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Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Graceland
Arm's Way
Vapours
WW: Hey Nick, how you doing today?
You excited for this jaunt?
It's kind of crazy that you're opening for Happy Mondays and the Psychedelic Furs.
Are you a fan of those bands at all? How did that tour come about, and is it weird to play with bands that were way more culturally relevant 20 years ago?
I just got around to listening to the new record, Vapours. It sounds a lot more paired down than Arm's Way and a lot catchier. Was that an intentional thing or just the way it happened when you're writing the songs?
Arm's Way
I like Arm's Way, but I think it was a little critically misunderstood. But with this one there's definitely clear pop singles. So that had to go into the process, right?
So Jamie Thompson is back in the band now. How did that come about, and how much of the record happened because of his rejoining?
What did he contribute to the new record?
Are you excited to tour with these songs?
Are you still working on solo stuff? You've done so much in the last few years—two Islands record, Human Highway, and I've read about a solo acoustic record. How hard is it to balance all those projects?
Do you write material on the road?
Arm's Way
Return to the Sea
So for this tour is it a new lineup?
Are you playing material from the entire Islands catalogue? It's got to be hard to do the Arm's Way stuff as a four-piece band.
How fun is it to go back and rearrange a song for a smaller band?
One of my favorite songs on the new record is “Heartbeat.” Is that a vocoder or auto-tune you're using?
Yeah just turn on the radio and it's everywhere.
Is it hard to ignore trends like auto-tune? I mean, Vapours is definitely the danciest thing you've done since the Unicorns and that's kind of the zeitgeist this year. It's big on the blogs.
How much of it had to do with the reception to Arm's Way?
Arm's Way
Do you read a lot of your reviews?
What else does the band have planned for the rest of the year? Are you looking to put out the solo album next year?
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Photo courtesy of Islands
WWeek 2015