Weekly > Interviews
Heads We Dance
When those kind folks at This Is Fake DIY offered us the chance to interview one of the best bands to come out of Leeds in recent years, we couldn’t really refuse.
Heads We Dance might not be a household name yet, but their reputation is growing by the day having released a clutch of limited singles and a fantastic contribution to the Rewind2 Project where they bravely, but more importantly brilliantly covered Kraftwerk. We caught up with Peter from the band to find out how things were going in camp Heads We Dance.
Lets start towards the beginning, it’s 2006, you’ve just played the Dead Disco single launch, did you really expect things to go in the direction they have looking back now?
Well the Dead Disco launch was our first gig, and was only three weeks after we formed, so I don’t think we’d had time to formulate expectations of long term direction! We did have a really positive feeling at the start of Heads We Dance though and always talked about trying to combine dance music production with more traditional pop song structures like the Pet Shop Boys or Madonna.
You can probably hear some of that, particularly the Daft Punk influence, on the original version of ‘Love In The Digital Age’. Compare that with the version on our album though and you can hear we’ve come a long way!
What were your initial aims when you put the band together?
Yoni and I produce all Heads We Dance stuff and we were totally fed up with the run of the mill indie guitar band sound. We loved dance, hip-hop and pop production from Daft Punk, Ed Banger et al through to Timbaland and Xenomania. We wanted to combine those sounds with elements that worked well with a live band. Screamadelica was an early reference point in that way. We also wanted to incorporate lyrical ideas based on old sci-fi stuff like ‘Metropolis’ and ‘Blade Runner’.
You’ve released very limited singles so far that have all sold out on vinyl are they songs that you may go back to as your audience grows or are they finished with now release wise?
Actually all the songs on the vinyl singles (excluding the Tepr and Frankmusik remixes) have made it onto the album, albeit in new and improved versions!
How was it contributing to the Rewind2 Project, it must be quite daunting taking on a classic like Kraftwerk?
It’s funny because a lot of people have commented on the challenge of covering Kraftwerk but our cover of ‘Computer Love’ actually came together really quickly. I think the key was to choose one of their less well known songs and just take the key melodic elements from it.
In that way we could make it our own, rather than produce a slavish re-creation. The lyrical ideas of ‘Computer Love’ are also similar to our tracks, so that meant we were guided more by the atmosphere than the sound. Having said that, we did throw in a few Kraftwerk-ish lazer sounds for good measure!
Are their any other songs that you have attempted covers of as a band that haven’t seen the light of day yet?
No – we’ve got too many of our own that we haven’t had time to record yet! Though we like to start our rehearsals with a few soft rock covers…a bit of Rainbow or The Jovi to get our collective musical muscle warmed up (so to speak).
What about if the boot was on the other foot, who would you most like to see cover one of your songs?
George Michael or AC/DC
You’ve signed to This Is Fake DIY Records now, what was it that attracted you to sign to that label?
So many reasons! They’re great people to work with – interested in helping us to develop artistically and get our music to loads of new people.
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Add to favouritesYou’ve been working on your debut album, what can you tell us about that and the process as far as writing, recording and putting it together?
It’s been a labour of love for all of us! The songwriting process is very fast – I always start with the vocal melody, which usually comes together within 20 minutes. This often involves some scratch lyrics which I work on as the song develops. We then rehearse the tracks as a band and have a finished arrangement within a week or so.
The hard part is the recording/production. We spend hours choosing sounds and try to give every track it’s own identity. Occasionally this process means the end result is very different from the original song – ‘The Human Touch’ started out as a piano ballad. We’re making a few videos about the album recording which will be on our website very soon.
You’ve worked with Little Boots who like yourselves is very much on an upward curve at the moment, is that someone you’d work with again and are there any other artists that you’d like to work with?
Yeah it was great working with Vic – she just came into the studio and did all her parts in a couple of takes. Amazing voice and attitude to making music. Other than that, the way it seems to work best is writing vocal hooks for dance producers in exchange for a remix. We’ve got a track on the Louis La Roche album, which is out soon, and are working on stuff with Don Diablo at the moment.
Leeds has had a bit of an indie revival in recent years with The Kaisers and The Pigeons, but has always had a dance scene and bands that overlap like Sunshine Underground and The Hair (now Club Smith) do you feel part of the City musically and has the dance scene in Leeds been an inspiration for you?
I don’t think Leeds has had much of an influence on us musically – though the general atmosphere of musical creativity is inspiring. We’re much more influenced by the French dance scene, as well as The Australian scene with The Presets, Cut Copy and Midnight Juggernauts, and acts like Boys Noize, Chromeo and A-Trak.
What does the rest of 2009 hold for Heads We Dance?
2009 looks like it’ll be an exciting year for us. Our next single, ‘When The Sirens Sound’, is out in April and our album follows in May. We’re really pleased with the record – I think we’ve achieved our initial aim of combing exciting dance production with great pop songs!
We’re also doing loads more live dates over the next few months. There’s talk of a European tour and some summer festival dates so we’re looking forward to all that too.
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