We headed down to the Magnet Club in Berlin
Heya guys! How’s
the tour been going so far?
JIM [bass]- Yeah it's been really good. The start of the tour
in the UK seems like months ago. We've only been here like three days but it
feels like we've been here ages.
CHRIS [vocals]- We've been really lucky with the weather as
well. This is our first time in Europe; we'd heard rumours and they've all been
proved right, you get treated really well over here.
So, we saw on your
last UK tour you visited the football stadium in each city; big fans then?
BOTH- Yes [laughing].
CHRIS- We're big football fans but yeah we needed
something to do so we went around and visited the stadiums. We had a lot of
spare time [laughing].
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| Coasts |
The question is,
have you been doing it in Europe as well?
JIM- [laughing] No we haven't. Even when we did it in
the UK we realised we were missing out [on doing other things].
CHRIS- We haven't really had time over here. Today we
drove for like twelve hours from Rotterdam.
JIM- We had a great night last night and we wanted to
get here early today to see Berlin but then there was a flood so we thought we
would be clever and do a re-route somewhere and it was even worse.
CHRIS- Didn't go well at all.
JIM- So then we had over eleven hours in the van in the
heat with six grown men getting angry.
CHRIS- I didn't think I'd make it.
Have you been
noticing a difference in the crowds out in Europe?
CHRIS- Yeah, they're a bit more responsive.
JIM- Yeah, they get into it a bit quicker. We can play
some places in the UK and fans just stand and watch and then at the end of the
gig you never know how well it's gone. And then you get some nice tweets about
it. It's harder to gage a reaction, but here we come off and we know
instantly.
And do you speak
any German?
CHRIS- [laughing] Very, very limited.
JIM- Chris has been here once before so we rely on him,
he's the most experienced here.
So you’ve been
compared to the likes of Friendly Fires, Foals and Two Door Cinema? How do you
take that?
CHRIS- It's nice to be compared to those bands and we do
fit into that same bracket which is cool. But I do think we do bring something
different in a sense.
JIM- When people say something like that it's a good
comparison but we feel like we're doing something that we don't hear from other
bands.
You’re called
Coasts and have a song “Oceans”; are you fans of the seaside?
CHRIS- [laughing] I love the seaside. That wasn’t
intentional at all though. Coasts just fit.
JIM- We needed a name because we kept picking names that bands had
already taken which sucked. We knew our sound was good for the summer...
CHRIS-...and tropical. So Coasts fit.
And we noticed a
palm tree on stage...
CHRIS- That's ours! She comes everywhere with us, our
little baby.
JIM- It's always the first thing out when we are un-loading
the van. People are like "You can load your stuff here" and the first
thing that comes out is the palm tree and they're like "What is
this?!" People can't believe it.
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| "Paradise" the debut EP |
CHRIS- Yeah, we're just writing loads at the moment. We'll
probably release another EP before the album but the album will come next year
for sure.
Have you found a
writing/recording style that you stick to?
CHRIS- Yeah fairly. It seems to be working at the moment
for us.
JIM- We found a place and a producer in London for the
EP and it just went so well. The plan is to go back again.
CHRIS- Yeah, if it ain't broke...
And you’ve been
picked out by the likes of NME Magazine as a band to watch out for; do you take
notice of lists like that?
CHRIS- Yeah you do take notice of it, it's really cool
because we've read the NME and are aware of what that can do for a band. It's
good because more people are going to hear about you and that's such a good
thing.
You guys are from
Bristol; what’s the music scene like there?
JIM- Yeah it's really good, it has a great live scene.
Chris is from Bristol but we all met at uni, became friends and started messing
about with music and stuff. Then we all moved to Bristol, formed the band and
went from there. It's hard because every band says there from this place or
that place so it's easier for us to say we're from Bristol.
You played at The
Great Escape Festival in Brighton and you’re going to be at Tramlines in
Sheffield; do you enjoy playing festivals as well as headline shows?
JIM- Yeah it's nice to play at something where you can
enjoy other bands afterwards.
CHRIS- We've played a few and have really enjoyed them.
We're playing some European ones as well which will be really fun to come
back. It's just different out here and really cool and it's great to travel and
see different places. It's definitely a plus of being in a band.
And finally, what’s
next for Coasts?
CHRIS- We'll be doing another tour in the next few months,
post summer.
JIM- We've got some dates already booked for like
July/August time and get them done and then after that the EP.
CHRIS- Just writing mainly.
And here's what happened when Coasts took to the stage...
They
may be relatively far from their native Bristol ,
but by the time Coasts take to the stage in Berlin
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| Coasts (and their infamous palm tree!) |
The middle of the set dips a little more so because the crowd are unfamiliar with songs, however that will come with time and the release of future singles, EPs and albums, and we're sure there will be plenty. “Oceans”,
the first single taken from EP “Paradise closes
the set the majority of the audience now enthusiastically joining in, with what
was the undoubted highlight of the night. And with plans for a debut album
already in the works it is safe to saymore success awaits. We have a sneaky
suspicion that this next year is going to be a big one for Coasts; this is just
the beginning. 7.5/10
