Cardiffian purveyors of indie-rock anthems Himalayas have a fresh one in their quiver, Alone, and despite its title they are inviting people to join them in a sequence of social gatherings or ‘tour’. Emma Way spoke to them about all kindsa stuff.

So, about your new single Alone…

Joe Williams, lead vocals/guitar: I think Alone was one of the last ones we wrote during lockdown – really last minute. It was a concoction of lyrics that I’d had for a while, about the feeling of being stuck – like there’s no way out of the position you find yourself in. Lockdown sort of conjured that feeling for myself personally.

Louis Heaps, bass: Joe had a pretty solid idea of the riffs before going into the studio and how it was going to fit together, but I remember having a couple of ‘aha!’ moments during the first week of that song, where it all fit into the right place and came together.

Joe: Yes, those lyrics were all like puzzle pieces to me. I think they all felt really good on their own but never felt 100% correct together.

Where did you record it? 

Joe: A place called Mynci in the middle of Wales – we’ve always recorded in Wales. We wanted everything to be done from where we’re from; we’re super proud to be Welsh, most of us are from Wales. We’ve worked with a guy called Steffan Pringle for pretty much our whole band career. We wanted this [debut album] to feel like that journey from teenager to now.

Louis: I’m technically English but I’ve lived in Wales now longer than I have anywhere else, so technically I should get Welsh citizenship.

You listed some of your influences as Queens Of The Stone Age and Muse, how would you say you build on that kind of rock sound while keeping it new?

Mike Griffiths, guitar/vocals: I mean, a lot of that is more the difference between the way we write the songs, more using certain sounds that we like from other artists. What we do, in terms of the songwriting itself, is probably more akin to a pop song than something like Queens Of The Stone Age. It’s more a case of how it fits together and the different tones.

Joe: What happens is we write the basic song at home, send them off and think OK, we’re going to try this… and then the guys get really carried away, the other three and Steffan, and they take it to the furthest point they possibly can and then I argue with them until we get back to a good place.

Louis: In terms of influences I think we’ve got quite a lot of stuff, from trying to be inventive with how we get the correct sounds on certain things, and making sure, especially in the studio, that we’re trying out a lot of weird and wacky ways of getting a specific guitar tone. Or Steffan hitting a music stand and firing it through two rooms and then having that as a sort of echoey cymbal thing. It’s more the spirit of it, an attitude towards how we make music.

Joe: The band’s been together for a fair while now and I think, if we had gone on to do an album around the time we released Thank God I’m Not You, it would be a very different answer. For us, age has helped massively – the majority of our music tastes and the way we see things, we’re kind of music nerds now.

What changes have you witnessed in the industry and how have they affected you as a band?

Joe: Even from before 2015, I think the rise and fall of rock. Music and taste changes quite a lot, but in today’s music scene, you don’t often get huge rock bands anymore – fresh new bands, I don’t mean ones still around and still doing their thing.

Louis: It is weird how COVID affected the whole industry. I guess we feel like we’re taking new steps in the next level for our career, but a lot of bands have either given up, or those that have come through it have come out with a lot of good stuff recently. There’s also been a lot of new bands popping up as well post-COVID, people doing projects in their room in lockdown.

Mike: A lot of bands we used to play with have stopped over COVID. You probably won’t see the consequences of it straight away. A lot of them couldn’t afford to keep going or just had to stop. So the generation that was kind of formed during COVID is going to be full of people who were making their music in their bedrooms, and then came out and got together with people.

It’s a weird thing to think about – the majority of artists coming through won’t have had any experience gigging. When we were first starting out, we couldn’t afford to record anything but there was plenty of gigs that we could go and get on.

What was it like being a new band in Cardiff?

Joe: We’re super lucky and grateful to have had so many people be involved and generous. With Cardiff in particular, I think we were lucky enough to have friends who were playing in bands and promoters as well. Things like Sŵn festival felt like big, big moments – we thought, if we can get to Sŵn festival or Hub Fest, they’ll be big achievements to us.

Louis: There was also a lot of venues in Cardiff that were small – 40/50 cap – that you could almost play weekly. That really gave us our live legs.

Mike: The one problem I’ll say with Cardiff is that it’s not a city where people just go out to listen to music, and to go to gigs. You’ll go to some places and you can tell some people in the audience have just turned up because they know there’s music on, they don’t care what it is. Unless you’ve got your following, it’s very hard to get people to your gigs.

I would say to any band, anywhere, you need to get out of your hometown. While you’re there, learn and get used to [playing live] but then you need to realise that where you are isn’t going to elevate you as much as getting out and playing as many places as possible.

Joe: On the flip side to that, there’s a rich tapestry of music throughout Welsh history – places like Spillers and old music fans who are buying records – that bleeds through to now. I think there’s people who you kind of have to earn. For people to come to your shows, you have to prove yourself a little, which can work both ways. Once you get on board, there’s nothing like playing your hometown and having the support of people who are from where you’re from.

What’s the number one thing you’ve learned from playing live?

Joe: Just remember to press play and mime really well.

Louis: Don’t wear fur coats on stage. It’s far too hot and there are too many lights.

Joe: Because you’re trying so hard to do well within music, sometimes you just forget to enjoy the fact that you’re playing the show, and doing the thing that as a kid you wanted to do. If you play at Clwb or the Motorpoint Arena, they’re the same thing to me. Especially after COVID, we’ve got back to playing shows again and I’ve just been really grateful for those gigs. 

You’ve played a number of festivals as well. What is the biggest misconception about festivals that people wouldn’t know, not being a touring band?

Mike: We’ve had very contrasting festival experiences. Some that have been basically a festival experience anyone would have, but then we do a gig. We did Mad Cool in Madrid, which was just a week of free bar and paradise. It was amazing. The best thing I would say to people is don’t expect anything.

Joe: I saw this video Circa Waves posted a while ago. It was the expectation versus reality of backstage: just the four of them sat looking at each other in the room, waiting…

So what does the rest of your year look like?

Joe: A lot of music and shows. I think we’ve got a fair few booked in already. We’re just waiting to announce them and I’m super excited. The end of this year, going into next year, looks really exciting.

Himalayas’ gig at Buffalo, Cardiff has been rescheduled (due to illness) from Tue 20 Sept to Sat 8 Oct, Tickets: £8. Info: here

words EMMA WAY