There's No Other J

The last 14 months have seen unassuming English four-piece Alt-J catapulted to superstardom, thanks to their mega-smash debut, An Awesome Wave. A collection of hauntingly melodic harmonies set to hip hop and dubstep-inspired beats, it’s led to much chin-stroking in the heady world of music criticism, as bloggers and fans alike try to classify its unique sound.

Regardless of its official genre, (‘folk-step’ has been bandied about, and – ridiculous as it sounds – we kinda like it), the album has gone down a storm, both here and across the pond. In fact, when Hot Press catches up with bassist Gwil Sainsbury and drummer Thom Green, they’ve just finished up a two-month tour around the States. To go from day-job to such an intense touring schedule must have been a shock. Have they adjusted to life on the road?
“I’m not sure any normal human being can truly adjust to the touring lifestyle.” begins Sainsbury, relaxing during a visit to Dublin. “It’s so alien to being a normal human being. You just have strategies – like organising your suitcase really well! – so you have everything you want. We miss the creature comforts of home, and that takes quite a while to get used to. Especially in America, as it’s a different beast altogether.” “I’m so glad to be back!”, adds Green. “We’re still touring, but at least we’ll be back in the UK...” “Yeah, at home, you understand how things work”, continues Sainsbury. “Train tickets – basic stuff! Even with timezones, now you can call your girlfriend and not have to work out if she’s asleep!”
Pesky time differences aside, how did they find the US of A?
“It was amazing,” grins Sainsbury. “I think every show in the States was sold out. We got to play Coachella, which is probably the best festival I’ve ever been to. We did our biggest headline gig so far in Kansas city – there’s some weird Alt-J phenomenon there! We sold more records in that region than anywhere else in the world. It’s bizarre!”
Indeed’n it is. Though An Awesome Wave was released in the UK and Ireland in May last year, it only hit shelves Stateside in September. That’s an undeniably impressive fanbase to have racked up so quickly. What do the guys think it is about the album that’s struck such a universal chord?
“It’s seriously hard to explain,” begins Sainsbury. “I think a lot of it’s to do with the internet, and the accessibility of our album on Soundcloud. Even though it didn’t come out ‘til September in the States, we were going over there doing shows, and people knew the album – they’d listened online and then bought import CDs. An American tour otherwise would be fucking hard – touring and having 20 people show up each time. To do two months like that would be kind of soul-destroying! We were really lucky that we turned up and it was fine.”
So has their hardcore touring schedule banished any pre-gig nerves?
“Most of the time I don’t get nervous,” says Sainsbury. “Though I was really nervous before that French thing...” “Yeah, me too!”, laughs Green. “We did an hour-long set on the French equivalent of [BBC] Radio 1 this week,” Sainsbury explains. “I don’t know why we got nervous but we really did!” “It was really intense,” continues Green. “There were only about 200 people in the audience, and they literally just sat there – you could see every individual person…” “Yeah, and when you’re playing something like ‘Fitzpleasure’ , which is really heavy,” says Sainsbury, “and I’m caning the castanet – really going for it! – and people are just sat there, so still...” “You’re literally sweating”, says Green, “and I dunno – you feel quite exposed, I guess.”
Getting used to being in the public eye is something this band have had to come to terms with quite quickly, given their sudden success. Many of their early promo shots saw Green, Sainsbury, singer Joe Newman and keys man Gus Unger-Hamilton hide their faces under hoodies, or with their (triangle-adorned) hands blocking out their features. Similarly, they never appear in their music videos. Is it tough to find a balance between being accessible to fans, yet wanting to establish boundaries?
“Yeah, I don’t like there being too much information out there about me,” begins Sainsbury. “What you don’t realise when you put a record out, is that fans come to have a personal relationship with the record, and with you, by extension. I find it quite strange when we encounter a fan who we’ve never met, and don’t know their name. But they’ll know a lot about us, and so they instantly have that personal connection. Yet there’s none from us to them. And that’s quite a weird thing to deal with, ‘cos it’s completely one-way.”
“And with music videos – well, they can be a massive hassle!”, he continues, “but you have to have something on YouTube when you’ve a single out. It’s not about MTV anymore though, and so we don’t have to worry about us being in the video – it doesn’t have to be traditional. We can commission someone we like to make a video. It’s nice to have that backing. For the ‘Tesallate’ video [a genius visual which sees ghetto meet high-art Renaissance] we wanted to do a hip hop video, kind of like A$AP Rocky, in that it’s completely detached from us as individuals. This guy Alex Southam emailed us this treatment, and we thought that sounded very interesting – and very close to what we wanted to do.”
Green is similarly private, and though he enjoys online interaction, he won’t be posting saucy snaps any time soon...
“I use Twitter, and I have a blog with around 100,000 followers,” he explains. “I post music that I’m listening to, and new discoveries; stuff like that. It just makes such a difference, it give fans something else, something extra – ‘cos we’ve only got one album, and it’s been a year since it came out. It’s going to be another year at least until the next one comes out, so it helps to keep people entertained. When you’re on tour too, it passes the time. And it’s nice to think people are interested in what you’re doing. I wouldn’t ever post anything personal though, I wouldn’t take a picture of me and post it to fans, ‘cos that’s pointless.”
“Like Rihanna?”, Sainsbury interjects.
“You should post one of just your abs!” They both laugh.
“It’s nice to almost have a myth about us”, Green continues. “People know what we like, and what we make – musically – so interaction keeps them wanting more. When they meet you, they go berserk! (laughs) You have to keep some sort of distance, I think.”
Speaking of the dreaded ‘second album’, we hear the guys have been busy working on a separate soundtrack project recently?
“Yep, [UK director] Bruce Goodison wrote this film called Leave To Remain,” explains Sainsbury, “and he’d been listening to our album while writing the script. He thought it was a natural progression to ask us if we wanted to do a soundtrack. It’s a comfortable progression for us; it’s easier than writing songs! (laughs) It’s pure music, you don’t have to worry about choruses – it’s just sound.
“The second album though is something that’s definitely on our minds. Especially as everyone keeps asking us about it! It’s over a year now since we released An Awesome Wave. In the few days off that we’ll have this year, we’ll split them 50/50 between time off and writing the record.”
There’s been time to party too though, with Festival Season now in full swing. Among the many stages Alt-J graced so far this summer is the mac daddy of Somerset; Glastonbury. Had they been before?
“Never,” says Sainsbury. “It was the same with Coachella – I lived in America for a year and couldn’t go ‘cos I’d no money. All my flatmates went, and I was left by myself. So it was cool to go back as a band! Same with Glastonbury.” Did they get to hang around after their Other Stage performance?
“Yep, and we stayed in teepees!”, he grins. “They were pretty cool. We considered it a band expense... if you’re playing Glastonbury for the first time, you might as well enjoy it!
Amen to that!

An Awesome Wave is out now.