We Were Promised Jetpacks released one of the strongest debuts of last year with These Four Walls and recently released a new EP entitled The Last Place You'll Look. The Scottish band has garnered a strong following both abroad and here in the States with relentless touring and incredibly genuine, honest, and emotionally raw songs. The band name might grab your attention, but it’s the band’s powerful songs that keep you around.
I had a chance to catch up with frontman Adam Thompson before the band returns to the U.S. for a headlining tour at the end of this month. We discussed touring here, the beginnings of the band, their new EP, and more.
Interview by Quinn S.
Photo by Bethany Smith (PopWreckoning)
Mixtape Muse: The band has been around since 2003 or so, and you guys finished up school last year. Did you see yourselves being musicians full-time after finishing school or were you expecting to follow other career paths?
Adam Thompson: We had no idea what we would be doing. The band started to become a thing for us the year before our final year of university so we've been lucky in that none of us have had to seriously think about what we want to do with our lives yet.
MM: In an interview with Spinner back in March, you said that the band name was just one you chose after one of you mentioned it. Have you ever attached any specific meaning to it?
AT: Nope. I don't really think or care about what it means. I've just been used to it as a band name, as something that people can call us.
MM: You've spoken about your musical influences in a few interviews. What kinds of things outside of music, if any, inspire you all when it comes to songwriting?
AT: It's hard to pinpoint any specific thing. I’m always constantly trying to write wee bits of songs no matter what mood I'm in or what I'm reading or watching.
MM: The band formed in 2003 but you didn't release your debut album until 2009. What was the creative process like during those years?
AT: It was very relaxed and fun. We were just gigging casually and writing songs whenever one came along. We used to not practice very much but we realised it was fun and kind of went for it. We'd never considered doing an album until we signed with FatCat. The thought had never entered my mind.
MM: Had the songs on These Four Walls been around for some time or did they come together in the last few years?
AT: We've been writing songs together for about 7 years so there are plenty of them. But “Quiet Little Voices” was the oldest song on the album, so all within the last 3 or 4 years.
MM: The idea of the house, or home, seems to be a reoccurring theme throughout These Four Walls with songs like “This Is My House, This Is My Home,” “Quiet Little Voices” and “Keeping Warm.” The theme also seems present in the album title These Four Walls. Was that a conscious choice on your part to make it a core element of the album?
AT: It wasn't a conscious decision. It just sort of turned out like that. It was only when we listened through to a proposed tracklisting that I noticed the home theme. The album title was the last thing we decided.
MM: You all have toured quite a bit in the States over the past year with another U.S. tour on the horizon. What has been the most difficult thing about touring here? What has been the most rewarding thing?
AT: The big drives!
Honestly, when you hit a bad run of long drives in consecutive days you start to lose your mind a little, especially when you hit Texas and Arizona. Up every day at 9, drive for 10 hours, soundcheck, play show, pack up, bed for 4am, then up again and again. Not using my brain is also getting to me. Our wonderful tour manager Esteban is so good I never have to think about anything.
The most rewarding thing is turning up to venues without a clue if people are going to be there and have a bunch of people singing our songs. And also all the free booze.
MM: How does it feel to take the intimacy of making a song as a band and share it with the world? That is to say, how does it feel to take your music far and beyond the confines of a practice space?
AT: It feels fine. It is what the songs are for. We've to be happy with them first and foremost. Then we want people to hear them. Then we want people to pay us to travel with friends and play our rock music.
MM: You released a new EP, The Last Place You'll Look, a few months ago. In a way, the music has a bit more of a relaxed and melancholic feeling to it compared to the often energetic and fast-paced songs off of These Four Walls. Was that a conscious effort on your part or did it just happen naturally?
AT: It was definitely a decision to make the EP much more relaxed and not as hectic and big. We had a couple of weeks to do it and went about it differently than we did with our album. With the album, the songs were finished. A majority of the EP was written when we were at the studio, so it was fun for us to try it. The next album won't be like this EP, but it was fun for us to try something new.
MM: These Four Walls has been out for a year now. Do you have any idea about what direction the next album is going to take?
AT: We've started writing again which is fun. It is like starting a whole new band. I think the next album won't be as needy or desperate and we don't want every song to be an epic build up or something tender, which I felt These Four Walls was kind of like. We've been doing some demoing the last week and we are pretty happy with the results.
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My thanks to Adam Thompson and Anna Bond @ FatCat.
We Were Promised Jetpacks begins their North American tour on June 29th in New York. Dates below.
June 29 - Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn NY
June 30 - Colonels' Row, Governor's Island NY (w/ Passion Pit, Tokyo Police Club)
July 1 - Royale, Boston MA (w/ Tokyo Police Club)
July 2 - Il Motore, Montreal QC
July 3 - Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto ON
July 5 - The Note, Westchester PA
July 6 - Sonar, Baltimore MD
July 8 - Smalls, Millvale PA
July 9 - Magic Stick, Detroit MI
July 10 - Forecastle Fest, Louisville KY
July 11 - West Fest, Chicago IL
July 12 - Empty Bottle, Chicago IL
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