Shrek<\/a>, and onions have layers, then so too does this album as it addresses the spaces in-between the past few years and what goes on during the gaps. As Matravers likens himself to the lovable Scottish ogre during the aptly-named track \u2018OGRE\u2019, it\u2019d seem he has layers too, which we began to unravel whilst chatting through the production of the new record, and what\u2019s changed through striking a balance between taking it easy and hard.<\/p>\nJM: So, the court battle with EasyJet has been pretty well-documented, but beyond the strife of the lawsuit, did it present a bit of a reset button for approaching songwriting?<\/p>\n
MM: Yeah, totally. Absolutely, man. I think so much of our career, [had] just been like relentless, and we\u2019d never stop touring. I love touring, don\u2019t get me wrong, but it\u2019s incredibly difficult; physically and mentally, and this was something that we were thrown into. It never really stopped. With everything that went down with the court case, it pressed pause on everything.<\/p>\n
I suppose all of us in the band re-evaluated what it is that we wanted. Did we arrive in the place that we intended? Were we exactly where we were meant to be? Is this the kind of thing we want to do? For me as a writer, I suppose for the first time I had time on my hands again. I\u2019d been writing in-between tours and trying my best to stay as prolific as possible. But all of a sudden, I had this abundance of time and also the gift of so much that I wanted to say \u2013 those two things were like the perfect storm.<\/p>\n
When I went away to write this record it just came so easily for me, I actually wrote the whole thing in a month. Oftentimes in my previous iterations of writing it\u2019d taken me years to make some of my albums, you know, and this one just\u2026 it just appeared to me one day and it was there, the easiest thing I\u2019ve ever made.<\/p>\n
JM: Also well-documented is the production process for the new album, which involved a studio called Onion in Japan and Taka Perry as a producer (who you\u2019ve became quite close with). Do you therefore see songs as attached to certain places or has it all become a bit unmoored after leaving the bounds of Leicester?<\/p>\n
MM: What I did differently on this album is I made the whole thing in one place with one person. Even my first album was made all over the world \u2013 I was back and forth to L.A when I first signed my record deal. I was working with all manner of different producers, and you get thrown into all these sessions [which] can be very disorientating as a young artist whose [hardly] even left Leicester before. I\u2019d been to Scotland a bunch of times!<\/p>\n
I was all over the world all of a sudden and it was very disorientating. Fair enough, I made this album on the other side of the world too, but it was in one location and that location very quickly felt very comforting, like home and the place where I could be very honest. Taka was a person who I felt very close to instantly. The second we met we\u2019d so much in common that [on] this album, I could just be so raw and so real and so vulnerable, and I didn\u2019t feel scared ever in the process. Had I been like flying around, meeting new people, working with different people, I think maybe I would\u2019ve made something slightly more, potentially, like more commercial or whatever, but I don\u2019t think I would\u2019ve been happy with it.<\/p>\n
And I can\u2019t repeat this process, you know, I can\u2019t ring Taka up and be like: \u201cright, let\u2019s go to Onion for a month and make another album.\u201d It won\u2019t be the same. It won\u2019t work. We\u2019ve even actually tried that [since]. We\u2019ve been to the Japanese Alps. We\u2019ve been to Onion; we\u2019ve done all these things. Each of those places really does inform the sound of the record. I couldn\u2019t have done this anywhere else.\u00a0<\/p>\n
JM: It certainly sounds like the logistics of being in Japan shapes the sound the album takes, how involved were the rest of the band in making the record? Was it purely logistical, or is the way you make music shifting?<\/p>\n
MM: It\u2019s funny because I\u2019m being asked that quite a lot. But ever since our first song, \u201cpockets\u201d, like I\u2019d always done all the writing. Our first album, I did all the writing then and the second album and all the mix tapes in-between.<\/p>\n
So actually, nothing has changed. The band have always been more like a live band than a recording band, and I\u2019ve often played most of the instruments on all of our records. On this particular album, Taka played nearly all the instruments because we would work so quickly. We\u2019d be talking, we\u2019d have something to say, and I\u2019d be on my laptop just writing and writing and writing and writing. An hour later, I\u2019d [have] written all like this whole massive block of unedited lyrics. He would\u2019ve made the entire instrumental and produced like the whole thing \u2019cause he\u2019s genius. And then we\u2019d be like, right, \u201clet\u2019s collaborate\u201d. But this did mean he played most of the music on the album, and he\u2019s great!<\/p>\n
JM: I suppose one exception to that would be \u201care you sti11 watching??\u201d which is a bit reminiscent of \u201cBubble Wrap\u201d [from the last album, \u201cMaybe In Another Life\u201d] in terms of revolving around a pivotal voice-note [from] during production. Do you think that informs a wider journey that Onion seems to take?<\/p>\n
MM: Yeah, so \u201care you sti11 watching??\u201d is a conversation between me and Taka. We\u2019d been in the studio so much, and something that I don\u2019t think artists talk about enough is like making art (musical or otherwise) does take an enormous amount of energy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It puts a toll, certainly for me [pauses\u2026 because] I drink a lot, when I\u2019m creative. It helps unlock a certain part of me which I otherwise find unreachable, y\u2019know? But I don\u2019t sleep much and it\u2019s a physical process which is incredibly draining, and me and Taka were going through that simultaneously. This conversation you hear is me and him talking about how the process is going. I\u2019m like \u201cdude, where you at? I\u2019m giving it my all.\u201d, and he\u2019s like \u201cso am I man, you need to work some [stuff] out.\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wanted to include that conversation because it\u2019s testimony to the fact that these things don\u2019t just happen, they take a commitment from (in this case) two people, to want to make something from start to finish. It\u2019s not an easy process and that\u2019s why I\u2019m so proud of every time I\u2019ve been able to do it, like \u201cdamn that was crazy\u201d; and then I go teetotal to sort my life and my body out for a bit afterwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
