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Whole heartedThe Veils’ operatic anthems are more
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“I’m kind of broken in the voice at the moment,” says Veils singer Finn Andrews, his throat clearly feeling the effects of touring. “But that’s okay—the voice tells a lot.” Given the band’s brand of rock anthem, with its gravitas, opulence, melodrama and passion, hoarseness is an occupational hazard, but not necessarily a mood indicator. Despite sounding down—though perhaps not as down as the operatic depths that his songs can sink to—Andrews insists he’s optimistic. The band’s third album, Sun Gangs, has been well received, work is already underway for a fourth and they’ve had great turnouts on their tour of North America, still relatively new territory compared with well-tread Europe, Australia, the U.K. (where they live) and New Zealand (where they’re from). “It’s a great surprise that so many people give a shit about us,” he says. “This has been the most fun we’ve had on a tour. It’s a complete fucking circus.” The Mirror spoke to Andrews (son of XTC/Shriekback founder Barry Andrews, incidentally) while the band was hiding in their hotel, away from the scorching afternoon heat of Arizona. Mirror: You’ve said that songwriting is a coping mechanism. Are you able to write at a time like this, when you’re relatively content? Finn Andrews: I write about everything, I don’t have to be miserable. I enjoy songwriting so much because it comes from every part of yourself. But you have to feel quite driven. If you’re just stewing in your own hate for everything, you wouldn’t want to do it. Hope makes you write. Not that I really know what I’m doing, I just write things down as they come. It’s such a huge thing to learn, I could very easily spend the rest of my life learning how to do this properly. M: I haven’t seen your show yet, but one assessment of your performance style that I read recently mentioned Suede’s Brett Anderson, Nick Cave and Ian Curtis. Does that make any sense to you? FA: People take to us very different ways. I mean, I play guitar. M: Good point, those guys don’t, or didn’t. FA: I think it’s a new thing in reviews, to just compare you to a bunch of things at the same time. M: Like Rufus Wainwright meets the Verve? FA: Or like Caddyshack meets Silence of the Lambs. That’s how I like to think of my performance style, actually. M: I read in a recent Veils blog that your bandmates gave you a nickname, but it didn’t say what it was. FA: Oh yeah, I shouldn’t go into that, that’s a whole can of worms. It’s nice to have a nickname though, I haven’t had one ever. It’s been a very nicknamey tour. Our tour manager Dre has plenty of nicknames. We call him Legend most of the time. We’ve been writing a list of great things about him. He tells lightning when to strike, he pulls band-aids out of his soul, he won’t play music in cars that is younger than the car he’s driving—his car is from ’79, he listens to a lot of old ’30s radio plays. He’s also been in and out of prison. Interesting guy. And quite beautiful. WITH FOREIGN BORN AND FACES ON |
