Stereoboard Speaks To Rolo Tomassi About Upcoming Compilation 'Eternal Youth' (Interview)
Monday, 11 April 2011
Written by Ben Bland
Stereoboard speaks to Rolo Tomassi keyboardist and co-frontman James Spence about the band’s upcoming compilation ‘Eternal Youth’ and their plans for 2011 and beyond.
It’s about a year since ‘Cosmology’ was released, how pleased are you with that record and the reaction it received a year on?
We're still all really happy with the record and the response has been fantastic. The difference in crowd response from when we first started playing some of the Cosmology tracks up until now has shown that people have really the taken time to get into and properly digest the record which is great.
The band seems to be quite a bit bigger than it was at the beginning of 2010, have you noticed any real change?
Nothing particularly stands out as being a marker for that, other than maybe playing to slightly more people. We're all happy with how things are gradually moving on though.
I’ve noticed that the band has got more coverage in metal circles especially in recent times, is there one particular genre or ‘scene’ that you feel at home in now?
I'm not really sure our band will ever be put into one scene or genre. That’s not us trying to be awkward or different or whatever it’s just how it’s always been. The music we play is heavy and intense sounding but we're just as comfortable playing with more melodic bands as we are with metal.
How was working with Diplo on ‘Cosmology’, and do you foresee the band working with him again?
It was a great experience and one I don't think we'll forget. We've only just started writing new material for consideration of a 3rd record so we haven't really discussed who we'll look to work with yet when it comes to recording. It depends entirely on how it sounds.
You’re a band that’s spoken very highly about by your peers, how does it feel to be held in such high regard by your contemporaries?
It’s very flattering to be mentioned in that way by other artists and, not wanting to sound smug in the slightest, there is a certain amount of satisfaction that comes with knowing that people from bands we have respect for have taken the time to listen to our music.
This April you’re releasing ‘Eternal Youth’, a compilation of b-sides and rarities, what’s the motivation behind this?
We've had the idea for a while to compile all the pre-Hysterics material and rarities just because there is so much material. The majority of our early releases have been out of press for a long time and some of it has never been available on CD so it’s a nice opportunity, while we begin work on our third record, to get this release out.
It seems quite early in a band’s career for such an expansive set to be put together, no?
Despite only releasing 2 full lengths, we've been a band for 6 years now so I don't think so.
Does this release signal that you are now embarking upon the next stage of the band’s development in a way?
With the material on it spanning from when we started the band to recording we did last year, it’s more of a retrospective than something that draws a line under what we've done previously. We're constantly looking to move forward with what we've done and the songs on this release underline that and show the development of the band.
Last December you were planning to film a DVD at the Bloomsbury Ballroom but the show had to get pulled just a couple of days before the show. I assume that idea has been placed very much on the backburner for now?
Yeah unfortunately Eva got quite ill after our trip to Australia and we had to cancel 5 shows when we got home and the Bloomsbury show was affected by that. We'd still very much like to set up a show to be filmed at some point but other plans have taken a priority for the time being.
I’ve always thought that you have to see Rolo Tomassi live to really ‘get’ what it is that you’re trying to do, would you agree?
I’d totally agree with you there. We started this band to play shows and all the music is written with the intention of being performed live.
You’ve played with acts as diverse as Biffy Clyro and Dillinger Escape Plan over the years, have you ever been on a bill and thought “what the fuck are we doing here?”
Not really. I mean, we'd never take the shows in the first place if we thought they were too weird. I guess if I had to say somewhere then I’d probably confess that at both of the Slam Dunk Festivals last year I felt a little uncomfortable.
This May tour is being billed as your only UK tour of 2011. Are you looking to tour further afield or are you going to be knuckling down in the studio for the rest of the year?
It will be a mixture of both really. We have plans to spend a decent amount of time in mainland Europe this summer and certainly have one eye on recording. It all depends on how writing goes.
What can we expect from future Rolo Tomassi recordings?
I don't think we even know ourselves yet. We need to do some more writing first before I could properly answer that question.
Whenever I introduce someone to Rolo Tomassi their first reaction is almost always, “you’ve got to be kidding - that girl can’t be doing those vocals!” Their second reaction is usually, “what the fuck’s going on?!” What do you think when you hear people say these sorts of things?
I think we've just desensitized ourselves to the way our band sounds. When you play the songs enough times it starts to feel more right than it probably sounds to a lot of people.
Are there any bands out there at the moment that you’d particularly like to recommend to Stereoboard readers?
I'm really enjoying “Native Speaker” by Braids at the moment and the new Trap Them record is great as well so those are two bands I’d definitely recommend checking out, even if they are pretty different!
Finally, where do you see Rolo Tomassi being in five years time?
Hopefully doing a similar thing to what we're doing now in terms of how much we tour and release. I guess it would just be nice to be playing to more people and to have our music reach more people.
'Eternal Youth', a 36-track compilation of rarities and remixes from Rolo Tomassi is released on April 18th through their own label Destination Moon. A 3-disc vinyl edition will also be released on Record Store Day (April 16th) through Holy Roar records. Rolo Tomassi tour the UK from the 5th to 12th May.
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