Interview with London Grammar
Sometimes at gigs, me, Dan and Dot will be cracking a few jokes on stage and I think people are quite surprised.
Have you ever imagined, like pictured a particular listener, and imagined what environment they would be listening to in? Do you imagine them in their bedroom or with their headphones walking to work or anything like that?Yeah. I mean it’s hard to imagine. I still find it really hard to imagine. I would like to imagine someone singing along really loudly and really inappropriately in the shower or in their bedroom when they were getting ready. I mean I know it’s not like going out music but if they were feeling kind of, I don’t know, passionate about something or angry, they would be singing really loudly along with one of the songs… because that’s what I used to do in the shower! So I hope that someone is enjoying it in that way.
Yeah, I love a good sing along. But you find – when I try and sing along, I start mimicking your voice, I can’t help it!I used to do that. I used to sing along to Whitney, like Whitney or you sing along to Christina Aguilera…
But I’ve heard a theory that if you listen enough to one vocalist, your voice starts to bend in that direction. Was there one artist when you were little that over and over and over you would sing?There’ve just been so many vocalists that I’ve grown up listening to. I think that they’ve all influenced me really. You definitely can develop and change a voice. I can actually do quite a good impression of some vocalists.
Oh, yeah…?I can do quite a good Lana Del Rey and I can do quite a good Jessie J, but… I don’t think that’s a good impression to be honest. It is true that a voice can be very influenced by who you listen to. But then the more I sing and perform with London Grammar and I write songs for my boys, I think that – I would hope that something – there is something unique there. I mean I don’t sound like Michael Jackson. I would love to sound like Michael Jackson. That would be great.
Now doing covers is always kind of a contentious area. You want to bring something new to the party if you’re gonna do one. I thought ‘Nightcall’ was a brilliant decision. It’s such a cool song anyway. Your cover is Zane Lowe’s hottest record in the world right now, isn’t it? What made you choose that one?It was just one of those songs… the soundtrack was just floating around in the air, that whole kind of 80s revival. It has been a big thing recently and I just love that song and so did Dan and Dot. I think we’d been in rehearsals, just messing around and I was singing it, I think, and then we kind of forgot about it. Then one of our producers that we were working with at the time was like ‘oh, let’s do a cover of this’. That film and that soundtrack were always kind of in the back of my mind, that whole sound and that vibe, and it just kind of felt right. We never planned to have a cover on the album, so eventually we made that decision to put it in. It did mean something. We kind of thought it is something that we’re proud enough of.
I think it says a lot about a band, and the their future plans, the track they choose to finish the album with. I’ve heard that you went with the song that got a lot of people interested in you guys in the first place. Was that particularly significant, you putting it at the end of the album?Yeah, and I think that’s the reason. It just made sense to put it at the end and it’s – it’s my voice, a piano and strings. So it’s very simple and we just found it’s a peaceful way to end the album. I think for me, it means the most to me. That was it probably.
You’re now in the arena where big, glossy magazines have to pluck words out of dictionaries to convey what they perceive to be you as a band. I was reading the Glamour interview with you and they described you as “brooding” and “elusive”. Are you elusive? Are you brooding? Or do you like chuckle a little bit on those kinds of words?I don’t think either of those things, I don’t know. I certainly don’t think we’re elusive. Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? People describe everything in their own way, which is great. I mean the funny thing is the music is very brooding. I can hear that. It’s pensive and I definitely think that. But it’s quite funny because in real life and sometimes at gigs, me, Dan and Dot will be cracking a few jokes on stage and people are – I think people are quite surprised. Yeah.
Now Hannah, you’re coming to Norwich and I’m absolutely certain that you will bring us an absolutely knockout show. What, as an audience, can we do for you to put Norwich at the top of the gig list?I would like everyone to just be really rowdy and have a good time. Yeah, I couldn’t ask for anything more than that.
Emma R. Garwood
London Grammar play a sold out show at Open, on Bank Plain, Norwich. For all the details, go towww.open247.org.uk. Read the full interview online at Outlineonline.co.uk
What means more? Being nominated for the Mercury prize by a select panel of affected judges, or the greater population of the music press and music-buying public believing you deserve to get one? It’s a question that London Grammar must’ve secretly comforted themselves with when the tipped-to-win bookies’ favourites weren’t even on the shortlist. Perhaps it’s fair, given that their album only came out mere moments before the shortlist was announced, but the surprise was indicative of the impact their singles have made, before even putting out a full-length. The mixture of Hannah’s unique vocal timbre and the atmospheric beats laid down by her band mates has won them much acclaim, and many genuine fans. And there’ll be many more years of releases. This time, last year, there hadn’t been a single pressing of a London Grammar track. What a year. About to embark on an extensive UK tour, we spoke to the very in-demand, but not at all demanding Hannah ahead of their Norwich date.
