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Here we are, people.
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Another episode of If It With Be Your Will podcast coming to you.
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Reaching across the big pond again, heading over into the UK.
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I have Stornaway here, who are on the eve of their record launch, which is coming September 25th.
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The record called Beyonder.
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I have the band here with me today, and we're going to explore not only this new record, which I was just telling them it feels so them, and it's just such a great record to feel their music again.
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It really connected with me the songs that I've been listening to.
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And it's one of those records you just don't want to turn off.
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You just want to, like, okay, turn it on again, flip it, let's go.
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So I was super excited that they all came to join uh to talk about this.
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But guys, I just I I tend to like going back in time a little bit.
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And how did Stornaway get started?
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Now I read stories about meeting at Oxford, and like Ollie, you had kind of talked about that you were kind of a shy kid going moving up from South Africa to Oxford.
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Like, and then how did you guys meet each other?
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And how did you guys like connect musically, maybe as a first kind of question?
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Well, actually, we John and I met at uh at university.
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We were studying uh quite different things, ducks in my case, and Russian folk songs in John's case, and but yeah, our first conversation when we met was music and uh and our shared love of of Indy, and you know, talking about about bands that we that we like listening to.
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And I might have it might have even been that same conversation, but we quite quickly started talking about creating music.
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And uh John had already got quite into recording and the recording process and the arrangement of music, and I'd started writing songs, and yeah, so it it wasn't long before we decided that we wanted to form a band, and we put an advert out in the local kind of music listings, and we had one reply only, which turned out to be Ollie.
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Right.
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The only reply you needed, really.
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And Brian, what was it that you saw in Ollie in his playing that connected him to you guys so quickly?
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Um well, I think actually Ollie had already learned the songs.
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Like he'd learnt we'd sent him some demos, I think, and you know, just a just a handful of songs, and he'd already nailed them, and it was just such a joy to to play to play music and just suddenly feel it, you know, sounding like a a band and and feeling everything coming together.
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Well, not quite everything, because we didn't have a drummer, and we we spent a long time looking for a drummer because at that point well, we just had some you know unsuccessful auditions, and we knew Ollie's we knew Ollie's brother was a drummer, Rob, but he was, I think at that point, maybe 15, no more than 15.
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And uh John and I, fair bit older and uh and thinking about you know how are we gonna play in pubs and go gigs and in London and Oxford and things in there and eventually we gave up looking for for drummers and said, Yeah, bring Rob along.
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And yeah, and it kind of we had this magical experience of playing music together in the garage, and yeah, then having to smuggle Rob into gigs and venues for the next few years.
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Right, right, right.
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And how do you guys approach writing songs together?
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Is it is it a collaborative process that you guys go through, or is it you know you individually bring songs in and then decide which ones you'll work on?
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Ollie, why don't you I throw that towards your way?
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Yeah, how do you guys come to songs?
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Yeah, uh I think it's been pretty consistent.
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So since day one, it's it's like um the the lyrics are all Brian's, the uh music will either come from Brian or a lot of John's composition ideas, and then there's like an organic meeting between these two styles, and I think where it works best on something like Beyonder is where we we get the the the kind of fusion of a lot of different styles that everyone's bringing into it.
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So John's got this ability to craft orchestral and very expressive um and surprising sounds that well are are kind of refreshing, I think.
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And and then what I try to bring rhythm that connects back to my uh original uh place of upbringing.
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So in South Africa it's more of a rhythmic and set of genres there.
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Although the exception to that is maybe it's it's a tatamiya sound that we brought in on Beyonder.
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It's a choral choir thing from Zululand, and for the first time ever, we've brought in that South African harmony because we brought Ladysmith Black Mombaso in.
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So yeah, that was a big adventure.
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Although we we hinted at some of that sound with the previous album on Dig the Mountainness, Bag in the Wind has some of some African choir sounds as well.
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But now we kind of well went and did the full thing.
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But so the answer is is there's loads going on, uh, but it's uh there's a lot of collaborative aspects as well.
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Um which creates the sound that you guys have so uniquely labeled, you know, or or or become.
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It really feels like this organic, natural process, how you guys write songs and how you approach it.
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Um and there's this kind of like intimacy with it, but you also bring in this natural, the natural world, right?
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And I I know that you guys are very much into you know talking about you know the mess that we're making of this beautiful planet we have, and just the the drudgery that takes place.
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Um do you find that your voices get heard when you talk about the natural world in your music?
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Like, because you do highlight it, but I mean there's there's storytelling in there as well, but it definitely has a swell in there of this natural world.
