected,
12:39 it's far harder to find that connection,
12:41 which I cite in "Wake Up and It's Over" a few times.
12:44 The opening line for "Call Me What You Like" is,
12:45 "I never was a fan of the internet,"
12:47 which is pretty on the nose.
12:49 And I find that music is the great communicator.
12:53 It is the bridge that binds people back together,
12:58 that we are being rifted apart, asunder by the internet.
13:02 - For sure.
13:03 And I know, obviously, some people probably know you
13:05 from sort of YouTube or Twitch, sort of before the band.
13:08 And I know kind of because of the pandemic and stuff,
13:10 you kind of, you know, you kind of made it online
13:13 before like you could play gigs and stuff.
13:15 Was there ever that sense of like,
13:16 oh, we need to prove ourselves as like a real band?
13:19 Or have you never really had that?
13:20 - There is always the feeling that I need to prove myself,
13:23 but there's always gonna be haters.
13:24 And there's always gonna be people
13:26 who don't know the full story.
13:28 You know, if you, when I was doing my online Twitch streaming
13:32 and YouTube, I was still writing songs.
13:34 I've had a solo acoustic career going on since 2019,
13:38 way before the pandemic, a year before the pandemic.
13:41 And I used to play busking over in 2017, 2018.
13:46 Open mic nights around that same time.
13:48 So the sense of needing to prove yourself
13:51 comes from the fact that the most notable takeaway
13:54 that people, when they look at you, is go,
13:56 oh, YouTuber, right?
13:58 But that's not entirely the case.
14:00 And I'll never want to leave behind the work I did
14:02 in YouTube and Twitch, but this is where I want to be now.
14:06 - I think you can tell from the gigs
14:08 and the kind of the music in general,
14:09 that it's kind of, it's not just like a,
14:12 oh, we know him from the internet.
14:14 It's a deeper emotional thing
14:15 like we were talking about earlier.
14:16 - I hope so.
14:17 I hope so.
14:18 I think that's the longevity test, right?
14:20 And we'll see.
14:22 We'll see.
14:23 I'm just going to keep making stuff that I'd want to hear.
14:25 - I mean, what made you want to start a band then,
14:27 rather than kind of continue the solo thing?
14:29 What is it about this dynamic that's kind of so inspiring?
14:34 - I always knew I wanted to make rock music.
14:36 We were, me and Joe were originally in a folk band.
14:40 And I remember very clearly me and Joe together
14:43 going to the lead singer and asking him,
14:45 can we write some rock songs, some indie rock songs?
14:48 I think we specifically cited the Arctic Monkeys,
14:51 at which point the singer responded,
14:52 he didn't really like the Arctic Monkeys.
14:55 And when that band sort of drifted apart,
14:59 as a lot of bands unfortunately do,
15:02 me and Joe stayed connected
15:04 throughout the end of our time at university.
15:06 And this is long before Twitch and YouTube
15:09 all started doing that.
15:10 And we sort of made a pact that we would regroup
15:15 and we would write these rock songs we wanted to do.
15:17 So it kind of came organically.
15:19 There was no like executive decision,
15:21 I'm going to make this band.
15:23 It was more me and Joe knew what we wanted to make.
15:25 We knew what kind of sounds we wanted to do.
15:27 And we were fortunate enough
15:29 to run into these two lovely fellas
15:32 and then rinse them in interviews with anime.
15:35 (laughing)
15:37 - Has playing live sort of changed things
15:39 for the band at all?
15:41 - Oh yes.
15:42 - Yeah, changed them.
15:43 Yeah, but not in a negative way in any sense.
15:46 It just, yeah, I think we're closer now.
15:48 - Oh absolutely.
15:49 - Than we were.
15:50 Like Will says, we're like a little family,
15:51 like just annoying each other and all of that stuff.
15:54 (laughing)
15:55 - Yeah, I can be mean to Ash,
15:57 but if anyone else tries to be mean to Ash,
15:59 I'm jumping them.
16:00 (laughing)
16:02 - It does kind of feel like British Indies
16:04 in a really good place right now.
16:05 You know, you've got bands like Last Dinner Party, Wet Leg.
16:07 Like it feels new, it feels exciting.
16:09 I think you're very much part of that conversation.
16:11 Like, do you kind of feel part of that scene?
16:13 Do you kind of feel inspired by kind of other bands
16:15 that are kind of coming up at the moment?
16:17 - I really, really want to.
16:18 - I think we're definitely inspired by them.
16:20 - I really want to be seen as that.
16:23 If that is a goal, I think, to be in the conversation.
16:28 We're trying our best.
16:30 We're like, like you said,
16:31 we're trying to prove ourselves as much as we can,
16:33 that we want to be part of that conversation going forward.
16:36 And I hope that the quality of what we're outputting
16:41 lives up to the standard,
16:42 the incredibly high standard that Last Dinner Party
16:45 and Wet Leg, as you cited, are setting right now.
16:48 - I mean, why do you kind of think,
16:49 you know, it's a conversation
16:50 that's been had time and time again,
16:51 but like guitar music is kind of having a moment
16:54 and kind of feels exciting.
16:56 - It always comes back in waves, doesn't it?
16:58 - Yeah, I'd probably be proven wrong
17:00 by some far more intelligent music theorist.
