Having been longtime admirers of Moose Blood, we always knew the Canterbury me quartet had the potential to produce something special. However we never expected their debut album, ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time to Time’, would be far greater than we ever anticipated.
To put it simply, ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind…’ is eleven songs wrapped in a ball of emotional sentiment with a wealth of introspective lyrics that are easily relatable. Add to that the fact that the bands musical approach, for the most part, is vibrant and edgy with dozens of hooks that will have you singing along in no time. It’s no surprise they’ve landed the number 5 spot on our Record of the Year list.
Having followed up the release of ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind…’ with shows supporting Mallory Knox and Balance & Composure, Moose Blood are ending 2014 on a high. They’re going to be kicking off 2015 with a headline tour too.
Before they take it easy over the festive period, Already Heard caught up with drummer Glenn Harvey to talk about the positive reaction to the album, touring with Mallory Knox and Balance & Composure and their UK headline tour next month.
View our Record of the Year 2014 feature here.
AH: First of all congratulations on making our Top Ten Records of the Year list. What do you make of being part of the list?
Glenn: Thank you! It’s really cool seeing our record turn up on people’s end of year lists because it’s one of those things we sort of joked about before we recorded it.. like “wouldn’t it be cool if…” and now it’s actually happened. It’s great to know that the record has resonated with you and other people enough to have kept it in rotation.
AH: Since we last spoke to you at Hevy, you’ve released ‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time to Time’ and its received widespread acclaim. Did you ever expect it to be so well received?
Glenn: We didn’t know what to expect to be honest but the reception has been incredible and we’re so happy about that. We all had a really good feeling about the record when we were making it. It was such a good experience being in the studio with Beau Burchell (producer) and I think we all realised we were making the exact record that we wanted to and we’re glad that so many other people are connecting with it too.
Why do you think people have taken the album so well?
Glenn: I think we’re lucky to be in a position where there are bands playing stuff that isn’t a million miles from what we’re doing right now, but they don’t sound like us and we’re not trying to sound like them either. I think the album is just a bit different from a lot of other stuff that’s going on at the moment and people have been drawn in to that. I honestly think a lot of the people who were already into what we were doing just started telling everyone about us once ‘IKYIM’ was released. We saw (and still see) so many tweets like “hey everyone needs to listen to this album” and that feels amazing to have support from people like that. I think the album coming out on No Sleep Records pushed us in front of a much bigger American audience too which is great.
AH: You’ve also recently finished touring with Mallory Knox in the UK and Balance & Composure in Europe. How were those shows?
Glenn: They were all incredible. The tours were both quite different, a couple of the B&C shows were big venues but for the most part it was along the lines of what we were used to, decent sized rooms crammed with people singing along to all the bands. The Mallory Knox tour was massive, the biggest shows we’ve ever played by far and it was so much fun. Playing in front of hundreds and hundreds of people every night was crazy but then actually hearing people sing along during our set when we were the opening band some nights was even crazier. Shoutout to Frank Iero Andthe Cellabration too, it was great getting to hang out with everyone on that tour.
AH: It looks like you’re not resting and you’re heading back out on the road in January for a headline tour. What can we expect from Moose Blood’s first headline tour?
Glenn: Unfortunately we don’t have the budget for the pyrotechnic displays we wanted quite yet.. January’s going to be a lot of fun, basically we’ve just finished up the most fun 2 months of touring we’ve probably had as a band and the aim is just to top that.. It’ll be a bit of a change from the 25 minute sets we’ve been playing though, having more time means we get a chance to play some songs off of the album that we haven’t played live yet so we’re really looking forward to that.
AH: You’re taking Choir Vandals and Boston Manor along for the ride. What should our readers know about those bands?
Glenn: They both rule and you should listen to them immediately if you haven’t already. Choir Vandals were one of our favourite bands to have on in the van on our last 2 tours and they’re flying over from America just for this tour, and Boston Manor’s van will most likely break down at some point so quit being a dingus and listen to them so you can sing along for the whole show and make sure everyone has a good time. It’s going to be awesome!
AH: To finish things off, you’ve released one of our favourite albums of the year, what have been some of your favourite albums of 2014?
Glenn: Joyce Manor, Nothing, Single Mothers, Modern Baseball, Gnarwolves, Seahaven, Whirr, You Blew It! & Tigers Jaw all put out great albums this year that I’ve listened to a lot. Also Turnover, Basement, Newmoon, Nai Harvest & Headroom probably put out my favourite EPs this year too, 2014 has had a lot of good music.
‘I’ll Keep You In Mind, From Time to Time’ by Moose Blood is out now No Sleep Records.
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Words by Sean Reid (@SeanReid86)
