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Since their second album, Two Dancers, was released last summer, Kendal’s Wild Beasts have toured constantly, featured on numerous Album of the Year lists, and made their debut on Later… with Jools Holland. The Yorker caught up with guitarist Ben Little and drummer Chris Talbot ahead of their recent show in Manchester.
Two Dancers made quite an impression last year. How has its success changed life in the band?
Chris Talbot: It’s certainly changed the way we exist for the time being. When [debut album] Limbo, Panto was released it had a muted response, whereas this one’s success means we’ve been on the road constantly. Obviously we would rather be in a studio, writing, because that’s how a band starts out, but we can’t complain. When I was 16 I dreamt about being a musician, so now I find myself sound checking and thinking “fuck, yeah – I’m doing it”.
Ben Little: Yeah, you never seriously think you’ll reach this stage. Last year, we were a support act at this venue, but now we can sell it out ourselves. If anything, we’d have liked to tour more when the debut came out, but we just didn’t have the following. We had a grand idea with Limbo, Panto to play panto halls and perform the album in full, but it costs money to do an impressive production, and we’re not big enough at the moment to bring out the huge lights and fireworks.
Growing up in Kendal, you weren’t part of a prominent indie scene. How did the place affect your music?
CT: It had a huge impact, because there was nowhere to go and see a band, unlike places like London.
BL: None of that “virgins into the woods” sort of thing though. Although we didn’t live in a city, we could still get out into the world. Eight or nine of us came down on the bus to see the Strokes a few years ago, so it’s not that we didn’t have a clue what music was about, we just didn’t have any sort of scene to attach ourselves to.
CT: Being in Kendal you had to really search for the music you liked – there wasn’t really a record shop with everything in – and it felt like a cool thing to do. We locked ourselves away in a basement for a year and a half, and that was where we put the music together, piece by piece. The combination of sounds seemed logical to us, although I suppose a mixture of bongos and those vocals might seem strange to a newcomer.
BL: Most people were pretty supportive; we never had to deal with a backlash at home. In Kendal people don’t bat an eyelid – you could walk down the street naked and they wouldn’t look twice.
CT: We played all the little venues there, and found people staring on thinking “what the fuck – this guy’s singing like a girl – go and grow some balls”.
BL: A little bit, but, y’know, never much more than a stunned silence.
Do you read your reviews?
CT: I avoid it like the plague, but you absolutely love it, don’t you?
BL: Yeah, I love it – I can honestly say I’ve read pretty much every review we’ve ever had. When you read a bad review you’re fucking fuming about it for the rest of the day, you wanna email the guy straight away. To put two years’ work into something and hand it over to a reviewer for them to destroy it is just infuriating. I found a bad one from Exeter the other night…
CT: I can’t do it, because if you read a bad one it just puts you in a bad mood for the rest of the week. Are you reviewing the gig tonight?
Not now, that’s for sure. What are you listening to at the moment?
CT: We all like different things. The new Joanna Newsom album’s been on all our iPods a lot…
BL: …and we’re all fans of the xx; we’ve played with them at the same festivals a couple of times. Their record came out within a month of ours, and although it’s gone on to greater things I’d like to think we’re in a similar boat to those guys.
Both bands seem to have gained a lot from online hype.
BL: People have been genuinely very supportive of us. It’s nice to be thought of as a hyped band because it shows that some people, especially tastemakers like Pitchfork, hold us in high regard – if we’re still seen as doing something new after two albums, it seems like we’re not just a flash in the pan.
CT: The music scene’s pretty healthy at the moment, all things considered, and to be at Domino means you get taken seriously by both critics and fans.
You say the scene’s healthy at the moment – what’s your response to illegal downloading?
CT: It’s a funny one…
BL: Six of one, half a dozen of the other, isn’t it?
CT: To be honest, 10 years ago we probably would’ve sold 100,000 records in the UK where we’ve only sold 20,000 today – record sales have gone down, which is a shame for us, but just getting the music to so many more people by other means has meant that there’s a more vibrant live scene now, so bands are profiting from that instead. The positive thing is, the lack of money seems to have separated the wheat from the chaff: there’s no shit being released by the indie labels now. I mean, I don’t think people should download illegally…
BL: …but I’m sure all of us here are guilty of it. I think it’s a good way of music being spread about.
CT: Take the Joanna Newsom album, for example. We’ve all shared it, in the band, but if we all go and buy the vinyl individually afterwards, there’s more good than harm done.
What are your plans for the rest of the year?
BL: Our last gig of the year is Bestival in September. We’re doing the festivals – The Great Escape, Green Man and lots more. With Joanna Newsom at Green Man, that’ll be incredible.
CT: Then hopefully we can get back into the studio, and get another album out in the next year.
The Yorker looks forward to hearing it.
BL: We look forward to writing it, don’t you worry.
Wild Beasts play at Leeds Met as part of Live at Leeds on May 1, and headline the Manchester leg of Dot to Dot Festival alongside Liars, Field Music, Fionn Regan, Los Campesinos! and Beach House on May 31.
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