First of all, thank you guys for taking the time on this, the last day at Arctangent, to drag yourselves out of your tents and come along to chat. How are you feeling?
Bob: Generally good locally and specifically, not great. Like, generally amazing. We had lots of fun, uh, and yeah, Sugar Horse, and especially Wren have just woken me up anyway. Let’s put it like that. Wren were savage.
Jimmy: Yeah, same. Emotionally drained, but loving it. It’s been amazing. It really has. It’s felt like about a week, but Wren were amazing this morning! So that got me out of my slumber.
So, where are you guys based?
Jimmy: We’re in Edinburgh. So, all of us are based around Edinburgh, except Adam (guitar), who’s based in Glasgow. He travels across. I moved to Scotland about 10 years ago now and got involved with the boys. I actually worked with Greg and the singer. They were looking for a drummer and I tried out, and they had me. So, it was great.
Bob: Yeah. Jimmy’s Irish connections have helped us out in some ways as well. Ireland’s a bit of a second home for us, so it’s been useful to have the man around.
So, how was the journey down to ATG? When did you get here?
Bob: Oh, so it was quite logistically complex, like two or three different cars, and we stopped in different places because we’ve got partners, and you know, crew and friends with us. We came down on the Tuesday. We were playing on the Thursday, but we really, really wanted to see Hundred Year Old Man, because we’re good pals with them, so we wanted to make sure that we were down and we could get in early on the Wednesday. They just packed it, like 3000 people back to front. It was amazing, so we’re glad we did come down early. We had to take more time off work and drag down early and all that and stay overnight, but it was worth it. The problem is, you leave a van in a parking lot for a week and it’s going to cost you the bones of a grand. So, we did it in cars.
And you got Hundred Year Old Man with Grady from Will Haven as well, which is really something.
Bob: Yeah, he’s been around this weekend. He was on with Frontierer and he was on with The Grey. So we’ve seen Grady and everything he’s done. And, actually, he popped over when we were sound checking. I was a huge Will Haven fan, still am, but especially when I was a younger lad. So, I’m like, sound checking. We’re playing a song. I raise my eyes and I see Grady, like standing there, watching us and nodding his head. I kind of lost my train of thought. I was about to fanboy out my head, but I played it cool!
Bob: Yeah, they were always like a band’s band. It was always like musicians, and just loads and loads of people I’ve known in the scene are super into them, even if they never got genuinely massive. I think everyone I know in this weird music scene loves them.
Jimmy: Yeah, and I think that’s similar for a lot of artists here, right? Because, you know, we just went to see Wren and none of us have big Spotify numbers, but the tent was packed. Yeah, and it’s 11 in the morning on the last day, and it’s packed! I think the crowd here are pretty exceptional at just supporting everyone, you know. I mean getting up even when you maybe don’t want to get up early and just supporting the bands they wanna see. No tent has been empty for this decade. They’ve all been packed, which is amazing. And yeah, I think it’s credit to the people coming here to be honest and the scene.
If someone gets booked at Arctangent, and you guys know this firsthand, even if you’re on at 11 o’clock, it’s gonna be full, because the the respect for the booking is there, and also if you’re in this scene, you’re gonna know most, if not all, of the bands who were booked.
Jimmy: Yeah, we don’t have the biggest Spotify numbers, either, you know, and it doesn’t matter, you know, because people just show up.
Bob: I think they’re pretty good! Comparatively.
Jimmy: But we were super happy that the people turned out, to be honest. I don’t think any of us expected that.
Bob: So, apparently, there’s a photograph of me and Greg, the singer. We stuck our heads out beforehand, and we saw a couple hundred people there. And we said, “All right, cool. Yeah, it’s first thing.” And then, five minutes later, just before we started, Jimmy went out on stage, and then we came out, and there’s a picture of mine and Greg’s eyes popping because it’s like, absolutely full front to back with no standing room. And we’re like, “All right!” And then, then it became pretty real, but it was class.
When you get that booking, and you’re offered that slot, how did you feel about it as a band? Does it feel like in some ways nerve-wracking because you’re not sure of numbers, or does it feel like an opportunity to wake people up and bang it out at any time of day?
Bob: I’d say, honestly, a little bit of both, but you know, we’ve we’re we’re pals with a lot of folk in the scene and bands we’ve toured with and everything, and they’re like, just don’t worry about it because, as you say, if you get the booking, then people will turn up and you’ve been doing the tours, and you’ve been shown up and all that kind of stuff, then you don’t need to worry. And of course, we did. But like we came out and it was great. We went out and had a whale of a time. I couldn’t be happier, really.
Jimmy: Yeah, we were worried. I was a bit worried about an eleven o’clock slot. Like, is anyone gonna be there, but as soon as we came down on the Wednesday and tents were full from 1pm. It’s like, okay, I don’t think we need to worry too much, and let’s just let it happen.
Bob: Yeah, I think the thing we were worried about was we had a fairly big clash with Lost in Kiev who I would have gone to see if I wasn’t playing, so that kind of worried me, but it was fine. I think both tents were full.
