Everything Everything Interview

"We always love playing in Ireland," enthuses Jonathan Higgs of Everything Everything. "We played at a little church a few years ago for Other Voices, and the little holiday we had in Dingle was genuinely amazing. We had three days there, and just one show, so we spent the whole time enjoying ourselves. There was a nice atmosphere, the gig was good, and so we've just really fond memories. We played Whelan's in Dublin as well, and therewas this guy crowd-surfing during a really quiet song. I remember thinking, 'This is Dublin!'"
The Manchester-based foursome – once memorably described as "a Radiohead you can dance to" – will be returning to the capital when they play the Sunday of Longitude. Following the release of their third album, Get To Heaven, they've been playing a number of international music festivals this summer.
"We're doing one-off festivals here and there basically," the 30-year-old vocalist explains. "We'll go to Australia for a bit and we're going to more of Europe and the UK and lots of festivals for the summer. It's brilliant – we love festivals. They're always magical, and they make for much more exciting shows sometimes. We just did Glastonbury, and it was probably the best gig of our lives, it went very well. It was unbelievable and amazing."
Inspired by a heavily depressed Higgs' watching of TV rolling news throughout a break from touring in 2014, many of the songs on Get To Heaven reference bloody uprisings, terrorist bombings, Isis beheadings and other violent atrocities (Ukip also get a mention). It's an exploration of the depths that marginalised people will stoop to when pushed too far. The strung-out terrorist protagonist of 'No Reptiles' justifies his violence thus: "I was in the war/You were in the war/I was on my knees/You were on your knees... I'm going to kill a stranger."
It's pretty dark stuff to be singing to pissed-up festival crowds...
"Well, I think the music is quite positive," he reflects. "People move to it before you think about what we're saying, and I always think that's the way it should be. I don't want to go up there and piss people off or make them feel shit, but a part of why I love music is so I can make people feel things. The record doesn't necessarily sound dark and foreboding when you put it on. If you don't want to, you don't have to go there. If you do want to go deeper into it, you see it's more challenging. It doesn't have that standard first line of attack. It sounds very positive and, in some ways, it is very positive – and in some ways it is hugely negative."
Does he still watch rolling news with quite the same intensity?
"I have to avoid it to some extent," he sighs, "particularly with it being the election year and just being so depressed about Britain and its future... and further afield. I don't know, feel so shit about the elections."
On the subject of news, what did Higgs make of the Taylor Swift takedown of Apple last week?
"I agreed with her, but I've since believed that the whole thing might just be a set-up," he proffers.
A set-up in what way?
"Well, wildly controversial or not, I think lots of people think it might have been a set-up. My problem with it was that I went from thinking that streaming destroyed artists and then thought, 'Oh my god Apple! Those cunts! Fuck Apple!' And then that happened and I thought streaming is ok and then I thought, 'Well, hang on – two weeks ago I did not think streaming was ok' and felt it had been quite manipulated to be honest.
"Anyway, I think it's all gone, there's no real music industry like there used to be. No one will pay for it anymore and no consumers seem to realise what that's going to do, what that's already done to music."
Whatever about its lyrical content, the music on Get To Heaven is as eclectic sounding as ever. Do the band revel in the fact that they're almost impossible to pigeonhole?
"I don't think we do," he says. "The fact that we're not really a standard genre band seems to freak people out. They can't seem to get their heads around the fact that we are slightly different. They can pigeonhole us if they want, but I don't understand the categorisation of things in life. We do it to ourselves the whole time and I don't see any benefit you get from saying, 'Oh, they're a pop and synth band or a rock 'n' roll band'. Why do you care? I don't get it!"
What kind of Everything Everything show can Dublin audiences expect at Longitude?
"It'll just be a full-on colourful, energetic show. We absolutely love playing Ireland, too. We find the crowds some of the best in the world. We try and give back what they give us... so it all gets very sweaty!"

Everything Everything play Longitude on Sunday