Interview: We Are The Physics

We Are The Physics, the Glaswegian four-piece who write music that they personally describe as ‘mutant science punk rock’ sound like quite the catch don’t they? Their chaotic, quirky sounds are quite like no other and their intricate technicality is beyond this world. Think abnormal time signatures and unique high pitched vocals and you’re along the right lines. Having reviewed their new release ‘Your Friend, The Atom,’ we were blown away and intrigued to find out more about the band. The record has some outstanding tracks on it, including new single ‘Napoleon Loves Josephine’ and previous singles ‘Goran Ivanisevic’ and ‘Applied Robotics.’

With their record out on 22nd October, Already Heard caught up with Michael M and Michaeldrum to talk about the bands intentions for their new release, namechecking and why you should take an extra pair of socks to one of their live shows.

Already Heard: Can you introduce yourself and your role in We Are The Physics?
We are Michael M, singer and bass engine of We Are The Physics (MM) and Michaeldrum who plays a drum in We Are The Physics (MD). Michaeldrum also claims to be the heart of the band, however, without rigourous testing, this can’t be confirmed.

AH: Three of you in the band are called Michael. Does it ever get confusing having three band members sharing the same name? Do you have any nicknames for each other?
MM: We accidentally answered this question in the previous answer. We assign our roles in the band as a suffix to the Michael. So, Michaeldrum is Michaeldrum, and Michaelguitar is Michaelguitar. Chris is just Chris. MD: It doesn’t get confusing, we can tell who is being addressed by the intonation of their voice. If someone says “Michael” with an annoyed tone, that usually means they’re talking to Michaelguitar.
MM: I’m just M. That can stand for Mouth, or Mince.

AH: You’ve had to generate your own genre to describe your sound;“mutant science punk rock.” When you formed as a band in 2005 did you intend for the sound of your music to be so unique or was it something that came about naturally when you started writing?
MM: We genuinely just made that term up to make our brand of derivative music sound a bit more exciting on posters. We never really think about it being unique, we’re such thieves we can’t help but hear other people’s bits in our songs. We’re organically contrary I think though – we don’t set out to be awkward or annoying, we are just awkward and annoying people.

AH: Your new full length ‘Your Friend, The Atom’ is released on 22nd October. What can fans expect from it in comparison to your previous records?
MD: They can expect to get scudded in the face a dullion by every song on the record. We went into the studio with the intention of making every song sound like it could punch the listener right in the beak.
MM: The good thing about being a band as lazy as us is that we can get away with doing something completely different, as well as staying exactly the same. I think Your Friend, The Atom lies somewhere between NOTHING like our previous work and A LOT like our previous work. Something you can expect not to hear is the solo we wrote specifically for dogs at such a high frequency only they can hear it. I hope people like the new record, we spent a lot of time in the studio eating crisps, so it’d be a waste of our weight gain if nobody did.

AH: A couple of the tracks on the new release are named after, or play on the name of celebrities, why did these celebrities encourage you to name a song after them?
MM: There’s a load of wee namechecks on the record. Goran Ivanisevic is about the Croatian tennis player acting as a mascot for terminal underdogs, and Napoleon Loves Josephine is about using other people for your personal gain. But we’ve also got Olivia Neutron Bomb which isn’t about Xanadu, it’s just a way to personalise disaster by giving it a name. Isn’t that a great name for a human though? Might change mine. None of the songs are really ever directly or completely about the famous folk, we namecheck Alan Turing in the same song as we namecheck Goran Ivanisevic. Surely that’s the first song ever to do that? We should get an award for that.

AH: How would you sum up a We Are The Physics live performance for those who haven’t caught you at a show before?
MD: You’re advised to bring an extra pair of socks, because the ones you’re wearing are likely to be blown across the room. Or you might be dead bored. MM: It’s kind of like an explosion in a marionette factory. It’s fast and jerky stuff, and someone’s likely to end up on the floor at some point. But not in a Jennifer Lopez way, more like an uncle on You’ve Been Framed spinning round in circles telegraphing his demise.

‘Your Friend, The Atom’ by We Are The Physics is out 22nd October via This Is Fake DIY Records.