photos and interview by Donte Kirby
Before the last date of their North American tour with Joy Formidable at Union Transfer, I had a chat with Lead singer Jonathan Higgs and lead guitarist Alex Robertshaw of Everything Everything about the U.S. tour, Get to Heaven, and differences between Europe and the United States.
How has the tour been going so far?
Alex Robertshaw: We’ve been out here for over a month and it’s been amazing. We’ve been to places in America we never thought we would ever go. In the middle of nowhere meeting entire families who are fans. It’s pretty crazy for us. So yeah, it’s been a really good experience.
Jonathan Higgs: We’ve all kind of gone insane. We’ve been out here a bit too long now. Drunk too much. Eaten too much. The scary thing is the massive food portions aren’t that weird to us anymore. When we first got here it was “what the hell is this.” Now it’s “Yup, that’s just normal.” So yeah we’re becoming American.
Outside of food portions what’s the biggest difference touring between America and Europe?
AR: Yeah, you finish your meal here and you have to go to sleep immediately it’s so freaking big. In Europe you kind of eat the right amount.And there’s vegetables as well. For some reason you don’t really do vegetables the same way they do in Europe.
JH: (Laughing) No, food portions aside dude. What else is there? It’s the distances, man. It’s probably going to sound weird, but you say what the difference is between here and Europe; it’s actually more similar than I thought. It’s actually so varied that it feels like we’re traveling through countries like we do in Europe. You go from Arizona to Seattle, they couldn’t be more different and they’re all in the same country. There isn’t even that kind of difference in Europe. You couldn’t find a desert and then a snowy city from one day to the next. That’s crazy. That’s new to us. We’re use to just landing for a few days in New York or LA and then going home again. Here it’s like traveling through different countries, it’s crazy.
What lessons have you learned from Get to Heaven that you hope to take into the next album?
AR: Loads of fucking energy. I just try to write music that if I was in the crowd I wouldn’t be allowed to switch off my ears. That kind of music where it’s absolutely full of energy.
JH: No room for any B level. No B minors allowed
AR: No A Minors allowed.
JH: Everything has got to be A plus. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. That’s amazing, until the end of the song. That’s where we’re trying to be.
What’s the inspiration behind the album title, the themes behind the record?
JH: The title was a reaction against lyrics that were dark, foreboding and violent. We thought of last minute making a positive title for it. Kind of fighting back against itself. Give it some hope, really. That was kind of the idea behind the title. I wanted to have a nod to religion and extremist doing extreme things for what they believe in, on a quest to kind of get to heaven. In a more basic sense, I love records that are called a command. Like “get down” or whatever. Get to Heaven just felt like it jumps up and tells you to do something. The opposite of passive. The next one will probably be called something similar.
Do you have any advice for up and coming musicians?
JH: Only very basic stick to your guns kind of stuff. Try not to be a victim of overthinking and try to second guess your audience. The audience will come to you not the other way around.
AR: Yea, be honest. That’s pretty much it.
