Polly and the Billets Doux Interview: "We’re definitely not a quiet band"

Jasmine Phull speaks to Polly and the Billets Doux as they fine tune their instruments and warm up their vocal chords, in preparation for their impending UK tour.

As a vocalist of a band, you’re never really singing solely about yourself. Sure those perfectly tuned words are escaping your reverberating lips, but as a collective those words create the lyrics. They reach out to anyone who is listening and tell a story based on personal lessons and experiences.

Polly and the Billets Doux hope their collaborative writing can inspire their listeners and move their listeners both mentally and physically. Debut Fiction, Half Truth and Downright Lies has a pretty expressive titular whose tales, backed by a mélange of blues, folk and country, will surely have you tapping your feet and nodding your head.

Your debut Fiction, Half Truths and Downright Lies was released May last year. You’re about to embark on a pretty extensive UK tour. Is that to showcase new stuff?

We’re halfway through recording the next album and we’ve been recording a single to release for the April tour. For the February tour we’re playing new songs and testing them out, really. We use it as a good way to continue to write as we travel in the van. You’ve got quite a number of hours in the van to work on vocals and lyrics.

Who writes the lyrics?

It depends really. It changes. I generally like to make them mine if somebody else has written them, as I like the music I sing about to be related to me in some way. If the guys write the lyrics they’ve either written them with me in mind or we write them together.

Has there ever been a time when someone in the band has approached you with a song they’ve written and you just have no idea what it’s about?

(Laughs). That does happen. Once we wrote a song and I thought it was supposed to be melancholy when actual the band had thought it was more optimistic. That’s OK though because as a band we pull from all our influences.

As a band you’ve been playing since 2006. In terms of technique what is one thing you’ve improved on?

For me, my confidence has really improved and my jokes have gotten better. (Laughs). I’ve always enjoyed having banter with the crowd and with the band. Sometimes I’ll do a little rap. We’re definitely not one of those bands that are quiet.

Your sound has been described as a sort of hybrid blues/folk/jazz/Americana country. What kind of music were you into as a child growing up in Winchester?

When I was very young I listened to my parent’s record collection that ranged from the Blockheads to Led Zepplin, Roxy Music to Nina Simone. When I got a bit older I started going to the Roller Discos where I listened to a lot of 90s hip hop. But now I’m into old gospel and jazz and blues. Also we (the band) all live together and we don’t have a telly so we listen to each other’s music.

Are there certain things you do to keep your voice at its best? I read Celine Dion wouldn’t talk the day before a concert.

Really? (Laughs). You can’t stop me talking. I’ve never trained in music so I’ve never been advised but I do go running every morning, which opens up my lungs. If I’ve got a cold I make up a potion of honey, lemon and root ginger and I mix it up in pan and boil it down. Generally I just sing all the time, in the bath and in the garden.

One track that can get you up and on the dance-floor?

I love bump and grind tracks, anything with a dirty bass groove. (Laughs). But when I’m not on the dance-floor I love The Tallest Man on Earth and his song 'King of Spain', and also Jolie Holland.

Is your live show quite a divergence from the sound of your album?

I think when we play live we are a bit heavier. I think we play faster and heavier. When it’s a live performance you feed off the audience; I prefer our live sound.

Interview by: Jasmine Phull

Twitter.com/j_fool

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