JM: I was swaying on whether to mention this, but I happened to be there during the band\u2019s last trip to Glasgow. Sometimes things happen, though I wanted to ask, was there an inherent amount of pressure after the success of Maybe In Another Life that presented itself even before the lawsuit, leading to that?<\/p>\n
MM: I think there\u2019s always been pressure. We were lucky enough, since the first thing we released actually, garnered fairly mainstream commercial success and there\u2019s always been the pressure to maintain that. I suppose the only thing that\u2019s changed is my ability to deal with that pressure and ignore it. Particularly on this record, if I was feeling the pressure there\u2019s no way I would\u2019ve made it in a month and not edited it or mixed it. I would\u2019ve been like: \u201cokay, that\u2019s the basis of it. now let\u2019s make it perfect and re-record, make it perfect, blah blah blah\u2026\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t feel that pressure anymore. In Glasgow, I felt an enormous amount of pressure to entertain people and have done my whole life. That\u2019s some deep-seated insecurity of mine but that night, the stage went black, everything fucked up, and in my ears our team were like: \u201clook, you\u2019re going to have to come off stage for 15 minutes and just let the crowd wait till we sort it.\u201d \u2013 that wasn\u2019t okay for me, people had paid to be there. I think for me throughout these experiences substances have always been a crutch for me, and something that have helped me get on stage in the first place \u2013 clearly that night I took it too far. I apologise because you paid money to see me and didn\u2019t get to hear the songs that you like.<\/p>\n
JM: In contrast, I caught your Big Weekend set as well and one of the big takeaways was how different that felt, everyone seemed excited to be up there. Was getting back up on stage an easy thing to do?<\/p>\n
MM: Interesting man. I suppose so much has changed but one thing that has fundamentally changed in our project is our attitude towards the opportunities we get. By that I mean we\u2019ve gigged so much that all of a sudden, every gig [wasn\u2019t] very important, and it [didn\u2019t] matter if it was a huge TV show or a big headline festival set. [But] all of a sudden now it\u2019s like I know as facts any gig we play now could be our last gig. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s hyperbole, y\u2019know? We were in a position where we were doing the most and overnight that stopped, and that can be the reality again.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s happened in our band now is whenever we step on that stage, we\u2019re just so present and so in the moment in a way that you really couldn\u2019t synthesize and that really is the truth \u2013 we\u2019re there and we\u2019re gonna make it the best show of our lives every single night. That\u2019s changed our attitude towards touring because it was a real difficult thing for all of us and now it\u2019s something we\u2019re all incredibly grateful to do.<\/p>\n
JM: Do you think there was a silver lining to the break then \u2013 did it feel like a break?<\/p>\n
MM: Absolutely. I think there\u2019s been so many silver linings, the biggest one is don\u2019t take anything for granted. It\u2019s so cliched, but I think old people like me always tend to say that! Once you realise that it\u2019s not a given\u2026 I think there was a problem man \u2013 we had such incredible luck, so early on, oftentimes people ask me: \u201chow did you do it?\u201d and I can try and articulate it, but so much of it was luck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now I\u2019m just incredibly grateful for that luck because I realise that you can have bad luck, and things can go the complete opposite way. I think you\u2019ve got to remember that if things are going your way, just be grateful for that \u2013 if you\u2019re getting booked for Radio 1 Big Weekend you better play the best show of your life because you\u2019re blessed to be there! I think a younger me was like \u201cI\u2019ll be there next year \u2013 I don\u2019t give a shit.\u201d. It\u2019s naivety, thinking you\u2019re gonna live forever. You\u2019re not, especially in music man. You could be gone tomorrow, so let\u2019s go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
JM: Speaking of, \u201cend credits\u201d finishes the album on a hopeful yet uncertain note. What\u2019s the plan for hard life after this? You\u2019ve pointed to the idea of it being very uncertain \u2013 each show potentially being your last.<\/p>\n
MM: I think one thing that this whole [situation] has taught me, and working in music in general has taught me this \u2013 there\u2019s not really much point in having a plan. I haven\u2019t been able to execute a single plan I\u2019ve ever made in my whole life! I could not imagine any of this happening. So I don\u2019t really have much of a plan, man.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I want to continue making music, and if there\u2019s a reality in which I can continue doing that then I\u2019m doing it. [But] I dunno, I think I really just fly by the seat of my pants at this stage.<\/p>\n
This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. A special thanks to Warren from Chuff Media.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jack Murray chats to frontman Murray Matravers of indie-pop band hard life about mounting pressure, jet-setting around the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":353141,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7826],"tags":[748,918,4884,462,712,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-353140","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-glasgow","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-glasgow","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-interview","12":"tag-scotland","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=353140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/353141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}