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Do you find that that message gets through when when people talk to you about your music?
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I think it does it's uh compared to say we just turned up and through there's only got a few years left to live, and here's why, and here's why everyone should feel bad about it.
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But singing about it and turning the whole thing into a story is the powerful way to do it, and so storytelling gets a lot more of a message to than information.
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And the response to songs like that it has been really authentic from the audiences, but also from the collaborators on the record.
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So Ladysmith Black Mombaso talks to us in the studio about how they see nature conservation as such an important thing in Kazulu-Natal, where they some of them uh work with the land and their families have lived there generations, and they have very strong opinions on how humans should interact with and manage the the ecosystems around them.
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So to get that kind of response back from people who to whom one of our songs has been meaningful is I think some really good evidence.
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Yeah, yeah, our message does get three.
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Yeah, interesting.
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I love that.
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And so you guys were like going for a while, you had like a 10-year, you know, run, like albums coming out, touring, getting super well known around the world, I would say.
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Um, what was the catalyst to kind of saying, you know, we need to have a breaker?
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Was it considered in 2017, okay, this is the end, or is this a pause that we're heading into?
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Chris, sorry, there's a bit of noise in the background.
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We just we're just setting up for sound check, so uh don't don't be distracted by that.
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But but yeah, it was a combination of things really.
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I think it was a it was having I don't know, reached different stages of our lives and kind of um moving in different directions geographically, and also I had a a young uh don't don't believe anything that John said.
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Uh we'll get to John in a question.
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I had a a very uh young family at that point as well, and I think we were ready for a break, really.
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I think we we kind of, you know, we we put everything into well, we always put everything into our our music and and get a so much from it as well.
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But I think we were ready for for a break.
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And I think at the time we we really did believe that was the end of the road.
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We we kind of went out with a um a joyful tour.
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It wasn't like despite what John says, there was it was an amicable, um uh yeah, really, really joyful tour.
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But what's been even more joyful has been rediscovering it actually and and coming back.
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And the the Dig the Mountain tour.
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I mean, we've yet to go on the road with Beyond, but the dig the mountain tour, I mean, my memory's terrible, but it definitely feels to me like the the best fun I've had on the road, and uh yeah, the the most the most sort of uplifting tour that we've ever done.
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Well so hopefully that continues anyway.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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And was there a certain catalyst that that brought you guys back together, or like how was there like a situation or a chance encounter, or was it kind of like more organized and calculated?
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What do you think?
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We we we have um we have some fans of ours who have been supporting since the the since before we were signed and doing anything very serious.
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So some of these oldest fans, a couple of them, you might really call them patrons, because um during that hiatus, they kind of refused to let us break up fully.
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They said you must come back and play our Christmas party every year.
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So there was this uh like in secret, in hiding, there was this gig going on, but it wasn't it it really honestly, like Ran says, it it never felt to us like, oh, this is because we might reform at some point.
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But in the course of playing their parts five Christmases in a row, um, it meant that the muscle memory was still there when as a result of the lockdowns, a lot of creativity um was was sparked.
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And for a lot of people the lockdowns were this terrible time of isolation.
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Um for us it was a time of some of that same darkness, but also a lot of um yeah, inspiration and and hope coming back.
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And I guess it was at one of those parties that that there was this maybe a moment as certainly for me where it's like, oh maybe maybe there's there's a reason to do this again.
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Um and so I personally attribute it a lot of it to those two wonderful fans who who are still coming to our shows to this day, and we we thank them for so much.
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Yeah.
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And the response, I mean, you guys did a show in March of this year at Royal Albert Hall, um sold out.
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Like, was that kind of like a a homecoming of sorts?
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Like, here we are, we're back, we're like what was the the spark that got that show happening?
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I mean that show it was it yeah, it was very much like uh it felt like a wear back moment.
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I mean, it was just it's hard to describe how incredible that experience was and how lucky we feel to have had the opportunity to do it.
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Um, but yeah, it was really just down to the belief of um one of our regular promoters based in London.
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Um I think you know we we wouldn't have maybe b even believed it ourselves that we could uh fill that hole and and pull off a show like that, but but but they did.
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And I think our our team were behind us, and I think that gave it had a big impact on our new record, actually, because I think knowing that we had this massive show in the in the calendar in it sort of spurred us to think even bigger with the uh the songs and the arrangements and uh and the scale of what we were working on.
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So yeah, and they came together in in such a an exciting way.
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So we showcased a couple of new songs that night, and one of them is a song called River of Voices, which features a huge choir in the recording, and uh we we actually sang with the audience in the hall.
