Interview: Deaf Havana
Deaf Havana, one of the ubiquitous rock bands of the modern era, are back. The same ol’ brothers Matt and James have a totally new line-up, some new songs, and a brand spanking new album on its way. We were lucky enough to get to sit down with them at Slam Dunk and discuss it all (and more!)
Hello! How are you good sirs?
Matt: Very good thank you.
James: Yeah good thank you, how are you?
Great thank you! Warm, which is quite nice considering… Britain.
James: Yes. I like your energy!
Thank you, it’s a lot of… no sleep.
James: Ah yeah, I can definitely sympathise with that!
First off – what’s it like being back in Hatfield?
James: It’s alright you know? Better than being in Leeds yesterday! Quite nice!
Me: You last played Slam Dunk in… 2018?
Matt: 2017 I think, that was the last one. Five years?
James: A looong time ago.
What can people expect from tonight?
James: Well to be honest… The set’s quite good isn’t it?
Matt: I really like it as a headline set.
James: It doesn’t really have any lulls in it – the first song is quite chilled out [Epiphany] but the rest of the set is quite energetic. Although we’re headlining, we’re only playing for 50 minutes so we thought we’d put in loads of fast songs!
Matt: We want people to be able to have fun!
What’s it like being back after 2017 as a two piece? Does it feel weird?
Matt: It’s different but it all works really naturally so far, it’s been great. It’s different – we’re both older.
James: My body needs to get used to playing again… We’ve only played three shows since 2019 so my body hurts today. And I’m getting older!
Matt: But it’s good man!
Me: That was one of the questions I wanted to bring up later – three shows, and one of them was at the Royal Albert Hall. How was that?
James: It was… weird.
Matt: Very royal.
James: Very regal.
Matt: It was one of those places that you go ‘I shouldn’t be allowed in here because it’s so nice’. It was lovely.
James: I mean it was quite strange, I don’t really think it was the right setting for a rock show. I felt a little like a bad actor, not really knowing what I was doing, but it was amazing to be asked, and for such a fantastic charity!
Did it feel nice playing Going Clear there for the second ever time?
James: Yeah it felt amazing! Just one of those places where you’re so aware of the history, all these other things you’ve seen there – just so much going on, I found myself getting a little lost looking up at the architecture
Matt: It’s amazing – have you been?
Me: I was there!
Matt: Oh nice! It is amazing when you’re inside, it does distract you a little from playing. Yeah, I really enjoyed it!
I think everyone else did too! How did it come about?
Matt: Don Broco just asked us; their manager called us like ‘What are you doing in two weeks, want to come support us?’ They’re lovely dudes!
And what was it like a few weeks before at Lafayette?
James: It was cool. It was the first show back.
Matt: There was a really exciting energy in the room; there were a couple of kinks that needed to be ironed out, we probably hadn’t rehearsed as much as we would have liked to due to everyone’s schedules but it was really good, I really enjoyed it.
James: It was amazing being back in front of actual fans again.
Onto the new album – where did the name come from?
Matt: My brain unfortunately! It was just a little phase that had been rolling around in my head that I was using to describe how I felt about everyday life, and everything that’s been going on the past few years. The more I sat with it the more it just made sense that this is what the record needed to be called.
How was the recording process? Was it over lockdown?
Matt: Kind of, it was being phased out. It was about this time last year that we started.
James: The guy Mike Horner who recorded it with us was amazing – just really chill. It was the most enjoyable recording experience I’ve ever had.
Matt: It was just really creative. I think we were really confident in the songs that we had, so to just go a bit deeper into exploring different sounds, things we might not have necessarily been able to do if we’d needed to just craft the songs better. It was amazing, loved it.
From that album, I always wonder when I talk to bands. These singles: Going Clear, Kids and On The Wire. Why those three?
Matt: Going Clear just made sense. It has an instant impact, there’s enough familiarity in it to be like ‘we’re back’; Kids we didn’t really think of releasing, it was one that people at management and labels… that song changed massively in the recording process, how it sounds, so I think it took a lot of people by surprise. We weren’t sure whether it should have been released as a single but it seems to have been the one that’s connected the most with people so far which has been amazing to see. And then On The Wire was just the biggest sounding chorus when we were writing it. That one, as soon as we finished the lyrics for the chorus, was just ‘yep that one’ll be a single’
Any more on the horizon?
Matt: I believe so, sometime this month
James: The next song we’re releasing is an acoustic one, Nevermind. It’s pretty great
Not that you’re biased!
James: I am biased but in the other way! Normally I speak badly about everything.
I’m the same with my writing, I do my best writing in the middle of the night where I’m too tired to care.
Both: (Nodding and laughing) Yeah, yeah!
What does it feel like announcing a tour finally?
Matt: Feels really good, a long time coming.
James: We last played it eight or nine years ago. Isn’t it a different layout now?
Matt: Kind of – it’s a great venue though, a great one to see bands. I’m just excited to be out on tour
I always like asking—any new bands you’d suggest for everyone at home?
Matt: I really like a band called Sick Joy. They’re the same label as us, plus a Brighton based band like us!
James: There’s also an amazing artist from America who’ll get big soon – Dora Jar.
Matt: I think she’s going to blow up soon, she’s pretty cool. Quirky!
I read that somewhere from when she was supporting Billie Eilish in America?
James: She’s still quite small at the moment but I reckon she’s an artist that’s just going to *go* somewhere.
You’re not the first band to suggest Sick Joy either!
Matt: It’s because they’re proper grunge, but that they’re songs written in a heavy style, the songs come first. A great band!
Final question, could be a hard one. What does Deaf Havana mean to you?
James: Pain.
Matt: Come on!
James: I’m joking, I’m joking. I don’t know – we definitely downplay how much it means to us, we’re very self-deprecating and we joke about stuff all the time but realistically it’s a large proportion of the last fifteen years of our lives, so... it means everything.
Matt: Without sounding cheesy!
Thank you so much to James and Matt Veck-Gilodi for taking the time to sit with us ahead of their Slam Dunk headline set on the Rock Sound stage – Nevermind is out now, The Present is a Foreign Land is scheduled to be released on 15th July 2022, and Deaf Havana are touring in November 2022, with a date at Camden Roundhouse on Saturday 12th November. They have also just announced details of an intimate tour for in July, including Kingston’s Pryzm (Banquet Records), and are headlining Burn It Down festival in Torquay in September. Don’t miss out!
Interview by James O’Sullivan
