Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
Joe Collinson (vocals, guitar): I dunno. I listened to a lot of metal and spent a lot of time playing guitar in my room. Just wanted to learn how to play Master of Puppets.
When I went to uni I got put on to stuff like Smashing Pumpkins, My Bloody Valentine and the like, but I think some of the heavy music sensibilities stuck around.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Lozenge”?
James Heywood (bass): We’ve four singles releasing in the first half of this year that will eventually become an EP. This summer we’ll be looking to have some fun and play a few shows at venues we like to see other bands at. If you like the louder aspects of our sound, the live show won’t disappoint.
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
JC: I thought the rollout for DIIV’s tune Soul Net last year was very cool. I really liked the website they created to go with it, and the unsettling feeling it gave me reading it while listening to the song.
Musically, mostly it’s just writing lots of ideas until I find one I want to pursue. Then lyrically I’ll maybe take a feeling I’ve been having recently and run with that. Usually the best lyrics for me are the ones that just sort of happen by accident.
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the song, “Interloper.”?
JC: It’s about social anxiety and feeling very inadequate talking with and meeting people. Kind of inspired by the time just after i graduated from uni and went to a few gigs or whatever and felt very out of my depth.
JH: It’s a song about approaching something with the best intentions but floundering in the moment. There’s a sense of failure as you replay the incident and wonder why it impacted you so much.
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
JC: That’s very difficult. I would say either ‘sad’ or ‘loud’.
JH: Tinnitus.
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Interloper”?
JC: We actually ended up recording it twice – once before Jacob joined and once after. I drummed on the original version, but we decided to re-record after Jacob joined, and it was the right decision.
JH: Interloper was very much the first step taken towards this band becoming a tangible, existing thing. We were lucky in the sense that structurally it came fairly formed so we could spend time focusing on the intricacies of the overall sound and – with the help of Tom Orrell (producer) – take it to a place where it felt like a statement of intent for what’s to come next. The biggest challenge has been organising around our different work schedules to be in the same room enough times to make stuff happen.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
JC: I don’t know if there’s a unifying message. My goal is just to make work that I find satisfying and that sort of communicates what I’m feeling, whatever that is at the time. I’d really like to play at the Brudenell, which is my favourite venue in our city (Leeds, UK).
JH: There’s no overriding message so much as it’s just a case of dealing with that which is personal in an abstract rather than overly literal way. We’re trying to make music that we’d want to listen to and hope that it reaches people of a similar nature.
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
JC: Elliott Smith. I take huge influence from the way he wrote his melodies and chord progressions.
JH: I like it when musicians from a different discipline repurpose a song and to make it something new. I’d love to see someone like Jenny Hval deconstruct and rebuild one of our songs.
Jacob Marston (Drums): Death Grips.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
JC: I hope you like social media!
JH: This is easier said than done but try to detach yourself from the financial aspect of why you’re doing something and focus on the reasons you initially wanted to pursue it. All three of us fit Lozenge in around our day jobs and it can be easy for fatigue to set in. If you surround yourself with people whose intentions you trust and lean on the support of already existing local networks as you look to build up, you’d be surprised at a stranger’s willingness to help make seemingly big things manageable.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
JH: Join a union.