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Um, and yeah, it was it was quite unbelievable, really.
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We yeah, we had this big community choir singing with us and the audience singing with us, and it's kind of yeah, it was just such a big, a big moment really, and it's taken us a long time to come down from that experience really.
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That one also leads to something new we're we're doing now with our music, where we've got a gig that's the launch concept for Beyond her, it's back in our hometown of Oxford, it's at the Sheldonian Theatre, which is this in-the-round type of venue, and we're pretty much the only band ever to have played it.
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Because uh we we found a way to play it back in 2009, we came back in 2014, sold out two shows there, and this time again, we're coming back with something a bit different.
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So we've we've sold 400 seats to choir members.
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We're building on this Royal Abbott Hall experiment where 70 people were on stage singing.
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This time it'd be 400 singers with us.
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Um, and then next year, if all this goes well, we're gonna take that to the choir format out into the wider world and do these formats where in the afternoon we have a choir workshop, and people who've never sung before can learn the parts from scratch from a choir leader that we bring in, and then they join us on stage to sing it in the evening.
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So we're we're that thread of the whole Beyonder campaign is this this idea of building communities and bridging the gaps between people who might be from all sorts of different places and and and uh mindsets, and they might be politically quite isolated from each other, but if they can just share a room for an hour and share a gig and sing along to in this case, River River Voices is a song about unity and stitching society back together, then that's our way of uh yeah, trying to address well some of what's wrong in the world alongside the nature song.
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Right, right.
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I mean, there's lots of topics, that's for sure.
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There's no lack of you know, we're living in the most crazy timeline.
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I I keep saying to people like we'll be telling our grandkids, grandkids about some of the things that happened in in this period of time.
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And that and it's uh it's kind of happening all over the world, right?
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So in the UK, we've got our various ways in which just the discourse is disconnected and people are fragmented and and not not talking to each other.
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Uh so we're gonna try and see if we can fix the problem here where we are, but we also know that they everywhere around the world, like there's an opportunity to go and help other societies um connect better.
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So we'd love to bring that art to Canada.
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You know, we did our shows in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver back in the day.
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And if we can bring something really magical like that at a big scale back to those audiences who showed us such love in the in the 2010s, yeah, that'd be really special.
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Yeah, that's amazing.
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I love that idea too of community and and you know, music within community and building and inspiring that way.
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It's really pretty special.
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And Brian, I have let's just a few questions about Beyonder and kind of so you guys are at an event today, I guess.
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You guys are doing a show.
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Yes, there's a festival in uh in it's actually in Glastonbury, but it's not the Glastonbury, but it's a different festival down in Somerset, and uh it's a lovely atmosphere.
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We're kind of hidden away at the moment out the way, getting uh doing some scribbling for our new album, which yeah, so we're we're signing some some records, and uh yeah, it's uh exciting to be this close to be releasing it.
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Yeah, totally.
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It's a big um amount of work to get to this point.
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What what does the rest of this year hold for you guys?
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What you know, for Stormway?
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What's are you you guys heading the road a lot or are you gonna just do selective tours?
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Um is there further writing progress as well?
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Can you open a little bit of that box for us to to know up what the future is?
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Yeah, we haven't we've so the uh the process of writing and recording, arranging everything is is a huge, huge thing.
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It's like uh uh yeah, so many, so many late nights in sheds and things.
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So we kind of uh take in a much needed break from the creative side now, but but very much looking forward to getting out on the road.
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And you know, if there's one thing that that can meet the the excitement of kind of creative music, it's going out and performing it.
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And uh we're gonna be just touring around the UK this autumn, uh in store gigs to promote the album at record stores, and then going around the UK playing full band shows with our um extra incredible musicians.
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We've got a uh uh my brother joins us sometimes and plays trumpet, we've got a saxophonist, we've got a drummer called Felix, and yes, some incredibly talented people, and that'll extend into next year, and then we're gonna see what next year brings, but we're we're hoping that we might get overseas again as we did for the last album.
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But uh fans are kind of coming together bit by bit.
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Totally.
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And and Brian, is the song rating ongoing as always, the the collaboration amongst you guys in writing new materials as well?
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Yeah, we I mean it it's like I say, we're kind of it's it's in these cycles, really, as uh the sort of inevitable process for uh you know the way the albums work and and the album cycles work, but it won't be long before we're um working away in the in the sheds again on on creating stuff.
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Well, I kind of speak for myself.
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I wouldn't be surprised if John is already working away on stuff.
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I don't think he ever really stops.
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Um yeah.
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Um that's great though.
