"I probably don’t listen to Mumford and Sons": Young Knives chat to Skiddle

Young Knives will appear at Kendal Calling this Summer. Jasmine Phull talks to vocalist Tom Darnall about Nick Launay, thoughts of self-production and those difficult festival crowds.

Thomas Dartnall is a cynical punter. Tell him to clap his hands to the chorus and he’ll tell you where to go. But fortunately for him, most Young Knives crowds love a good clap.

With the festival season comes that added element of pressure, where ‘you have to temper the show for an audience that doesn’t know you, but also you have to win them over’. With their third studio album Ornaments From the Silver Arcade set for release this April, the Mercury Prize-nominees have once again defined their sound where their recurring experimental button is firmly set.

Since 2002 you’ve released three studio album and three EPs. That’s quite a lot. Do you find it easy to create new material?

It’s always been when we have enough songs. Though when you don’t release anything for a while it does feel like you’re unemployed. After six months of being at home or at my mum’s house you definitely start feeling it. The last album took us three years because it took us a while 'til we were happy with 11 songs. We wanted it to sound interesting and not like other stuff we’d done.

Did you have a goal in mind when creating Ornaments From the Silver Arcade?

We wanted to do a 10-track, though we actually did an 11-track album and kept it concise. Whilst there’s nothing wrong with doing it longer, previously we’d just been sticking all the best ones on and maybe they didn’t compliment each other that well. This time we wanted it to be a collection of songs that fit well with one another. We’ve got a tendency to go out there on crazy whims where some of our songs haven’t been as ‘inclusive’ so we tried for more consistency with this album.

Was the order of the tracks important?

Yes. I never know what to do in terms of track order and we usually end up arguing about it. When I buy albums at the moment I’m noticing that all the bands are sticking their singles at the beginning and I guess I understand that move. I do find it a bit annoying when the first couple are more upbeat and fast-paced and then suddenly all the tracks are slower. We tried to mix ours up a bit and make it like a complete circle.

Explain the idea behind the name Ornaments From the Silver Arcade.

Silver Arcade sounds like a mystical place with some semi-religious meaning. We just liked it. We used ornaments because you can kind of think of the songs like ornaments; in one sense they’re decorative and nice to listen to. Pop music is like that sometimes; it’s just a pretty thing that you shouldn’t read too much into.

Since starting you’ve had quite a couple of name changes and most recently you dropped the ‘The’, leaving just Young Knives. Why was that an important move for the band?

We started at the same time as a lot of other indie bands that were doing a similar, slightly retro thing, and at some point we were just didn’t want to associated with all the crap that was coming out. All us bands thought we were clever at the time but now we hope we can mark ourselves apart from the others.

How does being an artist affect the way you listen to music? Do you find yourself dissecting it?

If it’s pop music I will, because I’m thinking in commercial terms, partly because when I go home I don’t really like to listen to anything that’s on Radio 1 or 6 Music playlist. I probably don’t listen to Mumford and Sons. I always listen to weird stuff that you couldn’t dissect anyway. You’re like: who’s playing what there and it’s just a load of distortion. But when I listen to classic rock ‘n’ roll, like the Pixies, I do sit there and I think: wow that song doesn’t have a chorus, how the hell did they do that? Then you try and imitate the formula but it never works...

Describe the house you recorded the album in?

It’s actually my brother’s house. We saw this house come up for really cheap and thought it would be better if he moved in and the band rented out a decent part of it so we could turn it into a studio space. It’s good. We’re hoping next time round we'll have it ‘swished up’ a bit. It’s fairly ‘swish’ now but perhaps a little bit more.

You’ve spoken about thoughts of self-production. Why did you decide to go to L.A and work with producer Nick Launay?

He does all the Nick Cave and Grinderman stuff. He did Yeah Yeah Yeahs but it was because he did Flowers of Romance by Public Image. We love that album. We thought: yea if he produces our album it’ll sound like Flowers of Romance. (Laughs). No it doesn’t sound like that.

Would your next album be self-produced?

Hopefully. We’ve worked with so many different producers and everyone has their own way of doing things. We’ve done demos with local producers in little studios in Oxford and they have their own ways of playing with structure and writing songs, so we’ve just kept soaking it all up. We’re now at the point where we kind of know what works for us. I think we should have a go. If it went horribly wrong we can still go in with a producer because, hopefully, we wouldn’t have spent too much money.

You guys are playing Kendal Calling. Do you approach the festival gig differently to a club gig?

You always have to play your bigger singles because not everyone is going to know all your stuff. You have to temper it for an audience that doesn’t know you, but also you have to win them over. There’s a lot of the: ‘Hey is everyone having a good time?’

You must feel quite a bit of pressure?

Yea. You do have to pump people up and tell them to clap to the chorus. People seem to like it though. I don’t know why? I’m dead cynical at gigs. If someone tells me to clap along to the chorus I’m like: whatever you idiot. Everybody else doesn’t seem to be as cynical as me! (Laughs).

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

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