There comes a time when a band or an artist comes up with their masterpiece. That’s what Volcanoes have achieved with their previous single “When We Melodise” which still remans one of my all-time favourites… The question I have is this: HOW on Earth do you follow up after that? How do you choose the next single and what goes on in your mind when having to make that kind of decision? We have decided to e-meet Volcanoes again and have a chat about their new single, old single and everything in between.
Hi guys, and here we e-meet again. I still absolutely love When We Melodise, by the way. My first question is: What made you choose Up In Smoke as a follow-up single?
Thanks that’s really nice of you (though does this mean you don’t like Up In Smoke?). Following up a song like Melodise was always going to be quite difficult for us, we just don’t really sound like that, it’s a bit of a one off. Rightly or wrongly we decided our follow up release should continue in the spirit of WWM. Our chilled music seems to be going down pretty well.
I love Up In Smoke too! I just wanted to know hat made you choose it… So what have you guys achieved by releasing When We Melodise so far and what do you expect from the second single?
Since releasing When We Melodise we’ve suddenly become much more focused on our music and we’ve realised that we might have a future in music after-all. For the first time in our 10 slog, people actually seemed to notice us. I guess we hoped Up in Smoke would cement our potential and we could reach out to some new fans. We’re not really aiming for meteoric success, we are genuinely delighted that people listen to our music. We’re just working on a single by single basis, if our profile raises each time then more will follow.
What’s changed since our last interview that you’d like to share with us?
We’ve decided not to release ‘Radiogeist’ the LP which started all the fuss. We just think it could be better with a bit more TLC and I’m not happy with some of my lyrics. As soon as we can, we’re going to go back into the studio to make the required changes but we’re also working on a new album which we might take over.
Oh that sounds amazing and I cannot wait to hear your new material! What’s the greatest achievement so far for Volcanoes in 2014 and why?
Getting 30,000 people to hear our music and getting played on BBC Radio 2.
Imagine 30 thousand different people listening to the song you’ve created from scratch. And what’s the biggest disappointment so far for Volcanoes in 2014 and why?
It’s ridiculous but we thought we might get a spot at Glasto this year which remains our number 1 ambition. We progressed quite deep into the emerging talent competition but obviously didn’t win. At the time we were riding the When We Melodise wave and I really thought it would happen for us this year.
What makes you guys different as a band from all the other bands out there and why?
I’m very proud that we’ve managed to stick it out over the last 10 years and managed to evolve and write music that is still relevant. We’re not exactly Radiohead but in our own way we push ourselves to write interesting music.
We’re also very proud of how many different bands we get compared to. Everyone has a different view and it’s great that we can’t be pigeon holed.
The video for When We Melodise was lo-fi and absolutely beautiful. What concept should we expect from the upcoming Up In Smoke video?
Aww thanks! Were really excited about the Up In Smoke video which is another home production but this time no puppets. It’s a live action, starring my wonderful cousin Georgina who has absolutely nailed it. You’ll have to wait and see.
What’s Up In Smoke about?
In short, trying to impress and failing.
Oh, that sounds like me in a nutshell every time I try to chat someone up at a bar… Have you got any shows lined up?
We’re playing Tramlines in Sheffield this July which is going to be amazing. We’re working on a London date but that’ll probably be in the autumn.
What’s next in store for Volcanoes after the next single is out?
Our only plans are to see how this single goes and if it does well enough to finance another release, we’ll release another. Hopefully momentum will build and we can write that magical tune that changes our future.

Thank you to the wonderful Volcanoes for sharing their music and thoughts with us!


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