Madina Lake

Gemma asks Nathan and Matthew fan questions from their Message Boards

CONFRONT: I wanted to do something different than what I usually do for interviews which is that I’m going to ask fan questions so I went on your message boards and got questions from your fans..

NATHAN: Awesome!

MATTHEW: Cool, cool.

CONFRONT: Because I know how much your fans mean to you guys and how much you mean to them but first I want to read something to you quickly. I asked your fans how they would describe your relationship with them and how they feel about you guys. I’m going to read one of the answers they gave.

NATHAN: Awesome, thank you!

CONFRONT: Lyndsey from Scotland said “There is no barrier between us, both physically at shows and socially. We’re on the exact same level all the time. What other band makes the effort to set up chats with their fans online? They respect us and we respect them. It’s that connection that makes them that bit more incredible than any other band.”

MATTHEW: Awh!

NATHAN: That’s so awesome!

MATTHEW: Yeah!

CONFRONT: So they really love you, I mean for the past few days I’ve been going on your message boards and they just really seem to love and appreciate you guys so much. And by the way they speak of you guys and what I see you write to them online, it seems to me like the feeling is mutual. So do you agree with what Lyndsey said? How do you feel about that?

NATHAN: Absolutely! It’s terribly exciting for us to know that they understand that. It seems that that’s definitely our perspective and it’s the perspective we try to convey and the fact that the people you were speaking to or speaking about comprehend it, it’s exciting for us to know that we got through to them

MATTHEW: I feel also that we’re really lucky to have them and we realize that first and foremost. Like to us we don’t look at it like kids down here from the stage and band up on stage and a barrier in between.

NATHAN: Yeah we like to think of it all as one encompassing experience whether it’s live or just hanging out, you know it’s all part of the same energy and the same oneness so these separations whether it be the how media or other bands put those situations, we don’t buy into.

CONFRONT: That’s good. I was actually reading one of your blogs and you were saying something like these days people are so interested in the “scene” and style and stuff and therefore bands aren’t putting as much into their music as they should..

NATHAN: Yeah I think that’s been an issue for a long time and you know you have bands that kinda carve a new path and start a new genre of music or brand of something that they love and then you have a lot of trends happening, it’s a pretty standard cliché argument but as far as we’re concerned it’s like you’re a band because you love creating music and that’s what you do and if you contrive that in any way shape or form then you’re gonna miss the point completely.

CONFRONT: Yeah, I know what you mean. Ok so now I’m going to start with the fan questions.. Oh wait first can you explain who Adalia is for the people who aren’t familiar with her or your band?

NATHAN: She’s the center character of our first instalment. She’s kind of a local celebrity; she’s beautiful, mysterious and famous and the first story (first album) is based on her going to town and it kinda is unravelling what happens and why it happens…

MATTHEW: It also should be noted that those are the characteristics and the values that she embodies in the first instalment of the story but she is sort of collective unconscious of a lot of things and people throughout history and everything that we write about or write in the story about, these are all things that have their tow in reality so like they’re all inspired by people that we know or knew or experiences we’ve experienced.

CONFRONT: Hmm that’s pretty interesting.. Um so Cathyann from Ireland has a question that is “Attics to Eden, like your debut album centers around the disappearance of Adalia. Do you find it constricting to have to write song to fit this concept?”

NATHAN: No and the reason is because when it comes to songs first and foremost, like what Matthew was saying, we write from honest and true emotions and things that we’ve experienced and been through and the story is kind of our general philosophy on life and so everything we’ve experienced we write about it in songs which is very personal and almost disconnecting thing from the story, however, we’re able to then go in and tie them to the story by characters and develop them afterwards to follow the same philosophy that we want to convey about our experiences of life so it’s kinda of like they write each other as opposed to one confining the other.

CONFRONT: Also as the mystery is to span only 3 albums, does it worry you that you will eventually have to write without the scaffolding of the mystery?

MATTHEW: No, um well it’s not really a scaffolding it’s just this sort of world that’s taking on its own life that operates in tandem with everything else so I think it’s always important to reinvent yourself anyways so when we conclude this over 3 records then we’ll have initiative to start over with something brand new so it’s almost like our hands will be untied from that and we’ll get to start over.

