Imagine a beautiful blend of both The 1975 with The Foals, and you have this atmospheric new output by Native People.
The electronic backline creates an interesting contrast between crunchy guitars and more dance-oriented sounds in the drums and bass. Yet the real quality in this track lies in the seamless transition from the more downbeat sections in the verses and intro, and the more traditional indie-rock sound in the chorus. We were lucky enough to pin down the super busy 4 piece from Kent, amidst them currently recording their next EP.
So what are you up to right now, music-wise?
We’ve just been into the studio earlier this month with Oz at Hidden Track and have recorded some new songs for an EP. We’re looking to put it out in the new year so stay tuned. Since recording, we’ve working on developing the live set; the new songs have more electronics than our previous material, so it’s just about getting everything right.
Who are you into at the moment, musically?
We’re all constantly sharing our sounds and going off on our own music tastes, so as individuals we’re into Clean Cut Kid, Mothxr, Roosevelt, Black Honey, Get Inuit, The 1975…
What does 2016 look like for you
We’d like to start the year by releasing these new songs we’ve just finished, so putting out the EP is on the agenda for early 2016. The only other things we want to do more of is more shows and spend as much time in the studio as we can.
Talk us through your writing process
With all the songs we’ve written so far it starts with Reuben coming up with a stimulus and a basic structure to a song. The rest of the guys then bounce off that and fill in their own parts. Our writing process has become more about developing an idea before playing it together, although that still happens from time to time.
You seem to be gigging lots right now, how important is playing live to you?
Yeah, we always try to play as much as possible, we want to remain active in introducing new people to Native People and most importantly for us to improve as performers too. We all want to play to as many people as possible, to help develop the band and the live performance as we feel it’s so important to be a strong live act.
You draw comparisons to early Foals were you big fans, who else inspires you?
Reuben was really into Foals when they first came about but all of us dig ‘Antidotes’ and ‘Total Life Forever’. The minimalist approach just worked so well for them, still having a super tight indie groove as well as mathy beats. As a whole, there are definitely bands and artists that inspire us to make music and influence the particular sound we’re striving for; from bands like Friendly Fires, Two Door Cinema Club to M83, Passion Pit to David Bowie and Talking Heads.
What are your thoughts on streaming music, from an artists perspective?
Right now we are just happy people want to listen to our music and are trying to get it to a larger audience, so as long as we are reaching new people it’s probably a good thing for us. Maybe down the line, when this (hopefully) becomes a full time career for us, it’ll have a different effect; although we love to play live and hopefully can do that everyday one day. So with more money being made from ticket sales and Merchandise maybe people who are really into our music will come to shows and buy a real CD instead of a download or stream?