Music Interview: Dance to The Music

By Jeff Clemens

On the final legs of the Big Day Out tour, Dave Grohl and Perry Farrel told a raucous crowd The Music was their favorite new band. After releasing their first EP You Might As Well Try To Fuck Me The Music were called “the most important group since Oasis.” Since then, it has been a whirlwind of worldwide tours, with superstars like Coldplay and the sophomore release of the album Welcome to the North. And through all this acclaim The Music still just wants you to dance.


Compared to such big names as Led Zeppelin and U2, due to their wide-ranging style of fusing stadium rock with an electronic sound, The Music will try any style of music and often does. Having kept their modesty, the band is simply happy to have their music heard.


“When you get compared to bands like Led Zeppelin and U2 you just have to smile,”says drummer Phil Jordan. “And think to yourself, well as long as we’re being compared to good bands and not Hanson. I think my personal favorite that we’ve been compared to is The Chemical Brothers.”


This young band from Leeds, England wants everybody to just enjoy their music and anyone who has heard or seen them will feel the same way, despite the hype. On their new album Welcome to the North, lead singer Rob Harvey sings, “Dance for the freedom, fighters of the world” and you believe he wants to bring the joy. Their amazing live shows radiate enthusiasm as Harvey and the band dance to their own music on stage.


“I think dancing is one of the best things in the world, it cleanses the soul. The feeling I get from playing drums is the same one I can get from a good night out dancing,” enthuses Jordan about the band’s live shows.


For being so young, The Music has a worldly view only travel could give them. Being young and getting caught in the spotlight early has helped to develop their live show. Jordan agrees with that assessment, “We could have just shut ourselves away and produced record after record, but we wanted to get out and see the world and get the experience of being there. Travel has also helped with developing our lyrics now on the new album and with Rob’s pronunciation, because in some places no one could understand him.”


The constant touring not only allows them to become better known, but also forces them into a different type of recording due to the time constraints of being on the road. As was done on their first album, the songs for Welcome to the North were created from jamming and not planning.


“Jamming just brings out your feelings through your music and we play life through our music. The pressure can also help create great things like the song ‘Open Your Mind.’ The pressure was on us to create and we made an amazing song,” explains Jordan.


Through all their travels and stardom, The Music have not forgotten where they came from. In the song “Guide” they sing about parents, “Our parents were amazing and supported us even with the little things when we were 15 or 16 by paying for our practice space or helping us transport our gear so we could play, they were supportive all the way.” With all the support and acclaim they have received The Music is a band who is here to stay. No matter what you get out of listening to their music, only one question needs to be asked: Are you gonna dance?