INTERVIEW: Tubelord

At the tail end of their UK tour, Tubelord were kind enough to give an interview just before their show at the Kraken Wakes in Portsmouth. Read on for musical insights, thoughts on playing live, and how to have a very, very good time at a gig.

GG: First off, I heard last night’s Water Rats gig was really cool. Was that one of your best?
Joseph (vocalist, guitarist): I think that was one of the best, you know. It was quite fun.
On the theme of live playing, do you enjoy playing live or the studio side more?
Joseph: I think I prefer the studio side… I don’t know. You’re always torn, aren’t you?
I think it was Jeff [Lynne] from Electric Light Orchestra who said he always preferred doing studio stuff instead of playing live. Obviously you get loads of takes recording, but if you make one mistake live you’re pretty much done for.
David (drummer): Jamie literally makes mistakes for fun.
Do you find that’s where most of your creativity comes from?
Jamie (Synth): It’s just instant gratification, you know. For the ladies.
David: We were talking about it today; that playing live and recording are two totally different things. We capture different energies onstage.
Do you find at a lot of your shows, the fans sing your songs back at you?
David: That depends where we are. With some crowds you get really, really reserved crowds; they’d just stand there, sing, and have a really great time but they won’t really rock out and it’s quite hard to engage with them. And with the crowds that go mental, I think you’re going to get a better performance out of us.

Are there any bands or performers that you try and emulate when you play live? Not necessarily musically, but in the way you move about the stage?
Tom (Bassist): I don’t do it, but I’m quite inspired by the guitarist from a band called Drool from Northampton. He literally does the best face.
A sex face?
Tom: No, this mesmerising face.
David: None of us will have as much fun as he has in his band. That’s just fact. We’ve all started taking on each other’s traits as well, and we’ve been touring with Tall Ships.
They supported you last night, is that right?
David: Yes. Matt [from Tall Ships] likes to do jumps. I saw him do four jumps in a row in Gloucester. That was great.

Obviously, you’ve got Alan [temporary singer] playing with you for a few shows. Does that change the make-up of the band, or is the essence still there? Does he bring anything else to it live?
Joseph: Loads, you know. In terms of live, I’m personally not on the microphone anymore, and before it would be quite frustrating when you just want to play guitar.
So you get to concentrate more.
Joseph: Yeah, you get to just dig the band and I’ve never heard us musically before. You get a lot of sound just stuck in your skull; it reverberates through, and this way I get to hear it really for what it is. Alan has given me that insight.
David: I’ve found that I can actually hear Jo’s guitar parts for the first time ‘cause always I’d obviously hear it just with his singing, but with someone else’s voice it’s weird. It’s like both the guitar and the voice are now two separate things. I can concentrate more on the guitar and bass, so now I feed off both of them.
Do you think it’ll remain like that once Joe’s voice gets better?
David: Yeah, but I think it’ll be one of those things where it’s kind of made us stronger as it now means that I’m listening out for a guitar part - so once Joe’s back on the vocals, I’ll still be hearing his guitar parts and his vocals, and it’s nice to hear these little intricacies on the guitar. You’d think, ‘ah that’s neat, I’ve never heard that before’.
So you’ll be able to hear your songwriting come through.
David: Yeah, it seems to have been a really positive thing.

Now, Twin Cities had four jumps. What’s the silliest thing any of you have done on tour?
Joseph: Silly?
Or stupid. Or just debauchery. Anything that you’d want to commit to tape, anyway.
Tom: Jamie poured a drink on my face.
David: Tell the whole story.
Tom: It was my birthday in Falmouth, and I got given a Goblet of Doom. They filled it with spirits. I drunk half of it whilst playing. We got to the end song, and the spirits had caught up with me and I ended up in the crowd, laying on my back still playing bass.
Good way to end your show.
Tom: Jamie was throwing the rest of the Goblet of Doom over my face; I looked back, and Joe wasn’t playing guitar anymore. He was lifting one of the Tall Ships boys up into a crowd surf – his first ever crowd surf – so it’s just Dave onstage playing drums. That was pretty good. But what followed that night in the bar remains a secret, but that was quite debauched as well.

Moving swiftly on, your first album is nearly a year old. Are you excited about the next record? Anything that you’re particularly proud of?
Joseph: You don’t get proud of your song. I think that true pride is something external, you know? If a friend or a close relative or someone I really care about is doing something in public [like a live performance] I get nervous for them. But when they get rounds of applause, I feel pride.
You’re coming back to Portsmouth next month, supporting Oceansize.
David: I’m excited; we’re all going to have to get colourful, ‘cause there’s going to be a lot of dark clothes.
Are you looking forward to the show tonight?
David: Yeah, though only half the PA works. We’ll give it double the show, I guess.

Tubelord are set to tour again next month with Oceansize and Asiwyfa.
Tubelord myspace