AND ALSO THE TREES are gearing up for their big two-day set at the Death Disco Indoor Festival in Athens, and we managed to catch up with them for a last-minute interview!
1. Greetings from Greece and Afternoiz.gr! I’d love to hear the latest news about And also the Trees.
SHJ – Hello, well we’ve just got back from a French tour which was a good success and returned from Paris again yesterday after playing three songs live on France Culture, the national radio station, good fun and a great pleasure to be on the same show as film director Claire Denis and actress Beatrice Dalle, amongst others.
2 – About a month ago, you released your latest album, “The Devil’s Door.” What has the public reaction been so far?
SHJ – Amazing… which sounds like a bullshit answer from someone in a band who wants to sound successful but it’s true. The reviews we’ve had and equally, if not more important, the reaction of our followers/fans has been – well, very positive. One reviewer in ‘Rock and folk’ the French magazine said this was our Everest… which makes me wonder where the hell we can go from here.
3 – I could agree that And Also The Trees new album marks a return to your post-punk “roots” with a more acoustic and laid-back sound. Would you agree?
SHJ – In some ways yes I agree, but it’s not a return to anything in my opinion, it’s a progression – slow and curious but quite precise.
We call it the third album of a trilogy as each album has the same musicians and there is the distinctive sound of the clarinet which runs through each of them subtly and ties them together. It’s the end of a chapter.
4 – To me, it’s an almost cinematic album that’s clearly influenced by soundtrack releases. Do you agree? If so, what movie do you think this album could accompany?
SHJ – We should ask my brother Justin to answer this one, he is the guitarist and the creative source or heart of the band…
JJ – Yes I think that’s a fair comment. I wanted to be a soundtrack composer when I was young. I think my earliest memories of music are through film and television. When I was about 5 years old I remember being profoundly moved by music from films. For me this was the start of it. I later recognised that I would never be a proper composer but being in a band was a way of imagining the films and this was the closest I would get to my ambition. There is no single ‘movie’ this album would accompany it’s a hybrid, bastard of many. Possibly the nearest would be a film by Federico Fellini.
5 – You feature a wide variety of musical instruments on each of your releases, and the influence of the British countryside has been significant to your development. Many people classify you as Gothic Rock, but personally, I would think of you more as Dark folk rock or something like that. How would you describe your music?
SHJ – Post-punk is the easy answer because it’s exactly what we are, or were. If you mention the word ‘Gothic’ people can get the wrong impression, same with the word ‘folk’ … but there are elements of both in our music… in the way there are also elements of jazz, classical even punk if you go back far enough. I suppose we are a mixture of a lot of things and that’s one of the reasons we’re hard to classify. ‘Dark Folk’ can be Okay though.
6 – And Also The Trees lyrics are clearly poetic. I’d like to ask where you draw your inspiration from when it comes to songwriting. Are we dealing with the myths and traditions of the British countryside?
SHJ – well I draw my inspiration from Justin’s music ideally and there are times when the words just seem to come out of it. But my words can be influenced by a ‘working’ title that Justin has given a piece of music or it can be influenced by the book I’m reading or have just read, or a film, a journey. Justin, Paul and I lived in the countryside for a long time, we were brought up there so in a way we feel a part of it and as we don’t follow fashions or trends this comes out in our music.
Those stories and traditions are in us.
7 – According to my sources, the band got its start in the early 1980s, and their friendship with Robert Smith of The Cure is often mentioned. Is it true that you sent a demo to The Cure, and that’s how a long-lasting friendship began? Can you tell us more about that story?
JJ – Yes that is true. In the true spirit of The Cure they wanted to help local bands where they were playing on a nation-wide tour. We sent them a tape and sure enough something happened and we played with them at a university and they asked us to play at their Christmas party that year with other bands they liked (The Associates being another). That is the kind of people the Cure are – considerate and helpful. Fairly recently Robert returned the same cassette, 40 years later.
8. If someone hasn’t heard any of And Also the Trees’ music, which albums would you recommend they listen to in order to form an opinion?
SHJ – tough question but without over thinking it I’d probably go… ‘and also the trees’ – ‘Virus meadow’ – ‘Green is the sea’ – ‘Angelfish’ – ‘(listen for) The rag and bone man’ – ‘Mother of pearl moon’ – ‘The devils door’.
JJ – I sometimes wonder that if you listened to the first (AATT) and then the last (TDD) if you could recognise the same band? I would hope so, even if things have shifted across the decades I would hope that the same spirit was still present.
9. How do you view the music industry in the current decade? Do you think artificial intelligence is a “devil” or an “angel”?
SHJ – I don’t know anything about the music industry in the current decade. And AI is a devil probably.
JJ – My early perception of the industry was a clear one. It was an enormous single beast which I was very wary of, an adversary.
We are fighters and this has probably kept us alive in the struggle.
We out-lived countless genres of music, bands, music publications, journalists, labels etc etc and now I don’t recognise that beast any longer. It has been smashed into thousands of pieces, some bad but many good aspects remain.
10. This weekend you’re playing at the Death Disco Indoor Festival in Athens. What can the crowd expect from you?
SHJ – We’ll play songs from throughout our history, there will be melody, calm and storm and all that goes in the middle. I can’t speak for myself but the rest of the band; Justin, Paul Hill, Grant Gordon and Colin Ozanne are very fine musicians so it should be a great gig.
11 – That’s all from us, guys! Thank you for your valuable time. We’d like to wrap up this interview with a message for the readers of Afternoiz.gr please
SHJ – If you are a music lover and want to see an original post-punk band who have evolved over 45 years and are now at their height – come to the festival. You will never see us like this again.
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