Stereoboard Speak To Guillemots' Fyfe Dangerfield About The Band's Upcoming UK Tour (Interview)
Monday, 17 October 2011
Written by Nick Duquemin
Multinational indie quartet Guillemots, now seven years old and embarking on a major UK tour, have always tended a little towards the avant-garde.
Take their debut album, the Mercury Prize-nominated 'Through the Windowpane', which features a full orchestra including flugelhorn player, and includes lines such as “I love you through sparks and shining dragons, I do/ Now there's majesty, in a burnt out caravan”. Not many bands could pull that off, but Guillemots manage it, and with some style.
Ironic, then, that lead singer Fyfe Dangerfield’s biggest success to date came from a Billy Joel cover on a John Lewis advert. Guillemots’ English frontman recorded Joel’s 'She’s Always a Woman' on a whim last year, and the track’s exposure on the department store’s ad campaign scored him a top ten hit.
Speaking to Stereoboard eighteen months on, Dangerfield is philosophical. “It was an eye-opener in how powerful television is as a medium", he says. “It ended up being one of those things that took on a life of its own. I covered it just because [John Lewis] were looking for covers for this ad, and I wasn’t opposed to it…”
But covering housewives’ favourites isn’t what he’s here to talk about. Guillemots embark on a 16-date UK tour at the end of October, but they’ve been back together recording and gigging for ages—including two dates in South America earlier this month—and Dangerfield says they’re happy to be back in the spotlight.
“It’s the first proper tour we’ve done for this record [April’s 'Walk the River'], so it’s very exciting,” he says—although he’s much happier talking about recording with the band in the studio. “That’s what I enjoy the most, because you’re not thinking about anything other than creating, and making music”.
That’s odd, because Guillemots have built up a reputation as an arresting live act. The internet is awash with talk of their onstage stunts—percussive accompaniments from typewriters and dustbin lids, and bizarre streams of consciousness between songs that have earned them a loyal following. But apparently, all that showmanship doesn’t come easy.
“I always keep in mind, more and more these days, that you’re here to entertain people”, Dangerfield says. “We’re not the kind of band that can really fake it—you know, snap into performance mode—so we sort of have to find ways of loosening up so we can really enjoy the gigs.
“And we have been recently—I think we’ve been enjoying playing live [this year] probably more than we ever have as a band”.
Guillemots’ third album, released six months ago, marked something of a return to their experimental roots after 2009’s much poppier 'Red'. The band’s sophomore offering, far more accessible than their intricate debut, provoked howls of outrage from some fans. But Dangerfield says that a consistent ‘Guillemot sound’ is not what the band is looking for.
“Back when we did 'Red', it surprised a lot of people. Some people loved it, and some people were really confused by it, and we could easily have just done another record were we followed on from the first album, and did more kind of gloomy songs with strings and brass, but I think we all wanted to do something totally different, something really brash.
“Everything you do is a reaction against everything you've done before, and it also builds on what you've done before. We certainly don't want to be a band that goes, well, that worked on that record so let's do it again”.
Guillemots have been in Norway recording new material recently — “we’re just recording for fun, and it’s been great” — and Dangerfield has several other projects on the slate, including the score for a theatre adaption of Howl’s Moving Castle. The show, a reworking of the Japanese animation, is playing over Christmas at London’s Southwark Playhouse, “a really cool little theatre.
“There’s going to be some actors but there's also going to be a lot of stuff that's going to be projections onto the stage, it's quite an original event. I've been really wanting to get stuck into something that's not songs for a while.”
Touring with Guillemots, recording new material, scoring Japanese fantasy on his days off—it’s a busy time for Fyfe Dangerfield. And he says that he, and the band, is in a great frame of mind.
“It's probably the happiest the four of us have been. I think all we care about at the moment is making stuff that no other band could make… And there’s few better feelings than when you’re working on a new track and it’s coming together.
“It’s just about getting into that head-space where you’ve got no distractions, and you’re not letting anyone’s opinions infiltrate you. That’s how it’s been for us really, and it’s been great.”
Oct 30th – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
Oct 31st – The Old Market, Brighton
November 2011
Nov 5th – Stanley Theatre, Liverpool
Nov 9th – The Library at The HMV Institute, Birmingham
Nov 13th – The Cockpit, Leeds
Nov 14th – O2 Academy, Oxford
Nov 15th – Waterfront, Norwich
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“Everything you do is a reaction against everything you've done before, and it also builds on what you've done before. We certainly don't want to be a band that goes, well, that worked on that record so let's do it again”.
