Letztes Jahr als Support beim Warpaint-Konzert in Köln für gut befunden, haben All We Are mittlerweile ihre eigene Hype-Welle losgetreten und können auf den Release ihres Debütalbums via Domino Records, ihre erste eigene Headline-Tour und einiges an Aufmerksamkeit zurückblicken. Grund genug für uns im Interview mal etwas an der Basis zu arbeiten und die Basics über das Trio in Erfahrung zu bringen – drum ab dafür: All We Are im Bedroomdisco Interview!

1. Facts

– Name: All We Are
– Band members: Richard, Guro & Luis
– Residence: Liverpool
– Current album: All We Are

2. Questionniare

Hello All We Are. So I’ve heard you’re a very diverse band; could you tell me where you’re all from?
Richard: I’m from Ireland, Guro’s from Norway and Luis is from Brazil. We met at university at LIPA (Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts) and we consider ourselves a Liverpool band. We’re definitely a product of the scene there; we got really involved with everything that was going on.

And what is the scene like in Liverpool?
Guro: Its really good at the moment, loads of bands coming out, everyone’s really helpful and wants each other to do well.

When and at what point did you decide you wanted to form the band?
Guro: We met on the first day of university and we always hung out together. We were really good at going to parties together, so we knew that we would work well as a team. We formed after we finished University and we started from scratch and all we knew was that we wanted to stay together, the three of us. And the best way of doing that was to form a band.

Your twitter bio describes you as ‘the beegees on diazepam’. Could you describe your music to me in different terms?
Richard: It’s hard to pin down as a genre. We call its psychedelic boogie as it’s quite groove-based but there’s also this underlying dark element to it, quite atmospheric.

Guro: We just write music that makes you move, makes you feel something.

Richard: We never set out to be like, ‘right this is the type of music we’re making’, we just started writing songs we want to make and that make us feel good.

What is the ideal situation in which your music could be played?
Guro: Any time.

Richard: The thing about the tunes is that when we play them live, we get a great response; people move, people dance and get into it. I think there’s also a depth to it, which means you can put it on at home, listen to it by yourself and take something else from it.

You’re single ‘Keep Me Alive’ came out with a great video accompanying it. How was the filming?
Richard: It was really cool. That tune has quite a psychedelic aspect to it so when we chatted to Abbie Stephens who directed it, we wanted to get this surreal world across and she did a great job. We came up with a lot of it on the spot. It was very impromptu.

So do you have quite a strong creative input in the videos as a band?
Guro: Yes and no. We have clear ideas of what we want to achieve with the visuals. Then we sit down and chat to the director Abbie, who takes it away and creates her own view of it, then comes back with what she thinks it should be and we all approve it.

Richard: I think where we had a really clear idea was with the artwork that was done by Leif Podhajsky. We wanted to bring that artwork to life somehow.

When did you get signed with Domino? And how did things change after you got signed with them?
Guro: A year ago. It’s gone really quickly since then. We went straight on tour with Warpaint and then we went straight in to record the album.

Richard: After the tour with Warpaint, we got home and we wrote two more songs for the album, and then went straight down to London to start tracking it. Then it was festivals and now its now. It’s been really quick. I think Domino were really keen on getting the album out.

Guro: We want people to hear all the songs in the right order instead of listening to them single by single. The singles do stand by themselves but they do belong in a bigger body of work.

How was recording the album?
Richard: It was amazing. We recorded it with a guy called Dan Carey. When we write, it’s as quite a tight unit, lyrics included and bringing Dan into that unit was so easy. He really understood us and captured the atmosphere we like to create. Everything happens in one room and the instruments are crammed in to this Aladdin’s cave. We would fill the place with smoke, lasers and strobes. It was a lot of fun.

Guro: Because everything was in one room we had to be really quiet when were tracking. Dan was a bit sick at the time; he had a really bad cough. So at the end of the tracks he would start coughing!

Richard: There was a really funny bit when Luis was playing acoustic guitar on a track. And as the guitar was dying out Dan was totally red in the face from trying not to cough!

Guro: You can still hear it in the track actually. We quite like it, the human feel of Dan coughing away. There was also a time when Dan’s daughter walked in, as the studio is in his house, and she just gasped and slowly closed the door. We left that in aswell.

I’ll look out for it. It might become mythical
Richard: Yeah that’ll be for the super fans.

Do you have a favourite song on the album?
Guro: I think my favourite is ‘Something About You’.

Richard: Mine is ‘Utmost Good’. We self released it before we were signed to Domino, just a year and a half ago, and I think it was a defining point where we felt this was a good sound. I think it was an important starting point for us.

What would you be doing if it weren’t for the music?
Guro: I’d be a snowboarder

The Music Industry can be pretty brutal with so many new acts appearing. Do you ever get anxieties about the album’s reception and the future?
Guro: I have all sorts of anxieties. So of course I get a bit scared, but I think we all really believe in what we’re doing and we’re doing the best we can, so hopefully people will like what we’re up to. You can’t ask for anything more than that.

Richard: We just keep our heads down you know. We’ve got a great label, so we’ll put the album out, then another one, then another one.

Guro: Then another one!

And then you’ll be on stage with Zimmer frames.
Richard: Yes! But Guro’s right, we’re doing our best and you can’t do much more than that. You have to put those anxieties to bed. But they are there.