You might not
assume it from his ferocious, subtly deadpan music, but Drenge’s Eoin Loveless
is a nice, cool guy in a nicer, cooler yellow coat. I spoke to him prior to the band’s Southampton Guildhall show, and discussed Undertow,
irony, Corbyn and Kanye.
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| Drenge: Brothers Eoin (r) and Rory (l) |
‘I’m sure Corbyn’s got some more… folky tastes. Billy
Bragg.’ Loveless is evidently pleased that one of the band’s first fans has
sealed his comeback. ‘Anyone in the Drenge army that’s like Deputy leader of
the second biggest party in the UK is good with me. He’s a great guy – never
met him - but I’m really into what he’s done, and what he believes in, and what
he stands for. Great politician.’ He says, wryly. This dry sense of humour
makes for ironic, amusing company in our time together, shut away in a dingy,
dusty spare room in the Guildhall. It’s this same ironic, subtle sense of
humour is one he feels has possibly gone over his audience’s heads.
‘I feel like a lot of stuff can get lost on our audience… just feel like we can bury too deeply in what we’re doing.’ He laments. ‘The first record is quite a violent record, and there’s always a tongue in cheek thing going on… like I was DJing last night, and someone came up to me and they were like “oh let’s dance, let’s have some drinks” and then they started hitting me, like “come on, dance, be fun, be cool” but that’s just not who I am… and this person just had a completely different view of who I was, because they’d taken my music at face value.’ It’s a fascinating insight into the relationship between musicians and their fans, and the subtleties that so easily go awry in their music.
‘I feel like a lot of stuff can get lost on our audience… just feel like we can bury too deeply in what we’re doing.’ He laments. ‘The first record is quite a violent record, and there’s always a tongue in cheek thing going on… like I was DJing last night, and someone came up to me and they were like “oh let’s dance, let’s have some drinks” and then they started hitting me, like “come on, dance, be fun, be cool” but that’s just not who I am… and this person just had a completely different view of who I was, because they’d taken my music at face value.’ It’s a fascinating insight into the relationship between musicians and their fans, and the subtleties that so easily go awry in their music.
This April saw the release of the band’s second album Undertow, breaking out of the grunge
pigeon-hole and delivering a more expansive, intricate record. But was this
shift from nihilism to something bigger a concious change?
‘No... it was more like an unconscious change. Like it was a deliberate decision to make
something different… it just came from a confidence in our ability to play our
instruments and to write songs.’ Undertow
was also Drenge’s attempt to create something cinematic – Loveless notes 2001’s A Space Odyssey as the record’s
primary influence – and to emulate their gloriously chaotic live show in the
studio. It’s something Loveless feels the band couldn’t quite achieve. ‘I don’t
think it’s a true representation of what we’re like live… I think about this
stuff way too much - the modern style of recording is the perfect recorded
version of the song, rather than the artistic take of the band playing that
song.’
If Eoin considers himself an obsessive perfectionist, he
found himself in like-minded company on a September episode of Later… with Jools Holland – none other
than the Greatest Living Rockstar On The
Planet himself, Kanye West.
Drenge’s own savage brand of garage rock has drawn
inevitable Nirvana comparisons – ‘Doesn’t help that we named our band “Drenge”’ is Loveless’ predictably
deadpan response (Going on the ‘lost-on-the-audience’ narrative, Drenge is a
Danish word meaning ‘boys’). ‘It’s just like a modern trait of music
journalism… like when I used to write for music magazines and stuff, I’ve done
the same connection.’ But
ultimately it’s a connection that doesn’t bother Eoin. ‘Most people just wanna
listen to some tunes. That bit isn’t so important.’ his fittingly succinct
summary – besides, there are worse bands to be compared to.
James Gale
Below is a complete transcript of the interview itself - lots of stuff I couldn't fit in and was a massive pain in the anus to write up, so may as well make some use of it.
Your first album
was a pretty murky, nihilistic record, where undertow sounds bigger, and more
free-wheeling. Would you say that was a conscious change?
