Interview - Grace

Not, not the Grace who did 'Not Over Yet'. This Grace is an indie rock band, along the epic lines. It's always stressful when you're typing up interviews with five people you've never spoken to before; it's an absolute nightmare trying to work out whose voice is whose and when everyone speaks at once, you've got no chance! Chaos. When Sam heard I was transcribing he said 'That's going to be fun!' He had no idea...

Words - Suzy Sims
Previously published on Native.tv http://www.native.tv in August 2007
(c) Niche News & Publishing Ltd

GRACE

Today is one of the few days I manage to arrive ten minutes early for an interview. As Sod’s Law would have it, today is one of the few days the band arrives ten minutes late, and very apologetic. London-based Grace trickle in one at a time, shaking hands and saying 'sorry' over and over. Time to spread the question cards out around the table. “Are we intercoursing?” asks Sam. I think it’s a bit early in the day for that. Who wants to pick a card first?

I’m sat next to bespectacled keyboardist Sam Swallow. On his other side is softly spoken drummer Chris Hutchings. Then there’s a gap saved for guitarist James Hayto, who is even later than everyone else. Cheerful smiling bassist Ben Lumsden is the other side of the space, and next to him is laidback singer/guitarist JP Jones.

Sam gives me a potted history of Grace. Ben and JP met at school then Sam joined them at university, where they played in different bands, including Weedmeter. They found Chris after moving to London, where he’d been studying at music college. Performing as Morocco, they reinvented themselves and took on James. Their first gig with their current line up was at Oxford Zodiac about two years ago. Oh, and Ben got a tattoo. The bassist looks a bit confused about how this fits into the band’s history.

“He got a tattoo of the Morocco logo on his arm. As soon as he did it we changed the name,” says JP, lounging in his chair. “If he gets Grace, we’re going to change our name again.”

The band play hugely epic and touching rock/pop. Think of something mammoth like Coldplay, although they sound nothing like, but you get the point about the enormity. They have nothing to do with club hit 'It's Not Over', and in fact are probably fed up of it being mentioned, so let's not mention it. Despite being relatively unknown, they’re going down very well indeed, particularly at their recent Latitude Festival performance. JP thinks it was the best gig they’ve ever played.

I saw a review which said they were the best band there? “By a long way,” they joke. You were first on, so did everyone go home after your set?

“Everyone thought it was so good they just left the festival and thought ‘Well, as we’re not going to see better than that,’ you know…” teases JP.

“We opened it this year, we’re going to close it next year,” says Ben. JP laughs.

“No, it was amazing. We’d never played a festival before and it was sort of two and a half thousand people and we got them all going. It was midday and I’d say about a twentieth of the people there were to see us and the rest weren’t and we kind of won them over. It was an amazing gig and an amazing day actually, we got to see some good bands, hang out with Damien Rice and stuff.”

It’s quite a new festival isn’t it? “Yeah. And they were really worried about it, they were saying that they don’t want it to become too popular because it’ll become like all the rest and just be a nightmare.” Stop playing so well then. JP laughs. “Well, we’ll set up our own in Wales or something. Our own little GraceFest.”

Are you doing any other festivals this year? “No we’re not. We wish we were. I think the way we play live, we’re better on bigger stages to bigger crowds because the music is sort of epic,” JP says. “We kind of went into all of this trying to do something big as opposed to something little and indie. And I just really like running around a big stage.”

If you were a DJ, name a song you’d play. The sound of silence. “Weren’t we talking about this the other day?” thinks JP.

“In a club, getting people dancing, I’d play Nina Simone ‘I Wish I Knew How It Felt To Be Free’,” says Sam. “Even though it’s like old school, if you whack the bass up it really, really works.”

“He always makes us listen to it before we go out. It’s a great one,” confirms JP. “For drinking beer to, and getting into the vibe.”

“I’d play a Prince one,” says Chris. “They’re great for dancing to. I don’t know what one. Something off ‘Dirty Mind’ probably. ‘Sister’ maybe. It’s really good, it’s about incest.” Everyone sniggers. “It’s really dark. The lyrics are genius.” Sam asks to borrow it.

“I’ll do you a copy. Well we don’t copy music obviously. I’ll transcribe it and perform it for him,” says Chris almost convincingly, and JP throws his head back and laughs.