17:02 There's some far more smart music theorists
17:05 who would know the answer to this.
17:07 But for me, I would, again, as a pandemic band,
17:10 put it down to the pandemic being locked away,
17:14 wanting to feel that almost honest rawness
17:17 that an analogue amp is going to put out, you know.
17:21 - Do you kind of feel sort of really confident
17:23 in where you are at the moment
17:24 and where you can go with this?
17:25 - Absolutely.
17:26 This is, yeah, I feel like we're an incredible foundation.
17:30 It's a foundation or a trajectory, however you see it.
17:32 I feel like we're starting from a good point
17:35 if you were to start right here.
17:36 (laughing)
17:37 And we're really happy to keep going.
17:39 - Yeah.
17:40 - Do you feel like you've kind of figured
17:41 what you needed to figure out, like with the EPs and stuff?
17:44 - It's hard to say because it's not a conscious decision.
17:47 - Yeah.
17:48 - It very much organically came to be.
17:50 So maybe it'll change again.
17:53 We're never going to close ourselves off from new ideas.
17:56 - And obviously when you started out,
17:57 your ambition was to kind of connect with people.
17:59 Obviously now you're playing these massive shows,
18:01 you're kind of charting.
18:03 Have your ambitions changed at all?
18:04 Have they kind of grown?
18:05 Like where can you kind of see this going?
18:06 - My ambitions are still connecting with people.
18:08 - Yeah.
18:09 - I think that's almost a lifelong goal.
18:12 I don't think, I think, you know,
18:14 once you connect with, you know, a million people,
18:18 you're going to want to connect with another million.
18:20 I don't know.
18:21 That's what means the most to me.
18:23 - I concur.
18:24 (laughing)
18:26 - Mark, what about you?
18:27 - Yeah, I think for the, exactly what you said,
18:29 with how much, I love the idea of the live version of that.
18:32 How many people can you fit in one room?
18:34 So then it's like, is it a 2,000 cap?
18:37 Is it a four?
18:38 Is it a five?
18:39 Is it 10,000 cap?
18:40 Is it 20?
18:41 How, where does it, where do we start?
18:44 That terrifies me.
18:45 (laughing)
18:46 I was scared.
18:47 (laughing)
18:48 I'm also very much looking forward to it.
18:50 I was going to be sick.
18:52 - The numbers are a reflection of the lives
18:56 you've impacted, I always think.
18:57 And that's, that's very exciting.
18:59 I mean, Mark told me one of his goals and dreams
19:03 is to just see other people learning drums
19:06 through Inspire.
19:07 - And to hear how many people have picked up drumsticks
19:10 'cause they heard Lovejoy is like, insane.
19:14 Like, holy shit, that is,
19:16 I can't even explain that feeling, it's crazy.
19:18 - Mark will sit backstage just signing drumsticks
19:21 for ages to throw into the crowd.
19:23 - So hard writing on them, man.
19:25 - Yeah, they're not made for that, are they?
19:27 - I'm getting good at it now, finally.
19:29 (laughing)
19:31 - Okay, like, broadly speaking,
19:32 is that what you want Lovejoy to kind of represent?
19:34 To kind of, to be that inspiration for people?
19:36 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:38 - It can be whatever people want it to be.
19:40 - Exactly.
19:40 - Give it to them.
19:42 We give it to the community.
19:43 See what they take from it.
19:46 - We don't see this band as a set of clear goals
19:50 defined on a corkboard,
19:52 more so a broad feeling of this energy
19:56 and this love we want to put out
19:58 and what we're receiving back is monumental
20:01 and so affirming and it's great.
20:03 - Does that kind of relationship kind of spur you on then
20:06 to kind of keep putting out more
20:07 and kind of, I guess, giving more of yourself,
20:09 pushing yourselves a little bit further?
20:11 - Absolutely, but even if there was, you know,
20:15 less or even none, we'd still be doing this.
20:17 We'd still be doing this in dive bars
20:20 in the middle of Brighton, we'd still be there.
20:23 - And I guess lastly, I know you love an Easter egg,
20:26 I know you love teasing Hinks with the...
20:28 - He's the Easter egg eater.
20:30 - I mean, is there any words or phrases
20:33 you kind of just want to...
20:34 Just get off your chest.
20:38 - Maybe we can say it.
20:41 No, hold on, hold on.
20:45 I got it, I got it.
20:46 Maybe we can say it later when we're sober.
20:49 - I don't know, man.
20:52 - We're not drunk.
20:56 (laughing)
20:57 - He's heavy-handedly...
20:59 - I'm trying to do something.
21:02 - I know, I know what you're trying to do.
21:05 - I'm trying to do a thing, but you know.
21:07 - It didn't really work out.
21:09 - That's what you see, that's the problem.
21:11 That's what happens when you try a thing.
21:14 - That's what happens when you try
21:15 and make an Easter egg, Joe.
21:17 That's why we leave it to Ash.
21:18 Problem is he can't talk.
21:19 - Make an Easter egg, dude.
21:20 Give Easter.
21:22 - Here you go, sir.
21:24 - Thank you very much.
21:25 (laughing)
21:28 - You've seen it, you don't need to hold that.
21:30 (laughing)
21:31 - Well, thank you very much for taking the time.
21:33 - Thank you for having us, it was an absolute pleasure.
21:36 (upbeat music)
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