Matthew Hodson caught up with Edward Droste from Grizzly Bear on their recent visit to Brighton.
MH: Thanks for coming! First time in brighton?
ED: We’re totally excited! We were here at the Freebutt opening for Ariel Pink, then again after Yellow House at Audio.
MH: What are we expecting here tonight?
ED: It’s mostly ‘Veckatimest’ and we’re doing a song which we wrote with Victoria from Beach House. They are playing with us and we don’t get to do that too often. We take our cue from the audience, so depending how they are we will change the set. I can go either way but I feel a little scared when it’s too quiet. Every room and crowd is different, and doing a festival is not about ballads for sure. I have no idea how the crowd will be tonight!
MH: So what are you guys up to? Back writing?
ED: Not yet, this is just a short tour revisiting the UK right now and then we are back in the summer for festivals, Latitude and Glastonbury although we have heard horror stories! We’ve heard it’s so big and hectic and this huge festival! We have our rain boots from when we played Roskill when it was real thick mud. Why is it always muddy there!?
MH: So tell us about being on Warp? That must be great for you guys?
ED: They are wonderful, such a classic label and we’re huge fans of theirs. Been signed to them for three or four years and it’s just so funny how diverse the label is. I’m really excited about the new Jamie Lidell album coming out. They aren’t like a major label, they are really chilled and a classic label. They’ve just signed some artists I haven’t even heard yet.
MH: Your albums sound great, tell us about the recording process.
ED: Chris is the main guy and we all like to use the space we are in by putting microphones all around us and mix the sounds together. It’s a combination of being really geeky and having a lo-fi approach. We never go to big studios and we use lots of different instruments and microphones and I guess that gives us our sound. Not everything is always recorded together and I’m always using different microphones on my voice and the reverbs can be bathrooms, foot pedals or plates, so it’s quite diverse.
MH: Is there anything you wanna ask me?
ED: Where is the best place to eat around here?
MH: Check out Bills!
MH: I was gonna ask you about opening for Radiohead a few years back but I think I know the answer to that!
ED: It was awesome, it was a while ago but it was great. It would be great to run into them again some day and it’s great to look back on that experience – maybe we will get to see them at the Coachella festival!
