Tall Ships
With the release of their new album “Impressions”, Tall Ships appeared at Pie & Vinyl for a beautifully stripped back in-store. The band kindly spoke to Mr Teeth for an interview following the live performance.
Ric Phethean – vocals/guitar
Matt Parker – bass
James Elliot Field – Keyboard
Jamie Bush – Drums
Welcome to Pie & Vinyl, what do you think of the place?
Ric – “It’s incredible, you just want to stay in here all day…and we haven’t even tried the pies yet!”
Matt – “They’re definitely doing something right, we’ve not got this in Brighton.”
Ric – “We even have a pie inspired by one of our songs “the Pie-Trichor”, halloumi with sweet potato, I can’t wait to try it.”
How about the other in-stores, how have they been going?
Ric – “Yeah pretty good, we’re playing with a smaller set-up than normal shows which is interesting. We played Resident in Brighton… which went well.”
Matt – “It’s on our home soil, really nice, but no pies…”
What happened with Nottingham, Rough Trade, being cancelled?
Ric – “It was a bit Spinal Tap, we got a call halfway up the motorway saying “Err, are you guys bringing vinyl?”. They were supposed to supply them and it turns out they forgot to put their order in. So, we were about to do an in-store without any records to sell.”
James – “They decided to just reschedule it, which is fine but a shame as we were already halfway there.”
Tall Ships – Pie & Vinyl
Then next month you’ve got what I’d describe as your “proper tour” dates, how do you prepare for those in comparison to the in-stores?
Ric – “Yes, we have a short tour in May. Same really, just practice loads…”
James – “…and try to remember how to play the rest of the songs! Plus, we have to take lots of ear plugs, it’s a lot louder. 4 hours in a practice room, ringing ears afterwards.”
Ric – “You know I really like doing these half-acoustic things, normally we’re a lot more intense, so it’s nice to actually sing properly and it’s easier on the ears – we can still hear!”
Anything you played tonight, that you wouldn’t normally?
Ric – “We played “Sea of Blood” which we haven’t played live before. I think we’re going to have a crack at it properly, although I’ve a feeling it’s going to suit the stripped back thing more than the full on band.”
You’ve had 5 years away since the 1st album, how has the break influenced what you’re doing now?
Matt – “Just life in general I guess. We’ve been busy doing stuff, but time slips away very quickly.”
Rik – “Lyrically everything on the album, lots of things happened over the 5 years, plus during the whole time we did about 5 demos, so we tried out lots of different stuff.”
James – “We did several alternative versions of the songs. The album is definitely a lot better for taking our time, rather than if we just put it out within a year.”
Will fans notice much difference?
James – “There’s far more singing on it, more real songs, rather than a soundscape of noise. It’s still recognisable as Tall Ships though, our sound.”
Matt – “Definitely still our wonky instrument playing, some things will never change!”
There’s been a change of label too, has that affected how you work?
Rik – “We signed with Fat Cat after recording the album. It’s been nice though, we’ve had more of a budget for other things such as making videos for instance.”
James – “Videos is something we haven’t really done before. Which was good fun, we cameo in one but mostly Rik’s cousin does the acting, he’s our protagonist.”
What’s next after this batch of dates?
Rik – “We’ve got a few festivals in the summer.”
Matt – “Always the Sun, Arc-tangent, 2000 Trees.”
Rik – “We’re playing one in Lithuania, which we’re looking forward to and should be interesting. Then probably another tour in the Autumn, get out into Europe hopefully.”
Then another 5 years until the next album?
All – “Make it 10… let’s make it 10.”
Of course, this last question was all said in jest… so with that, it was time for the band to sit down and tuck into the dinner they were holding out for.
Thanks again to Tall Ships for the interview, along with Pie & Vinyl for hosting another great in-store session.
Tall Ships “Impressions” out now on Fat Cat Records
Tall Ships – Pie & Vinyl
