Stereoboard Speak To Lower Than Atlantis About Their New October UK Tour & New Album 'Changing Tune'
Monday, 01 October 2012
Written by Owen Sheppard
On the eve of the release of their third full length studio album: 'Changing Tune', Ben Sansom, lead guitarist of aspiring Watford rockers, Lower Than Atlantis, spared us some time to answer questions about their forthcoming UK tour, life in the band and the incredible fortune they have enjoyed so far this year.
Hello Ben, what things do you guys think about when choosing bands to support you on tour? What made you choose the likes of The Dangerous Summer, Don Broco and Gnarwolves?
We like to choose bands we like and with members that we get on with as mates. We don’t want to be on the road for days on end with people we think are weird or strange. We’ve known the guys in Don Broco for a long time, Mike (the band’s front-man) knows the guys in Gnarwolves and we know other bands who said they got on with The Dangerous Summer. It’s good to network and get out there and hopefully meet all the right people.
Have there ever been a particularly bad experiences touring with other bands?
Nah, not really, I mean we all like a beer. We can always just hang out and have a beer together so we make friends with other bands pretty quick. We’ve never really had a problem with other bands we have toured with.
Do you guys find it encouraging or reassuring when you see your peers, bands like Don Broco, Deaf Havana or We Are the Ocean, all of a similar genre and background, enjoying commercial and critical success. Is there a sense of “we’re all in it together” community spirit amongst yours and these other bands?
Yeah definitely, it feels like we’ve all grown up together. One of the first tours we’ve ever done was with Deaf Havana, just playing to rooms of 10 people. But now it’s like all of these bands can now draw big crowds to shows and it’s always good fun to meet up with them. It does feel like we are all gaining off of one another’s success a bit too because of the association we have with each other.
In contrast to some of the older material on albums 'Far Q' and 'Bretton', the songwriting is much cleaner and more melodic. Is this a case of growing older and leaving your teenage angst behind? Some artists choose to abandon hardcore punk as a genre because it is too demanding physically. Was this also the case?
I dunno I think we just kind of grew up a bit more I guess and started learning to write with a bit more melody. It wasn’t really a conscious decision in the way that some of the fans seem to have seen it. We have Eddy on drums now too who I feel has quite a distinct sound compared to our old drummer. But yeah I guess we just ended up moving on and changing without even meaning to.
Have you noticed any patterns in the way that some of your old songs are received or responded to when played live? If so, has this determined the way the new album was written? Or do you just proffer to write whatever comes to you at said time and place?
We do occasionally try and cater some songs to being played live. You always know the faster, heavier ones and singles are going to go down well and they always end up taking precedence on our set lists. In regards to song writing we tend to just go for whatever ideas we have at the time. We try and have variety in our albums though generally.
You also play a few a Foo Fighters covers at the end of your shows too; with the third album on its way is that going to remain a fixture on your set lists?
That was more just our summer festivals 2012 thing. It’s always nice when you’re checking out a new band at a festival to have something to relate to, so we put Foo Fighters covers in so that even if you have never heard of us before, that’s one little bit you will hopefully definitely enjoy, and everyone loves Foo Fighters. But now we are moving to our new headline tour with a new album, we won’t need it so much and won’t have space to fit it in so we will retire doing covers I think; until next festival season anyway.
You played on the second stage at Download Festival this year, your first time performing on a big outdoor festival stage. Did that feel like a bit of a breakthrough moment for the band? How terrified were you?
It was a very surreal experience and we felt quite out of our comfort zone. We do tents at festivals all the time and they’re easier because you have the lighting and a room over your head but when you’re outside and it’s so open you feel much more challenged to feel like an on stage presence in front of all those people watching you. We really enjoyed it though and it’ll be our landmark experience of playing a big outdoor stage for the first time.
You guys have been touring rigorously for several years now, what’s your favourite venue you have ever performed at?
I think Brixton Academy if I’m honest. It’s such a cool venue and such a step up from anything we had done before. We played there the first time with You Me At Six and it was great but then we loved it even more when we supported Blink 182. The KoKo Bar in Camden is great too, which we have played with Architects and Twin Atlantic on two different tours. It’s got a lot of character being an old theatre and it’s by the train station so everyone can get to it easily and there’s just a great vibe to it.
