The Feeling are back with their brand new single Rescue; which is the first track to be lifted off their fourth studio album Boy Cried Wolf.
We caught up with Richard Jones to chat about the new single, the album and what lies ahead for the band.
- The Feeling are about to return with their brand new single Rescue, so what can fans expect from this new track?
It is really hard describing music; I think the best thing to do is to go on to our website and give the new track a listen (laughs).
We are very proud of it and we are very proud of the album; we made it the whole thing ourselves last year in our own studio. We are just thoroughly of putting out a record that we had so much fun making.
- There are still a couple of weeks until Rescue is released so how have you found the response to the track so far - it does seem to be going down quite well?
It has been yeah. We have just been added to the B-list of Radio Two; so that will be A-list next week. We have had a great response there as well as a great response to the video.
It has all been quite a pleasure really because there is not a massive amount of pressure on the release of this album. We have just found the enjoyment of doing it again, and that does seem to be coming back from the feedback from people.
- There is quite a euphoric feel to the track so have you had to chance to see how it goes down with a live audience yet?
It has been going down really well. Before we had decided which song, we were going to put out as a first single, we had been playing some of them, and it was obviously going to be Rescue because it had that immediacy.
We have been playing it at festivals over the summer, and people had been getting into it despite never hearing it before. It was a really good sign.
- This is the first track to be lifted off your new album Boy Cried Wolf, so how does Rescue lead up into the rest of the record?
I think it is actually the most poppy song on the album; it is classic The Feeling sound really. Overall, I think the sound on the new album is more of a break-up album; a lot of it was written after Dan had broken up with his partner of five years and also when we left out last record company.
So there is a real thread of those emotions that goes through a new start; you are sad at the fact that that is over, but you are also very excited, liberated as well as a bit scared because you wonder whether anyone will ever love you again.
So that comes not only from Dan’s personal life but also from us as a band as we were on our own when we made this album. So I think that this is the thread that does bind the record together.
- Well, that does lead me into my next question. You have made and produced this album yourself, as you have already mentioned, so what made you want to go down that path?
After we left Universal - we had a really good seven years with them where they did an incredible job of getting us where we are; we wouldn’t be anything without them.
However, by the end of the third album, it wasn’t really working for either party any more.
So we were back on our own, and it did take us a while to get back on our feet. We didn’t really want to go out there talking to people until we had decided what we wanted to do. So we just started making music about again; the music is really the core of all of this.
So we made a record last year on our own and then at the end of the year we started playing it to a few labels to see who would put it out. BMG offered us a deal and just said ‘we will just release it’; they didn’t want to change a thing. It was perfect really, and we were very fortunate.
- When you record and produce something yourself, you do have complete control over the type of music that you make. So how great and liberating an experience is that for you as a musician?
It is, but for us, it was just like going back to when we made our first album; we produced that ourselves as well. When we signed with Island, we had already recorded the songs, so we just had to go through the process of getting them mixed and making them sound better and doing over-dubs.
So it just felt like going back to the start where it’s just the band in a room again without any of the pressures that come with having had some success.
- Was nice returning to how it use to be?
It is, actually. It has been a real pleasure, and we have just been having a lovely year. I am not going to lie; last year had its ups and downs; while we were creatively better than we had been for a long time we still had that moment where you are like ‘is this worth continuing?’ You do have to ask yourselves those questions and be realistic about it.
However, when the music started to flow again it became a pleasure. We then found a label that was happy to just put that out. So we have been able to get all the art work, do the videos and get everything done on our own terms. It has just been enjoyable; it really has.
Furthermore, we have done it on a very practical level, and so we don’t need to sell a ridiculous number of albums to make it work and economically viable. It is just more relaxed and fun again.
- This is the fourth studio album for the band so how do you feel it compares or differs from the records you have released before?
I think that our production skills have got better. I think that it is a more expansive sounding album in terms of its production, but without being overproduced; we have been guilty of that in the past after we had a bit of success.
I think that it is more concise than our last two records because it is just us; as the first album was. I am proud of the second and third albums but, looking back, there were moments when there were just a few too many cooks and opinions that made them end up being slightly compromised in certain areas.
- It was back in 2006 when you released your debut album so how do you feel that the band has developed as both musicians and song-writers between that debut record and this new album? It has been almost ten years.
I know crazy isn’t it? It has been an amazing journey. When the first album came out we had three years, pretty much, of solid touring and playing. We toured America and went to Japan; we went all around the world. It was just a phenomenal experience to have.
The second album we made in a stately home and acted like we were Led Zeppelin - it was ridiculous. By the fourth album, we are back where we stated but in a slightly more comfortable way; we have a studio in an old pub in Hackney.
So it is slightly more comfortable, but it is the same principle of a bunch of friends and musicians in a room. I think you change; you develop, and you get better but then realise that it is what you do when you are not thinking and not trying too hard that is the best thing anyway; it does take some time to get used to that.
- You are going to be heading out on the road from the middle of October so how much are you looking forward to starting to play this tracks to a live audience?
Yeah, we are very much looking forward to that. We had a really good run of festivals over the summer where we were able to try a few of them out.
We are just looking forward to the whole thing and getting out there and playing this album that we are really proud of. We are just enjoying it again, and it is exciting.
- You are one of the founding members of the band, so where did you love of music start?
When I was a child I use to sit there and listen to my dad’s vinyl; I have very early memories of listening to the Beatles albums and old Motown collections. I was always obsessed with it really.
However, I was a bit of a late starter as I didn’t actually start leaning how to play an instrument until I was a teenager. My parents did try me on piano when I was younger, but I think I had a teacher who didn’t really unlock it for me, and I just didn’t get why I needed to learn who to play all of these pieces of music that I didn’t understand.
In retrospect, I wish I had done that as I would love to have that skill. When I was a teenager, I found someone who taught me to just play by feel; that is what I have always done. I have just learnt things by ear. So that is where it all started really.
- The band formed back in 1995, and you released your debut album in 2006 - so how have you seen the industry change in the years that you have been in it?
Hugely, it has totally changed. Since the advent of the internet and then sharing technology it has absolutely flipped; the whole model is a totally different thing. In fact, I don’t think anyone knows what the new business model is.
There are lots of different ideas, and people are trying different things. Selling records is not the business anymore; the business is in the music and what the artist is; you can earn a living out that by playing shows and festivals. Records are becoming more of a calling card to promoting everything else. It has totally changed.
- How do you think that the band has embraced those changes?
We were lucky in that when we singed our first deal, we were literally one of the first last bands to sign to a major label where it was just a record deal; a year after we signed they were then asking for a cut of live income and things. So we were just on the tail end of that.
With this new album, we have signed to a completely different model because we are licensing the album to BMG, rather than signing it to them.
It is just on a really good deal. However, it is also really practical as they have based it on numbers and statistics, so it is not a high-risk thing. We are not a new band, and we have a fan base, and so we can calculate that.
The only reason that we can do it the way that we are doing it now is because of the Internet and that technology. You can reach your fans though Twitter and all these other means that are free; ten or fifteen years ago you couldn’t have done that and without a record company, you couldn’t have reached all of those people.
On one hand record sales are dying, but on the other, you can reach your fan base or build a fan base in a totally free way now; if you manage to do that you can earn a living through other things.
- Finally, what is coming up for the band between now and the end of the year?
Next week, we are going to Holland as we have some gigs and bits and pieces in Europe. Then we will be going on tour next month playing up and down the UK. We should be doing some TV stuff. We also want to get another single out this year as well.
The Feeling - Rescue is released 7th October.
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