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The Futureheads.
Sunderland boy and vocalist/guitarist Ross Millard reflects
on The Futureheads latest milestone. They've recently graced
the main stage of a festival for the first time at California's
Coachella Festival. Upon hearing suggestions that his energetic
performances have earned him the honour of being the coolest
band member, he laughs heartily from his belly. "I wouldn't
know about being the cool one. I don't feel like the cool one,
I can tell you that!"
The Scottish four-piece has come a long way from their humble beginnings. Millard and bassist Jaff studied together at college. Eventually the pair met the rest of the group at the Sunderland City Detached Youth Project.
"That was the place to go, if you were desperately trying to put a band together," says Millard. "So we went down on the premise of getting some free rehearsal time. And we met up with Barry [Hyde, guitars] and Dave [Hyde, drummer and Barry's little brother] there. I think the thing that drew us together was the fact that we liked similar music at the time, and none of the other kids that were going to the project were really into the things that we were into. It fell together quite nicely, because we all played different instruments, we had enough components to put the band together, so that's what we did."
The other kids at the project were more into Pearl Jam and Jamiroquai, says Millard pointedly. "It seems like if you're young, and you're into playing an instrument, for some reason everyone gets into funk music. I don't really understand that very much. We were into a lot of, not just the original sort of 'seventies stuff, we were big fans of a lot of that, but also the American indie scene. You know, like Black Flag, The Minutemen, right the way through to Fugazi, Les Savy Fav, and Shellac. So we had a lot in common that a lot of the other kids were completely oblivious too, to be honest."
They aren't called The Futureheads for nothing. Lyrics are minimalist, as is the music, in a humourous and memorable art-punk sort of way. "Initially, we wanted to be as precise as we could humanly be," says Millard of the staccato rhythms of the band's live show. "I think the idea was that we would have this sort of mechanical approach to performing, but at the same time hopefully deliver the songs with a sort of human feel. We wanted to be as tight as could be without outwardly appearing like we were machines, you know what I mean? There's the banter in between the songs; especially these days, we try to involve the crowd as much as we possibly can. At the same time, if we're not as tight as we can be, we feel like it's a bad gig. So there's kind of the element of being machine-like, but at the same time having a warm approach to the crowd."
Everything is shared in the band, says Millard. Vocals are mostly split between Barry and Ross, but everyone sings. Promotional duties are shared, and it seems that The Futureheads have avoiding pushing forward any one band member.
"Sometimes that's essential in certain groups," Millard muses in his Scottish burr. "Because some people work better knowing that there's someone who can always tell them what to do, or have ideas about what to do next, or have some big plan. But we've been ambling our way through this now for four years and we seem to have done alright out of it. We've four very different personalities, especially now, a lot more than when we first formed the band. And I think there's a lot of stuff you can do with that, and that people can get out of that."
Along with a spot at Splendour In The Grass, The Futureheads will also be supporting Queens Of The Stone Age on their (Adelaide-less) Australian tour. According to Millard, the band is relishing the chance to play in new countries, including Australia, to new audiences who have definitely never seen them before. "That's going to be really exciting for us," say Millard of the QOTSA supports. "They're going to be completely different shows from what we're used to, you know, full on rock shows. Different crowd, people who wouldn't typically be out and out Futureheads fans, but I'm confident that people will get it, you know?"
Eddie Chan
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'The Futureheads' is out now through Warner.
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