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It's it's always great to have you know that machine moving forward all the time, the creative process.
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Um Ollie, how do you feel about Beyonder?
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Like if you look back at it kind of in retrospect now, it's done, you're on the eve of this launch of it.
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How how do you how are you feeling about the record itself?
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Very, very broad, very excited, and I think um we've we'll always be able to honestly hand on heart say we get better with each album.
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This is our biggest sounding, best produced, most kind of thought-through album today.
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It's partly uh the just looking at the artwork, so we're signing some of it today.
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It's that alone is a window into the feeling and the story of the album, is the colours that you see and the images of the island and the seabirds and things, that all comes from Brian's adventure to some kilder.
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And then I think that the flavors of that adventure permeate every aspect of it.
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So even though we take the audience to
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I know that it's amazing, so I really need a little bit of time.
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And also this new record beyond which is coming out in September, end of September.
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Check a show out if you can go into the quarter already.
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And all the best guys with this new release and the shows that are coming and what we still uh have to wait for in the future.
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Thank you so much for your support, Chris.
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Really appreciate it.
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And uh yeah, thanks for having us on the podcast.
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Thanks a lot, guys, and uh have a great show tonight.
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Thank you.
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Thank you.
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Johnny, what is altering your mind?
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Johnny, baby Johnny, it's the same thing that it's alter mine just Looking for the fun we had focus all the world stay hard, but I do like Johnny Stay out of the high co climb the ladder to the clear blue sky Johnny, we can only look away for so much.
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Johnny, we can only look away for so much.
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Johnny, you're not alone.
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We have to stay so strong Maybe one day the clouds will blow away.
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There's a future, lovely Johnny, there's no way to fight these flames.
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And Johnny lovely Johnny know we can hold back the rise in ways.
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But Johnny for the moment it's the truth we need to say.
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For the moment it's the truth we need.
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The truth is your fucking mirror.
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Oh Johnny and that's
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Here we are, people.
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Another episode of If It With Be Your Will podcast coming to you.
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Reaching across the big pond again, heading over into the UK.
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I have Stornaway here, who are on the eve of their record launch, which is coming September 25th.
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The record called Beyonder.
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I have the band here with me today, and we're going to explore not only this new record, which I was just telling them it feels so them, and it's just such a great record to feel their music again.
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It really connected with me the songs that I've been listening to.
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And it's one of those records you just don't want to turn off.
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You just want to, like, okay, turn it on again, flip it, let's go.
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So I was super excited that they all came to join uh to talk about this.
00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:30.879
But guys, I just I I tend to like going back in time a little bit.
00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.120
And how did Stornaway get started?
00:01:33.200 --> 00:01:45.840
Now I read stories about meeting at Oxford, and like Ollie, you had kind of talked about that you were kind of a shy kid going moving up from South Africa to Oxford.
00:01:46.239 --> 00:01:48.400
Like, and then how did you guys meet each other?
00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:53.840
And how did you guys like connect musically, maybe as a first kind of question?
00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:59.200
Well, actually, we John and I met at uh at university.
00:01:59.359 --> 00:02:21.199
We were studying uh quite different things, ducks in my case, and Russian folk songs in John's case, and but yeah, our first conversation when we met was music and uh and our shared love of of Indy, and you know, talking about about bands that we that we like listening to.
00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:29.120
And I might have it might have even been that same conversation, but we quite quickly started talking about creating music.
00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:56.080
And uh John had already got quite into recording and the recording process and the arrangement of music, and I'd started writing songs, and yeah, so it it wasn't long before we decided that we wanted to form a band, and we put an advert out in the local kind of music listings, and we had one reply only, which turned out to be Ollie.
00:02:56.400 --> 00:02:56.719
Right.
00:02:56.960 --> 00:02:58.960
The only reply you needed, really.
00:03:00.560 --> 00:03:07.520
And Brian, what was it that you saw in Ollie in his playing that connected him to you guys so quickly?
00:03:08.159 --> 00:03:13.599
Um well, I think actually Ollie had already learned the songs.
00:03:13.680 --> 00:03:31.360
Like he'd learnt we'd sent him some demos, I think, and you know, just a just a handful of songs, and he'd already nailed them, and it was just such a joy to to play to play music and just suddenly feel it, you know, sounding like a a band and and feeling everything coming together.
00:03:31.520 --> 00:03:57.439
Well, not quite everything, because we didn't have a drummer, and we we spent a long time looking for a drummer because at that point well, we just had some you know unsuccessful auditions, and we knew Ollie's we knew Ollie's brother was a drummer, Rob, but he was, I think at that point, maybe 15, no more than 15.
