“We get inspiration from loads of places, (…) but mainly it’s all about giving the world a piece of our world we are creating through visual arts.” – Chloé Little
Keep your ears and eyes wide open for the alternative-rock four-piece band Inheaven from South London! Inheaven are Chloé Little (bass, vocals), James Taylor (vocals, guitar), Jake Lucas (guitar) and Joe Lazarus (drums). They are mixing lyrics about love and just what comes naturally with 90’s vibes, grunge, punk and rock tunes.
We met the band after their Berlin show supporting Circa Waves and had a lovely conversation with the vocalist and guitarist Chloe.
First of all is there any specific story behind your name ‘Inheaven’?
It comes from the David Lynch film ‘Eraserhead’ – a movie we all love.
Where have you met?
James and I met at a gig in London, we were both playing in different bands that were really bad. We struck up a friendship and realised we loved all the same artists – so we decided to start a band together, and the rest is history.
How would you describe your style of music?
We would say it’s fuzzy, angry, sensitive dream punk.
In a lot of your music videos the same two actors appear (‘All there is’, ‘Baby’s Alright’, ‘Bitter Town’), why is that?
You are the first person to notice that! It’s a 3 part story of how Viv (Sid Phoenix) and Amie (Amy Griffiths) keep crossing paths in life, they grew up together as you see in All There Is, Bitter Town is about Viv’s frustration living in the modern world and Baby’s Alright is Amie’s anguish with technology and war. Our videos should make you feel the same way our music does.
Chloé, besides playing the Bass you’re also directing the music videos for your band, how do you come up with the ideas for the videos/what inspires you?
Well we come up with the video ideas collectively, often the ideas for the visuals are finished before we’ve finished working on the song! I love the process of taking an idea and turning it into something tangible. We get inspiration from loads of places, from performance art to photography, but mainly it’s all about giving the world a piece of our world we are creating through visual arts.
On top of that you’re also doing a fanzine, which I think is a really cool and unique thing to do, unfortunately we could only find three of them online, do you still make them? Why did you start making them/How did that idea come up?
Yes we still make them, we are currently on issue 6! They are just an extension of what inspires us and how we are feeling at the time. We wanted everyone to be able to walk away from our gigs with something for free, something you could keep or cut up and stick all over your bedroom wall. Plus they are super fun to make.
There are quite a few snaps from Berlin in your video for “Wasted My Life On Rock N Roll”, do you enjoy playing in Germany? Is it different from playing shows in the UK? What do you like most about Berlin?
Yes we shot that when we played here in November 2016 whilst on tour with Jamie T. We love Germany and we hope to play here lots more – this is only our second time in Europe so we are still quite unknown here, but we hope to do our own show in Berlin towards the end of this year.
Are you currently working on an album? If yes what can we expect and when is it supposed to get released?
I think we are planning to release it at the end of summer 2017! We have just signed a deal with PIAS in Germany so we are very excited to bring our music here.
Do you have any childhood heroes?
When I was 8 years old I loved Suzi Quatro, Robin Hood and ET.
Good morning shower songs?
Alanis Morissette ‘You Oughta Know’ and David Bowie ‘Heroes’.
Is any of you a sleep-talker/sleep-walker? If yes what’s the most scariest or funniest thing that ever happened while he or she where sleep-walking/sleep-talking?
Jake sleeps with his eyes open and talks which is scary! None of sleep walk… yet.
If you could go ‘back to the future’ and be able to do a time travel – would you go back in time, see what the future holds for you or are you fine with the present?
I would love to know what the future holds, I am impatient – but I think the cooler thing to do would be go back in time and go see some of our favourite bands or Andy Warhol’s factory.
You have a very nice/strong taste in fashion, what influences you in the way you dress?
We like velvet and nice textures, nothing really influences us – we just wear what we like. It’s important to feel good on stage.
What means fashion to you?
Expressing yourself and feeling free
Indispensable piece of clothing for you?
My beret and velvet flares.
What did you pack in your suitcase – do you have any travel essentials?
I always pack way too many clothes, mostly flared trousers, vintage dresses and boots. I always travel with headphones and sunglasses so you can just go listen to your favourite tunes whilst exploring a new city.
Thanks so much for taking the time to talk to us, Chloé! We’re pretty sure to hear lots of you in the future and to see you headlining a Berlin show pretty soon! If you’re interested in getting some real nice and exclusively pressed records of Inheaven you should definitely check out Flying Vinyl!
Stay tuned..
xx smoke and echoes
smokeandechoes.com 