In advance of their much heralded set at Glastonbury this year, Ewan Atkinson had a chat INHEAVEN while in Brighton for The Great Escape.
“We’ve eaten so many chips!” proudly confesses lead singer and rhythm guitarist of INHEVAEN, James Taylor. The rest of the band, bassist Chloe Little, lead guitarist Jake Lucas, and drummer Jack McGruwer all nod enthusiastically in agreement.
After releasing their third EP in twelve months, the energetic ‘Baby’s Alright’, INHEAVEN hold a strong claim to being one of the breakthrough bands of the year. Although yet to release an album; the indie four-piece have made a big impact on the UK indie scene after a recent tour with Yak. I caught up with them outside The Green Door Store in Brighton before their raucous Great Escape set.
Is this your first time playing in Brighton?
We’ve played Green Door twice! It’s one of our favourite venues!
We love playing Brighton, it’s always busy and there seems to be a massive music scene here. We’ve always had a great time and it’s normally pretty rowdy.
What’s up next INHEAVEN?
Lots of touring and the album should be due in early January next year! It’s all done, just waiting to put it out. We spent two weeks at Rockfield in Wales recording it. We wanted to do it quickly so we could get back to the more fun stuff!
So do you prefer being on stage to being in the studio?
Definitely, everything we do is so we can go on tour! We just love playing live.
Best moment on tour?
Last night actually, we played Leicester and we didn’t build it up at all as we were so focused on The Great Escape but it was so awesome. We all had a bit of a moment during the show. It was one of those unexpected ones, which completely blew us away.
Do you think the party atmosphere from the football seeped into your gig?
Yeah definitely, everyone is still buzzing from it. Some drunken bloke poked his head in our van and just rambled on about how amazing it was that Leicester won the league!
What about worst moments on tour?
Up-stair load-ins are without a doubt the worst. The Old Blue Last is especially horrendous. Someone rested his pint on my amp whilst I was moving it through the crowd.
What’s your best piece of advice for surviving a festival?
You just got to steam through it. Never crash, just keep drinking. Either drink lots of beer or lots of water.
Do you think music reflects what’s going on in the world at the moment?
People think it does but I’m not sure. A lot of people like to shy away from it as no matter what you say you’ll end up with a ton of abuse on social media, which most people can really do without.
Do you think about politics when writing your music?
We’re politically aware but we don’t consciously put it in our music. We are big fans though of that generation of rock where people really did write about things that matter. A really good band is one what when you watch them you lose all of your worries and that’s the sort of thing we aim for. It definitely does have a place in music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSUSSjh5fgw