00:03:57.680 --> 00:04:13.199
And uh John and I, fair bit older and uh and thinking about you know how are we gonna play in pubs and go gigs and in London and Oxford and things in there and eventually we gave up looking for for drummers and said, Yeah, bring Rob along.
00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:25.680
And yeah, and it kind of we had this magical experience of playing music together in the garage, and yeah, then having to smuggle Rob into gigs and venues for the next few years.
00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:27.759
Right, right, right.
00:04:28.079 --> 00:04:31.120
And how do you guys approach writing songs together?
00:04:31.279 --> 00:04:40.079
Is it is it a collaborative process that you guys go through, or is it you know you individually bring songs in and then decide which ones you'll work on?
00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:43.040
Ollie, why don't you I throw that towards your way?
00:04:43.279 --> 00:04:45.439
Yeah, how do you guys come to songs?
00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:48.160
Yeah, uh I think it's been pretty consistent.
00:04:48.480 --> 00:05:26.399
So since day one, it's it's like um the the lyrics are all Brian's, the uh music will either come from Brian or a lot of John's composition ideas, and then there's like an organic meeting between these two styles, and I think where it works best on something like Beyonder is where we we get the the the kind of fusion of a lot of different styles that everyone's bringing into it.
00:05:26.560 --> 00:05:38.639
So John's got this ability to craft orchestral and very expressive um and surprising sounds that well are are kind of refreshing, I think.
00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:47.680
And and then what I try to bring rhythm that connects back to my uh original uh place of upbringing.
00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:53.279
So in South Africa it's more of a rhythmic and set of genres there.
00:05:53.519 --> 00:06:00.480
Although the exception to that is maybe it's it's a tatamiya sound that we brought in on Beyonder.
00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:11.759
It's a choral choir thing from Zululand, and for the first time ever, we've brought in that South African harmony because we brought Ladysmith Black Mombaso in.
00:06:12.079 --> 00:06:14.879
So yeah, that was a big adventure.
00:06:14.959 --> 00:06:23.439
Although we we hinted at some of that sound with the previous album on Dig the Mountainness, Bag in the Wind has some of some African choir sounds as well.
00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:25.759
But now we kind of well went and did the full thing.
00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:33.439
But so the answer is is there's loads going on, uh, but it's uh there's a lot of collaborative aspects as well.
00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:41.360
Um which creates the sound that you guys have so uniquely labeled, you know, or or or become.
00:06:41.600 --> 00:06:49.360
It really feels like this organic, natural process, how you guys write songs and how you approach it.
00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:56.399
Um and there's this kind of like intimacy with it, but you also bring in this natural, the natural world, right?
00:06:56.480 --> 00:07:08.160
And I I know that you guys are very much into you know talking about you know the mess that we're making of this beautiful planet we have, and just the the drudgery that takes place.
00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:15.279
Um do you find that your voices get heard when you talk about the natural world in your music?
00:07:15.439 --> 00:07:24.639
Like, because you do highlight it, but I mean there's there's storytelling in there as well, but it definitely has a swell in there of this natural world.
00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:29.759
Do you find that that message gets through when when people talk to you about your music?
00:07:31.519 --> 00:07:47.279
I think it does it's uh compared to say we just turned up and through there's only got a few years left to live, and here's why, and here's why everyone should feel bad about it.
00:07:47.439 --> 00:07:57.839
But singing about it and turning the whole thing into a story is the powerful way to do it, and so storytelling gets a lot more of a message to than information.
00:07:58.480 --> 00:08:06.480
And the response to songs like that it has been really authentic from the audiences, but also from the collaborators on the record.
00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:31.199
So Ladysmith Black Mombaso talks to us in the studio about how they see nature conservation as such an important thing in Kazulu-Natal, where they some of them uh work with the land and their families have lived there generations, and they have very strong opinions on how humans should interact with and manage the the ecosystems around them.
00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:40.080
So to get that kind of response back from people who to whom one of our songs has been meaningful is I think some really good evidence.
00:08:40.159 --> 00:08:41.840
Yeah, yeah, our message does get three.
00:08:42.320 --> 00:08:43.279
Yeah, interesting.
00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:44.320
I love that.
00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:58.399
And so you guys were like going for a while, you had like a 10-year, you know, run, like albums coming out, touring, getting super well known around the world, I would say.
00:08:58.639 --> 00:09:04.240
Um, what was the catalyst to kind of saying, you know, we need to have a breaker?
00:09:04.399 --> 00:09:11.679
Was it considered in 2017, okay, this is the end, or is this a pause that we're heading into?