“Bloc Party ‘On’, I’d play that at a club. I’d remix it. There’s this break where it goes ‘You make my tongue loose’. It’s got this wicked beat,” says JP. “There he is!” The missing James is walking past the window.

“I’d play The Hoosiers ‘Worried About Ray’ because it’s a huge song by some very good friends of ours,” says Ben.

“Do ‘Everything Goes Dark’ from The Hoosiers’ album,” suggests JP.

“What, the remix that Chris did?”

“Yes!”

The next question card is Sink Like A Stone. Chris isn’t sure whether we mean the song or if it’s a direct and surreal instruction, so pretends to sink off his chair. That’s your single isn’t it? “Yeah, the next one.”

James has entered the room. “I feel great,” he says, and everyone cheers. Welcome to the interview. “Wow, there’s coloured cards,” he says, looking at the chaos on the table.

“We’re just doing quick impressions of sinking like a stone,” says Chris. James does. “That is perfect!” says JP. What is the single about?

“It’s a depressing song, just listen to the lyrics and you’ll get what it’s about,” explains Chris. “It’s about being miserable and a bit depressed, but there’s a ray of hope.” Oh good.

“I think the ray of hope is that everyone’s miserable,” says JP.

“You’re not alone,” adds Ben.

“No matter how bad it is you’re going through, someone else has gone through it as well,” says JP. Where’s it going to chart? “Number one I think, that’s what they told us.”

“I think it was going to Number One in the Billboard in America first, and then it’s going to be number one over here a couple of months later,” says Chris.

“So Suzy do you work for the record company? I’m trying to work out what the hell’s going on,” interrupts a confused James.

“Is all this going on by the way?” asks Sam. No, I’m transcribing it. “That’s going to be fun!” Tell me about it…

“Sorry I arrived late,” says James after a brief explanation of where I’m from. “Right, I’m with you now. I’m on the page.”

“We don’t even know if it will chart," JP continues. "This is going to be our fourth single. We’ve just released them on a small scale - the first two are on vinyl. We’ll try and grow organically as opposed to throw it down people’s throats. We are a credible band and we don’t want to be just flash in the pan, one hit wonders. We want to let the fans grow with us.”

“We want to not chart, is what we’re saying,” smiles Ben.

“We have charted before… about 128, I think,” says Chris. “Anything higher than that would be a bonus.”

“Chris has been very busy as well doing the series House in America,” says James, as the record label peeps do the tea and coffee rounds. “[Looks like] Hugh Laurie, yeah?”

“It’s been hard,” nods Chris solemnly. How’s your American accent going? “Oh-kay.”

“We just did the video to 'Sink Like A Stone' at Pinewood Studios, and it’s all filmed underwater,” explains Ben. “It looks really cool. It’s our biggest video budget to date and so it looks a bit more professional.”

“I was in water for about 18 hours and came out a bit like a white, Welsh prune,” says JP. “All over. Not just my fingertips.” Were the rest of you in the water as well? “We were in a boat. But only for about ten minutes,” says Ben.

“I’ve told you so many times, it’s about stage presence. That’s why I was in it for so long, I’ve got no presence, so I just needed more screentime,” explains JP, not entirely seriously.

“Even then you were still kind of outshone.”

“I was on hand giving advice,” says Chris. The others point out he has an A Level in Drama. “I got a B, so technically I was the most qualified on set.”

“That’s why he’s so good in House. B in A Level Drama,” says Sam.

“What about the two Golden Globes?” asks James.

“I don’t like to talk about those.”

“A lot of birds fancy Hugh Laurie you know,” says JP. Try walking with a limp on your way out and see what happens.

Let’s get onto a few tour questions. They recently toured with The Hoosiers (of ‘Worried About Ray’ fame), who James describes as “a great bunch of guys.”

“They shat on a plate and put it in our dressing room,” says JP. “That’s actually true. I promise you.”

“We’re going on tour with them again in October, it’s like 32 days, and we’re going to do something a lot worse to them.” I won’t ask what, I don’t want to spoil the surprise. “It’s not going to be really disgusting like that though,” assures JP.

“It’s going to involve family members,” says Chris. “I’ve got it all worked out...”

Grace have been friends with The Hoosiers for a while and say they always have a good time playing together.

