Grammar Of The Gods - London Grammar Interview

Ever since David Cameron popped up on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs proclaiming his apparent love for The Killers, REM and The Smiths, we’ve witnessed the kind of indie rock political uproar not seen since punk gobbed its way into the late ‘70s mainstream. There has been the hilarity of Big Dave failing to understand that ‘The Eton Rifles’ was a protest song. “Which part of it doesn’t he get?” fumed Paul Weller at the time. “It wasn’t intended as a fucking jolly drinking song for the cadet corps.” Then, of course, The Smiths reunion of sorts, as Morrissey and Marr joined forces to lambast the Tories’ head honcho.

“Stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don’t. I forbid you to like it,” Johnny instructed the British PM on Twitter.
You have to admire Cameron’s temerity. Ignoring advisors and ready to weather the derision, he opted in April to expound on Mumford & Sons in the White House and reveal: “Who I really like right now is London Grammar. I think they’re brilliant.”
Enough to send shivers down any young muso’s spine, surely?
“To be honest with you, I don’t think it makes a bloody difference,” says London Grammar’s Dan Rothman today. “Everyone tried to make a deal out of it because Johnny Marr said something about it when David Cameron said he likes The Smiths.”
When reminded that Marr issued a pretty stringent ban, Rothman is aghast.
“I love The Smiths personally – they’re one of my favourite bands. But that’s just ridiculous to say that. How can you stop anyone listening to your music? It’s so classist in a way. It’s crazy.”
World leaders, at ease. If you fancy giving London Grammar’s 2013 debut, If You Wait, a spin, that’s just fine by them. They’re an equal opportunities act and it’s clearly paying dividends. Having formed five year ago in the University of Nottingham when Rothman was suitably intrigued upon spying a Facebook picture of lead vocalist Hannah Reid holding a guitar, London Grammar’s rise has been both old-fashioned and swift. Said debut album hit number two on the UK Album Chart and it would have gone top, too, if it wasn’t for some meddling Arctic Monkeys. Not that Rothman holds anything against Alex Turner.
“I saw him in a hotel not that long ago and I didn’t punch him then, so I don’t think I’ll punch him at this stage! He’d probably beat the shit out of me as well...”
Such is the buzz around the trio completed by Harry Styles dead ringer Dominic ‘Dot’ Major, that the mere fact they weren't nominated for this year’s Mercury Music Prize, despite premature bookies reckoning they were favourites to win it, became massive news.
A bemused Rothman says that the furore was both perplexing and annoying, but admits: “In a ridiculous way, it gave us more press. If we’d been nominated, I don’t think we’d have got as much press from it! The fact that we weren’t was what made it such a big deal. When you’re starting out, you worry about those things because you feel like you’re at that point in your career where something like that can really have a bad effect. People can make judgements off that stuff early on. Fortunately, we got through it and now we’re less worried about that kind of thing. We can be more confident in what we’re doing.”
Plenty of reasons to be, and you can foresee Coldplay-sized vistas opening up before them. They have the anthemic, emotive trick down pat, and sharing a bill with the ‘Fix You’ers at the iTunes festival during SXSW can only have helped. Bono is legendary for taking up-and-coming bands under his wing and dispensing rock star wisdom backstage; you wonder whether Chris Martin as a relative soft rock elder statesman, is now following suit.
“Funnily enough, he said exactly that about Bono!” laughs Rothman. “He said how Bono was a main character in the development of his ideas about having a career. Chris definitely tried to extol some of that wisdom to us. He definitely saw that we needed it at the time. I don’t think we’re dissimilar people. We’re not a dissimilar type of band, in terms of the dynamic of how we work. It’s very important staying as a band and respecting that chemistry. They seem so happy at an age when really they shouldn’t be. But they are, which is pretty cool.”
At the moment, Rothman is optimistic that his band have the tight bond and “amazing chemistry” to take care of the personal side of things.
“Dot is incredibly relaxed and so easy-going about everything. A complete contrast to me and Hannah in a way! We’re uptight. But then at the same time, Hannah and Dot are quite perfectionist about what we do in the music, whereas I tend to be a little bit more encouraging of a lack of perfection. When we were making the record, they would take forever doing stuff. Obviously I would be involved but I was bored at the beginning. When we had [single] ‘Hey Now’ and I wanted to release the thing, they were holding back on it because they wanted it to sound exactly right. I was more in the ballpark of ‘let’s just put it out there!’ But to be quite honest, their perfection is a good thing – that’s why the music sounds so slick in a way.”
Rothman is endearingly bewildered by his band’s quick rise and would quite like to follow Jonny Buckland’s ‘in a massive band but unrecognisable on the street’ lead, thank you very much.
The spotlight has largely avoided him. Typically, however, it’s shone bright on fellow worrier Hannah Reid. In September 2013, quite unbelievably, BBC Radio 1 tweeted: “We all think that the girl from @londongrammar is fit. Let us know if you agree on 81199 #ladz.”
“This is something that falls unfortunately a lot on Hannah’s shoulders because she’s the lead singer and also she’s a woman, which people definitely take advantage of,” sighs Rothman. “Stuff like that happens. Nothing that big a deal in terms of what’s happened to us. We just stay out of it, simple as that.”
More positively, Rothman cites winning Best Song for ‘Strong’ at this year’s prestigious Ivor Novello awards as a career highlight to date.
“That seemed to change things slightly,” he says. “I think Hannah felt like she was getting recognised a little bit more. I do think it just puts a stamp on the fact that – and makes you realise – ‘yes we have released an album. Yes, it has done okay. Yes, you’re established now.’ So that was a big turning point.”
Touring has been a general joy too, even if “the sheer volume” of dates has been a bit exhausting. America, in particular, seems as intoxicating a proposition for a young band as ever.
“When we first went out there I found it to be a very strange place. It’s funny, you presume because they’re an English speaking nation that culturally it would be so similar. But, in reality, you can go to France and feel more at home than in America.
“The ridiculous capitalist culture they have there where every street has got a bloody McDonald’s on it is kinda mental,” he continues. “I remember when we got there for our second tour, I was chatting to my sound engineer. He’s toured a lot and said you need to just go with the flow of America. I’m not that kind of person; I’m generally quite anxious about most things. But I took his advice and accepted everything for what it is. I get weirded out by everything – all the cars are triple the size, say. Then down to the more desperate things like there being so many fucking homeless people. But once you see it for what it is, you can actually enjoy it as a place to visit. I don’t know if I could live there...”
The most mind-boggling moments have happened closer to home, however. Rothman says playing to a jam-packed tent at Electric Picnic was “on a par” with their Glastonbury appearance.
“Those two shows were the absolute stand-outs of the whole summer. Mainly because the Ireland one took us completely by surprise. We had no idea that that was going to happen and it was extraordinary, the crowd. Not just the size of it, but the passion of them. It was crazy.”

If You Wait is out now.