“…dress like how you want people to see you not how you feel.”
– Joe Falconer
The English indie rock band Circa Waves, from Liverpool, released their second studio album ‘Different Creatures’ this year. Their terrific debut record ‘Young Chasers’, from 2015, was just a perfect kick-off of the bands career in indie music. Catchy melodies and brilliant singles like ‘Get Away’ and ‘Good For Me’ from ‘Young Chasers’ will be in good company with the new ones like ‘Fire That Burns’ or ‘Wake Up’ from their second album. The band consists of frontman Kieran Shudall (vocals, guitar), Sam Rourke (bass), Colin Jones (drums) and Joe Falconer (guitar).
We had a chat with Joe and Sam before their last show in Berlin and talked about different creatures, being someone else for a day and of course about fashion!
It’s nice to have you in Berlin again. You played here a couple of times before, how does it feel to be back in town?
Joe: Really good. It’s one of my favourite cities in Europe. It’s always fun to walk around as well, before there’s loads to do.
What’s so special about Berlin?
Joe: It feels like really chilled out and laid back and I think everyone here is quite open. Everyone just can drink on the streets, you know what I mean!? It doesn’t feel like a lot of places in London and England, it feels like lots of new things are being build and the culture of the city is quite good.
Sam: It’s a really like artistic city and you can tell by just walking around and get that feeling from this that there’s a lot of artists and musicians, who live here.
What’s the main difference between the crowds back home in the UK and German audiences?
Joe: I think we do a lot bigger venues in the UK. So I feel like in Europe it’s not as easy, but it’s kinda like more enjoyable because the venues are smaller and you’ve got people and you can see the more you play and it’s feels like you have to work harder, but you get more reward I guess, at the end of the show.
Is there anything on your list, like a place or a venue, you’d really love to play one day?
Sam: Wembley Arena!
Joe: Arena or Stadium?
Sam: I’m gonna go Arena. I think playing a stadium would be weird.
Joe: I’ve got to this point, we never did the O2 Arena. Because it’s ridiculously big.
Sam: It’s like 20 thousand or something.
Joe: I went to go to see a friends gig there. And just the idea that you could sell that many tickets seems very big to me.
You released your 2nd studio album ‘Different Creatures’ this year, what inspired you the most for this record?
Joe: That’s a difficult question! (laughs)
Sam: Loads of different things. After finishing the first album we all took a lot of time away from doing the band. When you’re in the middle of touring, when you just have the shows done and you forgot about other things outside of that. I think when we came back from that everyone just disappeared and did their own thing. And then when we were recording again you could just feel that in the room that there were different influences coming back. It’s hard to say that there was one thing, because I feel like everyone just got into a lot of different stuff.
Joe: I think as well, we spend about three years becoming a band, becoming more successful and things – progressing. So I think when we were finally away from that, I think we wanted to make a record that sort of carrying and pushing us further in live and something that will step us up as a band. I think that’s what we did.
Who did the artwork for your latest record?
Sam: Kieran was in charge of that. (laughs)
Joe: There’s a lot of back involved between a designer and Kieran. And the idea was to create a sort of amalgamation to become one – a different creature. The eyeball is like an orange with a sliced kiwi on top.
Do you have any childhood heroes?
Sam: I really loved Michael Jackson when I was a kid. That was my first musical love with Michael Jackson, when I was like five I thought it was the best thing ever.
Joe: The first rock that I’ve ever heard was the Foo Fighters, so I came completely obsessed with them for ages.
If you could be another person for a day, who would you like to be and why?
Sam: I’d be Donald Trump! It would be interesting just for a day.
Joe: I can’t top that!
One word each – If we could go ‘back to the future’ we …
Joe: …would…
Sam: …eat…
Joe: …more…
Sam: …interesting…
Joe: …people!
What did you pack in your suitcase – do you have any travel essentials?
Sam: Travel essentials… apart from the obvious just like headphones…
Joe: Headphones, book … I don’t know just stuff to make our hair look good.
Sam: I always have like a hundred pairs of socks.
What means fashion to you?
Joe: Dressing like.. I don’t know there’s a thing that Josh said…
Sam: …dress like the person you wanna be!
Joe: Yeah dress like how you want people to see you not how you feel.
And is it working?
Sam: Great!
What influences you in the way you dress?
Joe: I like vintage clothes. I like stuff from the 70’s, I like big collars and I like sunglasses. My girlfriend got quite a good taste as well, so we often end up wearing very similar things – matching outfits.
Sam: I think I like an understated look. Black t-shirt – a classic. Blue trousers, also a classic.
Joe: Sam loves his long coats. He’s a very good long coat man.
Indispensable piece of clothes for you?
Sam: Dark colour! (laughs)
Joe: I always have a pair of black Chelsea boots! I’ve been wearing them non stop for like three years now.
Sam: Black t-shirt, just black stuff!
Do you have any pre-show rituals or any lucky charms?
Sam: We can’t really give it away before a gig. That’s something private. It’s a very special one isn’t it?
Joe: Yeah!
Sam: I kind of feel like it’s sacred. We have a little ritual that we do. But if you’d set it in words it would be ridiculous.
Joe: Yeah it wouldn’t make any sense.
Sam: We just do it!
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you on tour?
Sam: I fell over on stage in front of 5000 people. That was pretty embarrassing, but only for like a minute and then I just didn’t care.
Joe: I fell off the stage once. I think no one really noticed. I think I stood on top of a monitor at the edge of this big stage and then the monitor fell off the stage. It was a pretty big stage and I almost slipped back and smashed my neck. I think no one noticed (laughs).
Thanks for taking the time! We’re sure to hear more from you in the near future and fingers crossed for that Wembley Arena dream!
xx smoke and echoes
smoke and echoes 