More about: The Amazons

Up until quite recently, Reading quartet The Amazons had built their career on mind-melting guitar riffs and soaring rock anthems. However, lockdown would inadvertently steer the band into a new sonic direction, with frontman Matt Thomson writing songs on his acoustic guitar as a means of communicating with his girlfriend across the long absences and distances created by the COVID pandemic. Although they weren’t initially made for a public audience, these songs have since evolved into The Amazons’ brilliant third studio album – How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me?

Now emerging from the darkness of the last couple of years with their most jubilant and heartfelt record to date, we spoke to Matt Thomson about the making of their stunning new album, which is out later this week.

Gigwise: Going right back to the start for a moment, from what I understand the band was formed following a Foals show at Ally Pally – what happened during or after that gig that ignited the fire in you all to want to do this for a living?

Matt Thomson: The context really is we were in a band before - me, Chris (lead guitar) and Elliot (bass). We’d brushed with industry too, we had management, an agent and labels sniffing around a little bit at showcases. We didn’t really understand the opportunity that we had though, we were more just concerned with going out and having fun. We got a little bit lost as to who we were and what our sound should be, too many external factors getting involved. Too much worrying about stuff like “rock music is our bread and butter but is it relevant?” and “should we be transitioning over to more production, synths and electronic influences?” So, it kind of fizzled out. 

Then it was specifically Valentine’s Day 2014, when Foals played Alexandra Palace. I went with some friends, and it was less Foals actually and more Cage The Elephant who were supporting. We watched them and I was like “These guys are a rock band, they’re fucking awesome, I love this – maybe we don’t need to think that hard about it or worry about that shit. Let’s just make rock music.” So that was that gig really.

Joe (drummer) had just started with the band too, so it was that element and me going to this gig that really was the catalyst. Then the ball started rolling on the first album from that moment really.

GW: So less than a decade after you formed, you’re already on album numer 3 – did you have a plan when you formed the band with goals you wanted to hit by a certain timeframe?

MT: No not really. Of course you have the dream of “I want to be in a band that headlines Glastonbury one day” or Reading Festival more specifically for us. But I would say we had much more immediate goals like get a gig at Purple Turtle [a venue in Reading], record a song and play a tour. 

In those days, we didn’t even understand how you book tours. We did the classic thing of going on Facebook and finding out the promoters for all the smaller venues in the country, sending them emails and seeing what happened...but nothing happened. So even all those immediate goals of just getting a gig or a support slot, were totally alien to us in the beginning. We didn’t know how anything worked, we didn’t know the processes. We literally didn’t know anything. So it’s that old cliché that the goalposts totally change the longer you’re in the game. Otherwise, we would’ve just been happy to put a song out on Soundcloud and play our local bar. 

In fact, I think the most solidified time-sensitive plan we ever made as a band was to play a venue in Reading called Sub89, which is like 600 capacity. We started the band at the beginning of 2014 and we were like “by the end of the year, we have to fucking play this venue. If we haven’t done it by the end of the year, we’ve done something wrong.” Of course, we definitely didn’t do it – took us two and a half years! So from that moment on, we learned not to put a time limit on these things. 

GW: The new songs are obviously deeply personal, starting out as love letters between you and your girlfriend during the pandemic – was there a hesitancy initially to share something so intimate?

MT: Yeah, I just didn’t think it fit with what The Amazons did. Songs like 'Northern Star' and 'I’m Not Ready', they were very specifically not written for The Amazons at all. They’re not our typical arrangements and our music just didn’t sound like that up until this point. 

It really was just something to share between me and my girlfriend, a means for me to process the challenges that we were facing between us, but also a way of me getting a feeling of some sort of control over a situation that was completely out of my hands. It was also just a means of communication really, once you get to seven - eight months apart from someone, WhatsApp messages, FaceTimes and even letters, they just don’t fill the hole anymore. So, I kind of leant on songwriting as a means of communication as well.

It was only due to sharing it with her and then being convinced to share it with the band, and then the boys turning around and saying “No this is Amazons stuff, we can totally see ourselves in this”. Then I knew I could open this out and make Amazons songs out of it. So it was kind of a process, but it was also a way of us finding the most authentic and genuine music, which I think is a basic requirement. You know, we’re not doing it [making music] for a quick buck or necessarily fame and success, it’s just purely expression.

