I got the chance to have a chat with Liam, guitarist for The Clause recently and we chatted about their debut album and headline tour.
I’ve been listening to Victim Of A Casual Thing for a good month now, maybe a bit longer and I’ve really enjoyed listening to it. Some of it is new and some of it is already out. I saw you recently at Sonic Boom in Burton Festival and at that point I’d already had the album, so the songs that I’d been listening to, I really wanted to hear and obviously you didn’t play them because they were kinda secret and not out yet.
I know some of the songs on there are a bit old, you know, I think the album for us was kind of summarising the journey, some of the older ones kind of make sense in the kind of recipe order off of the album, if you like. That’s just our opinion on it. You know, the songs we loved and just felt that they should be on the record, so it made sense for them to be on there because then they are on something.
They need to be on a physical thing, it’s the journey that’s got you to that. So it needs to be on it.
Yeah. I think when the albums out and someone stumbles across it who’s never heard it before, all those songs are brand new to them, aren’t they? We love having as many fans as we do, but there’s a whole load of people yet to discover us and it’s as much for them as well really.
When I first heard it, the first song that stood out to me was Tell Me What You Want. I’m pleased that you released that. To me it has a very Royal Blood vibe. I love Royal Blood. Close to the end of it, you know, the drums and the guitar at the end. Definitely a Royal Blood vibe.
I’m chuffed that people liked it. That was one of the later ones for the record and as we were approaching the latter part of it, we were very much thinking that we need another indie disco, big guitar sounding record and that kind of fell on our lap and we were just really struggling with the end of it and we didn’t know what to do, being a completely independent band, we didn’t even have a label to say do you reckon we should do this? I feel like if we did have a label, they would say no you can’t do that, it’s got to be this formula of a song, So we just kind of dug deep and maybe drew on some of our influences that you probably can’t hear that much on the album, like Royal Blood, like Queens of the Stone Age, but we are massively into rock music as well, I don’t think that’s that’s as prevalent on the record. But to have a little nod to that in the form of the last part of that song meant a lot to us. We can’t wait to see the reaction we get to playing it live, especially on the headline tour this year.
When I listen to White Life Line, the guitar, particularly at the beginning, is like early Arctic Monkeys for me, but no specific song.
Yeah, White Life Line, you know, It’s all Monkeys. Early on, as we were coming of age and first picking up guitars, that was the record. That was the thing. It kind of shook the music scene really and it’s still very much ingrained. That record, if we hadn’t heard it or come across it, I wouldn’t have picked up a guitar. Same for the rest of us. So I think it’s a little nod to the fact just how much we kind of appreciate that sound and it’s all our own little take on how much it influences us. When we first started, we were pretty much an Arctic Monkeys cover band. We could do the album start to finish now, if you threw us in a room just because we were so infatuated with it. So yeah, I think it’s subconsciously ingrained into how we play our instruments. I feel like on our album, we were always going to get songs that people go, oh, that’s, that’s definitely the influences, you know.
I mean you can really hear that influence, but not like, oh, this is an Arctic Monkeys rip off kind of thing. Just like you can tell the influence is there and it’s really good.
So then you’ve got Pink moon, it’s just completely different.
Yeah. Someone else said that they haven’t really had an album that is so diverse upon influence, but still very much sounds like The Clause. You know, we’ve been doing it for ten years. We have been so influenced, we’ve never shunned any piece of music that we’ve heard. We just embrace it and try and figure out what we like in it and I feel like naturally that’s bled into the way that we kind of wrote this album. We never wanted to be one of those, one trick pony bands and you hear an album and it’s just eleven different variations of the same song, you know. We were really conscious of it actually. Because of the way we did the album, which was so gradual, we never thought it would be that way. We thought we’d go in for a month then you got to finish it and come back. But the way that we did it, independently, was just based on how we could afford to do it, which was to save some money, record a couple of songs, save do a couple more songs. So I feel like as we were building it, we had written six songs and they were Fever Dream, Elisha, Nothings As It Seems, those kind of indie songs and I feel like in the back of my head, we wanted a disco slammer and we said from day one, we want to do an acoustic ballad as well and we want that big album closer, which comes in the form of Don’t Blink. We’ve lived and breathed this album for over a year now, maybe 18 months. So it’s getting how we wanted it to be. It was the best thing in the world watching it unravel itself into what it is now.
Yeah, I say it’s good that there are so many different elements in there and it isn’t just eleven identical tracks, that’s why I think it’s so good. I think it makes for a good listen
Well, thank you. I think we were kind of aware of it and at one point we kind of had a conversation and said are we doing too much on this album? Is there too much variety? and we sat down and said, no it still sounds like us. We are chuffed with the way tracklisting has fallen. It’s definitely one of those that takes you on a bit of a journey and it’s got loads of soul in it and you can hear that its four lads from Birmingham, that have known each other from school and they have got to this point.
I notice as well when Pearce sings you do get the occasional word or phrase and you can tell you are from Birmingham. There’s a little bit of something in his voice and you get the accent there, but you’re not like when you listen to The Proclaimers, it’s not that strong, but you can definitely tell where you’re from.
Yeah? We’re proud of where we’re from. I’m glad you said that and that you can hear that in the record. The album cover is shot on a street in Birmingham, on Livery Street by Snow Hill station and it’s actually a famous phrase all over the country. You know, you’ve got a face as long as something street because it’s the street you can see for miles. I wanted to do that to reflect that, in the way it’s a long street, it’s been a long journey to get to where we are. I mean, I’m equally happy with the artwork as I am the album, to be honest. I love it. I wouldn’t change any of it.
