INTERVIEW

Local Native’s bassist, Andy Hamm, talks to Leeds Student Music in the midst of festival touring.

Thanks for taking time out to talk during your busy tour, how’s it all going?

 

Good, we’re actually done now. I’m actually back at my apartment and I just made biscuits and scrambled eggs with jalapenos and onions and mushrooms and then I made a strawberry daiquiri.

 

Nice very healthy.

 

[Laughs] Thanks, enjoying my few days off.

 

So is it good to be back at home now?

 

Yeah, yeah. We got back to L.A., last night about like 9 p.m. and then we have…two days off here and then we fly off to Illinois for the Pitchfork festival.

 

You just got back from Oxygen festival, what were the highlights?

 

Oxygen was good, it was like our last day of the tour obviously and it’s funny because the last few times we’ve come up here, we’ve ended in Dublin and it’s just…it seems like everyone is very much, into music and very carefree. I think out of all the festivals, everyone who was there you know was really into it, and having a good time. So it was good. A good show to end on, it was very relaxing and just sort out fun.

 

See many bands?

 

At Oxygen, actually…was great…we played around 5 or 5.30 so normally at all the other festivals we would play and pretty much pack up and get in a van or get thrown on a plane or something [Laughs]. So as it was our last one, we got to stay, and there was an artist that played I think, a new band after us, called Jamie Lidell originally from Europe and now he’s in New York. Yeah, like I heard his name for a while and thought he was a folky, singer songwriter…I don’t even know where I picked that up…so I wasn’t really interested. And I saw the live show, it was totally not that and it just blew me away. Really refreshing to see, y’know, like an artist that was on a successful run that I really enjoyed. It was something that I really needed, especially it was the last day of tour.

 

That’s good. When you go to festivals, do you like to see as many bands as you can?

 

Yeah, we try to, given our time constraints…Most of the time, we might have time to y’know run out and maybe see one band or one set and then we have to leave. But yeah that was probably the thing I was looking forward to most about playing festivals, cause there’s so many y’know, up and coming bands that we have been enjoying or bands that have been around for years and years…respected artists that I probably wouldn’t be able to afford to see. Y’know [Laughs]. Better then some stadium, and I get to see them cause I’m an artist at these festivals.

 

In the past, you’ve done covers of older bands, Talking Heads and Television. Would you consider covering a newer band?

 

Erm I don’t know, we’re not really a big covers band. I mean those are really the only two covers, we’ve done seriously, as a band. And the Television cover came about because we did the Talking Heads. The guy who released the Television, L’Adventure, album with the covers approached us and was like ‘Hey, seems like you guys are really into Talking Heads, I would assume you like Television, y’know…do you want to do a cover?’ I guess we’ve never really been a band that’s been super into doing cover songs

 

Have Talking heads and Television, been a big influence on the album?

 

Talking Heads for sure…Television not as much. I know that when we did the cover, I think only a few of us in the band had listened to them. And then Talking Heads, I think the same thing, only a few of us, were y’know, really into Talking Heads. And we decided to do that cover song and I think that got the rest of the band really into it. It’s really been a good influence as far as writing future stuff and some of the newer stuff on the album

 

Nice. Would you say you prefer doing festivals or more intimate gigs?

 

I don’t know, I think that’s more of an apples to oranges, kind of thing. There’s definitely a kind of close, like you said, intimate feeling when you know, play small club shows and I think that there’s also a comfort with that…because we’re a new band and there’s you know the majority of our shows have been in small venues. I think there’s a comfort and relaxation, in playing in places where you feel like you’ve played before. And then with festivals, we’re brand new to it, so it’s a whole different piece as far as playing to an audience where probably the majority of people haven’t heard you before. And also these, y’know, gigantic stages. [Laughs]

 

Recently you played a surprise gig in London, how did that come about?

 

Yeah that was like a last minute thing we had…I think we had two days off in London and they were the only two days off we had on the whole tour. I think it was like around noon on our first day off and we were just like hey why don’t we grab the acoustics. And I think we played around 4 or 5 songs total but we were just like, spread the word, to a few of our friends and y’know just do something super chill and something that would be fun above all. Yeah, we were like, really pleased. I remember we were in the car and we were like if there’s 10 people y’know [laughs] we’ll try to fit in 4 to 5 songs, and if there’s 25 people we’ll go acoustic and we showed up and there was like I would say 150 to 200 people in Hoxton Square, which was really a pleasant surprise.

 

You guys are playing, Leeds Festival, next month. Looking forward to seeing anyone in particular?

 

I need to look at the schedule, but we usually like to see the smaller bands that are most of the time, a little bit above our level. It’s really fun to see young bands, really hungry bands that are, doing what we’re doing and really trying to prove, themselves to people out there. I think there’s a certain earnestness and energy and almost competitiveness that comes with that and I really love checking out those bands and feeling like you’re almost peers with them.

 

Awesome. What else do Local Natives have planned?

 

We go back out and then we do another festival in Europe, and then we do a run in the States and then it looks like we’re coming back actually to Europe and Paris and the UK. We’re doing some UK shows, November to December and we’re also doing Fuji Rocks in Japan but it’s touring essentially the end of this year, then I think everybody has their fingers crossed, that we can start working on the next album at the beginning of next year and everybody’s really anxious to start working, on new material.

 

Local Natives play Leeds Festival, 28th August.

 

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