← All Of It with Alison Stewart
All Of It with Alison Stewart
The Heavy Heavy on 'One of a Kind' Debut (Listening Party)
00:25:21
This month, UK band The Heavy Heavy released their debut album, One of a Kind.
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Alison Stewart
This is all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Here's a new song from the Heavy Heavy.
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Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Headed out of my own you must be a believer, you will never break my home when out of my way.
- [01:52]
Georgie Fuller
I don't need to tell you.
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Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Why I want to be afraid I don't want to look down at him on a hold your head you gotta tell me why I don't wanna be a lover I say what you wanna but I don't wanna chew on your door.
- [02:16]
Interviewer
That's Dirt off the new album One of a Kind from Brighton rock band the Heavy Heavy. The album is technically their debut, though that's complicated. The Heavy Heavy released in EP a few years ago. It's been re released and reissued a coup, which is how you may have already recognized the band from when they joined us live in the studio last year. As one reviewer wrote about the new album, buoyed by blues licks, dirty riffs and drum beats, it's hard not to be swept along in its groove. It's a perfect advert for the group's blend of contemporary with a pinch of nostalgia. The Heavy Heavy will be playing Music hall of Williamsburg on Saturday, September 21, and in Camden, New Jersey on Sunday. Bandmates Georgie Fuller and Will Turner joined me yesterday in studio for an all of it listening party. Here's our conversation.
- [03:08]
Alison Stewart
So I saw you almost exactly a year ago in Montclair, New Jersey and it was the second to last stop on your tour before heading back to the uk. You guys were very clear about that. First of all, what did you do when you got back to the uk?
- [03:22]
Georgie Fuller
Slept, went straight to sleep and then went to our favorite coffee shop down the road, which we always do when we get home from tour, go get a croissant and a coffee and sort of sit there like for a couple of hours.
- [03:37]
Alison Stewart
Do you remember what you did when you got home?
- [03:39]
Will Turner
No, I think we Just went to sleep for days. And then we were like, we need to make an album.
- [03:44]
Georgie Fuller
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
- [03:45]
Alison Stewart
I was gonna ask, when did that first idea come? Like, okay, now it's time to make an album.
- [03:49]
Will Turner
It sort of came midway through that tour, actually, before. So we knew we were having to sort of get to it when we got back. So we allowed ourselves a week or two, and then we sort of got to it.
- [04:00]
Alison Stewart
What did you think of when you were thinking about finishing the album? You said you thought about it when you were on tour, when you actually got to the position of finishing it, what was on your mind?
- [04:08]
Georgie Fuller
Oh, no, this isn't good enough. Really? Yeah. I think every artist goes through that. You know, you're with those songs for so long, and it's really scary when you've had all that time to work on them. And then the final moment comes to, you know, that's it. The doors closed and you go, what. What if it's not. What if it isn't as good you. And you're kind of desensitized to the songs as well by the. By that point, so you don't even know what you're listening to anymore. So that is definitely the first response.
- [04:37]
Alison Stewart
When you were thinking about an LP versus an ep, did you think about it differently?
- [04:42]
Will Turner
Yes. I mean, there's obviously more time, but I think that we weren't looking for any kind of narrative or any sort of concept, so it really was just having enough songs that would be sort of good enough. We don't want any filler on there. Yeah. So, yeah, and just contemplating it as a. As a larger. A larger thing was. Was in there, but maybe not. I think that we were just trying to rack up a load of really good songs, and that was the main thing. I think that we're aiming for 20 songs, so we knew that we'd have to cut some out, and we think that's a good method.
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Alison Stewart
Aiming for 20 songs.
- [05:15]
Will Turner
Yeah. Yeah. We had a lot of loss in the back catalog and sort of getting them to a point where they could be good enough. Some of them naturally fall away as. As you're doing that.
- [05:24]
Alison Stewart
So I'm speaking to Georgie Fuller and Will Turner of the band the Heavy Heavy. They just put out a new album called One of a Kind, will be playing at Music hall of Williamsburg this Saturday. So, Will, you produced, engineered and mixed the album?
- [05:38]
Will Turner
Yes.
- [05:39]
Alison Stewart
Congratulations, first of all.
- [05:41]
Will Turner
Thank you.
- [05:42]
Alison Stewart
Well, how did you feel about taking control and responsibility for this record?