I think the album looks great and you’ve got a definite style in what you wear on stage. There’s a style, a look and it follows through the things you do and I think that’s really good too.
Well, thank you. I think there’s been times where we’ve pushed boat out stylistically and we go what the fuck are you wearing? Now I feel like we just wear what we want, but we are all like minded individuals. So I feel like we just wanted it to be authentic. You look how you sound and you sound how you look, kind of thing. I think we’ve all got our own personal styles as well, which is good. On stage we have our own thing going on. I mean Pearce has said it before, that he’s not the best singer in the world and I’m definitely not the best guitarist but when we all come together, something special happens and it’s a bond, it really definitely is.
You can see it when you’re on stage together, it’s very apparent.
Oh, glad to hear that. That’s what we all say. We’re never going to be able to see ourselves live are we? So it’s nice to hear that.
What’s your favourite song on the album?
You know it does change a lot. Well, I’d say overall, my favourite song on the album is Don’t Blink. If I was to say what is a Clause song? It’s that you know, because it’s got like the heart and soul in the lyrics and it talks about the journey. That’s the main thing I like. But you know, musically it’s got that dirty gritty guitar thing and a big solo and a big anthemic arm-in-arm chorus. I think that was one of the last ones we actually wrote for the album and when we were writing it, that one was very much like in a practice room, figuring out, you know, bashing heads. I feel like you can hear in that record in particular, everyone’s style in four quarters, is you can hear everyone’s contribution in the record and what they grew up listening to, how they like to deliver their instrument and what they’re playing. I feel like it’s just one of those things which married up beautifully and it wasn’t an easy one to record or write by any means. It was hard, working on it, it wasn’t one of those ones that just fall in your lap. We all had to dig deep and really mentally persevere and bash heads and come together and that made it. I feel like that really represents our journey in the way in which the song was made and came out.
Are you going to release it as a single?
I don’t know. I don’t think we all really thinking that far ahead, to be honest. I think with that song as well, it closes the album, it’s signing off the album and it’s almost an introduction to the next album and we’ve no intention of stopping.
I’m really looking forward to the tour. I saw you at Sonic Boom Festival. What did you think of it?
It’s great. It’s brought a lot of vibrancy to the area and it’s a free gig. It kind of celebrates the arts and there’s a lot of characters out and loads of artistic people, you know, stores, food spots and it was just really, really good to see that community aspect of live music too. I mean, where we live in Birmingham there isn’t one. In Manchester you’ve got Neighbourhood and in Liverpool you have a few, you’ve got some in London and countless in Brighton. Every city kind of needs somewhere to go, where there is a day of music, supporting our own, bringing some killer artists from all over the UK down and you know, pubs are busy and bands are networking and people enjoy themselves and that’s what it’s all about. I mean, that’s the way we perceive it. I really hope that they continue to do it. It sounded like a success. We had a nice day and the market place was really busy.
Eighty Eight Miles also played at Sonic Boom, and they are local to Burton. I saw they were supporting you in Bristol.
It would have been lovely to have seen them, but we didn’t get a chance, but looking forward to seeing them in Bristol. I think it’s important to give those bands the chance. I think a lot of bands are quick to forget where they started sometimes. We never, ever want to be that band. I remember how desperate we were for an opportunity to leave town and play a good gig. I hope that we continue to get bigger and for as long as it’s our decision, we will always do that. We’ve been grafting since we were teenagers and only now really, now the albums coming out, we are feeling the hard work is beginning to pay off. But I do think it builds character, it’s taught me a lot about music and life. We’ve been together since school, just kind of mucking about. But it started properly when we were trying to play music regularly and gigging away from home. But we’ve always been very ambitious anyway.
I saw you at Tramlines and I don’t know what your view was like from the stage, but I was right at the back. I was stood with the sound guy. If you looked outside the entrances to the tent, the crowd was a good twenty feet back and the inside was rammed. In My Element was obviously the last song you played and everyone had enjoyed your set up to that point. But as soon as the guitar started at the beginning, everyone just went. And it was crazy.
Yeah, that was one of our favourite shows ever, to be honest. Yeah, we absolutely loved it. It was perfect. We loved it. And then, loads of people were texting us after saying they couldn’t get in, but it’s just ammunition, I guess, to tell Tramlines to get us back on a bigger stage next time. We’re really hoping we get invited back next year. I think we might have made a good enough impression.
So you have a 13 date tour starting next month,. I’ve noticed quite a few of them are sold out as well aren’t they.
Yes, Nottingham, Bristol, Sheffield, Hull and Manchester have and a few are close to selling out. Yeah. Full houses. That’s fantastic and ending at home in Birmingham. I mean that’s going to be such a good night playing at home. It’s the Friday just before Christmas. It’s a big old room. You know, it’s 3000 capacity, but it’s not the biggest academy in the country.
I think all we can do is our best being independent. You know, we’re not relying on anyone. And it’s the first thing we think about and the last thing we think about before bed. We are always looking forward, like, what’s the next thing? But I feel like in the last couple of weeks it’s kind of hit home a little bit. Just how much we’ve managed to achieve, just the four of us. Because we’ve got a great manager but It’s not part of any big management team and there’s no press all over us. We’re doing things our own way and we’ve definitely gone the long way round and enjoyed that, enjoyed the scenery on the way anyway.
Pre-order the album here // Get tour tickets here
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