It’s been a hell of a year for Warwickshire-bred, alt-pop duo THUMPERS. Not only have they dazzled our ears all year long with a series of impressive tracks – ‘Unkinder‘, ‘Dancing’s Done‘ and now ‘Sound of Screams’ – whose brilliance has been indisputable, but they’ve also been picked up by Sub Pop in the US and hit the road with both Everything Everything and Chvrches. Bet your 2013′s looking pretty tame by comparison now, right? Yep, mine too.
With their new video ‘Sound of Screams’ currently doing the rounds online – it’s below if you’re of a curious mind – we asked the duo in for a quick chat about the things they love, from classic horror-comedies to tUnE-yArDs:
An American Werewolf in London
“There’s no boring explication in this film – all the scenes are there on their own merit. It’s the thing that separates good from bad horror films and it’s a good lesson to learn for songwriting too, to get rid of that temptation to leave words or parts in just to make sense of the overall concept. Fuck that: if a section doesn’t stand up on it’s own it shouldn’t be in there. We try to be pretty ruthless like that.
It’s so good – the scenes in this film are so pinpoint that it’s a total joy. They’re not simplistic either, though – there’s this knockout humour/tragedy combination. The whole thing is an assault on the senses. Also, there’s this great decapitation. The first time I saw AAWIL I watched it twice in a row.”
Graham Swift
“I read Waterland a few years ago and loved it. It’s full of these big themes of childhood, love and this sense of shifting meanings and desires but the writing style is so grounded. It’s poetic but there’s no sort of airy loftiness; just a genuine drive to understand the forces inside ordinary people. It’s beautiful. I just finished Last Orders – also great – and it reminded me of how much I love his style.”
tUnE-yArDs
“J and I have both seen her perform a few times now and her singing (and drumming!) has just been incredible every time. I love the way she inhabits these different identities in her songs – and the way her voice swings from sweet to powerful when she moves between them. It feels so genuine; there’s no contrivance in it. She makes it real.”
Michel Gondry
“We always find ourselves talking about the dramatic props style of Michel Gondry when we think about music videos but they’re something that he’s done so perfectly that anything you do with them will seem like a reference to him. That’s a strong visual identity right there, and that’s the kind of identity forging that’s so inspiring to us in music too: making your own world.”
Weezer‘s Pinkerton
“The power of communal singing is evident all over this album and that’s something that’s really important to us as a band. Sometimes here it’s in these sweet harmonies but a lot of the time the voices are almost screaming in unison; both sound great. It’s all done with this sense of abandon that is intoxicating. There are these ace little one-off takes hidden in each song too. It’s just stuffed with personality and so candid. I don’t think we’ve ever been on a roadtrip without listening to this album at least once.”
- Alex Cull
‘Sound of Screams’ is available from October 28 on True Say Recordings.
THUMPERS are currently on tour with Chvrches and have a string of headline dates lined up for early 2014:
European dates w/ Chvrches:
Tuesday 22nd October – Melkweg, Amsterdam
Wednesday 23rd October – Gebaude 9, Cologne
Friday 25th October – Strom, Munich
Saturday 26th October – Postbanhof, Berlin
Monday 28th October – Mojo Club, Hamburg
Tuesday 29th October – Vega, Copenhagen
Wednesday 30th October – Debaser, Stockholm
Headline dates:
Monday 17th February 2014 – Soup Kitchen, Manchester
Tuesday 18th February 2014 – Louisana, Bristol
Thursday 20th February 2014 – The Lexington, London