In Conversation With #234 - Divorce
Nottingham indie newbies Divorce have just released their new EP ‘Get Mean’ via Hand In Hive - home to the likes of TV Priest and Wyldest.
Encompassing a wide range of influences such as LCD Soundsystem, Mitski, Big Thief and Wilco, as well as more off-beat choices including Americana band, The Felice Brothers, the band have just completed their second ever UK headline tour to enormous acclaim (sold-out Nottingham & Edinburgh shows), as well as a Yala Records showcase with The Maccabees’ Felix and Hugo White’s new project 86TVs.
Earmarked for live slots alongside the likes of HighSchool, L’objectif and The Lounge Society early next year, the quartet’s debut EP is sure to propel them to new heights, with further new material and additional live dates on their way very soon.
They took a moment to talk to us about how the EP came together.
Hey there Divorce - how are you?
Hello, we’re very well thank you! It’s been a pretty full-on year so we’re all a little worn-out, but looking forward to some very exciting things lining up for the new year.
So your EP is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
It feels good to have wrapped up our first year in a little bundle of songs. They’re songs that mean a lot to us and have been markers of how we’ve grown as a band. There’s so much more in the tank though, and we can’t wait to dig into more of our songs and share them with people.
It is called ‘Get Mean’ - what is the meaning behind that?
‘Get Mean’ comes from a lyric in the fourth single, ‘That Hill’: “I don’t get jealous, I never get mean”. It’s sort of a play on words but to us it most closely links to how we’ve done all this on a shoestring, and how exhausting that has been at times. It also just sounds hard AF, like we think we’re some sort of scary rock band when actually we all got bullied at school.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
We recorded the tracks in a mixture of places, cobbling together a recording budget where we could from shows and all juggling other jobs to find a day or two here and there. ‘Services’ was recorded on a beautiful farm/studio in Wales called Foel Studios; where they happen to keep a family of meerkats (we met the meerkats!). ‘Pretty’ was recorded at our rehearsal space in Nottingham with our dear friend Gavin Poole, and ‘Checking Out’ and ’That Hill’ were done at Brighton Electric Studios with our longtime friends/collaborators Jamie Davies and Becca Mercer.
The night before recording ‘Checking Out’, Felix and Adam were kept awake all night by a huge houseparty next door to where we stayed, so if we sound a little worn out on the backing vocals at the end that might be why…
What are the key themes and influences on the EP?
We didn’t set out with the idea of it being an EP, rather a collection of songs and stories, although when viewed together a couple of things have subconciously bound the tracks together.
All of the songs contain something simple and beautiful, fighting against noise and chaos to keep it so; whether that’s self-acceptance, the love of another, or the opportunity to build the life you feel compelled to live.
If the EP could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?
I’d love to see a version of Ratatouille with the EP as the soundtrack but with added accordion and some other tres francais touches. Mainly because it’d be an opportunity to watch Ratatouille again and that’s always exciting because it’s objectively the best film in the world.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the EP - if so, which one and why?
“No pipping, I wasn’t laughing either” always makes me laugh because the day we wrote that song, Tiger and I (Felix) were driving around doing a million different things - we often refer to ourselves as the Chuckle Brothers because we always seem to be doing the most knackering but mundane shit together that usually involves lifting awkwardly heavy items. I think we were somewhere on the A610 just outside Nottingham and some guy in a posh car got very grumpy with my driving so we were chuckling and that only wound him up more. He looked so angry we wondered whether he was going to get out of his car and try to scrap with us. Luckily we got out of there unscathed - hope the angry man is doing okay and getting the help he needs.
Now the EP is out there - what next?
More songs! More shows! Lots lined up for the new year and we’re already working on the next batch of releases.
