Interview: Superglu - GigslutzGigslutz

As any regular Gigslutz follower will know, we’re huge fans of Manningtree band Superglu – we’ve featured them as Ones To Watch this year, have frequently banged on about their energy-fuelled, joyous live shows and they’ve made an appearance in our Tracks Of The Week on more than one occasion…

Having just wowed crowds at Latitude festival, and about to release their shimmering new single ‘Welcome Home’, Superglu had a little chat with us about new music, magic mushrooms and Howard from The Halifax adverts…

Hi Superglu, welcome to Gigslutz! How are you doing today?
Real good! Enjoying the Wednesday sun but still on a Latitude come-down. I still keep finding glitter on random parts of my body… Despite having washed (I promise).

You’ve just been over to Berlin, how was that?
Absolutely amazing. We played a gig for the skate company Volcom, who happen to be the nicest group of people ever. And man, they know how to throw a party. We played on some kind of boat thing, everyone went crazy and we pretty much played our set twice as we were all having so much fun.

As you know, we’ve been big fans of you lot for a while now, but can you tell us a bit about how you all initially got together and started creating music?
And we are BIG fans of you. Your support from day one has really really meant the world to us. It’s so nice to be writing this interview for you and catching up on everything that’s happened over the past year! (Aw, shucks!) But yeah, the band initially started as Ben Club. At the time Ben Ward was working in an office in Brighton; one day he had an accident in the toilet and stopped turning up to work, descended back to Suffolk and re-gained his sixth form college romance with his pal Ben B (who at the time was unemployed, had erratic sleep patterns and a love for Tesco own brand larger). They used to send me little demos or play them down the phone and in return I’d send videos of myself painfully trying to learn the bass whilst sat on the floor of my tiny attic bedroom in Brighton. Eventually, I was also persuaded to come back to Suffolk/Essex and then around the same time Alex turned up one day at Ben’s house, moved in and by default joined the band.

We’re loving the beaut new single ‘Welcome Home’ – what’s it all about?
Initially the lyrics to the chorus were “yeah come on” or something just as awful, but there is a park down the road in Manningtree which has a field called the Welcome Home field. This has the same amount of syllables as “yeah come on” but is more significant for mainly local reasons. The verses of the song are about that psychedelic summer crush feeling that you get when you meet someone you like. The Welcome Home field is also where you can pick magic mushrooms when they are in season – hence the marbles spinning in my mind [by Ben Brown].

We actually love all your amazingly uplifting creations – thank you for always cheering us up! What generally influences your songwriting?
Usually the initial kernel of a song comes along late at night in that special stolen time when you know you’re meant to be asleep. In these hours your mind can unwind and you are able to reflect on the day and decompress and, if you’re lucky, you may be able to hit on some glimpse of a memory or feeling that can inspire and energise the song writing process.

You seem to put a lot of energy into all your live shows (they’re some of the best we’ve seen!) and have played some pretty big gigs at SXSW and Latitude Festivals… But has there been one show in particular that stands out as a highlight for you?
I would have to agree with you! I think SXSW stands out for us – to be in America was so totally overwhelming. It felt very surreal and made me feel that we are actually a real ‘band’ now – whatever that means. This year’s Latitude was also out of this world – it’s always a stand out show for me as I remember going to the festival as a teen and being so inspired by the musical acts… And now to be one of those acts is pretty weirdly cool.

What’s your local music scene like? Do you go to see lots of live music?
Our local music scene is booming right now – new bands keep on popping up from everywhere and anywhere! Most importantly, it’s a very respectful community that thrives in creativity and diversity. We played a fundraiser for SXSW and the amount of bands that came forward and played for FREE to help us raise funds was so humbling. Everyone’s in it for each other – not for themselves. For this reason I try to see as many bands as possible and make an effort to support them by buying merch or raving about them on social media after the show.

And how would you say the current music scene is for new bands these days? Do you think it’s difficult to get noticed?
I think the music scene can be too focused on London, which sometimes makes it difficult for bands outside of the city to get noticed. Perhaps that’s why we are so supportive of each other in East Anglia. We are so lucky to have an amazing BBC Suffolk Introducing team that has helped local bands get played on nationwide radio stations. I mean, Bury St Edmunds trio Gaffa Tape Sandy just got back from Glastonbury! The whole of the East Anglia music scene felt like proud parents watching them play their big festival debut!

As we’re a new music focused site, are there any other new/upcoming bands that you’d suggest we check out?
Gaffa Tape Sandy, Mean Blue Eyes, Sun Scream, Rad Pitt!!

And if you could collaborate with anyone past or present, who would it be and why?
Howard from the Halifax adverts. He clearly has the X Factor that sadly SuperGlu are currently lacking in.

Finally, what does the rest of 2017 have in store for Superglu?
We are releasing our new EP (if we can get the time off work to record it), going on tour with BadPop in September, Ben Brown has an art exhibition and Alex Brown will finally learn to drive.

Huge thanks to Superglu answering our questions, hope to see you again soon!

‘Welcome Home’, the new single from Superglu, is out 28 July.