ARIA x TOURISTS: "dreamy,dark, atmospheric"
After seeing Tourists smash their breakthrough BBC Introducing gig back in May last year, we’ve caught up with our fave TQ export, to see how their music has evolved with an exciting debut LP in the pipeline and getting all nostalgic, as we reveal where it all began.
Jamie, Scott, Matt, Lloyd and Tom make up the brooding synth-post-punk band, on the scene for a couple of years, with their most recent release Masquerade racking up over 7,000 monthly listeners on Spotify as far as the sunny climes of Sao Paulo, ARIA feels exciting things are on the horizon from these boys.
Yet their roots are seemingly much humbler. Nine years ago, Scott discovered Jamie’s music back in the days of MySpace, crossing paths in a club that same night: “I was like no way, what a coincidence, it must be fate. And then the rest is history.” All the guys were killing it in other groups before shaping together a “dreamy, dark, atmospheric” vibe, which encapsulates their band.
In the world of Tourists artists Diiv, Tame Impala and Froth reign, and we wouldn’t mind an invite. Diiv prevails as their dream collab, in producing a “low-fi” album, so there’ll be no Tourists featuring Justin Bieber or Kanye West anytime soon.
Diving back into synth-post-punk-new wave nostalgia, sees them also take influence from Depeche Mode, Joy Division, Soft Cell which all pitch in to a “deep driving sound”, Tom explains. Still, they were unable to escape the fate of their families’ favourite music bestowed upon them throughout childhood, with a jumble of Eminem, Pink Floyd and early 90s techno; or if you were Lloyd it was rather absent of all of the above: “My parents weren’t really into music. My mum watched Gene Kelly every Sunday.”
Yet, like many of those bands and for Tourists, one of their most memorable moments is their first gig. Here at ARIA we believe you might as well start as you mean to go on, and if you are this lot, it was the start of an ever-blooming art of gigging.
Brooklyn and Tiny Folds come together with them at their first gig as the five-piece line-up, at the packed-out Attic in Torquay. Tom reveals that night he made his synth debut, “I felt really relieved ‘cos it was my first gig like just playing synth and I was bricking it”, he nervously laughed, joking it felt like his audition, before Jamie chips in “you nailed it mate.”
And their love of gigging has never dwindled. It takes a labour of love and spirit in creating such songs, and releasing out to the wild, more commonly known as us; despite having the capability of squashing any artists dream with our mere opinion, they explained the pivotal role fans have in their live exploits:
Matt: “You feel you can take the audience on a journey.”
Jamie: “I think the main fulfilment is just seeing peoples response to the songs that you’ve been working and working on all week, yes it’s satisfying.”
Tom: “The ultimate validation”
Lloyd: “In a way you don’t really care where you play, you just wanna play with people that are really interested in what you are doing.”
And the answer to their dream venue - John Peel stage, Glastonbury, obviously.
They say the easiest way to get to know someone is to embarrass yourself; so I grasped the opportunity, by revealing my first tape was the M People (which I stole off my mum, sorry!) and the earliest memory of buying a CD was Shania Twain’s Come On Over. Their own first records, did not disappoint:
Tom: “Bomfunk MC’s – Freestyler.”
Matt: “First cassette I bought was Breathe by Prodigy.”
Scott: “Mine was Dangerous by Michael Jackson”
Lloyd: “The first CD I went down to the shop to buy was Oasis, What’s The Story Morning Glory?’”
Jamie’s was slightly more rogue:
“The first thing I recorded off the radio was the Teletubbies song, and I wasn’t even that young - I liked the guitar solo.”
For indie lovers like us, the pop music of our era can be somewhat alienating, Matt echoes this: “All the lyrics are just absolute nonsense about texting, cheating, money, bling.”
Jamie adds, “Charts aren’t really that relevant anymore.” The industry as a whole is on a rollercoaster of change, with the rise of streaming services, the revival of vinyl and a hike in steep competition; thankfully not fazing Tourists.
With Spotify listeners coming out of their ears, the boy’s music stretches far further than the English Riviera Scott remarked: “If it wasn’t for the Internet and Spotify, then we would just be heard in Torquay”.
Nevertheless, the big picture can occasionally disheartening for Tom, “But I think the accessibility of music on streaming platforms means that people have just lost a lot of value for music.”
The future looks bright for this fresh five-piece, reflecting on creating music for their LP in the works, Matt said: “We don’t necessarily work to change our sound, we just sort of evolve as we write, with the times, it’s not like a forced thing.”
We at ARIA always love a scoop. Although we couldn’t budge the boys for a release date, the news their tracks are demoed, and Jamie declaring “we’re just waiting for the right moment, with the right people”, reassured us.
Catch them at their next gigs:
Grinagog Festival, Torquay, 7-9 April on the Saturday [8th]
Nambucca, London 14 April
Barrel House, Totnes 28 April w/ Drift Records
Lemonfest, Newton Abbot, 10 June