Considering the number of words we have, language and vocabulary can be quite limited when you’re trying to articulate very instinctual and very deep feelings that are hard to express. That’s where music comes in, the marrying of the lyrics with the melody for that extra dimension. 

GW: I understand you had some songs written from immediately after your second album Future Dust too. Did any of those make it onto the record or did they all get shelved coming out of lockdown because of these new songs you had written?

MT: Yeah pretty much, it all just canned. It just didn’t feel true, didn’t feel real. You know, we all change as human beings, but I think you change more depending on how open you are to different ideas and experiences – and I think that just got reflected in the music.

I think honestly, we just got bored with the atmosphere and sonic identity of Future Dust - you know we kind of did it and there was nothing else to do. We felt that when we were recording it, we did 'Fuzzy Tree' with Catherine [Marks, Future Dust producer] and I literally remember saying “this is it, this is the heaviest we’ll EVER go.” So we knew that even before the album was out, that we weren’t going there again. It just doesn’t reflect what I listen to or what makes me excited and happy. 

Whereas a song like 'Northern Star', 'Say It Again', 'How Will I Know' — basically name any song on the new record — that feels like a reflection of what we’re actually listening to and what we want to contribute to the musical landscape. 

GW: Was there anything in particular you were listening to then during the recording that strongly influenced this new set of songs?

MT: Yeah definitely, we came off the American tour at the beginning of 2020 just before it all shut down and really discovered country music. Kacey Musgraves was the gateway drug, then Chris Stapleton and then your more typical country. Everyone from like Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, John Denver. Then artists that kind of have a foot in country music but also folk-rock and alternative like Brandi Carlile, John Prine, Sheryl Crow, Madonna’s Ray of Light album. I really love that stuff and got into a real moment with it. So hopefully you can hear that coming through on some of our new songs.

I also listened to a lot of more ambient and atmospheric stuff like Jon Hopkins and Daniel Lanois. He’s like a producer for everyone from U2 to Dylan to Emmylou Harris, he’s done some ambient music albums that I thought were just really cool. So there’s a lot more experimenting with that kind of stuff on this record too, more soundscapes and ambient sounds that just give our arrangements more texture, like on [new single] 'There’s A Light'.

GW: Track three on the record 'Say It Again' was co-written with Maggie Rogers. How did that come about putting that song together?

MT: Yeah we’ve been friends with Maggie for a long time now. We met at Glastonbury 2017 and been hanging out ever since really. She’s a really inspirational person to have in our lives. She’s so open and focussed in just pursuing her creative instincts. The conversations we were having around music, what we were listening to, what we were watching and reading — to hear her new record [Surrender] it was just so cool to hear those conversations from 18 months ago come to fruition.

So I’m round her house in Los Angeles and we’re just hanging out, we’ve never written before or anything like that, we’re just talking music and trading stories. I pick up an acoustic and show her pretty much everything you hear up until the first chorus, and I just say “listen I’ve got this, what would you do next if this was your song?” Then she started singing the chorus melody and I was instantly like ok cool, now we’ve kicked the door open to start the next stage of the song. 

We agree as a band, from the little dropdown into the solo and outro, it’s one of the best things we’ve ever done. It’s definitely one of my favourite moments on the record, it makes me feel 10 feet tall and gives me goosebumps whenever I hear it.

GW: There is a bit in your new single 'There’s A Light' that is really reminiscent of Bombay Bicycle Club, Jim Abbiss of course produced your new album who has worked with them previously. What was he like to work with and how did he help elevate these songs?

MY: He’s so experienced and was just the right fit for us going into this new record. I think he helped us up our game, both individually and as a band. That means being super tight and on it as a recording musician, but also just being open and ready to try anything. That’s why we brought him on: he’s just so full of ideas production wise but also likes to get his hands dirty with the engineering and just playing around with synths. 

He was just so much more curious, inquisitive and explorative than I ever imagined and that was just really, really awesome. He held weight too, we trusted him...sometimes when you’re a band of four, you need that casting vote.

GW: A lot of the songs on here indirectly reference the feeling of getting back to playing gigs and festivals, lead single 'Bloodrush' being one. You’ve just finished your first full festival season back, how’s it been and what have been the highlights?