CONFRONT: Nathan, Eilidh from Scotland wants to know “Have you been doing any singing exercises or singing techniques or anything to improve your voice for Attics to Eden? Because your voice sounds so strong now!”

NATHAN: Oh that’s amazing! First of all thank you so much! In all honestly I think it’s just from 2 and a half years of touring and I know that personally I’ve experienced my range increasing as we’ve toured so long. You try to find different techniques to be able to maintain your voice and to be able to hit high notes on the 13th show in a show, you know and it’s been rough and on tour I struggle quite a bit but going home and having a little time off and then working on the songs I kind of felt like I started from a fresh vocal situation again.

CONFRONT: Dana from Michigan asks “Based off the message you guys stand for about the meaning of music, was there a certain moment when you realized mainstream music is changing from art to style?”

NATHAN: I mean I kind of feel like mainstream is always based on I don’t want to say dumbed down because that comes across as offensive but almost a more simple piece of art that people can connect to very easily without too much thought and that’s a good thing too you know like if you’re a carpenter or stock broker or whatever and you’re not completely into music but a song comes on that’s really powerful and you already know the lyrics ’cause it’s been on the radio before and you can enjoy it that way, I think that’s great. Personally we like to put a lot of energy into creating different layers on the things we work on musically but at the end of the day things hit people and people react to things that they can relate to and that’s what we all kinda wanna do.

CONFRONT: Lynsey from Scotland says “A while ago you said that the songs on your second album would have a darker edge like River People, now that its finished would you say that’s the case?”

MATTHEW: Um I think that we’ve stuck upon 3 different sort of notions of this record, like 3 different feelings or sensations and one of those things is definitely in that sort of that River People feel. We have a song called “Friends and Lovers” which we call the ‘River People’ of this record and a good few other songs touch upon that but that probably like represents like one-fifth of the album.

NATHAN: I would say that overall there is a darker kind of deep… but I don’t know it’s arguable cause then you got…

NATHAN & MATTHEW: …brighter songs

*Matthew and Nathan laugh at themselves for saying the same thing at the same time*

NATHAN: So… so yeah…

MATTHEW: So yeah… I think…

NATHAN: …you can tell her good question…

MATTHEW: Yeah, ha ha.

*Laughter*

MATTHEW: I think we just went 10 thousand leagues deeper in the direction that we just touched upon on “From Them, Through Us, To You”. With Attics we went deeper.

CONFRONT: I really like the name of that album but I can never say it properly.. From us, to them..? No… From Them, To Us… oh, never mind!

*Laughter*

CONFRONT: Joana from Holland wants to know what is the biggest difference between Attics to Eden and From Them, To You?…ahh that’s not right!

*Laughter again*

NATHAN: I just think you grow musically when you play for 2 and a half years worth of shows and we were fortunate enough to go to a lot of different continents and countries and experience things and see things that were both awesome and some were both really disturbing or irritating and as you grow you know hopefully you grow musically. When we were putting together the songs from “From Them, Through Us, To You” like it was the first batch of songs we’ve ever written and I think that after writing all of those and then touring so much we ended up naturally kind of growing.

MATTHEW: You have more of a thicker slice of life under your belt after a few years go by and you experience things that are much more intense. On this record we have those experiences and what happened in our personal lives when we were gone and just the thing we saw when we were out in the world…

CONFRONT: Oh yeah, I see, I see… Hmm ok these are gonna start getting random… Have you seen the movie Twilight? Have you ever heard of the books/movie?

NATHAN: I haven’t, I know that it’s a global sensation and I’ve seen all the pictures of the beautiful people

*Laughter*

NATHAN: But no I have not seen it

MATTHEW: Wow I haven’t even heard about it!

NATHAN: Shut up!

CONFRONT: You haven’t?!

NATHAN: Twilight…it’s like… the biggest thing..

CONFRONT: I think he’s joking…

NATHAN: Yeah he has to be.

*Matt laughing to himself*

MATTHEW: What? No! Is it a movie?!

*Matt chuckling away*

CONFRONT: See he is joking!

*Nathan looks at Matthew*

NATHAN: Oh no, he’s serious!

*Laughter*

MATTHEW: Yeah no, I don’t know Twilight.

CONFRONT: What? If you ARE telling the truth then… where have YOU been?!

