How are you feeling, are you excited?

Yeah! I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while. We did Y Not a couple of years ago and it was fun.

I remember that – two years ago at The Quarry?

Yeah It’s a really wide narrow tent it’s great. We wanted to come back so it’s nice to be on the Main Stage.

You’ve played quite a few big festivals this summer. You’re still playing massive slots despite the debut album being released ages ago, was that one of the aims you had while writing it?

I think the initial aim was just world domination, this is just a step on the way isn’t it! It’s nice to not be forgotten. Also it keeps us busy while we’re writing. It’s nice to come away and do this, it keeps us fresh otherwise it’d be a bit stale going back to rehearsals. It’s a nice little holiday from the studio.

How were the other festivals have you been playing recently?

We just did Leefest, Truck, Parklife, Sound City, Live at Leeds. They were amazing! Sound City was good. We haven’t played Liverpool for ages so it was really nice to do a proper hometown show again. It’s been about a year or something, somehow we just haven’t been there.

What are the crowds like in Liverpool? Do you find them especially lively?

I think it’s getting less and less town specific. Everyone seems to be going slightly mad. I think it’s the kind of music we play as well. A lot of people seem to throw themselves into it so it’s not as noticeable city by city.

Do you plan your setlists to get the more likely crowds going?

I guess, as we toured the record for so long we started to figure out what works and what didn’t work. You start to learn the peaks and troughs of the set and know when to inject a bit of energy to keep them going. I heard Oasis used to do the four bases thing, so you’d have big hits on the four bases and in between you’d fill in the rest of the set. You’d open on a banger, finish on one, two quarter way points. That’s what we do.

Are you staying to see Noel play later?

We’ve got to shoot off but we’re doing a gig with him in Glasgow so we’re going to watch him then.

That’s massive! How did that come about?

I just think he’s a massive fan! He just kept calling us.

He wouldn’t leave you alone.

He was like “Oh please!” so we were like “Alright fine. For you, Noel.”

How do you find the festivals compare to your own shows?

At festivals not everyone’s there just for you so you have to win people over again. It kind of feels like when you’re gigging in the early days. When people don’t know who you are it’s more like that where you have to raise your game a little bit. I feel like when you’re doing your own gig, half the battle has been won. With festival shows you have to smash it every time and I quite like that as a challenge. It’s quite good though, it’s not as bad as the early days as people are open to it. They don’t know who you are but they want to have a good time so it’s slightly easier.

The big question at the moment is what’s next for you guys, have you been writing a new album?

We’re in the middle of that at the moment. We’re in the studio now and looking to put some singles out towards the end of the year and then get going touring again to show people what we’ve been up to.

Have you put any new twists on the Circa Waves style?

There’s definitely development, it’s a lot different. It’s a dirtier, heavier record in a way. There’s more depth to it I think. The general idea is that the first album is a daytime record but this is a night time record.

I like that! Do you think playing festivals like these and touring with bands has helped you choose that direction?

I think it’s definitely influenced us, all the people we’ve played with. All the songs come from Kieran and throughout his songwriting development, that’s just the way it’s naturally gone. I think it’s good, instead of trying to recreate what happened on the first album which would be seen as a safe bet. It’s a very natural thing and it’s come from the experiences of the last couple of years. It’s exciting, I can’t wait to share it.

Have you got any dates planned to share it yet?

Nothing planned yet. We’re hoping to sooner rather than later. We should probably announce some things when the album’s finished and we start putting out singles. We should have more of an idea what the plan is live.

Are your plans fairly open then?

The O2 don’t release their calendar. You have to book Wembley quite early don’t you? We’d better get on it I guess!

 

Catherine Dowie