- [05:47]
Will Turner
It's the only way I'd like to do it, really. So I was fairly confident in being able to do it and having the control was the best way to do it for me. So, yeah, I was very happy to do it.
- [05:58]
Alison Stewart
Why was the control important?
- [06:01]
Will Turner
I know what I want and it can be quite particular and, you know, not, you know, I wouldn't say I don't collaborate well, but, you know, sometimes sort of obligated to be nice in a collaboration and sort of let other things in where I thought, well, no, I, I know what I want and it's maybe not what everybody else would think would be obvious to do. So, yeah, I was sort of, if we stick to one thing and we do it well, we will succeed.
- [06:28]
Alison Stewart
Georgie, what did Will do that was.
- [06:30]
Interviewer
Useful for you as a musician?
- [06:34]
Georgie Fuller
What didn't Will do? I mean, Will shuts himself in the studio for quite a long period of time, finding the right sounds and worlds of sounds to play in. And what's so exciting for me when I come in, when I finally get led into the studio, I, I, I get to experience demos that are already there, that maybe half finished, maybe nearly almost finished, maybe just kind of worlds of sound. And my greatest joy is that I get to come in with something to already play with and help arrange, help, you know, write melody lyrics, talk about what the concept is and then take it to that, that final point, get to put some trimmings on it, you know, some production stuff. Oh, let's add some. This here and, and that there. And so it's, it's so lovely for me in that sense. So Will does a lot for me.
- [07:34]
Alison Stewart
Well, what does Georgie do as a musician?
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Will Turner
Yeah, it's great, really, because I lose myself in the world. Sometimes you do lose yourself in it and you sort of lose sort of perspective. So George Will come in with a shared load of perspective and tell me if it's rubbish or it's really good or if this needs or. Oh, sometimes she listens to just. And I'm like, this is, this is good, right? This is really good. She's just like, nah, it's not as good as it could be. So I think that's what's really useful. It's kind of. I know that Tom York from Radiohead talks about the ability to start things and his band really help him finish songs. So that, for me, is very similar. Georgie will come in and add the secret sauce and allow me to sort of finish it. You know, finishing is hard to finish finish songs.
- [08:19]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Yeah.
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Alison Stewart
Let's play a track from the new album. This is Wild Emotion. It's kind of got a Southern twang to it. What was the sound you were looking for on Wild Emotion?
- [08:31]
Will Turner
Well, this one sort of just happened, but in terms of a framework for production, I re. I've grown up with a lot of Dire Straits, and for me it was getting that kind of sort of American, but sort of British sound in there and the sort of long driving music and taking a big dollop of influence from Mark Knopfler. So that was the sort of vibe. And it's a very sort of emotional song. And. Yeah, to sort of make sure the song was carried well with the instrumentation and it had its impact, you know, so it's sort of in one. It's very sort of linear, the song. It's sort of very moving forward. It doesn't sort of stop and change. So it's keeping it entertaining and engrossing whilst keeping it sort of solid in its concept.
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Alison Stewart
This is Wild In Motion from the album One of a Kind.
- [09:48]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
Did you find that you hesitated did you find that you hesitated when you thought you could make it? Sweetheart, baby, the only thing you make.
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Heavy Heavy Vocalist
It make it all right.
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Will Turner
When you're.
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Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
Cruising on the road and see roses on the highway.
- [10:26]
Alison Stewart
I hear the Mark Knopfler. What is the story that that song is telling, Georgie?
- [10:34]
Georgie Fuller
It's definitely the most emotional song on the album and it's. It's wistful. It's about a really sad woman. We don't even know what's happened to her, but we. We can just feel the pain. We could feel the pain of this woman as we were writing it. And it was about comforting that person and allowing them to express their. Their wildest emotions, you know, and. And being there for them afterwards.
- [11:02]
Alison Stewart
My guests are Georgie Fuller and Will Turner of the band the Heavy Heavy. They've just put out a new album called One Of A Kind. We're having a listening party. When you're in the studio, Will, are you using old tech to achieve the.
- [11:15]
Interviewer
Sounds that are reminiscent of the 60s and the 70s?
- [11:18]
Will Turner
Yes. It's a mixture of new and old. Yeah.
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Alison Stewart
What kind of old tech are you using?