*Nathan laughs*

MATTHEW: I don’t know! In the van…

*Everyone laughs*

NATHAN: In a van without air

MATTHEW: A little green box!

CONFRONT: Ha ha, anyway! “Do you guys believe in superstitions, ghosts, the supernatural and all that stuff?” -Sharon from New York.

NATHAN: Of course!

MATT: Yeah, no doubt.

NATHAN: How can you not? I just think that everything is energy and energy can’t be dissolved so it just transforms. I think the whole universe, our planet, the trees and the stars and the people…it’s all energies and vibrations and I think that’s why you can pick up on like you know someone walks in the room and right away you get a vibe, I think there’s legitimate energy behind that so therefore superstitions and ghost and things, I think there’s absolutely misplaced, displaced or just random energies out there.

CONFRONT: Ha ha now you’re scaring me…

*Matt and Nathan laugh*

NATHAN: They’re nice energies!

CONFRONT: Ha ha.. Umm Kiya from the UK would like to know, “If you could live in any decade, which would it be and why?”

MATT: I’m fascinated and intrigued by the past and with history for sure but I think I’d like to go to the future.

NATHAN: Yeah?

MATT: Yeah.

CONFRONT: Wouldn’t that be scary?

MATT: Yeah the fear of the unknown… it’s mystifying.

CONFRONT: Well you’re brave. Umm “What do you order when you go to Starbucks?” Becca from NC would like to know.

NATHAN: I usually get a Caramel Macchiato with whipped cream and an extra shot.

MATT: Me too..

CONFRONT: You guys copy each other.

*Laughter*

MATT: Yeah ha ha.

*Booming laughter from Matt and Nathan*

CONFRONT: What? Did I miss a joke?

MATT: No, no.

*Chuckles*

CONFRONT: Ok then! Sarah from the UK wants to know what your favourite tour memory is from a) the U.S. and b) the U.K.

MATT: The U.S. would probably be… we played the Bamboozle a year ago and that was pretty incredible. We were a last minute addition to the bill and they put us inside the bubble so we thought nobody would even know we were doing Bamboozle because we were added like 5 days before and half an hour before we got on stage people started flooding it and we had a good 4 or 5 thousand people there. Incredible show!

NATHAN: Yeah and in the U.K. it was probably the London show on the Kerrang Tour that was a lot of fun, a lot of action.

MATT: Yeah that was fun.

CONFRONT: This person didn’t leave their name but they asked “If you were a tour guide for someone visiting Chicago, what is the one thing they absolutely have to do before they leave?”

NATHAN: If they can I’d say they have to try to find the tunnels that were around since the mob in 1920 built all these tunnels under Chicago…

MATT: Nathan and I lived in a dilapidated loft in the industrial part of Chicago and we took an elevator to get to our unit, we were the only people that lived in the building so we were exploring one day with our friends so we took the elevator down to the basement and we opened the gate and it was like all these mannequin body parts and then this tiny little tunnel probably 3ft off the ground and we kicked the door open and it was a tunnel that went to the building across the street..

NATHAN: Maybe they can go see that..

CONFRONT: Ha, that’s freaking cool, a little freaky too.

MATT: Ha ha, yeah.

CONFRONT: Sophie from Yorkshire asks “Which country that you’ve toured in usually has the best crowds?”

NATHAN: Aw man it’s gotta be England!

MATT: Yeah.

NATHAN: I mean the UK in general.

MATT: Japan also.

CONFRONT: How do you prevent yourselves from getting homesick? -Morgan from Oklahoma.

NATHAN: Umm man.. yeah… homesick has become an issue, I guess for me.. Um but you just talk to people as much as possible, your girlfriends and families, friends.

MATT: And then try to get them to come out and see you as much as possible. You really have to make a deliberate, intense effort to stay in touch with your loved ones on a day to day basis. You know, we learned from the last record that when you disappear for 2 and half years and you talk once every month or two months, a lot goes by that you can’t catch up in a 5-10 minute conversation.. so if you are in constant touch with them, well we got a lot of different ways to do that these days but you know, then you always know what’s going on in their lives and you stay a little more connected that way.

CONFRONT: Sofifi from Norwich asks, “What do you write first, the melody or the lyrics?”

