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Gigwise caught up with Matty and Henry from Anglo-Icelandic shoegaze popstrels Fields to talk debut album bunker syndrome, touring with Bloc Party and, err…, their love of catering.
It’s just gone 6pm and Fields are hammering out their soundcheck at the Carling Academy Newcastle. Or so we suppose because, having blatantly not finessed the art of “looking like we’re supposed to be here”, Gigwise is relegated to freezing his man-tits off outside with the kids and some spectacularly downtrodden touts in Newcastle’s practically arctic February conditions. That said, when the Fields advance party of bassist Matty, drummer Henry and their tour manager arrive to escort your correspondent inside they get equally short shrift from the gang of twenty part-time neo-fascists guarding the venue’s inner sanctum. There then follows ten minutes of awkward feet shuffling, as the three of us wait in front of the rabid bouncers while the tour manager legs it to blag a AAA pass. Hell, if the band can’t even get into their own gig, what chance does a simple hack have? Luckily both Matty and Henry are in good humour and, having finally dispensed with the security situation, we settle in and talk turns to the tour with Bloc Party.
“I’ve loved it,” says Matty. “We kind of know Bloc Party anyway, so it’s been very, very family, family. I’ve been friends with Russell for about 10 years, I know Kele, and Matt Tong’s wife’s selling our merch! It’s great to be on the road with them, and it’s great to have catering! That’s the best thing about the tour, I think – the catering!”
That enthusiasm may be symptomatic of the considerable glycaemic load hitting Matty’s system right about now – the result of a sizeable curry thanks to that very catering – but Henry’s quick to agree. “Yeah, it’s better than being crashed out in the van eating Whoppers every day. When we’re back on our toilet-circuit tour, we’ll be back in Burger King.”
While hitching a ride on the hottest tour of the moment – Bloc Party’s sophomore effort and grandiose concept album ‘A Weekend In The City’ having just broken into the American Top 20 – clearly has its associated perks, the band are more than happy to be playing bigger venues. “I think we sound quite good in a big room,” says Matty, modestly. “The last time we played here, it was with Editors and I just remember we had a good time. And with having five people in the band it’s nice to have a bit of space.
“Instead of Emily being stood on my drumkit,” quips Henry.
All of which might hint at a bit of internecine tension in the Fields camp when they’re living all over each other in a transit, but Henry’s quick to quash any such suggestions. “Luckily we have the benefit of the Travelodge! That’s kind of saving our behinds a bit, provided we don’t get too pissed. We’ve been on the road for about a year and a half now, just solidly touring, and we all get on really well.”
Which is just as well, since the band’s good nature was stretched to near breaking point last summer when they decamped to Dublin to record their debut album, ‘Everything Last Winter’. Henry takes up the story: “It was a long time recording the album because we recorded it in Dublin and initially it was like ‘Dublin! Wow! New town, new city.’ But then, after a while, we all became very homesick. I was the last to crack ‘cos me and Matty we’d go out and have a good time after we’d recorded our bits, and paint the town green. But eventually we all started to go a bit crazy. It was recorded in a basement over the summer – we spent the whole summer in a basement!”
“It was more to do with the surroundings really. [The producer] had shipped in two tons of equipment and we’d brought a van full of our stuff and packed it all into this small basement studio. There were damp issues in the studio and because there’s quite an acoustic element to the band, that was affecting the recordings. Suddenly time became an issue.”
“We’ve just gone in and done some B-sides,” Matty picks up. “We did nine songs in a week and we enjoyed that experience so much more. I think we’ll do the next album a little bit more like that.”
With their debut album completed and awaiting release in early April, they’re clearly proud of the work they’ve done – Matty launching into an enthusiastic five minute riff on it’s artwork at one point. Their choice of producer, though, is somewhat puzzling in Michael Beinhorn, the man behind some of the biggest grunge and metal albums of the 90s, including Soundgarden’s Beatles-inspired breakthrough ‘Superunknown’.
Matty’s quick to elaborate: “The people we’d recorded with before were great but we’d keep getting compared with the likes of The Magic Numbers. They’re really good and everything but we thought – “hang on we don’t sound anything like them” – we’re a lot heavier. So we wanted someone who could do big guitars but manage the electronic stuff as well. Michael’s done stuff with Brian Eno, he did Herbie Hancock’s ‘Rockit’ [or ‘Futureshock’, the album the hit single came from – Ed.] and then of course there’s Marilyn Manson and Korn. The first thing I knew that he produced was Mew and then I found out he’d done Hole’s ‘Celebrity Skin’ – they’re not my favourite band but it’s got some really great sounding guitars.”
“When we had a meeting with him he was the first person who said to us “I get it”, not totally trying to kiss our arses. We just sat and had a chat about music, really – he seemed to like a lot of records that we really liked.”
Henry agrees: “Sonically he seemed to really grasp the heavier and the dynamically softer sides of the coin.”
Aspects of the recording process, though, were a bit fraught, thanks to Beinhorn’s somewhat straight-edge approach. “He’s been doing it for a very long time,” continues Matty, “and he’s… mad! When we were doing vocals we weren’t allowed to eat spicy food, no alcohol, no smoking – it was pretty much just eat brown rice! There were a few times where I’d just slip off to the pub, but I mostly went along with it and in the end I didn’t do any vocals!”
Henry takes a more philosophical view of the process: “If he didn’t like something he’d make it perfectly plain. It’s good to work with strong-minded people.”
And, after a rather pleasant half-hour, it’s time to wrap it up. Sneaking out past security, who seem to have chilled out since our last meeting, I can’t help thinking that Fields are so damned enthusiastic about the music they’re making – and so unpretentious with it – that they deserve to clean up when ‘Everything Last Winter’ is finally released. Whether they do is down to you lot, but given their ability to face down adversity with a generous dose of good humour, only a fool would write Fields off just yet.