- [11:22]
Will Turner
I've got a look. I've got some really nice old microphones and some preamps. There's some tape involved. Not as much as I would like, but, yeah. A lot of it comes from the preamps, the reverb and the microphone. So some microphones have a sort of darkness to them. They're not sort of bright and very sort of modern stuff can sound quite clinical and Very. It's all there. You know, you have character mics which have a vibe. So, for instance, putting on the vocal, having an old mic from the 60s, it just has a softer sound. It has like a 3D nature to it. So those sort of decisions are made.
- [11:53]
Interviewer
Have you ever had somebody say, oh.
- [11:54]
Alison Stewart
We can do that on a computer?
- [11:57]
Will Turner
Well, I mean, yeah, you can do. I mean, a lot of stuff is doable on a computer, but it's less fun and it's still not the same. I find that anything on a computer, it sounds a little 2D to me.
- [12:08]
Alison Stewart
How do you achieve.
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Interviewer
Georgie, how do you achieve that sound, that old sound, that. That deep sound live, when you perform live?
- [12:16]
Georgie Fuller
Well, it's interesting actually, when we started playing these tracks live, because we'd only played four shows or something before we got signed. And so we sort of found our sound on our. On our debut tour in the. The U.S. and we found that it's actually more lively almost than the record, which kind of makes us feel sort of. We look to the who for that because their studio albums are quite different to the live sound. And I think it's about having that organic push and pull between the musicians. I don't know. Will, what do you think?
- [12:55]
Will Turner
Yeah, it's.
- [12:56]
Ira Flato
It's.
- [12:56]
Will Turner
Some of. It's almost impossible because there's a lot of layers of vocals. You know, Sometimes I've got 20 layers of vocals and there's only two of us doing that live. But, you know, we're still finding our way with it to make it work live. But, yeah, there are things. And we're sort of trying to actually use more and more of the studio techniques live. But we do want the live thing to be more of an experience than sort of sitting there listening to it. We want it. You want to feel it in a bigger sense.
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Interviewer
We're going to listen to the song, feel. How do you think about the vibe of this song?
- [13:27]
Will Turner
This is a sort of ode to the 90s, sort of Brit pop, sort of Beck and Stone and Roses and things like that with a sort of. It's just sort of austinato. So it's a repetitive riff and it's just this cool vibe. I wanted it to be sort of dancey and sort of epic, but also the sort of balls out lyrics are.
- [13:45]
Georgie Fuller
Kind of very sort of groovy and primal.
- [13:48]
Will Turner
Yes.
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Interviewer
Let's listen to Feel.
- [14:24]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
I am, I am a freeloader love jockey A real heavy cannonball and I'm hungry.
- [14:39]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
And I'm calling you and I.
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Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Stand between the sun between the stars I feel it in my fingers Feel it in my PA.
- [14:56]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
It'S all monkeys.
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Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Say monkey do.
- [15:03]
Alison Stewart
That spiel off the album. One of a Kind. So there's only three of you working on that one song, right? It's you, Joe, Us, but yes.
- [15:13]
Will Turner
Yeah, I suppose. Yes. Yeah. And the bass. Yeah, yeah. So there's me. Yeah, we're kind of all in there, but I mean. Yeah, it's a. There's actually a lot going on in that, but it sounds quite minimal.
- [15:24]
Alison Stewart
Oh, tell me more.
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Will Turner
Well, there's lots of percussion, there's congas in there, which are done in Joe's basement in Chicago. And there's about three or four layers of guitar. And, you know, there's a lot in there. You know, I'm looking at sort of 50, 60 tracks on in there in that.
- [15:38]
Alison Stewart
So if you're looking at 50, 60 tracks, I mean, how do you decide what goes in and what. What goes. What comes out?
- [15:44]
Georgie Fuller
Well, it's a tricky process of elimination. Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, you were talking about Keith Richards and how he's always looking to take stuff out, what can be eliminated.
- [16:00]
Will Turner
Yeah, there's a brilliant phrase about. I think Ronnie Wood talks about it saying they try and let the light shine through the music, so you've got to leave space between the elements for it to work. And I think when you. It's fun when you're producing stuff, layering sound on sound to just keep adding. I think this one was particularly in the verses is. It has more emphasis when you take things out of it. It's more sort of raw and primal and then you can. Has more emphasis when you whack in the. All the stuff that comes in. In the chorus.
- [16:28]
Interviewer
There is a song on the album.
