the AU last caught up with The Head and The Heart back in New York as part of CMJ; they had sold out Terminal 5 on the city’s west side and were continuing to build up a strong fan base. Speaking with Josiah, who is in Detroit at the time of our chat, we get the lowdown on how the past few months of touring has treated the band ahead of their return to Australia for Splendour in the Grass.
How is Detroit looking at the moment?
Well you know, it’s a kind of abandoned city. There are tonnes of old buildings and schools and train stations and houses that have all just been left there. It’s a wild no man’s land at this point. There is that hope that comes from believing that the bottom has already been hit and there’s only ‘up’ to go from here.
I know a few bands from there and they say that because of the way the city has gone, it’s become so much cheaper. There are so many students and creative people moving there now.
Yeah, it’s really open, you know? Once a city gets very wealthy…and it tries to help people who are in working class conditions…for artists there is that whole thing of ‘anything is possible’, because you don’t need to have a lot of money. You can make things that are on the fringe, I definitely get that sense, yeah.
You’re playing in Kalamazoo, Michigan, which is one of the cooler named cities…
It’s a great name for a city, yeah!
How close to Detroit is Kalamazoo?
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure, I think it’s four hours away.
So you guys are pretty much in a bus heading around the country at the moment, doing shows with Lucius…
Yeah! Have you heard of them?
A little bit, yeah.
They haven’t gotten to Australia yet, right?
I don’t believe so, no. I might be wrong about that…
They’re pretty great, I think the furthest that they’ve gotten is over to Europe a couple of times. They’re really great; right before their album came out last summer, we got to play one random show with them and I loved their music. This tour is after months of us chasing them down and trying to get them on tour with us, so we’re excited about it.
Very cool. You guys have been pretty much non-stop touring since the last record came out; I caught up with Tyler when you were in New York and you had sold out Terminal 5 and all this amazing stuff happened. How’s the last few months been going for you? Have you had a break?
It was from before Christmas basically until February that we had a couple of months off. We wrote a few songs over the winter and tried them out. I did a solo house show tour with my girlfriend, who I also play with sometimes. I’ve just moved to Toronto actually, that’s where she lives. It’s going good; I think that while we were touring the first album, I didn’t really spend a lot of time in the off-time…we were doing so much that I got burned out. We had such a quick turn around writing the second record and recording it and trying to make more use of the off-time, to grow and not rely on having time off after the album cycle was over.
You’ve taken yourself to Canada, to Toronto, that’s where you’re basing yourself now?
Yeah! Two guys in the band – John and Tyler – live in Virginia, they moved to Seattle and then moved back when it seemed that we were doing so much and we weren’t seeing each other when we were at home anyway. It was like, ‘Well we’re going to live wherever’. It’s been good. Living in different places has given us different sets of influences that we can bring back to the band when the band does get back together. John and Tyler have friends there that they jam with…it’s an exciting thing for the band, to be reaching outward and not just staying in the same circle. It feels very good right now.
Very cool! I just got back from Toronto, from Canadian Music Week. I very much love that city.
It is a great city! Seattle’s got that rich centre downtown, white neighbourhoods…if you’re not white or you don’t have a lot of money, you’re pushed to the outskirts. It’s really strange, for such a liberal city, it is quite segregated along class lines. It’s really interesting to live in a city where everyone lives just side by side.
I mean, you go from one block to the next in Toronto and you’re in Chinatown, and in the next block…
Yeah! You’re in Koreatown and then in Little Italy…they’re all right in there next to each other, it’s great.
There is always a good choice for food, if nothing else!
[Laughs] Also true.
Of course, we’re here to talk about the fact that you’re returning to Australia. I think this is the first time you’re down here since you toured with Grouplove and did those New Year’s festivals a couple of years ago?
Yeah!
What were your experiences like the last time you were down here and how are you looking forward to getting back?
For the most part, we played on Friday and Saturday – festivals the first weekend – and then we had Sunday and Monday off in Sydney. We played a show in Sydney on Tuesday…I have a feeling this trip is going to be very similar. I feel like, every time you can go back and remember, you know? Like, ‘Oh I remember this part of the city’ and have it become more familiar. That’s a really cool thing about touring, getting to have a spot that you go to every time that you come into town.
That must be a trend for the latest tour you’ve been doing around the world, going back to places you may have only played once before.
In the US, I think at this point, most cities we’ve probably played about four, five or six times. The first year of touring, we did four or five really major opening tours which pretty much hit all of the same ones. Variations of the same route. It’s crazy, in the sense that part of my job involves getting paid to travel to different countries, when most people have to pay a couple thousand dollars for a plane ticket to go to Australia, you know? We all have these realisations at different moments where you’re just like, ‘This is not a bad gig’!
Not at all! In between times at these places as well, you must be noticing more people and bigger shows and more interest in the band as well, at least in some places?
Yeah, definitely. Even in Europe, where we’re still not really entirely caught on, in the sense that we’re played on the radio in the States…that’s not the case in Europe or in Australia. I remember when we were touring with Grouplove and we were listening to triple j in a van in between places and a Grouplove song would come on and you’re like, ‘This is a band we should be opening for here’, these guys have that support. I don’t know that that comes to us in any place other than America yet, but we do notice in going back to Europe a few times, someone saw us opening for a band once and then they told their friends and they came back out. The crowds do grow even just from word of mouth, they’re coming back. I think that playing an exciting live show is a thing that we focus on a lot and I think that pays off.
For sure. When I was over in the States, I didn’t get to see you at the festival unfortunately, but you played the New Orleans Jazz Fest! What was that like?
Oh yeah! That was great, we were there for the whole weekend; I got in on Friday morning and we played on Saturday. We got to go the day before and watch Charles Bradley…I’ve been watching frontmen who have that energy, that something, and trying to learn from the fucking greats and he’s one of them. Watching him and then playing the show the next day…it was really good. Did you go out into the neighbourhood immediately after and see the brass bands playing in the streets?
How cool is that? Jello shots!
That was a great weekend! It’s a city…I feel like other cities are working toward this one, gentrified goal of nice food and nice things and nice people, and New Orleans has this wildness, anything goes vibe to it. It really is a city like no other city that I’ve been to.
That’s for sure. Best fried chicken in town, as well.
[Laughs] That’s also true, I’ve had it a couple of times.
Did you go out to Willy Mae’s in Treme?
No, but I went to…fuck, it’s only been three weeks? I’ve already forgotten. It was just down along the river…I don’t remember!
You can’t go wrong. I really appreciate your time and we’re looking forward to seeing you back down in Australia very soon!
Thank you very much!
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The Head and The Heart will play at Splendour in the Grass at Byron Bay, June 25-27!
