We Have Band: What ever makes you move!

Ich habe Thomas zu einem 15-minütigen Grundlageninterview an den Hörer geholt und mit ihm die wichtigsten Eckpunkte des Phänomens WHB auseinander klabüstert.

Hey Thomas, great to have you on the phone.

It’s my pleasure. Where are you right now?

I am in Basel. Ever been here...

Oh, Basel. Yes, of course. We played a show in Basel on a boat – Das Schiff – we played for the Art Basel, especially for the Pharrell Williams Party. That was fun! It was a great show, crazy actually. I think there was also Roman Abramovich – just a lot of posh rich people. (laughs)

For Starters, give me some information about your past. How have you guys met?

Oh well, Dede and I were colleagues. We worked at the same place, a London-based record label. We had normal desk jobs and became friends then we became a couple and got married. Dede thought that me and her should start a band. I was already kinda making music with other people, but was not really enjoying it that much, so she was a good wife and sort of said: ‘Why don’t we try doing something together then...So we did that and later Darren heard about the band’s name and just loved it. He said: ‘I can sing, I wanna join the band.’So we all got together a couple of weeks later and that first night we wrote the song WHB, which is now on the album. It’s also the name of the album. So that’s kinda where all started.

In a few words, what does WHB as a band stands for?

I guess we stand for diversity, energy, partying and for whatever makes you move! That we are, the band that makes you move.

You and Dede got to know each other at work, where you also met Darren. How is your lovers-colleagues relationship like?

It’s working great. Dede and I have been close friends for a long time. Darren and Dede have been friends too. However, I didn’t know Darren that well and when we first started to work together we took it quite slow. We wrote music together for maybe seven or eight month, but didn’t have any plans to go into shows or a tour. We were just getting to know each other and enjoyed the music. It has been a long process of growing and it also improved our marriage in a way. Darren doesn’t feel like the one on the edge, he feels very much as apart of our relationship.

So you’ve got a real little family there...

Yeah, exactly! It is like a little family. We’re together all the time, hanging around.

As I understood, it’s important to you to keep the sound pure and real. You’re not into editing etc.?

No, it’s quite rough. A lot of the sounds of the album actually sound very similar to the first demo we made. You know, we haven’t got loads of expensive equipment, we didn’t go into a big studio to record it, either. We did all by ourselves.It was important to us to retain the edge. And the grid maybe of the demos, those that we really sort of liked.Could you imagine yourself in the future using all the major-high-end sound equipment that comes with the big studios?We will definitely develop how we record and we will definitely improve certain parts, but I don’t think we will ever change completely the way we do it. Because I think, it would sound strange.

A couple of your tracks already have been released on the French label Kitsuné (they also do really nice clothes). How did you meet the boys and does this joint venture has a future?

Kitsuné found out about us quite some time ago - in early 2008. And they just liked us and put two songs on their compilations No. 7 and No. 8. Then we played some shows in Paris and talked about releasing some material actually on the label officially, but we didn’t. That never sort of materialized, so they just really like us and we love what they do.

I assume you’re still without a major label, right?

Yes, that’s right. But we signed to a label called Naïve, which is a big French independet label. They’ve got a good contribution set up and we’re happy with their overall work.

I find it especially interesting then, that you were still able to go on tour throughout almost the whole world. How did you manage to do so?

Well, we have a manger and one of the first things we did, we did manage to get a booking agent. So we had a booking agent who looked after all our, well, dates and we worked with agencies in France, Germany and Switzerland. So the live-thing was always kind of professional and advanced. As a band we could take ourselves around and we could earn money from playing live. We saved up to pay for the record. We actually lived of the live-income. A lot of bands, I think, sign to a label and their touring then costs a lot of money, because they have a lot of people with them.We try to keep it cheap, basically. So we can do it. We take ourselves around, we drive ourselves around in the UK and go by train through Europe So it’s nice now to have a label. If we wanted to go on tour to America for instance, they might be able give us some money. ‘Cause America is a whole different thing, it costs a fortune. Here in Europe the trains are great, the venues and promoters are just good.

So you kind of turned around the whole thing. You went on a live tour first and then recorded your first album with the money you saved up.

I mean, we did the recording early. The most of the album has been written in this first seven or eight month when we started doing music the first time. Then phase two of the band started when we went on tour in the end of 2008 and performed almost the whole year of 2009. We finished the album in August/September last year. So we kept touring then, we went to America three times, Russia twice, all over Europe and to Australia in the end of the year. Basically we’ve been everywhere. Hopefully we were able to build a name, which will come back to us and will be good for us.

As a concept band you put a big effort in your appearance. Tell ma a bit about the importance of aesthetics.

Yes definitely. I think you really have to care about any representation. That goes down to tiny things, like what you’re wearing when you go on stage or what your front cover of the first single looks like. Up to what your videos look like, it’s all part of the same thing.

Talking about your videos. I think I first fell in love with your astonishing funny and creative videos and via that, I started to like the music, too.

Well, that’s great. We’ve been lucky to work with some very good people. A guy called Tom Allis did our first video, David Wilson the second. So well, we’re lucky to not just have one person. I think we have just chosen the right people.

We all just witness the uprising of another young British band, the XX. They are less colourful I’d say, maybe also a bit less fun, but also really ambitious and also strongly focused on their style, their live performances and their over all appearance. So what I was wondering is, whether you know each other? Do you follow what other groups like The XX do, how they perform?

Oh yes, we love what they do. We saw them the first time in a festival in the summer 2008 and I haven’t really heard of them much – I instantly thought they were great. Since in 2009 they just went crazy fort hem. Certainly you see what other groups do, you play the same festivals and the same venues, and so on. But I wouldn’t say we know them. But we know what they do. I find it very interesting that you think they are in the same kind of family as we are.

Maybe not when it comes to the music itself, but I do see similarities in the way of using certain patterns of aesthetics in order to create a group-identity.

Well I guess in this respect there are similarities. We both want wherever we perform, to be coherent. But then I have to say, it just comes naturally to us. We couldn’t really do it in another way, neither could the XX. It’s what we are.If you’re in a band and you get quite far, you just hope that it will continue. It’s all the same thing. You do shows, you do music, you start to get involved in this whole process around the music. You know, like artworks and photos and videos. You just wanna enjoy the ride. It doesn’t last forever, so you got to enjoy it while your on it.

Thank you very much. It was great talking to you and I hope that I’ll see you live soon...

Definitely, come and say hi, that was good fun. Thanks a lot and take care.

• WE HAVE BAND Live: 29.04. EXIL, Zürich
• www.wehaveband.com