Uhhh... no. It was more like an unconscious change. Like it wasn’t a deliberate decision to... I
mean it was a deliberate decision to make something different, but we
weren’t like, ‘you know what we need, we need to sound more free, or whatever.
So no, it just came from like I guess like a confidence in our ability to play
our instruments and to write songs… yeah.
Similarly, Undertow sounds more
intricate, more emphasis on rhythm than riffs - would it be fair to say that's
due to having Rob on bass this time round, or just the way the bands evolved?
Uhhm... uhhh… a bit of both.. uhhhh I mean like Rob
played on a couple of tracks. There was a lot of stuff that we kind accumulated
through touring, and spoke about for 4 months writing the rest of the album,
recording everything, yeah... and Rob’s just had his part to play in it, he
comes from that like rockier side of music. He always plays Black Sabbath
whenever we’re in the van, so yeah I dunno, yeah. Bit of both.
You've said in
interviews before that there's a humour and irony to Undertow - do you feel
it's been lost on your audience?
(interview with DIY mag in april this year)
Sometimes... I feel like a lot of stuff can get lost
on our audience because, not that me and Rory are operating on a higher level,
just feel like we can bury too deeply in what we’re doing. Some of the first
record is quiet a violent record, and there’s always like a tongue in cheek
thing going on. Like I was DJing last night, and I’ve never DJed before, was DJing
in a club, someone came up to me and they were like ‘ohh lets dance, lets like
have some drinks together,’ and then they got like really, started like hitting
me and stuff and like ‘come on, you need to like dance and be fun and be cool’
but that’s just not who I am, and this person just had like a completely
different view of who I was, because they’d taken my music at face value. this
is someone that’s like, you know, taking the piss, or is like… it’s a bit like
we were listening to Father John Misty in the van, and like I really love his
work, his music and his songs and stuff, but I only love it because I like buy
into a character – similarly with like Lana Del Ray, like if you take those
artists at face value you’d be like, you’d be like ‘oohh god, what is this?’ I
guess there’s some knowing.. I guess were like not as cool as those people
(laughs)
What were the album’s biggest
influences - and did they differ from those of the first album?
Uhhhmm.. biggest influence.. I guess, there was one night
where um there’s a really great cinema in Sheffield, called ‘The Showroom’
that shows like a lot of like art house stuff, and they put on a screening of
‘2001 A Space Odyssey’, and um I mean its so.. I’ve seen that film before a
couple of times, but to experience like a film just that like that good in a
cinema, with sound, and big screen, and like all the colours, and there’s a bit
in the middle where there’s an interlude, and people went up to the toilet and
stuff, but like by the time they came back the interlude had finished, because
there’s like a bit of classical music in-between, and people thought it’s a two
minute break, I can go to the loo, but um but like that experience, like a
really full, immersion into the cinematic experience, was kind of like what we wanted to kind of create for a listener I
guess, kind of like the visuals play out in your head.
Me: I get what you
mean, like the soundtrack to however you perceive it, literally or ironically
or whatever. I mean I know you said before you wanted to emulate your live
experience, live show, like create not an experience, more than a compilation
of songs.
I guess so... yeah I mean like um I don’t think we achieved
it on this record. I don’t think it’s a true representation of what we’re like
when we’re live. It’s very difficult to do that because when you’re live
you make mistakes and stuff, and those just the modern kind of attitude to
recording, especially in, I dunno.. it’s really like.. I think about this
stuff way too much.. the modern style of recording is perfect recorded version
of the song.. rather than artistic take of the band playing that song. But
I mean like there’s exceptions and stuff, but just the technology we have to
record these days means you can just fine tune every bit, you miss that snare
fill there, you can go back and you can do that, and you just make a very clean
sounding record just because you feel insecure about those mistakes.
Whereas there are times when like I’ve like seen videos of us on YouTube,
that people have recorded on their phones, and it sounds ferocious, it sounds so incredible, but no one would know, studio
engineer, or anyone, would be able to like record what that sounds like.
