Thirteen Senses Interview

Tonight’s the last night of your current tour, how’s it gone?
It’s been amazing, so nice to get back out again! We did three shows in London last year, but apart from that we’d not toured since summer 2005. The social aspect was certainly very quick to get back into, we’ve got a great camaraderie. We played London last night and that was like our homecoming as we’re up there so much now.

Who have you had supporting you on the tour?
Luke Toms, who we found on MySpace, he’s another Cornish mafia member like us!

How would you sum up band to newcomers?
That’s a question that was a lot easier to answer with the first album. With the second album, we wanted to have fun playing live, so we’re still essentially an indie band, but now an indie band with a twist, there’s some electronic stuff in there too.

How does 'Contact' differ from 'The Invitation'?
There’s a lot more up-tempo stuff, we did get a bit bored on the last tour and felt we weren’t giving off enough energy. The first album was all [lead singer] Will’s songs that he’d written over a period of about seven years and we added bits on, but the songs had been there for a long time. ‘Contact’ is much more of the moment. We spent a month in a rehearsal room in London and were just totally unproductive, just banging out the same stuff. So we went back home [to Cornwall] and set up a recording studio there Will was living downstairs and so would just come up when he had something and we’d all throw bits in, it was a much more organic process and a much better way of working.

How have you changed as a band?
Musically you always draw on experiences, and we’ve had three years living quite differently to how we were before, there’s been a big change of circumstances. Back when we were 16 or so, you just want to get away, but now we quite miss opening the door and just seeing countryside, it’s a lot more enjoyable to go back to.

What have you been listening to since the first album that’s influenced ‘Contact’?
We listen to anything and everything really, I believe there’s good to be found in all music. I’ve got quite into Husky Rescue recently.

How did it go working with producer Danton Supple, who’s worked with the likes of Coldplay, Doves and Kylie?
He’s a funny little man, yeah. We worked on the first album with him, so it was a natural choice. It needs to be all about the recording, not getting to know someone new, and creatively he has lots of ideas all coming out of his head, he’s basically our fifth member while we’re recording.

What are you hopes for the rest of 2007?
To sell billions of albums! I imagine we’ll be touring again later this year, this tour has been our best really, we’re all just feeling totally comfortable with it, it’s much more satisfying now we’ve got more varied songs to play.

And are you going to be playing any festivals?
Hopefully, but nothing’s been confirmed yet - fingers crossed!


Interview with drummer Brendon James, 27th March 2007..