The Head and the Heart‘s Jonathan Russell and Chris Zasche chat to the AU review’s Larry Heath about live on the road, touring with Grouplove, spending time in Australia and more…
Performing at the first ever Sydney City Limits festival during this trip, the guys tell us how they perceived the event and how it compares to past experiences overseas.
“The scale of it is much smaller, it’s the first year. I think, as an artist and someone who’s going there, you want it to remain small scale, but that’s not very realistic. At the moment, it was really nice. I think there were a lot of local restaurants setting up as vendors, so the food was top notch. It just had a nice sweet spot of a size, the grounds were realistic; you could catch a band and realistically [then] go see another band.”
With a new album very much in their now pipeline, we find out more about how new music from The Head and The Heart is coming along.
“We just spent two and half weeks in Joshua Tree in California, out in the desert. It was a writing trip and a ‘figuring out what to do next’ trip. It went really well; I feel that there’s an excitement about new music. …We’re going straight to the studio to start recording; hopefully by summer, that’s the plan, to have some new stuff out.”
A beloved touring band who has countless runs around the globe to their name, when does it come time for a band like The Head and The Heart to pump the breaks and take a step back?
“One thing you notice when you’re ready to start a new album is that spontaneity on stage, especially at the beginning of an album cycle is at 10. Every night is different and you’re still learning how to play the songs, everything’s morphing. You start losing a bit… you start getting into a bit of a rhythm; there’s a sweet spot in there where all systems are going. sometimes towards the end of an album cycle, you feel ready to write new music. That’s where I’m at right now.”
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