I previously interviewed the band back in October 2015 where I introduced them to my blog (click here to read) and they were currently undertaking their first ever headline tour. A lot has happened since seeing these guys last so I decided to catch up with them once again last Tuesday at The Rainbow in Birmingham the afternoon before yet another sold out show on their current second headline tour.
So, it's only been less than half a year since the last time I saw you guys and a lot has happened since such as supporting Wolf Alice on their European tour. How was that for you?
It was wicked. We did about six shows with them which was a whole load of fun, I think Amsterdam was a stand out show for us - that was crazy. We learnt a lot with them as we talked a lot about the live set up and the preferred way of doing a show. Also, just from watching them every night as you pick up certain things. It was just cool to get back into Europe again as it's such a different market and territory over there. It felt weird coming back here from that especially as we were supporting Wolf Alice so of course it's different from doing your own shows. As different as it was it's nice to come back to do your own shows cos everyone's always really up for it and our shows are getting insane at the minute.
Do you have any memorable tour stories that you could share?
We have many I'm just not too sure if any of them are suitable to say...We played in Sheffield and we had a really sort of... crazy night after the show and so for the show the next day we were all just diluted versions of ourselves. Haydn was the absolute worst - I'm certain he was still drunk when we played the show the night after. I didn't actually see any pictures from that night but I remember looking over at Haydn on stage and he just looked terrified.
Can you tell me a bit about your newest release - 'A Young Understanding'?
It seems to be doing really well, people are really responding well to it live which is cool. It's the first track of the album, which we've named 'A Young Understanding'. Hopefully it gives people a little bit more of an insight of what our next releases will be like. It's just a tune really, it's a song for the kids.
I quite like the cover artwork for the song too, where did that come from?
Yeah it's cool isn't it? It's by a guy called Hamish Robertson who's an artist from LA. We're working with him to design some other covers such as our album cover.
And of course the music video was released not so long ago. It's quite unusual, where did the idea for that come from?
It was purely down to the director - Oscar. We all knew we wanted to create a funny and light-hearted video for this one and he just came back with the best idea and it was like yeah, this guy's got it. We were lucky as a lot of the time you get people coming back to you with ideas for the video and they don't quite match up to how you thought it would be, but this one was pretty much spot on.
I saw a video on your Twitter of you guys playing 'A Young Understanding' live in Manchester the other night, it looked pretty crazy!
It was! That was such a huge stand out show. That was a moment for us I think, actually.
When can we expect the album?
After festival season I think. We're kind of thinking September at the minute but there's nothing set in stone.
I have a quickfire round for you now as I know we don't have much time, so...
Festival preparation in three words?
Lots Of Vodka
Three go-to pick-me-up songs?
Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys, Jamming, Bob Marley and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun - Cyndi Lauper
Three songs that have been on repeat in the van on tour?
Rockstar - Nickelback, I Believe In A Thing Called Love - The Darkness and Butterfly - Crazy Town
Two good things and one bad thing about touring?
It's all good! Free food, free beer and.. there's nothing bad really
Which three people would you invite round for dinner?
Dead or alive? I'd have to say Gandhi, Hitler and Jim Morrison
What would you cook for them?
I can't really cook anything. I mean Gandhi was a vegetarian so um.. (picks up list of catering choices for the night) I'd have to say a nice Moroccan casserole.
Favourite lyric from one of your songs?
It's probably different for all of us but mine (Oscar) is 'He cut his heart out to be cool cos everybody loves a criminal'. That's from a song that isn't out yet, though.
If you all had to get matching tattoos, what would they be?
Well we all already have our sun logo on us somewhere but if we didn't then it would probably be like a massive picture Hayden's face or our tour manager Nick's face.
If you could only play one song repeatedly throughout the entirety of a live show, which one would it be?
Our new song Olympia - definitely. Again, that song isn't out yet but we're playing it tonight and have been playing it across the tour so far. We might just play it ten times over tonight cos of that question.
So, what makes a song stand out to you that makes you want to put it on your set lists?
Money. All the money we'd get for it! No but really I think a feeling, if it feels right then we'll put it on and if it just doesn't feel right then we'll leave it out; I think it's usually pretty easy to tell. We get bored of songs quite quickly as well so the newer it is then the more likely it is that it'll be on there.
What does the next few weeks/ months hold for Sundara Karma?
We're going back into the studio soon to record one more song for the album. We have our next single that's gonna be coming out soon which is also from the album so we're just gonna be rolling them out. We're going to be back on tour with Nothing But Thieves. Also, we're playing Reading festival again this year and we're on mainstage which is just insane; it's so weird even just saying it now. After that the album will be close to coming out so I guess we're just doing a load of preparation for the album now until then.
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| Myself with the band |
Written by Rosie Mulhern
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