Me: I saw you at
Bestival, about, week ago now? And I saw you at Reading, 2014, with the
dresses, and that is when I admittedly became a bit of a fanboy, like it was
that savage-
E: That was a brutal
show-
Me: Yeah! Everyone
fell over each other at one point, just this a complete crush, we literally
came out of it like ‘wow’, and it was that kind of raw, savage sound what
really like blew us away. And I think it translates better on your albums than
it does on others.
E: I think the main reason for that we worked with Ross
(Orton) on both of our albums, who’s just exceptional at recording drum sounds,
and drum takes, and getting the best out of a drummer. He like really pushed
Rory on both records to like basically the point of collapse on every single
song, just like... ‘again’.
Me: helps that Rory’s
like such a fucking good drummer.
E: yeah, yeah… but like Rory, it was like Whiplash or something, it was fucking
tough. But like full credit to Ross and Rory for both like sticking with
it, like the drum sounds and the performances, there isn’t a track where you’re
like ‘do you know what.. that’s Rory playing bad there’ I feel like.. I dunno.
I’m hugely indebted to both Rory and Ross for their contribution to the record.
What do you make
of the Nirvana comparisons? Personally I can hear it - quiet/loud/quiet
dynamics, watery effects pedals, nihilistic lyrics - but do you find that
pleasing or irritating?
E: it’s just like a modern trait of music journalism.
Um… and yeah. I don’t care-
Me: I mean there’s
worse people to be compared to.
E: yeah, yeah totally, like uh someone recently compared
us to Talking Heads, they came up to us after a show like ‘I really like that
TH style song’, and I was lucky that I was like in the zone to work out which
particular track they meant (Which did
they mean? – E: They meant The Snake’), but it doesn’t sound like a TH
song, but musically, it’s like a really I dunno like I understood what they
meant, it was like hmm… a more of a technical compliment than a stylistic one.
I dunno – technically it really reminded him of a TH song, instead of
sonically.
Me: I guess
there’s more substance to it than just distortion and shouting.
E: yeah, I’d hope so, like it doesn’t help that we
named our band ‘Drenge’, like when we named our band we never thought ‘oh, it
sounds like ‘grunge’ – Drenge, grunge, admittedly sound similar, again,
journalistic tendencies would make that connection because that’s the way –
like when I used to write for music magazines and stuff, I’ve done the same
connection, but it’s just not what we were thinking about, and I remember those
first comparisons coming in, and we were just going like ‘what?’
Me: kind of a
shame really, because it’s quite clever, Drenge = brothers, the whole Danish
thing, I guess it goes over people’s heads a little bit.
E: I guess that’s what we were talking about at the start
of the interview, where like that like, we weren’t thinking about grunge, we
thought it sounded like a weird name, but most importantly it was a Danish word
and a lot of people don’t know that. If you really wanna like, buy into our
band, and understand all the fucking mythology behind it that’s all there, but
most people just wanna listen to some tunes. That bit isn’t so important.
Growing up in Castleton, do you think
growing up somewhere so quiet and isolated influenced your music in anyway?
Uh yeah – but not like, I wouldn’t of dared admit it
at the time. It was more like when we started touring, and um stuff... I
think Backwaters off the first record
is like the song that’s about that… there aren’t any other songs from that
record that like come from the countryside.
What’s your
favourite city or venue to play in the UK?
Um… (pause) well we played Sheffield (The Plug) last
night, and that was kind of nice.. and
cause we live there now, and um, and that was like a great crowd and stuff, and
tomorrow we’re playing in Manchester we’re playing at the Albert Hall, so..
yeah.
Me: I can imagine
Manc crowds being quite… ‘enthusiastic’, as well.
E: yeah… and we just haven’t played there at all for
like, like our own headline show there in like, like we done a few supporting, but
not like a proper Drenge gig for like 2 years, which we always feel really guilty
about. And then like, this Wolf Alice tour, the Manchester …
You’ve got upcoming dates in America -
how do you think UK and US audiences compare?
