Tribes: 'If you can't play the songs live, then you should stop doing it'
We catch up with Johnny Lloyd ahead of Live At Leeds
Neil Outram, stephanie davis - 21 April 2011
Up-and-coming Camden rockers Tribes have emerged from
MySpace to mainstream attention, which has included a place in Zane Lowe’s “Hottest Record” slot. They are
quickly gaining momentum too with appearances confirmed at a load of festivals and gigs this summer. Not bad for a band that
doesn’t even have an official song out yet.
Their first single, ‘We Were Children’, and the EP
of the same name are due for release on 6 June, with a full album expected at “the end of the year or early next
year”. For those unfamiliar with their sound, which has been compared to Nirvana, frontman Johnny Lloyd describes
it as “90s influenced rock and roll”.
“We’re very much into our sort of classic
rock bands, like The Stones and Pavement,” says Johnny. “We consider ourselves very much like a British
rock band, but we are quite heavily American influenced. Musically, we would call ourselves more influenced by REM than Blur,
but I think lyrically it’s very British.”
Although their growing popularity will see them perform
at larger events like Reading Festival (as yet unconfirmed, but Johnny says they’re “really,
really looking forward to it”) and Summer Sonic in Japan, the foursome still have love for the
more intimate events.
“We’ve played some big places but we love playing to small crowds. I think
it’s just a better atmosphere,” he says. “With where we are at the moment, we fill small venues;
we’re not a big venue band at the moment, so we have the most fun when there are a couple of hundred people there as
opposed to 2,000.”
However, when reflecting on the gigs they have done so far, Johnny names their performance
at XOYO in January as a particular highlight. “That was our sort of biggest show so far. I think it was about 600
people and it was our headline show, so that was great. It was the biggest crowd that we’ve played at and there was
a really good vibe in the room.”
It seems to be the live performances that are helping Tribes along the road to success, with various commentators
noting their tight performances. At a time when myriad pop acts are infamously reliant on auto-tune for record sales and miming
for live performances, Johnny thinks it’s “totally vital” to cement a reputation as a live act.
“Obviously record sales are down and everyone seems to be relying on MySpace praise as opposed to their
live shows, but it’s all about live really, that's where it’s at. I think if you can’t play the songs live
and you’re not a very good live band, then you should stop doing it.”
Now that the band’s
breaking through, there must be a fair bit of pressure? “No, I don’t think so,” Johnny replies.
“I don’t think there’s any pressure really when we play because it’s not that kind of music really,
is it? We play well and we’re feeling good about it, but I don’t think there’s that much pressure for us
to do well. We want to do well and we’re very ambitious, that’s what drives us.”
With his
apparent devotion to live performances, you’d think the Midlands-born singer would’ve been to a long list of festivals.
But, unlike his festival-going band mates, he was “always too broke” as a kid, only managing a couple
of visits to Glastonbury. That said, he still isn’t short of a strange festival story.
“We were
in Texas at a festival with our last band and I remember I woke up with a dog licking my face and a cosmic tattoo on my arm,
which is pretty bad. I couldn’t remember getting it at all and it’s still there. It’s quite big.”
Dodgy tattoos and amorous dogs aside, what does the future hold for Tribes? “Well, we are a really ambitious
bunch and we’ve just signed a deal, so we want to get the album out and just do as well as we can out there really.”
Tribes are set to appear at Live At Leeds 2011 alongside James
Blake, Frightened Rabbit and many more.
Tickets are on sale now priced at £17.50.
Click here to buy Live At Leeds tickets.
Find
out where else you can catch Tribes
here.
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