NATHAN: Melody.

CONFRONT: Really? I always thought it might be harder that way.

NATHAN: Um yeah there’s two definitely different philosophies but we come up with the music and we’re kinda jamming it out and I just kinda start humming random melodies until I get to one that we all like or you know everyone has suggestions and we put together a melody and then I put the lyrics to it.

CONFRONT: What’s the greatest thing a fan have ever done for you, or gave you?

NATHAN: Man you know we’ve been really lucky.

MATT: Yeah there’s a countless number of answers to that question, I think it’s the most flattering thing in the world when people instead of making something in particular for us, they’ll give us something they’ve created, or something that they’ve written, a piece of art that they’ve done. That’s the most touching, that they can feel vulnerable to us that they can give us a part of them, I think that’s the most flattering.

CONFRONT: I noticed with your fans though… you have truly dedicated fans and there’s only two only bands I’ve really noticed that with as well which are Placebo and Muse.

NATHAN: Wow!

CONFRONT: Yeah, your fans seem to be as dedicated and strongly united as their fans are.

MATT: That’s so cool. That’s great ’cause I think that a lot of people are in it for different reasons and when bands generally find success they think that they might have to act a certain way or maybe that they…um I won’t go down that road but I think that we just, you know, we know where we would be without them and we feel a genuine connection with them.

CONFRONT: Someone named Chelsea from Leeds wanted me to ask you “What’s the worst question you’ve ever been asked, besides this one?”

*Matt and Nathan laugh*

NATHAN: That’s a great question! God I don’t even know if I can think of something like that at the top of my head. Um well we do tend to not enjoy the Fear Factor questions so much..

MATT: Yeah. I think the questions that I struggle with are the ones that are whatever answer you give is going to perpetuate negativity, you know? Like they’ll ask you what’s the worst thing so and so did to you or the worst band to tour with…where they’re sort of asking you to talk bad about someone else.

CONFRONT: Haha yeah I know what you mean.. that would make things kinda of awkward. Um Dizzy from the U.S. asks “If you had to tour with the same band for the rest of your musical career, who would it be and why?”

MATT: Ummm… Flaming Lips would be fun.

NATHAN: That’s a great answer!

MATT: Flaming Lips because every night is a celebration, every night is a party on stage.

NATHAN: Just YouTube Flaming Lips live and you’ll just love it.

CONFRONT: Ha ha ok. Um all time favorite movie?

NATHAN: Umm Revenge of the Nerds is my favorite movie of all time.

*Matt laughs*

CONFRONT: I’ve never even heard of that.

MATT: Love Monkey is pretty good

CONFRONT: Um since we have to hurry up I’m gonna ask shorter questions.. What size gage do you wear, Nathan?

NATHAN: Uh my earrings fell out and I think my holes closed and I don’t even know. I had a guy in Chicago doing it and I never asked… sorry..

CONFRONT: It’s alright. Um, who designs your band’s shirts?

NATHAN: We send ideas to a merch company and they put it together, the company is called “Band Merch”.

MATT: We tell them what kind of style we want and what kinda of images we want and then we give them specifics and then they come up with it.

CONFRONT: Coke or Pepsi?

MATT: Neither, water.

NATHAN: I would say.. Pepsi.

CONFRONT: Are we human or are we dancers?

NATHAN: Oh geez, ha.

MATT: We are… neither!

*Matt laughs all by himself*

NATHAN: We are animal.

MATT: We are retarded…

*Laughter*

MATT: ..and we are dancing.

*More laughing!*

CONFRONT: Matt, you have such a funny laugh!

MATT: Yeah I got that from my dad. My dad laughed on an air plane once and woke the whole airplane up.

*I burst out laughing*

CONFRONT: Ok ok… Umm chicken or veggie soup?

MATT: Veggie.

NATHAN: I’m getting all about vegetarian.

MATT: Unless I get to keep the chicken as a pet.

*Matt laughs to himself*

NATHAN: You’re right, then I’d take the chicken too!

MATT: Tell the girl as long as I can keep the chicken as a pet, I’d take chicken!

*Laughter*

CONFRONT: Anyway thanks guys!

NATHAN: Thank you so much!

MATT: Thanks!

*Hugs and goodbyes*