00:09:12.799 --> 00:09:14.639
Chris, sorry, there's a bit of noise in the background.
00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:18.799
We just we're just setting up for sound check, so uh don't don't be distracted by that.
00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:23.200
But but yeah, it was a combination of things really.
00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:40.879
I think it was a it was having I don't know, reached different stages of our lives and kind of um moving in different directions geographically, and also I had a a young uh don't don't believe anything that John said.
00:09:41.120 --> 00:09:44.480
Uh we'll get to John in a question.
00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:55.679
I had a a very uh young family at that point as well, and I think we were ready for a break, really.
00:09:55.759 --> 00:10:03.360
I think we we kind of, you know, we we put everything into well, we always put everything into our our music and and get a so much from it as well.
00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:05.600
But I think we were ready for for a break.
00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:10.080
And I think at the time we we really did believe that was the end of the road.
00:10:10.320 --> 00:10:14.000
We we kind of went out with a um a joyful tour.
00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:22.240
It wasn't like despite what John says, there was it was an amicable, um uh yeah, really, really joyful tour.
00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:28.159
But what's been even more joyful has been rediscovering it actually and and coming back.
00:10:28.399 --> 00:10:31.440
And the the Dig the Mountain tour.
00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:47.679
I mean, we've yet to go on the road with Beyond, but the dig the mountain tour, I mean, my memory's terrible, but it definitely feels to me like the the best fun I've had on the road, and uh yeah, the the most the most sort of uplifting tour that we've ever done.
00:10:47.840 --> 00:10:49.759
Well so hopefully that continues anyway.
00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:51.519
Yeah, absolutely.
00:10:51.759 --> 00:11:06.240
And was there a certain catalyst that that brought you guys back together, or like how was there like a situation or a chance encounter, or was it kind of like more organized and calculated?
00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:08.399
What do you think?
00:11:09.039 --> 00:11:21.600
We we we have um we have some fans of ours who have been supporting since the the since before we were signed and doing anything very serious.
00:11:21.840 --> 00:11:32.879
So some of these oldest fans, a couple of them, you might really call them patrons, because um during that hiatus, they kind of refused to let us break up fully.
00:11:32.960 --> 00:11:36.320
They said you must come back and play our Christmas party every year.
00:11:36.559 --> 00:11:49.759
So there was this uh like in secret, in hiding, there was this gig going on, but it wasn't it it really honestly, like Ran says, it it never felt to us like, oh, this is because we might reform at some point.
00:11:50.000 --> 00:12:04.799
But in the course of playing their parts five Christmases in a row, um, it meant that the muscle memory was still there when as a result of the lockdowns, a lot of creativity um was was sparked.
00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:09.279
And for a lot of people the lockdowns were this terrible time of isolation.
00:12:09.440 --> 00:12:20.879
Um for us it was a time of some of that same darkness, but also a lot of um yeah, inspiration and and hope coming back.
00:12:21.039 --> 00:12:33.519
And I guess it was at one of those parties that that there was this maybe a moment as certainly for me where it's like, oh maybe maybe there's there's a reason to do this again.
00:12:33.919 --> 00:12:44.720
Um and so I personally attribute it a lot of it to those two wonderful fans who who are still coming to our shows to this day, and we we thank them for so much.
00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:45.519
Yeah.
00:12:45.840 --> 00:12:55.440
And the response, I mean, you guys did a show in March of this year at Royal Albert Hall, um sold out.
00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:59.200
Like, was that kind of like a a homecoming of sorts?
00:12:59.279 --> 00:13:06.559
Like, here we are, we're back, we're like what was the the spark that got that show happening?
00:13:07.120 --> 00:13:13.440
I mean that show it was it yeah, it was very much like uh it felt like a wear back moment.
00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:22.320
I mean, it was just it's hard to describe how incredible that experience was and how lucky we feel to have had the opportunity to do it.
00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:29.840
Um, but yeah, it was really just down to the belief of um one of our regular promoters based in London.
00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:40.960
Um I think you know we we wouldn't have maybe b even believed it ourselves that we could uh fill that hole and and pull off a show like that, but but but they did.
00:13:41.039 --> 00:14:02.799
And I think our our team were behind us, and I think that gave it had a big impact on our new record, actually, because I think knowing that we had this massive show in the in the calendar in it sort of spurred us to think even bigger with the uh the songs and the arrangements and uh and the scale of what we were working on.
00:14:03.039 --> 00:14:07.840
So yeah, and they came together in in such a an exciting way.
