Not only does Harry Styles rock the most gobsmacking bouffant in One Direction – he’s the one with the switched-on music tastes too. The pint-sized, Taylor Swift-dating über-cherub recently took to Twitter beseeching his eight million followers to check out Cambridge indie sensations Alt-J’s debut album, An Awesome Wave. Fifteen minutes later, the band’s Facebook traffic was through the roof, their name lit up in the Twittership equivalent of electric-neon. It was flattering – but kind of frightening too.

“They’re so massive, anything they do has a huge impact,” says Alt-J’s Thom Green, not in the least self-conscious about a ringing 1D endorsement. “It was pretty amazing. It made a huge difference.”
For most indie artists, a Twitter thumbs-up from One Direction would rate – by a considerable distance – as mind-bending happening of the year. However, it takes more than the love of the world’s biggest boyband to bag the Hot Press ‘Phenomenon of 2012’ gong. Alt-J achieved the honour by coming from absolutely nowhere – they didn’t even merit a passing mention in January’s BBC Sound Of Poll – to win the Mercury and make it seem like the most natural and predictable thing in the world. And for a follow-up, An Awesome Wave has just been voted Hot Press Album of the Year. Phenomenal truly is the only word for it.
“It’s an odd thing to say about winning the Mercury but, in a way, when you look back, it made sense,” says Green. “I know it’s unbelievable to even suggest that. In the context of the year we’ve had, it fitted in.”
The standard line on Alt-J is that they’re sort of austerity-era Radiohead, possessed of a similar experimental zeal, the same facility for blending the haunting and the avant garde, but without the stadium sweep. While not entirely inaccurate – it’s undeniable that the four are, in particular, thoroughly versed in In Rainbows – this doesn’t really tell you anything useful. Yes, they’re experimental. And yes, you might say that this renders them Radiohead-esque. But there’s so much more going on here: flights into electronica, folk, Moby-esque arena rave.
The band themselves are torn about the comparison. Obviously they don’t think they sound anything like Radiohead. At the same time… well, who wouldn’t be flattered?“
“I can see why they would compare us,” Green nods. “We’re four normal guys, we went to university. We like arty things and guitar music. It’s an obvious point of reference.”
There are pretty profound differences too. We’re wagering that, even in their pre-Kid A days as a ‘proper’ rock band, Radiohead were never fined for pissing from a hotel balcony, as happened to Alt-J on an early visit to the US.
“It sounds a lot more rock ‘n’ roll than it was,” laughs Green. “ Gus, our keyboard player, was absolutely smashed and couldn’t wait to use to the loo – so he went off the side of a balcony. They fined him $100, which is a lot of money. He was pretty upset, actually. I mean, a hundred dollars. For taking a leak!”
The anecdote speaks to the reality of Alt-J’s daily existence. For all the media attention, really they’re still a struggling indie group, in no way up to their necks in cash. At one point in this, the most amazing year of his life, Green was so skint he had to squirrel away his daily tour allowance – the ‘per diem’ in music lingo – to buy a coat. For a month he lived off free meals scored at venues, washed down with backstage drinks riders.
“It was bloody freezing out in America,” he winces. “And I needed a coat. I saved my allowance. So you can imagine how annoyed Gus was at being fined $100 for pissing off a bloody balcony.”
Many alternative artists feign sniffiness about the Mercurys. Either that or they shit themselves when it’s their turn to go in front of the cameras at the ceremony and perform a track from their nominated record. You can tell Alt-J are going to be around for a while from the way they took both the pre-event hype and the pressure on the night in their stride.
“I remember the whole day quite well,” Green resumes. “It feels very long. You do loads of interviews, then soundcheck, then the ceremony. And then you get up and do your song. After we won we had to go back and do a press conference – tons of interviews really quickly. It’s a lot to take in.”
Afterwards it was all back to theirs. To celebrate their nomination Alt-J had hired a pub around the corner from the Mercury venue, for friends and record company people unable to snag a ticket to the ceremony itself. Did any freeloading celebs turn up? He wrinkles his nose.
“It was funny – before the show, we met Django Django and The Maccabees and invited them to come for a drink. They didn’t turn up.. If The Maccabbees had invited us and then they’d won, I’m not sure I’d want to go. It would be weird. You’d feel really disappointed for not winning and wouldn’t want to be there. You can understand why they stayed away.”
In a departure from their routine, Alt-J got properly smashed. They were back on the road the next day and spent most of it fighting killer hangovers. Not being the hard-living sorts, an evening on the booze was a trip into uncharted territory.
“We’ve never been big drinkers. Even at university, we were more interested in hanging out than going off getting smashed. On the road, you’re working so hard you can’t be hungover all the time. You also get very bored drinking.”
For all their ambition they don’t always play the game. Initially they refused to show their faces in press shots. Early photographs featured Alt-J with backs turned or hoodies pulled low. With success, they’ve had to temper their shyness. Sometimes, you literally have to grin and bear it.
“We’re a group of friends and we thought it was weird people would want to take our photo. Every time you flick through a magazine, all the bands look the same. We didn’t want to go in for that. After a while you realise that, actually, you have to go with the flow a bit – that as you become well-known, people need to see your face so they can connect
with you.”
Having achieved so much in so short a time-span, you wonder when the backlash will arrive. So far the worst critics have said is that the band are a bit restrained on stage, although the fact they’re educated and well-spoken has left them open to the damning charge of being middle-class.
“People say, ‘Oh, they’re posh’,” Green complains. “I’m not fucking posh! I pay no attention to reviews.”
In contrast to his indifference towards reviews, he genuinely seems chuffed that Harry Styles would tweet nice things about the band. He’s pleased too that Mumford & Sons have taken to covering Alt-J’s ‘Tessellate’ at concerts. Yes, we have found a credible musician who will admit to liking the banjo-bashing stadium kingpins.
“Again they’re a huge act. People say negative things but I’m sure they couldn’t give a shit. There’s so much positivity coming their way – that more than cancels out whatever pettiness there is. I think that’s a good outlook to have.”