You played Wednesday. How did that feel from your end, because from the crowd, the energy seemed great. The tent filled up. It was a really good vibe, but how was it for you guys?
Cian: t was fantastic. Every time we’ve played at Arctangent has been fantastic because it is the best festival. And to do it on Wednesday as well was nice; it was a really nice way to ease us into the weekend. It was very, very stacked on the lineup, so we’re really happy with it. There were loads of circle pits and stuff as well at the gig, so I don’t know how that started. But I’m glad it did anyway!
And for yourself, Jake? Was the experience of the set similar?
Jake: It was really, really nice. We’ve come over every time for the full weekend, we always see the bands on the Wednesday. And it was really nice to finally play the first day of it and ease us into it now.
You were here performing last year, when you played a silent disco set. I’m fascinated by that from a band’s perspective. How different is it prepping and performing a show to headphones in the audience compared to the regular live set?
Jake: It was really fun. It’s not that much different for us because it’s in-ears. We don’t really use in-ears, but we could still hear it. But then if they pull out slightly, you just hear, like, silence. It was great fun, and I really liked it, but Jack, the drummer, his in-ears broke, and so for the first three songs he couldn’t hear anything. So, he just timed himself off how fast my hand was moving. And he didn’t make any mistakes!
Cian: We didn’t know that until afterwards. He couldn’t hear anything. He’s playing on an electronic drumkit and he couldn’t hear a single thing!
Jake: Yeah, because he bought AliExpress in-ears and they didn’t cut the mustard. It was great, though, and we did two sets last year. We did another one on the Elephant In the Bar Room Stage. Yeah, and that was fantastic as well. We just did slightly different sets. The silent disco one was more kind of dancy stuff. The one after was a bit more heavy.
Having seen you outside of Arctangent, it seems like you feed off the energy of the crowd quite a lot. That connection’s important. You were in and out of the crowd and all over the stage. Is it difficult to have that same connection when you’re playing the silent disco set that you did, and secondly, is it difficult to get that same connection when you’re playing a barrier show like here, as opposed to a smaller room?
Jake: Yeah, I think so. But we, we would perform slightly differently, and I think it works well both ways. The barrier thing is a bit different, it’s not better or worse, it is just different. I would like to be weaving in and out of people getting all freaky, but it’s a bit hard with the barrier.
Cian: Yeah, I’m too old now and my back hurts, so I won’t go over that barrier and into the crown anymore. I used to. I was big into it, but I just can’t. I know my place. I can’t hack it!
So, where are we at touring-wise at the moment? You’ve got those shows with And So I Watch You From Afar and Waldo’s Gift. Are there headline shows that you’ve got coming up, or is that it until you get towards Christmas time?
Jake: Yeah, that’s kind of it. We have the album coming out on the 10th of October. We have a single coming out. And then we have a few gigs with Alpha Male Tea Party as well. And we’ll probably do a big Christmas show too. We’ll do some in Ireland and then maybe early next year, like January or something, we’ll come back over and do a few more dates here.
You’ve just put out the single and video for The Beep Test and you had what looked like Microsoft Word Art as a central feature of that video. I appreciated that! Who put that together?
Jake: It was a fella that Jack knows. We don’t know him at all, which is mad, because I work with Jack. I’m literally with him every day, and he has this other guy. I have no clue who he is. His name is Joe and he does really cool art stuff. He sent back the video and we said it’s very weird, but we think we should go with it though. He did a great job. It suits us.
So because you played early, I guess one nice thing about that is that you get the rest of the weekend to just take bands in. So far as we sit here Friday late morning, what’s the best stuff that you’ve seen so far?
Cian: For me, I’d say Godspeed. I roared crying at it. They’re one of my favorite bands, but Leprous were also unbelievable. I think as a personal thing of me crying, Godspeed. But if I’d never heard music before and I went in to watch Leprous, I would have been like, yeah, Jesus!
Jake: I think Leprous were incredible. Also Sans Froid, our buddies, they opened the festival on Wednesday, and they’re just better and better every time we see them. It’s insane. And no one really sounds like them. They were outstanding!
Cian: I saw Codespeaker yesterday morning as well. That made me feel a lot better. Very nice accents as well.
What are you looking forward to? What’s left to see that?
Cian: Car Bomb and Coilguns for me.
Jake: I’ll go to see Karnivool as well. I’m really looking forward to them. And Coilguns is a big one for us. Love those guys. That’s it for today.
Cian: I think Adebisi Shank tomorrow would be a big, big one for us. We’ve been waiting so long for them to come back, and I’m very excited.
I guess there’s some sort of unwritten rule about coming back two years in a row being a thing and three years in a row, maybe not being a thing. So do you imagine you’ll be back at ATG as punters anyway?
Jake: We always plan on coming, but then it worked out well that we just got invited back so it’s a win for everyone. This was our fourth set at Arctangent. We’ve only missed like one year so far, and I was still at that year, so it’s just like my favourite. Not only my favourite festival but my favourite weekend of the year.
The album, The Beep Test, is out on the 10th of October. How do you feel about it now that it’s done?
Jake: Very, very excited. I think it’s by far the best thing we’ve done. It’s way more cohesive than other things, but it still has the weirdness. Joe Clayton from Pijn mixed it and mastered it and he did an incredible job. He really, really nailed the live sound, because that’s what we’re trying to push on it, because the live thing for us is so so important. So we really tried to get that down on this record and we’re really pleased with it.