Jamal takes time out of his day to ruin a good man's meal.
Before their gig at The Lexington I sat down with John from Nurses, partly for a chat about his band and partly to ruin his dinner. A nice looking plate of burger and chips went cold as I asked industry stock questions about ‘the song writing process’ and ‘the band’s evolution’. I felt bad – a man should never be kept from his meal – but John was kind enough to answer my questions and refrain from stabbing me right in the neck with his fork. There's a sense that Nurses are just three friends who really love making music together.
So first of all I wanted to know how you think you guys have evolved since you first started?
I guess we’ve just been doing it together longer and so it becomes a more fluid thing. Aaron and I have been playing music together for 11 years and we’ve been playing with James for three, so in the transformation from the two of us to the three of us it brings a whole new dimension and a lot of new ideas. It’s a larger brain I guess and a larger heart working on things, which is cool. Sonically I think it’s more powerful and it’s more exciting for all of us to play. I think we’re all just happier than ever to be playing music.
How does the song writing process work? How has it changed?
The three of us haven’t made a record together yet. Some song ideas come out of jams. Sometimes Aaron will write almost a full song and then we’ll pull it together. I supposed it’s changed because we work things out as a live band whereas before it was just me and Aaron sitting in a room, recording and writing.
I was reading up about you guys and a lot of people made comments about you not being able to settle down because you’ve moved around so much – what sort of impact has that had on your music?
Well we’ve been living in the same place now for almost three years, so that’s the longest I’ve lived anywhere since I lived with my parents. We’ve lived a lot of places; I guess I can credit a lot of our records to moving around and experiencing a wide spectrum of intense emotions in a short period of time. It’s not like settling down has made it any easier; it just changes the types of emotions but the intensity is still there. It’s nicer to have a spot to live for a long time, but you have a whole new set of crazy feelings and crazy levels of anxiety and despair and excitement. We’ve found a place we like to be; maybe it’s helped us write our music because we’ve had more time to do it.
What are your musical influences and life influences?
I tend to focus more on my life influences than my musical influences as far as why I’m doing what I’m doing. I like to walk! I guess musically what influences us is what our parents listened to and a lot of what James used to listen to in his youth – a lot of hip hop. A lot of what me an Aaron listened to was classic rock and The Beatles. We all enjoy having extreme experiences and doing things we’ve never done before. All these things have a really profound influence on me and they impact in a way that inspires me to do what I do. I’m sorry I’m being so vague with this. I guess if it was easy to explain we probably wouldn’t write any music.
I also read a lot of comparisons with Animal Collective. Is that something you’re consciously aware of and does it add any pressure?
I’ve heard it a lot. I think they’re a great band but we don’t directly try and sound like anyone. We’re a band who likes pop music and likes trying things out and that leads to comparisons.
You’ve been touring for four or five months now. What sort of reception do you get in Europe compared to back home?
It’s been a really good trip, we’ve been pleasantly surprised by the crowds. We had no expectations. We’re all caught up in the experience of just being here. Aaron and I have never been anywhere beyond the continent of North America so we’re kind of like little kids right now! Even meeting people who speak different languages is kind of a big deal (laughs). I wouldn’t have thought anyone in Paris would know our songs.
I guess that’s one of the great things about being a musician – you can see the impact you have on people right in front of you.
It’s really interesting, I’ve been thinking a lot while we’ve been here (Europe) about how people learn songs and will know a language partly because they like a song, and that’s really cool.
What’s the best gig you’ve played and what’s the worst gig?
On this tour I’d say the best one was the End of the Road festival which was an all round great experience – a lot of really great people and pretty countryside. The worst one in our personal history might be in some weird California bar when nobody showed up. The promoter didn’t even promote the show but we played anyway to about three people.
What difference has it made signing to Dead Oceans?
Well we have a record out in the United States and throughout Europe, and that’s the first time that’s ever happened. Also they’ve introduced us to a lot of really great people. We really like working with them, they’re now our friends. We know how to make records and they know how to release them.
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