Bodega, Bathrooms and Bowling: Talking with The Amazons

Bodega, Bathrooms and Bowling:

Talking with The Amazons

Matt Thomson (vocalist) and Chris Alderton (guitarist) of The Amazons met up with Impact’s Alex Tearle at Nottingham’s Motorpoint Arena, where they were performing that evening as a support act for Royal Blood.

Evidently chuffed to be back on tour, Matt explained, “It’s our first tour in two and a half years. In lockdown, everyone paused, but coming back has been the most stimulating baptism of fire.” The duo shared the warm reception they’ve enjoyed from Royal Blood. “It’s intense,” the pair joked, “Ben [Thatcher, Royal Blood’s drummer] comes in before the show with tequila shots, and then afterwards with champagne. Tequila is our drink of choice now, what’s yours?” they ask me. “Whatever’s cheapest!” I responded, a comment met with humoured empathy from the pair.

“Everyone was experiencing the last two years in so many ways, from a place of restrictions and having big parts of your life on pause,” they explained. “On the album, we’re trying to navigate what it means to love someone when they’re absent physically.” This shines through on their most recent single Bloodrush, a sombre yet catchy track that maturely discusses relationships within lockdown. “Bloodrush was quite an instinctive record to make. Lyrically, we wanted to zoom in on the microscopic details and the chemicals around a release: letting your hair down, going to a gig or jumping off a plane, it doesn’t matter what it was that created it… those kinds of things were dismissed in the past as trivial luxuries. But the last couple of years have made us realise that these things are integral to feeling human, feeling alive, feeling yourself. We get our own high and fulfilment when playing that song to crowds.”

I was keen to learn more about this sense of self, and whether it was key to the album. Chris was quick to answer, clearly passionate about this topic. “We really don’t need to be anyone else to be successful and happy in our own skin. We make the stupid jokes we make and settle into things without overthinking too much. It’s much more natural for us and makes for a better record.” This theme of selfactualisation is also well documented in Arcade Fire’s album ‘The Suburbs’, a record that clearly means a lot to the band, having recently covered one of its songs at BBC Maida Vale. “It’s really hard to pick covers, but the sky is the limit onAnnie Mac. We wanted to put across who influenced our record… we just love Arcade Fire, and every record we’ve made was influenced by ‘The Suburbs’ – it’s very important to us. It was the ten-year anniversary of the album too, so it just felt right. It’s a performance inspired by the Jools Holland version, which was much more visceral; the whole band are shouting – it was so much fun to play.” This style of writing is prevalent in Bloodrush, through the track’s rawness and relevance, a great direction in which I hope the album will continue. The band then delved into more detail about their writing process for the forthcoming album. “Lyrics almost certainly come later. I’ve been on a personal journey when it comes to writing lyrics,” Matt explained. “I’m more of a ‘feely’ person and so the music is the thing that starts, I find it most natural and instinctive. This record was very different for us; most of the songs were demoed between Chris’ house and my bedroom. We were keen to keep a lot of the stuff that just sounded good, no matter if it were recorded in a toilet or a high-level studio.”

This approach, born out of necessity and a desire to create music, was really levelling. By contrast, Matt conceded that some of the tracks on their previous record ‘Future Dust’ were rushed, adding that this wasn’t necessarily a negative: “We’re proud of ‘Future Dust’ in a way people are not aware of. We put something pretty damn good together in just six months – that’s what makes me excited about it. At that time, we were on a purist kick, very much ‘no computers, man!’ but we’ve ripped up that rulebook and started again.”

We went on to talk about past shows that the band have played in Nottingham. “We’ve played everywhere, mate!” they both laughed, “I feel like we have good local knowledge. We’ve been pretty messed up in lots of clubs round here, nights like Pop Confessional at The Bodega and the like.” This “local knowledge” was apparent during their performance that evening at Motorpoint Arena, when they rattled off all the local venues they had performed in to raucous applause from the audience.

It felt only right, from there, to finish the interview on a similar high, by discussing the band’s touring traditions. “We do a lot of bowling,” Matt nodded, “on lots of our days off, we go straight to bowling, even though we aren’t that good!”. This was a tradition that was picked up when the band toured the US. “When you’re touring between cities, a lot of towns are fairly dead, with nothing interesting except for a bowling alley. It’s not like a kid’s birthday party, it’s league bowling. The Big Lebowski style: a great way to kill an evening.”

The Amazons’ third album,

releases on the 2nd of September 2022.

By Alex Tearle

Photo courtesy of The Amazons Page Design by Chiara Crompton