As our cover stars, your faces will replace Ghostpoet’s around town. We’re doing this interview ahead of your Norwich gig. You’re coming at the end of November aren’t you, as part of your huge tour?Part of the UK tour, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, and it’s one of the last dates, I’ve noticed, before it looks like you’ve got a nice Christmas break planned.I get a break after – wait, Norwich is a couple of weeks, isn’t it?
No, November the 30th. I think your date was moved, wasn’t it?OK. Yeah, it was moved. I didn’t realise it had been moved to that date actually but I tend to not – I don’t really know anymore! I just go where I’m told. Yeah, but I’m very excited. I’m excited for the Norwich show; the guy that shot our album cover lives in Norwich as well.
Oh, really?Yeah, which will be nice. He’s a very interesting guy. I can send his details. He’s going to be there. He might be shooting some photos as well backstage, so maybe we can all hang out.
Very good, very good. Now you have a special responsibility Hannah, with all these tour dates you’ve got. As a vocalist, you’ve got a special instrument to look after. How are you coping so far?Well, we toured America and that was pretty tough just because it’s longest and it – I didn’t sleep very much and surprisingly my voice held up fairly well. I mean you just have to look after it. You would have to look after yourself and if you’ve got a cold, that’s your worst nightmare. But if that happens, you would have to accept there is nothing you can do about it and there will be times we have to unfortunately cancel shows. But so far, all good. Having said that, one of my good friends has a cold.
So they’re a good friend no longer . . .Yeah, I just sent her out. I’m with her now!
By your own admission, you still haven’t done that many shows apart from maybe the US tour - it’s not like you’ve been gigging for years and years. Has being on the road been a fast learning curve for you?Yeah, definitely. My life has definitely changed a lot since January. Before then, we’d only released ‘Hey Now’ last December and it hasn’t been long but you just get used to it very quickly. It’s just we have to. Obviously it’s really fun and I’m with a very supportive group of people, so it’s all good.
Now I want to do a bit of loose ends housekeeping if I may. It’s reported that you formed in 2009 but as you just said, you didn’t release anything until last December. So what was the process in the interim? How were you making everything come together?So we met – I met Daniel a long time ago. I think it was early, very early 2009 and me and Dan started writing songs together and then a year later met Dot. Then about a year after that - we’d been writing songs together for a long time - that’s when we got signed and then we made the album. Basically we made our album before ‘Hey Now’ became popular. Most of the album was done and we just had production lists. So that’s basically the story from start to finish.
Now I don’t know if this is a sore subject, so please tell me to shut up if it is. But we were all sure you’d get nominated for the Mercury prize, if not win it, as did so many people. Do you kind of wish no one had mentioned it now?I just really don’t mind. I think it was just a lot of pressure to say that we were picked to win and all this stuff. We had never said anything about it, but it’s just completely out of control. Then when we weren’t nominated, and it was like ‘oh, I kind of expected that’, to be honest. We’re just so grateful to have people buying our records and to be selling tickets for our shows that the Mercury would have been – the nomination would have been the icing on a very good cake. So it doesn’t really affect us that much.
I thought it was good that Disclosure came out in support of you guys and said you should definitely have been on the list. You’ve built up some good relationships in the industry. Obviously that comes from the collaboration. But is it nice to have people who have got your back within the industry?Yeah, it really is. I mean Disclosure are so busy, we don’t get to spend very much time with them. But they were wonderful to work with and yeah, it’s always great to have fans or people that you really admire. I really admire Disclosure. I really admire Ellie Goulding and she has tweeted about us a couple of times. So if anyone – yeah, if anyone who you admire what they do, like when you do it, then you have that support. So that was really great.
I think it’s an interesting stance that you’re not on Spotify and I think it shows, with your current chart and tour success, that you don’t necessarily need to make everything available, and out there to stream in all ways. Was it your decision or [their label] Ministry of Sound’s decision?It wasn’t our decision. Obviously we’ve got a big team now that makes those kinds of decisions because you’re touring and playing shows. So that issue is complicated and I’m not in a position to say much about it to be honest, because I don’t actually really know and I don’t really know how Spotify works! I think that they have – I get the impression that maybe they’ve, I’m not sure... maybe annoyed a few people down the line. I don’t know. You hear funny stories.
There are your own emotional themes on the album, which are personal to you. It’s outwardly apparent, even if you don’t listen to the lyrics. It’s outwardly very emotive music. When you were making it, did you imagine people applying it to their own mood? Like it becoming their breakup album, or something?Yeah, absolutely. I mean that’s the wonderful thing with art in general is that you produce something but then for every person who experiences that art, it’s something completely – they have a completely separate relationship with it, but it is their own. Yeah, I would completely hope for that. I mean that’s kind of the whole point really. There’s no point just me wallowing in the past! But obviously yeah, I hope that people feel that way.