“And we’ll get to play to sold out venues again – er, again?”

“For the first time,” grins Ben.

Any pre-gig superstitions? “JP and I have a ritual that we’ve had for about eight years whereby neither of us are nervous, but then we say to each other ‘Are you nervous?’, at which point both of us start shitting our pants,” says Ben. “But in terms of superstitions, JP’s got a bit of a gypsy heritage so he’s the one to talk to.”

“It’s more like OCD than superstition now,” says JP. “I had them from when I was a kid. It used to have meaning but now it just really pisses me off because I constantly have to touch things and smell things and it’s just a hindrance. Chris thinks I do it for effect.”

“He’s getting angry even now.”

“Usually before gigs we kind of sometimes we do little dances and stuff.”

“Pretty good,” says Chris. “Breakdancing. Tap. Modern.”

“Dancing is one of the multi faceted aspects of being a dramatician,” explains Sam.

I notice the tea which I’ve been elegantly sipping on has dripped underneath the lid and left an unsophisticated pool on the table. Mixed with the pile of coloured cards which James is folding up and some empty sugar packets, it looks a little like someone has emptied a rubbish bag on the table and maybe jumped up and down on it.

Dream rider. “What does that mean?” What would you have on your dream rider? “Oh, right,” says JP.

“Tic Tacs.” Mint ones or flavoured? “Mint ones,” says James instantly. “No, orange ones, what am I talking about.”

“Did you ever see Under Siege with Steven Seagal in it?” asks JP. “And they bring a birthday cake, a massive one, and Erika Eleniak from Baywatch is inside it. I’d get one of those.” The others laugh.

“It’s quite hard to top that!” says Ben.“Celery and hummus?” suggests Sam. “Carrots and dips and stuff. Taramasalata.”

“Riders are generally really unhealthy. We do actually try and eat quite healthily and they always just give us like chocolate and stuff. It actually would be nice to get some carrots,” says JP.

“Something other than warm beer would be good as well. There’s never any whisky.”

“Wine would be nice,” says JP. “Forget everything we just said, and go with the birthday cake.”

Grace’s debut album ‘Detours’ was released in June. It’s a mixture of brand new songs and others which have been floating around for up to five years. ‘Detours’ was so named because “we’ve been in all these different directions and influences and it’s never quite worked out for us the way we always thought it was going to,” explains Sam, adding there were multiple producers, studios and musician changes before they reached the final stage.

What’s the album about? “Just about life,” offers Ben. “It’s not about going out on a Friday and getting pissed and being sick in a gutter.”

“It’s a good idea for a song though,” says James. “It’s never been done.”

“It’s just about kind of, the whole idea of making someone… you know when you listen to an album and it really makes you think differently and can sort of inspire you to do something or spur you to do something you wouldn’t have done before?” says JP. “It’s just like a general life album that crosses over every border.”

“Like the Nazis,” someone whispers.

“What, ‘cause they crossed over every border?”

“Yeah.”

“Austria and then France. They tried Russia but that was a step too far wasn’t it?” says Chris, who not only is an esteemed actor but also something of a history buff.

Anyway, let’s leave the Nazis for now. What would you do if you weren’t in Grace?

“I don’t know, I think it’s sort of different for everyone really. I’ve always done music my whole life, that’s the only thing I’m really any good at,” says Chris.

“And acting.”

“And acting, yes, I mean House takes up a lot of time. Do that full time maybe.”

What about the rest of you? “I’d run a coffee shop,” says Sam promptly.

“Hang on, you stole that from me! That was my idea!” protests James.

“We’d all run coffee shops,” says JP soothingly.

“I think we’d all do different stuff. Most of us would carry on with music,” says Chris sensibly.

“It’s not about other things for us. It’s about Grace,” says JP. “I hate that question really because it’s like we’re here, we’re Grace and that’s it really. So, nothing. I’d be dead!”

“Dead inside,” suggests Ben. And on that happy note…

“I hope you can salvage something,” says Sam politely as I stand up to leave, having cleared up most of the tea/card mess. On my way out a few of the band are taking a cigarette break and sharing a joke. Either they're very cheerful for midday, or they might be plotting revenge against The Hoosiers...

Grace release Sink Like A Stone on September 3rd through Charisma/EMI

Grace
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