London Grammar Interview

London Grammar are the coolest new band to hit the airwaves with a hypnotising sound courtesy of vocalist Hannah Reid, bass guitarist Dan Rothman and multi-instrumentalist Dot Major. They have achieved instant success in Australia with their EP ‘Metal & Dust’ making the top five on iTunes, and are seemingly rewarding us with the release of their debut album, If You Wait, on 6th September, before anywhere else in the world! They have an increasing fan base thanks to radio plays, festival gigs, touring with The xx and appearing on Disclosure’s ‘Help Me Lose My Mind’. With comparisons to the internationally successful Florence and the Machine and Lana Del Rey, we predict that this group are about to blow the competition away. We grabbed some time with Dan to discuss everything that’s happened so far…

Hi Dan! How are you?
Very well, how are you?

I’m very good, thank you. Where are you talking to us from today?
I’m currently at home.

And what have you been up to recently?
Been busy with the band, lots of festivals. We just did Secret Garden Party, which was pretty cool.

Awesome! London Grammar has grown considerably since you first posted music online. What has the reaction meant to you all?
Good, it’s been amazing, I think. The whole thing’s been crazy, exciting and we’re all very grateful.

Is it true you saw a photo of Hannah on Facebook and asked her if she wanted to jam?
This story has evolved from all the interviews we’ve done! It is kind of true. I met Hannah before; we were at university together and I knew her for a few weeks and we got friendly, and I did see this picture of her on Facebook with a guitar and I realised that she liked music. That’s basically how we started playing together but I think it makes sound really creepy; it wasn’t that creepy!

Haha, yeah right! And how did Dot become involved?
I met Dot about a year and a half after me and Hannah started playing. My girlfriend knew Dot and we met up at a house party and he could play the drums. We started plating together and he became a part of the band.

With regards to you personally, how did you get into music?
My parents have always loved music. Like most people I went through my parents’ music collection. I was always obsessed with the guitar and I was about 10 or 11 when I started. I bought one and learnt to play. It was a very normal, natural thing.

The new album ‘If You Wait’ is simple and beautiful with Hannah’s enchanting voice, the growing energy and a Chillwave sound. Did you ever think you’d get this far?
No, not really! [Laughs] When making the album I don’t think we ever thought we’d get round to finishing the fucking thing! It took a really long time to get right and the writing bit was almost the easiest bit. When it came to making the album we had about 30 to 40 demos recorded of different songs we had. Producing them to a record standard made us think it would never happen. I still can’t believe we actually finished it.

Australia’s taken to your music like a duck to water, with your EP ‘Metal & Dust’ reaching the Top 5 in the iTunes chart. Have you been able to witness the music scene over there for yourselves?
Not really – the Australian thing is the weirdest thing about the whole process. It broke in Australia before it did here; the UK’s caught up now. Triple J started playing ‘Hey Now’ really early and it was in heavy rotation really quickly. It never really had that here; it wasn’t a single so it didn’t have the same impact. In Australia, from what I gather, they’re playing catch up, but it’s amazing. When we saw we were doing well we were blown away. We’ve got our tour dates for January and we’ve got some really good headlines that you might not normally get somewhere like Australia. Breaking through the internet shows how amazing it is really.

Your music has a range of genres from pop and electronic and soul. Would you put yourselves in a genre or do you think they’re becoming unnecessary?
I guess for some bands it’s necessary to have a classification. There are lots of artists who stick to their genre; I just think we have a confident sound that people find difficult to categorise. The three of us have different tastes and that’s where it comes from I think.

You’ve been described as “polite electronica that you can take home to meet the parents”; do you think this is fair?
I actually know where that quote is from. It’s a column in The Guardian and they basically destroyed us on the internet. I think it’s because we’re middle class or something like that. But, I guess I was always aware that we didn’t want the album to be middle of the road, so I can see why people can see it as polite because it’s quite easy listening. But I also don’t think that Hannah’s lyrics are polite, I think they’re actually disturbing.

Her voice is very haunting!
Exactly, and I think in that regard I don’t think it is polite and it’s very easy to make a quick judgment because the music is not loud or rough around the edges. I think the preconception changes when you see us live. The dynamic changes and it’s a bit more Rock ‘n’ Roll. But our second album might be something we try to do to have a wider dynamic, but we’ll do that for ourselves, not because Paul Lester told us to!

So do you pay attention to reviews?
I probably do the most out of the band because I’m a worrier; I worry what people think. I know that column and when it came out I wanted to see what it said. I care the most, whereas Hannah doesn’t give a fuck, which is great. I wish I was more like her; she’s a proper artist and I’m a bit of a music fan, so it’s in my nature to care what people think and see what they say. But we’re all very different.

The xx chose you for their London show for the Night and Day tour; how was that experience?
It was amazing; one of the coolest moments so far was meeting them. Putting on a show with amazing artists and musicians that we got to meet. We were surprised at the size of it; it was the most we’ve played to so far because no two bands were playing at the same time. It was a DJ followed by band and then another DJ, so you had the majority of the crowd. It was mind-blowing to play to 5000 people so early on. It was an amazing experience and showed us that the fans stand up on a bigger scale. We’ve still very grateful.

You’ve also dueted with Disclosure; how did that come about?
That came about because we know their managers. Two really young guys called Jack and Sam who are really nice chaps. We were picking our managers and we ended up not choosing them for various reasons, but stayed in touch and remained friendly. They loved what we were doing. They got back in touch when they were coming through, but still not quite what they are now. They really exploded.

If you were to go on the road with any act who would you choose?
Aww I don’t know; probably Radiohead if I had to choose anyone. I love lots of different bands, but if I were to go with anyone it would have to be them.

What’s the next single on the album?
‘Strong’. In the UK it is anyway. The current single in Australia is ‘Wasting My Young Years’.

What do you have planned for the rest of the year?
Wow, lots of stuff that I can’t remember at the moment! Lots of festivals and in September we’re touring US and then UK and then Europe and then Australia.

Wow, you’re busy! Well Dan, thanks for the time you’ve given us today. The album’s amazing and good luck!
Thanks very much. All the best.

By Charlotte Mellor