00:14:07.919 --> 00:14:24.879
So we showcased a couple of new songs that night, and one of them is a song called River of Voices, which features a huge choir in the recording, and uh we we actually sang with the audience in the hall.
00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:29.279
Um, and yeah, it was it was quite unbelievable, really.
00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:42.399
We yeah, we had this big community choir singing with us and the audience singing with us, and it's kind of yeah, it was just such a big, a big moment really, and it's taken us a long time to come down from that experience really.
00:14:42.879 --> 00:15:05.279
That one also leads to something new we're we're doing now with our music, where we've got a gig that's the launch concept for Beyond her, it's back in our hometown of Oxford, it's at the Sheldonian Theatre, which is this in-the-round type of venue, and we're pretty much the only band ever to have played it.
00:15:05.600 --> 00:15:17.279
Because uh we we found a way to play it back in 2009, we came back in 2014, sold out two shows there, and this time again, we're coming back with something a bit different.
00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:23.039
So we've we've sold 400 seats to choir members.
00:15:23.279 --> 00:15:27.840
We're building on this Royal Abbott Hall experiment where 70 people were on stage singing.
00:15:27.919 --> 00:15:30.320
This time it'd be 400 singers with us.
00:15:30.480 --> 00:15:54.879
Um, and then next year, if all this goes well, we're gonna take that to the choir format out into the wider world and do these formats where in the afternoon we have a choir workshop, and people who've never sung before can learn the parts from scratch from a choir leader that we bring in, and then they join us on stage to sing it in the evening.
00:15:55.279 --> 00:16:33.519
So we're we're that thread of the whole Beyonder campaign is this this idea of building communities and bridging the gaps between people who might be from all sorts of different places and and and uh mindsets, and they might be politically quite isolated from each other, but if they can just share a room for an hour and share a gig and sing along to in this case, River River Voices is a song about unity and stitching society back together, then that's our way of uh yeah, trying to address well some of what's wrong in the world alongside the nature song.
00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:34.720
Right, right.
00:16:34.960 --> 00:16:37.759
I mean, there's lots of topics, that's for sure.
00:16:38.080 --> 00:16:42.320
There's no lack of you know, we're living in the most crazy timeline.
00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:51.360
I I keep saying to people like we'll be telling our grandkids, grandkids about some of the things that happened in in this period of time.
00:16:51.840 --> 00:16:55.440
And that and it's uh it's kind of happening all over the world, right?
00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:07.279
So in the UK, we've got our various ways in which just the discourse is disconnected and people are fragmented and and not not talking to each other.
00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:19.920
Uh so we're gonna try and see if we can fix the problem here where we are, but we also know that they everywhere around the world, like there's an opportunity to go and help other societies um connect better.
00:17:20.000 --> 00:17:22.240
So we'd love to bring that art to Canada.
00:17:22.319 --> 00:17:27.680
You know, we did our shows in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver back in the day.
00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:37.759
And if we can bring something really magical like that at a big scale back to those audiences who showed us such love in the in the 2010s, yeah, that'd be really special.
00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:39.279
Yeah, that's amazing.
00:17:39.440 --> 00:17:46.960
I love that idea too of community and and you know, music within community and building and inspiring that way.
00:17:47.119 --> 00:17:49.599
It's really pretty special.
00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:58.000
And Brian, I have let's just a few questions about Beyonder and kind of so you guys are at an event today, I guess.
00:17:58.079 --> 00:17:59.599
You guys are doing a show.
00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:10.319
Yes, there's a festival in uh in it's actually in Glastonbury, but it's not the Glastonbury, but it's a different festival down in Somerset, and uh it's a lovely atmosphere.
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:25.759
We're kind of hidden away at the moment out the way, getting uh doing some scribbling for our new album, which yeah, so we're we're signing some some records, and uh yeah, it's uh exciting to be this close to be releasing it.
00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:27.119
Yeah, totally.
00:18:27.359 --> 00:18:30.559
It's a big um amount of work to get to this point.
00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:34.000
What what does the rest of this year hold for you guys?
00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:35.440
What you know, for Stormway?
00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:40.000
What's are you you guys heading the road a lot or are you gonna just do selective tours?
00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:43.039
Um is there further writing progress as well?
00:18:43.359 --> 00:18:48.960
Can you open a little bit of that box for us to to know up what the future is?
00:18:49.359 --> 00:18:58.720
Yeah, we haven't we've so the uh the process of writing and recording, arranging everything is is a huge, huge thing.
00:18:58.880 --> 00:19:04.160
It's like uh uh yeah, so many, so many late nights in sheds and things.
