We played our first show in 1998 and we were terrible, but it was an enjoyable thing for us. We all grew up together, we went to school together and we got into music together.
The “no-guitar” sound just sort of happened. We had a guitarist for a long time, but basically he just gave up, and then we didn’t have a guitarist, and that’s why we still don’t have one today.
When we play live, it’s just the three of us. Tim plays bass on the records, and keyboard bass. We’ve sort of embraced technology to help Tim out because he doesn’t have enough hands.
Being on the road over the past couple of years has really educated us musically.
We were surprised when re-listening to Hopes and Fears how polite it sounded because we had basically been on the road rocking out for two and a half years and we played louder and harder and we wanted to get that energy onto this new album.
The songs on Under the Iron Sea are definitely a progression from Hopes and Fears. These songs are a lot tougher and much darker and ask more difficult questions.
On this record we wanted to talk about a lot of the things you don’t normally talk about, the things you pretend aren’t there or aren’t bothering you.
Under the Iron Sea is sort of a metaphor for there being stuff buried away somewhere. It’s sort of something you use to protect yourself from each other.
The first song, “Atlantic”, is basically about the fear of losing your friends and dying alone. It’s kind of like, “I hope we can all get through this and get a record out…”
We weren’t getting on too well while “Crystal Ball” was being written. It’s just a metaphor for sweeping something under the carpet.
We signed to a major label because we wanted to go to places like Bangkok and travel the world and get to play in Japan. If you want to do that, it’s very expensive, so you need someone to help pay for the flight.
I think illegal downloading is a bad thing. While it may not harm bands as big as Metallica or Keane, it does harm other people. If there are artists that aren’t selling that many records, downloading is going to hurt them.
I think the concept of record companies being these huge evil people that don’t deserve all the money they get… it’s probably a lot more complicated than that.
However, we also know that we benefit enormously from the Internet. We definitely benefited a lot in the early days from word of mouth in Internet forums and discussions.
If the only way someone has access to one of our songs is by illegally downloading it, then to be honest, that’s OK with me because I’d rather they hear it than not hear it.
If someone had the choice to download it legally or illegally, I’d rather they do it legally of course…