You guys have previously referred to Blink 182 as a soul influence on the band, what was it like meeting them?
We met them for the first time in Cardiff due to us having the same press agent. We chatted to Mark first and then hung out with Tom and Travis and they just seemed really cool and down to earth guys. It was really cool to see the runnings of their massive crew as well. They have so many people who work for them on their tour who all do their jobs so well and there’s just our little band from Watford with a few techs and our manager. It was so interesting to see how their band operates and those were really great shows.
Was I star struck? Well I just had to try and put my game face on when I first met Mark and try to appear chilled out rather than all like “I love you, I love you, I love your band!” He’s also a Chelsea fan like me so that was something we had in common. He’s also just moved to London so we talked about how he was getting on there. I was just trying to be friendly to him more than anything.
Can you name two existing bands who you guys would like to support more than any other in the world?
Well definitely Foo Fighters, and I’d really like to support Gaslight Anthem. I think our bands have quite similar fans who are just in to straight up rock and I think our fans are of a similar age too so I’d really like to go on tour with them.
As a fan, it can be annoying when your favorite band has terrible merch that you wouldn’t want to buy, however much you want to support them. You guys however seem to be going out of your way to meet current trends with front pocket t shirts etc. Who comes up with the designs for your merch? Do you think it’s important to have a steady stream of interesting new merch frequently being released?
It’s just that it’s so hard being in a band these days with illegal downloading and stuff and it’s just something to do as a hobby to make a little extra money. Trying to keep it going as almost like a little brand has become like a hobby for us. I’ve been trying to come up with ideas for things like a summer range and a winter range coming up with different items like vests, jackets, rucksacks, denim jackets and things like that too. It’s fun and something extra to do on tour that keeps us from being bored on the road.
For a lot of artists it feels like there’s a common goal, to pursue music and hope you can stave of the threat of having to enter full time employment, hopefully for as long as you can. With your third album on the way do you guys feel that your band has reached a stage where you feel secure about your futures yet?
Not yet really. It’s more that you start feeling like a big fish in a small pond before you move up to a next level. But as time has gone on we feel like we have achieved more and more with every album but I don’t think we are quite at that stage so the answer is probably still no.
What is the stupidest or worst thing you have ever read about yourselves by a critic?
We read a review once of one of our love shows where there was barely anything mentioned about our band and one of the main criticisms was about a green jumper that Mike apparently always wares. That was a bit stupid. And to be honest that show felt like a good one. Can’t tell you who it was that wrote it though I’m afraid.
What is your favourite album of the year so far?
I’ve just got the new Billy Talent album and have yet to really listen to it, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good, hmmm, Maybe Gaslight Anthem actually.
Who should win the Mercury Music Prize this year?
Of all the ones I’ve seen nominated I would probably go for Ben Howard, I really like his record. It’s good listen to music that’s different to just the kind of music that you play and to be honest I generally enjoy quite a lot of more chilled out music. I just think that album has some great tunes on it.
Lower Than Atlantis release 'Changing Tune' today, Monday 1st October 2012 via Island Records. They begin their new UK tour tonight at Exeter's Phoenix.
Mon October 1st 2012 - Exeter Phoenix, Devon
Tue October 2nd 2012 - Mo’Live @ Mo’Club, Southampton
Wed October 3rd 2012 - Trinity, Bristol
Thu October 4th 2012 - Nottingham Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
Fri October 5th 2012 - Glasgow Garage, Glasgow
Sun October 7th 2012 - Manchester Club Academy, Manchester
Mon October 8th 2012 - Arts Centre, Norwich
Tue October 9th 2012 - O2 Academy Birmingham, Birmingham
Wed October 10th 2012 - The Cockpit, Leeds
Thu October 11th 2012 - Electric Ballroom, London
Fri October 12th 2012 - The Academy, Dublin
Sat October 13th 2012 - Sub, Belfast
Sun October 14th 2012 - Cyprus Avenue, Cork
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Hello Ben, what things do you guys think about when choosing bands to support you on tour? What made you choose the likes of The Dangerous Summer, Don Broco and Gnarwolves?