MT: The Isle of Wight was a lot of fun, headlining 110 Above again was really good as well. Neighbourhood Festival in Manchester was also great. I think just the atmosphere behind the scenes between the artists and crew, across the entire summer, has just been so awesome.

Honestly artists or bands that you may have only met a few times pre-COVID, when you see them again in the festival context, there’s just such a celebratory feel. Everyone’s so open and just happy. I think because we all experienced the sharp end of it not happening and not knowing when it was going to come back. So I think now, there’s just this subconscious, inbuilt appreciation which is awesome.

GW: You’ve mentioned on Twitter that 'Northern Star' is your favourite song on the record, it’s easily one of the most heartfelt tracks you’ve written – how did that song come about and what makes it so special for you?

MT: Yeah 'Northern Star' and 'Say It Again' (are the favourites). They just mean the most lyrically and I just think they’re the best songs we’ve done.

'Northern Star' is really about celebrating people in your life that get you out of tough spots. On our own personal journeys, it’s just inevitable that it’s never going to be easy. I also think — contrary to whatever Instagram self-help gurus are on about — that you can’t do it on your own. You know, life’s too hard to just lone wolf it, I think we need each other big time. So I guess this song is just a celebration of that.

That truly was one like I said earlier that I sent to my girlfriend and was like “This is it - this is me” with just my voice and an acoustic guitar, and then was forced to send it to the band who loved it and wanted to do something with it.

GW: So were the band straight away convinced this was the direction to take with the new album?

MT: Yeah, it wasn’t necessarily like “let’s do a whole album of these”, it was more “this is cool, let’s make it work.” You know the melody and the lyrics they really work and it’s exciting, lets add a drumbeat, a verse and just build them up from there.

GW: I hear Joe also set up a wine club for you all during the recording of the album. How did that start?

MT: That was kind of how Joe filled his time over lockdown, like he joined a vineyard and winery, got involved picking the grapes and helping to make the wine during the summer. So way more productive than any of us were during lockdown!

Then when we got back together as a band, he wanted to impart some of that knowledge and that was mostly in the form of drinking a couple of times a week and exploring different wines. We did these taste tests, he would have like a French Pinot Noir and a Californian Pinot Noir, so same grape type but different regions, then he would get us to taste the differences and talk about it. It was really interesting. 

He also got me this book, which is like an absolute bible of wine, called 24-Hour Wine Expert by Jancis Robinson. It’s fucking good, there’s no snobbery or elitism in it, it’s just the fundamentals of what wine is all about, running through the different types, grapes, regions and explaining what to pick up when you’re in the supermarket. Usually the answer is just pick anything, there are no wrong answers...just pick up a bottle with a nice label and try it out.

GQ: What’s your go-to tipple of wine now then, are you more red or white?

MT: Red. Definitely red. I do like sparkling wine too, there’s a lot of great English sparkling wines. We make sparkling wine to rival champagne these days: check out Ridgeview in Sussex. Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, all supermarkets will have like one or two English sparkling wines now, so I’d recommend getting them over prosecco, brut, cava and all that stuff. 

GW: Earlier this year you got your first chance to play arenas supporting Royal Blood on their UK tour – how did it feel playing those bigger stages?

MT: It was just overwhelming. It was the first tour we came back on, so we finished our touring of Future Dust playing bars and clubs in the States and then came back a few years later playing arenas in the UK. We were just relearning how to tour and basically how to stay healthy on the road, whilst playing the biggest shows we’ve ever done and trying to launch this new record. So trying to emerge as something different and better to what we had done before, but without any of the touring practice. It was a challenge. 

That said, we had the absolute best time and it was a total thrill. How lucky we were to be taken on that tour by the Royal Blood boys...very lucky.

GW: So now you have your own UK headline tour coming up in October and you’ve partnered up with BBC Introducing for the support, are there any acts you’re particularly looking forward to seeing and what songs off the new album are you looking forward to playing live for the first time?

MT: We’re really looking forward to playing with Molly Payton in London, she’s awesome. Then in Newcastle Lizzie Esau, that’s going to be awesome as well.

In terms of new songs live, I’m really excited to play 'Say It Again'. Just perform the stuff we haven’t played yet this festival season really, 'In The Morning' too. Fuck it, all of them. I actually think we could play every song on the new record on this tour. Maybe not all in one night, but every song will get a live rendition for sure.

How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me arrives 9 September via Fiction Records.

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More about: The Amazons