'Heads We Win

After being dropped by Warners in 2005, Sunderland quartet The Futureheads have opted to release their new album, This Is Not The World/i>, on their own label, Nul Records. The move certainly seems to be working out well for the band so far, with the first single from the record, ‘The Beginning Of The Twist’, a top 20 hit in the UK, and the album itself earning a strong critical acclaim.

“Being dropped was one of the greatest things that ever happened to us,” opines Futureheads guitarist Barry Hyde, sitting in Brooks Hotel following the group’s recent MTV show at The Academy. “It put us in the position we’re in now, which is far more satisfying. It gave us the anger and the hunger that every band needs when they make a record. You really need to feel like you have to prove yourself.
“Releasing the album ourselves hasn’t been particularly difficult. We didn’t have to suddenly become businessmen, and we’re not on the telephone all day ringing distributors or whatever. This is a new model for releasing music; it hasn’t been done before in this specific way. It’s about equality, independence and being paid properly for what we do, which is something that usually doesn’t happen to musicians.”
The Futureheads recorded This Is Not The World in the Andalusia studio of renowned producer Youth, an experience they thoroughly enjoyed.
“Youth actually wanted to produce the second album,” explains Barry. “We ended up going with someone else, which is kind of irrelevant, but he did want to do it. After getting dropped, there were some moments when we thought, ‘What on earth are we going to do? How are we going to make another record? Where’s the money going to come from and who’s going to do it?’ We thought we were going to have to hire an engineer and do it ourselves.
“Then we found out Youth wanted to do it, and thought, ‘Hang on a minute, we haven’t got a record deal and one of the biggest producers in the world wants to make an album with us.’ You’ve got to take that opportunity. So we went to his studio, which is on top of a mountain in Andalusia. He’s got this huge house that he’s designed himself, and the live room, where we recorded, has got these bay windows that look out across the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It’s like a moving picture, because as the light changes, different shadows come into play.
“I don’t want to sound like a hippy, but when you go somewhere that feels quite exotic – cos it’s the only desert in Europe – it does inspire you and make you feel more creative.”
The last time I saw The Futureheads perform was supporting Snow Patrol a couple of years ago in Marlay Park (it turns out that Barry lives on the same Glasgow street as Gary Lightbody), and other bands they’ve played with include The Pixies, Oasis, Pearl Jam and Foo Fighters, with whom they got on particularly well.
“We flew with them on their private jet,” Barry remembers. “We went from Scandinavia to T In The Park, and there we were, sitting next to Taylor Hawkins and drinking champagne. Dave Grohl’s a big Futureheads fan, he loved the first album. The first time we met him, he walked towards us singing a riff that I wrote, which was fucking crazy. He said, ‘You guys wanna come on our jet?’ We were like, ‘Aye’. We went straight through the airport, and I didn’t even have to get my passport out. Everyone was like, ‘There’s Dave Grohl!’ He’s one of the loveliest blokes you’ll ever meet.”