You only need to look at the tour schedule for London synth-rockers White Lies to realise 2009 is their year. This weekend, the three-piece will wade through the mud at Glastonbury Festival, before continuing on to a roll-call of the Northern Hemisphere’s premier events. Benicassim, Roskilde, T In The Park, Oxegen and Latitude Festival are all in their sights over coming months. Eventually they’ll end up at Byron Bay for our very own Splendour In The Grass.
White Lies’ world-conquering path has been forged by brooding debut album To Lose My Life, earning them the kind of – œnew Joy Division!’ hype the UK press loves so dearly. FasterLouder caught a moment with vocalist Harry McVeigh to talk melancholy and Next Big Thing status.
The band has received a lot of hype, even before your album was released early this year. What kind of effect do you think that build-up had on how your album was received?
For me, it just felt like anticipation and expectation. That isn’t a bad thing, but it’s not always a good thing either. It is nice to have someone waiting for you. Releasing an album to a public who doesn’t really care would be like coming home from a long trip to an empty house. We spent a long time touring before we released the album. We had fans at every show who knew the words to every song even though they didn’t have recordings of them. That’s how you make an impact on someone’s life, not just buy shoving a CD in a shop window.
Anyone could buy the CD when it was released; you put yourself out to the world. When you are playing a show at a venue somewhere in the world that only holds 250 people, there is a sense of exclusivity and ownership. It is special and a one-off show that can and will never be repeated. I think doing a lot of touring really made people feel close to the music. That’s always going to help.
You’ve said that while your music can be described as “dark” or “moody”, you’re actually pretty grounded and normal. What it is about the negative elements of life that you think is important to explore?
I don’t think any of us are at all normal, thank god. A normal person wouldn’t want to do what we do. They couldn’t. Making music and being in a band is a very self-obsessive and sometimes torturous thing to do to yourself. We’re all insecure about our music and chronic perfectionists when it comes to mood and aesthetics.
However, what I think we have said in the past is that none of us suffer from any medical conditions such as depression or bi-polar disorder at this time. I think you are missing the point if you see the topics or lyrics in the songs as “negative”. They are introspective – and yes, we do sing about sadness and loss – but those are not negative. It’s through experiencing those emotions that we come to appreciate things like love and happiness. To me, our music rejoices the fact that is OK to be open with melancholy.
You’ve really embraced the idea of using social networking sites to promote the band, but this strong online presence can also lead to having your tracks illegally leaked online. Do you think a strong online presence is important, despite the pitfalls?
Not sure. Probably. Record labels like it. As far as I am concerned, all I do is run the MySpace with Jack. No one else touches that. The messages that fans send us are read by the band and no one else. Illegal downloading is inevitable. Yes, I suppose I wish people would donate a bit of money towards our work, but it’s their choice if they want to break the law. I’m not going to prosecute anyone.
You’ve had your tracks remixed by some high-profile artists such as Crystal Castles, Yuksek, and M83. Do you have much of a say in who does the remixes, or is it more of a label thing?
People usually ask us if they can do remixes. That is what happened with Crystal Castles. They’re friends of ours and we met when we toured with them in the UK. We love their work and I think it was a fantastically exciting collaboration that I hope to continue in the future.
You’ve recently toured with what could be described as today’s “buzz bands,” like Florence and the Machine, Friendly Fires and Glasvegas. What have you taken out of those experiences?
We treated those shows like headline shows, even though we were playing second on. We learned that on a tour like that, you have to keep your head high and really perform, as you are being put on identity parade with some other very talented people.
Are they any wild tour stories you can share about any of the above bands?
Not without getting them into very very big trouble with their PR agents.
There is obviously a lot of work put into your video clips. A lot of artists describe them as “par for the course”. Do you think they are an important part of a single release?
Artists who say that are too lazy to get involved with it. Don’t do something you don’t want to do! Music videos are an amazing platform to add additional meaning and illustration to a song. It’s hard work because you do have to film constantly for up to 20 hours but…whatever. Nothing good comes without a struggle.
Before you arrive in Australia for Splendour In The Grass, you’re playing Glastonbury, Rock Werchter, T In The Park and Roskilde amongst several others. Do you think the White Lies live show translates particularly well to festivals?
I think it will do by the time we reach Australia. It is a different kind of performance to anything you do for the other months in the year. I think our music inspires pretty strong emotions and a few fist punches every now and again, so yes. I’m confident we can do well.
Any idea of what to expect from your first Australian tour this July?
Some healthy looking human specimens.
To Lose My Life is out now through Universal Music Australia. White Lies arrive in Australia next month for Splendour In The Grass and sideshows, proudly presented by FasterLouder.
Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 July – Splendour In The Grass, Byron Bay
Tuesday 28 July – Metro Theatre, Sydney (All Ages)
Thursday 30 July – The Hi-Fi, Melbourne
to listen to their music now on 