- [16:29]
Alison Stewart
That just features the two of you guys Will. Love struck.
- [16:32]
Will Turner
Yes. Yes.
- [16:33]
Alison Stewart
So how did that come about, that one?
- [16:36]
Will Turner
I was actually joking around and I found. I found this thing that sounded like Joni Mitchell and I can't. I can't actually remember tuning of the guitar was. I don't think it's a conventional tuning. And I just. I was. I just sort of brought Georgie and I was like, listen, this is. This is fun. This is like Jody Mitchell.
- [16:49]
Georgie Fuller
And then I'd written the second verse within five minutes and it. And then we added the chorus. Yeah, I mean, that was great. That was weird. It just completely rolled out of us really, really quickly. It just felt like. It felt like Hissing of Summer Lawns era Joanie. And then that made us think of CSNY and Then we thought of California in general, and we'd been in Mill Valley not long before that, probably like two weeks before we'd written the lyrics for it. And it all just kind of came together very fast, didn't it?
- [17:27]
Will Turner
Yeah, I didn't really take it that seriously. And then we sent to the record label, like, oh, we love this. And we're like, oh, really? Okay. And, yeah, it's a good, fun one to do that live, I gotta say, because it's sort of technical in the harmonies and stuff.
- [17:38]
Interviewer
Let's listen to a little bit of Lovestruck.
- [17:47]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
I can't handle it Baby, I can handle it I see you walking alone But I see I got your head tied up and you're walking away Today's not the day and today are my days and I'm lovestruck Honey, yeah Love struck Honey, yeah Walking up to Mill Valley Sweet summertime if only I could see Another friend of mine don't mind me don't mind me don't mind me don't mind me all aboard the lonely.
- [18:19]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Train all above the only train Beep beep, beep beep beep beep, beep, beep yes, I'm a mess and I gotta confess that when you left Left a.
- [18:44]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
Hole deep down in my chest and now my feet won't work While I'm.
- [18:48]
Alison Stewart
Walking away My laces are tied that's from the album One of A Kind. My guests are Georgie Fuller and Will Turner of the band the Heavy. Heavy. How'd you think about sequencing the songs?
- [19:00]
Will Turner
Oh, I sort of.
- [19:03]
Alison Stewart
I've hit a rough, rough nerve.
- [19:06]
Will Turner
Don't bring that up. No, I don't really. I sort of. I think there are ones that, oh, this would be great at the start and this would be a great ender, but anything else, I'm kind of lost at that point, you know, I've signed off at that point.
- [19:17]
Georgie Fuller
I do a lot of the set list sort of design that's. I usually do that. Will's like, keep me out of it. When we're on tour, I do that with Frank. And so I feel like I have this idea of where I want things to go. Either story wise, tension wise, emotionally. And it's. I guess it's just a feeling, but. But I definitely do put a lot. Pin a lot on where I think things should go. And Wild Emotion and Selena were very obvious for the vinyl, very obvious enders because they're the longest tracks of each side and they're both sort of, I guess, slightly different in a way. You know, Wildemotion is very emotional and it's. It's on its own journey. It's quite vulnerable in that way. And then Selena is this epic sort of cinematic ending. Yeah, I definitely care about that more, I think.
- [20:13]
Will Turner
Yeah, I'm out. But.
- [20:17]
Alison Stewart
Let'S talk about the final song, Selena. The orchestration for this song, how did that come together?
- [20:23]
Will Turner
I don't even know. I mean, I. I loved to make that one. That was a great fun thing to make. And I. I take. I love Lee Hazelwood, so I love his recordings from the 60s and the use of the melotron and things. And. Yeah, it's sort of. It's sort of, as Georgie says, it's cinematic in its nature. And I wanted it to be this. This big sort of journey. And it almost sounds like this sort of dreamlike thing and. Yeah, I don't really know. I mean, it. It just sort of went that way. It sort of started off very bold and it sort of builds and builds and builds and it's almost like you lift off and fly when it. When it. When there's the pitch change, the chord change, you sort of lift and you're flying. A bit like Expecting to fly by Neil Young on the end of Buffalo Springfield.
- [21:06]
Georgie Fuller
Because that key change wasn't always in there.
- [21:08]
Will Turner
No. And it's. You lift off and you sort of dream. You enter your. You. You sort of. You enter your REM state or whatever it is when you sleep.
