WHITE LIES
With a hit album under their belt and a successful tour in full flow, the future looks bright for indie unit White Lies,
as Henry Northmore discovers
‘WHEN I LOOK OUT AT HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE, ALL I SEE IS SMILES AND JOY'
‘Iiarewell to the I'Iiit‘gi'tHihd‘ when we found out. It was yery surreal but it was also nice to be alone. just the three of us who had made this record and gone to number one together. something we'd neyer expected. in the freezing cold in the middle of nowhere.
How does it feel seeing your tours selling out and dates being upgraded to even larger capacity venues?
It feels great: it feels like a huge compliment to know people are so interested in seeing you. It's funny because the album seemed to get such a range of reyiews from one star to five stars in different magazines and there didn‘t seem to be any pattern but it seems the people who liked it genuinely loved it.
It’s felt like a very fast rise; how has it felt from inside the band?
It has been quick. A lot of people come up to us and say. ‘It‘s all happened so fast.‘ but we work 350 days of the year and not many other bands of our leyel do that. it's been quite stressful and a lot of hard work. We take our music and the whole aesthetic — the yideos. the artwork — yery seriously: we put everything into it.
Do you feel a lot of pressure for the second album especially with the first one doing so well?
There‘s always pressure on the second album. They say bands have a lifetime to write their first album but only six months to write the second. For us. we only had the songs then we were told we were going straight into the recording studio to make the album. so we had to write another six or seyen on the fly. on breaks. oyer lunch: that was a really intense pressure. So for the second record I'd like to do it in a similar way.
Will it be hard to mine the same emotions when so many positive things have happened to you in the last year?
I think we're still very much in touch with that part of ourselyes. Without putting a downer on it. touring is filled with loneliness. which none of us had ever really experienced before.
What do you think of media accusations that you are overly serious?
When yott do serious music you end tip with serious photos. Videos and art work. We do take the \isuals and the music yery seriously. We really care about the band. btit in reality w e‘re just normal people and we like to hay e a laugh. We one what w etc dong and we're trying to create something beautiful.
Which do you prefer - the song writing process or performing live?
It’s a yery different thing; we take recording yery seriously. It's an art. but it's a yery scientific art for Us. it's yery cathartic writing a song. We're yery' interested in arrangements and the recording process. And when we play Iiye it's much more emotional and physical.
How does it feel when people write you off as Editors/Interpol/Joy Division copyists?
You just try and ignore it. People who write that about us probably write it about other new bands. You sometimes wonder if they eyen like music. they seen too busy drawing Venn diagrams of who sounds like who. But it can be offensiye when people say you're influenced by these bands we'd neyer even heard Iiditors before. As for Joy I)i\'ision. I respect their place in musical history but I‘m not actually a big fan. I think a lot of their recorded work was a bit unformed . . . we draw influences from eyeryone from Queens of the Stone Age and Iron Maiden to Talking Heads.
What can people expect from White Lies live?
Iiuphoric is probably the best word; it‘s certainly not depressing. I find it a little frustrating when we get all these bleak and depressing adjectiyes. because when I look out eyery night. at howeyer many hundreds of people. and all I see is smiles and joy.
Are you looking forward to playing Scotland again?
Definitely. The Barrowland is such a great yenue. We played with (ilasyegas a few months ago and it was fantastic. And we're back after this tour for T in the Park. which was our first ever festival and even though we were on a tiny stage. really low down the bill. the reception was amazing. But I also think a crowd is only as good as the show you play.
White Lies play Barrowland, Glasgow, Mon 4 May and HMV Picture House, Edinburgh, Sat 23 May.
'1’; Apr—111 May 200’) THE LIST 17