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:13.839
So we kind of uh take in a much needed break from the creative side now, but but very much looking forward to getting out on the road.
00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:22.799
And you know, if there's one thing that that can meet the the excitement of kind of creative music, it's going out and performing it.
00:19:22.960 --> 00:19:40.960
And uh we're gonna be just touring around the UK this autumn, uh in store gigs to promote the album at record stores, and then going around the UK playing full band shows with our um extra incredible musicians.
00:19:41.039 --> 00:20:01.839
We've got a uh uh my brother joins us sometimes and plays trumpet, we've got a saxophonist, we've got a drummer called Felix, and yes, some incredibly talented people, and that'll extend into next year, and then we're gonna see what next year brings, but we're we're hoping that we might get overseas again as we did for the last album.
00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:05.759
But uh fans are kind of coming together bit by bit.
00:20:06.079 --> 00:20:06.640
Totally.
00:20:06.799 --> 00:20:13.920
And and Brian, is the song rating ongoing as always, the the collaboration amongst you guys in writing new materials as well?
00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:35.680
Yeah, we I mean it it's like I say, we're kind of it's it's in these cycles, really, as uh the sort of inevitable process for uh you know the way the albums work and and the album cycles work, but it won't be long before we're um working away in the in the sheds again on on creating stuff.
00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:37.359
Well, I kind of speak for myself.
00:20:37.440 --> 00:20:41.839
I wouldn't be surprised if John is already working away on stuff.
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:43.920
I don't think he ever really stops.
00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:45.920
Um yeah.
00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:48.240
Um that's great though.
00:20:48.319 --> 00:20:54.880
It's it's always great to have you know that machine moving forward all the time, the creative process.
00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:57.599
Um Ollie, how do you feel about Beyonder?
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:04.400
Like if you look back at it kind of in retrospect now, it's done, you're on the eve of this launch of it.
00:21:04.559 --> 00:21:07.759
How how do you how are you feeling about the record itself?
00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:20.559
Very, very broad, very excited, and I think um we've we'll always be able to honestly hand on heart say we get better with each album.
00:21:20.799 --> 00:21:28.480
This is our biggest sounding, best produced, most kind of thought-through album today.
00:21:29.039 --> 00:21:35.680
It's partly uh the just looking at the artwork, so we're signing some of it today.
00:21:36.000 --> 00:21:51.599
It's that alone is a window into the feeling and the story of the album, is the colours that you see and the images of the island and the seabirds and things, that all comes from Brian's adventure to some kilder.
00:21:51.920 --> 00:21:58.000
And then I think that the flavors of that adventure permeate every aspect of it.
00:21:58.160 --> 00:21:59.519
So even though we take the audience to
00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:02.880
I know that it's amazing, so I really need a little bit of time.
00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:10.240
And also this new record beyond which is coming out in September, end of September.
00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:14.160
Check a show out if you can go into the quarter already.
00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:23.680
And all the best guys with this new release and the shows that are coming and what we still uh have to wait for in the future.
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:26.160
Thank you so much for your support, Chris.
00:23:26.400 --> 00:23:27.119
Really appreciate it.
00:23:27.359 --> 00:23:29.440
And uh yeah, thanks for having us on the podcast.
00:23:30.480 --> 00:23:32.480
Thanks a lot, guys, and uh have a great show tonight.
00:23:32.960 --> 00:23:33.359
Thank you.
00:23:33.599 --> 00:23:34.000
Thank you.
00:23:59.680 --> 00:24:02.480
Johnny, what is altering your mind?
00:24:05.359 --> 00:25:16.559
Johnny, baby Johnny, it's the same thing that it's alter mine just Looking for the fun we had focus all the world stay hard, but I do like Johnny Stay out of the high co climb the ladder to the clear blue sky Johnny, we can only look away for so much.
00:25:16.880 --> 00:25:20.000
Johnny, we can only look away for so much.
00:25:20.319 --> 00:25:22.480
Johnny, you're not alone.
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:32.960
We have to stay so strong Maybe one day the clouds will blow away.
00:25:36.799 --> 00:26:38.240
There's a future, lovely Johnny, there's no way to fight these flames.
00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:46.799
And Johnny lovely Johnny know we can hold back the rise in ways.
00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:52.480
But Johnny for the moment it's the truth we need to say.
00:26:52.960 --> 00:26:55.200
For the moment it's the truth we need.
00:26:55.519 --> 00:26:58.000
The truth is your fucking mirror.
00:26:58.160 --> 00:27:00.960
Oh Johnny and that's