- [21:14]
Georgie Fuller
Yes. Your REM sleep.
- [21:16]
Will Turner
Yes. Yeah. And then things sort of kept coming. We had the Toms bass players playing cello on things. And then. Then we had the cello. I can't tell you how many tracks were on that one. It's a huge thing. And. Yeah, and there's two pedal steels on each side on different sides of the speake, which were. I wanted to sound like David Crosby's. Well, it would be Jerry Garcia playing steel on David Crosby solo album. So, yeah, it was. It was sort of a love affair with that sort of golden sound again. And it was this sort of cinematic dream world that we sort of leave the album with.
- [21:48]
Georgie Fuller
And also, it made sense with the song and the location, because Selena is a volcanic island off of Sicily, which is very mythological and dreamlike in its state, anyway. So, yeah, a real love affair between what the concept of that song is and where it takes you and where it takes us in our mind, because it takes us back to Celina, which is this golden volcanic island off of Sicily.
- [22:12]
Alison Stewart
You know, let's listen to Selena from the Heavy, Heavy.
- [22:27]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Need You, Sam.
- [23:23]
Interviewer
I hear almost. Castanets.
- [23:25]
Will Turner
Yeah, they're in there. Yeah.
- [23:27]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
Yes.
- [23:28]
Georgie Fuller
I scored.
- [23:30]
Will Turner
It's the only time I've ever used them is on that recording.
- [23:32]
Alison Stewart
Oh, the first time.
- [23:33]
Will Turner
That's. Yeah. The one and only time I've ever used them.
- [23:36]
Interviewer
Well, for now, it's one and only.
- [23:37]
Georgie Fuller
Yeah. And you found them.
- [23:40]
Interviewer
I was listening through this interview you've mentioned Jerry Garcia, csny, Joni Mitchell. You must have an incredible record collection.
- [23:48]
Will Turner
It's certainly getting growing. Yes.
- [23:50]
Georgie Fuller
Yeah.
- [23:50]
Interviewer
How did you discover these. These artists? These are American artists.
- [23:55]
Will Turner
I just think we were both blessed with our parents who would play all of this music, sort of starting us off. I mean, I was sort of. Of brought up on the Animals and that sort of thing, and. But the Doors and. And Credence were in there, so I think that we have then sort of fallen in love with it and then done our own research and then found all these other things. You know, now it's so easy to find music and. Yeah, we've just been. I'm still discovering stuff every day, you know, it's. Yeah, it's so much there and, you know, it's like we're trying to carry that sound on and you sort of, you know, and just add to that pile of sound. Yeah.
- [24:26]
Georgie Fuller
And we're lucky that vinyl's back.
- [24:28]
Will Turner
Yes.
- [24:29]
Georgie Fuller
In such a big way, because we really can build. Because before it was sort of the vinyl collection of my parents that they'd put up in the. The loft because no one had a record player anymore. And now it's. It's back.
- [24:44]
Alison Stewart
What?
- [24:44]
Interviewer
The last song you get to pick.
- [24:46]
Alison Stewart
Which one do you want to.
- [24:47]
Interviewer
What do you want to hear? What do you want to hear?
- [24:48]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Oh.
- [24:51]
Georgie Fuller
Miracle Son. One of a Kind.
- [24:53]
Will Turner
One of a kind.
- [24:54]
Georgie Fuller
Yeah. Let's do One of a Kind.
- [24:56]
Interviewer
That's the name of the album. One of a Kind.
- [24:58]
Alison Stewart
I've been speaking with Georgie Full and.
- [25:00]
Interviewer
Will Turner of the band the Heavy.
- [25:02]
Alison Stewart
Heavy.
- [25:02]
Interviewer
Thanks for coming in again.
- [25:03]
Georgie Fuller
Thank you, Alison. It's been a pleasure.
- [25:10]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
You do the walk, you feel alive. You look the best.
- [25:15]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
You're all night out.
- [25:17]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
Feel the heat the sweet relief in your bones. You're overflowing. Time is right to feel the flame into the night.
- [25:36]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist
Yeah, I'm gone.
- [25:52]
Heavy Heavy Vocalist or Backing Vocals
Go down the way to the beach. See the sun all the shadow by the moon and the silver wave Lift you.
- [26:17]
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- [26:46]
Ira Flato
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