Your second full-length came out last year. Now that it’s in the rear view to the extent that it’s out in the world and people have had a chance to listen to it for some months, how do you feel about it on reflection as a completed piece of work?
Bob: It’s always the thing that when you’re in the bones of the recording process, and there’s all of the nitpicking about what comes in and what comes out, and all the deadlines, and all the press, and all the schedules, you get through it, and there’s the irony that you’ve made something that you’ve spent a year or more on, and at that point, no one else has heard it, but you’re absolutely sick to death of it! And then you release it, and it’s new to everybody. But, on reflection, listening back to it and seeing the reception of it and having a bit of a distance from the sausage making, if you like, I think a lot of bands probably say this, but I think it’s my favourite thing that I’ve been involved in. I’m very proud of it as a body of work.It’s had a really strong reception.
Jimmy: I’m super proud of it. It’s difficult, making an album, it really is. It’s like being in a relationship for over a year and trying to nitpick about things, but I’m super happy with it and how it turned out and the reception it’s gotten and. And I still listen to it, which is actually quite nice, and then being able to play it kind of renews the energy for it. Because, as Bob said, you do kind of get a bit sick of it, because you’re listening to it, you’re listening to the mastering.You’re trying to pick out issues. But then playing it again kind of renews that energy and I’m proud of it.
Is there something in the permanence of having a record out there that you can forget about for a while, but you come back to it and remind yourself, we did that, it’s a permanent record of where we were in your lives at the time?
Jimmy: Yeah, I think getting it pressed on vinyl was a big occasion that was cool. I have it at home, so that was a big moment for me anyway.
Bob: Yeah, the first record we totally self-funded, and put it out on CD, and sold it ourselves. And we were always umming and arring about the unit economics of it. We really wanted to do it, but do you think we’ll punt 250, though? We got to the point where a few tours and a few big gigs in, we decided we should be doing it because, actually, the lads from Din of Celestial Birds were like, you are mental for not having a vinyl. You’ll do really well with it. And we have done well with it. And having this this big, physical bit of wax now in a frame on my bedroom wall is really nice.
You mentioned earlier that you’d seen Wren and Sugar Horse today. Apart from that, what have been the highlights for you guys?
Bob: Godspeed are probably the reason that I got into this type of music in the first place and they’re a top three all-time favorite band for me, and we had a very, very surreal moment on stage where we were sound checking at the exact same time as them. It was so weird and so cool. I realised that the reason why I do this, or started doing this, is sound checking over there! So that was really something. Also, Sungazer were really, really good. I’m a big fan of Adam Neely and the band, but I’ve never seen them before. And they were way heavier live than I expected for, like, a jazz band. So that was really good. God, I’ve seen so many that I’m trying to remember now!
What about today? Is there anything coming up today that you’re absolutely locked in to see?
Bob: Well, I definitely want to see Clown Core, because it’s going to be insane, but Jimmy’s not as fussed. Yeah, Adebisi Shank as they’ve reformed, so I’m really looking forward to that. There’s probably like three or four more on my classfinder, and I’m just too bleery-eyed to remember them right now.
Jimmy: I’m gonna have to shout out Papangu from Brazil. It’s like this mental jazz metal fusion. It was amazing, and their first gig outside of Brazil. What a show! And obviously, Hundred Year Old Man was epic. They’re friends of ours, but they never fail. They never miss.
Jimmy: Yeah, we toured with them last year and just did not get tired of seeing their set every night.
Bob: One of the first times I saw them, they played a festival in Edinburgh and I think three of us in Codespeaker cried at that show because it was very heavy and very emotional.
So bringing it back to Codespeaker, what’s next? I mean, you’ve got tour shows coming up, I don’t know if you’re into writing again, but where are you at with the band at this point?
Bob: We’re touring with The Grey and with Partholon from Cork in October for a few shows, and there’s an all-dayer with Hundred Year Old Man and a bunch of other bands on the scene, as well as part of that. We’re looking to try and get some more festival slots next year. We’re also looking to see if we can get something in Europe as well. And we’re just starting to get into writing as well. So very early stages, but we’re thinking about what’s next. It feels like a long time, but we also only released the record seven or eight months ago. So, we’re gonna write, and we don’t want to rush it, because it’s got to be good. So it’ll hopefully be next year. That sort of time-frame.
You mentioned being based in Edinburgh as a band. Are there bands from the Edinburgh scene or the wider Scottish scene in heavy music that you’d shout out and want to get behind?
Bob: Absolutely. I’ll go with the obvious ones. There’s Void of Light, they’re a post-metal band; kind of Cult of Luna with a slightly goth edge almost, and blast beats as well. Listen to them, especially live. They’re visceral and amazing. They’re a Glasgow band. Also, Kakihara. They just got signed to Ripcord. They’re not like us. They are hardcore and they’re BIG. STUPIT. BEATDOONS, and they’re very, very fun. And Coven, a great band from Edinburgh. They’re a gothy kind of doomgaze band. They put out a really great album just a bit ago. Maud the Moth as well, played here and is absolutely great. There’s lots of talent in the Scottish scene at the minute. Yeah, Mrs Frighthouse, another Glasgow band really good. So yeah, a good few.
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down and have a chat.