Um… this US tour will be different because I think
we’re playing all ages venues – previously we only played +21 venues, which
is... depressing, and upsetting... and like they’re great
shows, and people have come to shows who are like really supportive and stuff, but
its uh frustrating when, cause like up to 10 years of generations that are like
missing out on the show, and uhm… yeah. America’s fucked in that respect.
On America, how was your Lettermen
debut in January? I imagine it was a pretty bizarre experience
Yeah, it was weird,
and it was fun, and the thing
that like having seen it afterwards, I remember doing it, and I remember being
on stage and playing, but its… but because the camera angles there and because
the thing’s behind me and then David Letterman comes and shakes my hand, it’s
like some… cause like live musical TV
programmes like Jools or the KEXP sessions and stuff and Letterman’s another
one where I’ve watched bands that I like go on David Letterman, like Los
Campesinos and The Eagles um, and I watched their performances and David
Letterman comes out at the end and shakes their hand – and there I am doing the
same, like there’s us, he’s shaking our hand, and there’s like the Washington
Bridge, and all this stuff.
Me: was it weird
when he says “DaRbeeshyire”?
E: I wasn’t really thinking at the time... I was just
like we need to play the song good, because I think we had played that song
like live like in front of people like two times before... in fact that might
have been the first airing of it... but yeah, I was just concentrating more on
trying to get it done, get the performance done.
I read somewhere that you met Kanye
when you played Lettermen – is that true? and how does real life Kanye compare
to world’s greatest rock star Kanye?
E: Yeah, but Kanye was on the same episode as us on Jools.
And how does real-life
Kanye compare to world’s greatest rock star Kanye?
Well it’s just like... it’s one of the best constructed
like faces in the music industry. He understands that like there needs to be a
bad boy in like pop music, someone who everyone hates or loves, or loves to
hate, and so he just loves being that guy and he knows exactly the right time,
to say exactly the wrong thing. He loves winding people up, and when we talked
to him, he was such a nice guy, he
seemed really grounded, he seemed to really understand himself and his art, and
what he wants to do – but like at the same time, you’re just dealing with
someone who is just like more of a celebrity than any... like he’s like…
Me: He’s famous
for Kim as much as he’s famous for his records.
E: yeah! And you’re like looking at this huge
celebrity… probably the most well-known celebrity with the biggest artistic credibility
to match... I feel like he makes great records, and it was nice meeting him.
Me: Have you seen
videos of YouTube of him laughing and smiling, notice the camera’s on him, and
just like stop and (pose) and, like literally breaks character, and there’s
this like 2 minute compilation of him smiling and stopping. I think he’s great.
E: yeah, he’s fantastic. I just wanna hear more music
from him, and like I wasn’t massively into that 45seconds song when it came
out, and it was on in a bar the other day, and I was like… it just sounds like
a classic song, in a way there hasn’t been a classic song in like 5 years, like
a big Rihanna or Beyoncé song from like 10 years ago or something.
What do you make of West Bromwich MP
and your first Beleiber Tom Watson’s (Ohh yeah!) return to the limelight? Are you happy for him?
Yeah!
Are you quietly
responsible?
No no no, anyone in the Drenge army that’s like, you
know, Deputy leader of the second biggest political party in the UK y’know, is
good with me, um, yeah!
Me: He’s made his
comeback.
(Dryly) Yeah! He’s a great guy – never met him- but
I’m really into what he’s done, like, and what he believes in and what he
stands for. Great politician.
Me: Corbyn’s a
fan, so he can’t be that bad.
E: Corbyn’s a fan of us??
Me: No! no, Tom
Watson. But it wouldn’t surprise me if Corbyn was a Drenge fan.
E: Oh no… I’m sure Corbyn’s got some more, more…
Me: Folky?
E: yeah…
Me: Seems like a
folk and red wine kinda guy
E: yeah, Billy Bragg.
Finally, when Undertow's all wrapped
up, what's next for Drenge? Any news of a third album?
E: another album! (laughs)
Me: any new songs,
or like is take as it comes kinda thing?
E: sort of, sort of.. um, I’m trying to make it take
shape in my head… I kinda got ideas that are starting to like work… but yeah,
no new songs just yet. But its new music!
