Formerly of wonderful Merseyside band, Wild Art Fruit Collection, in recent years, Jamie Roberts has continued his creative odyssey as leader of Tepid Days.
Said to be the “musical vehicle to evade inevitable therapy sessions”, Tepid Days has been a regular live staple coming out of the pandemic haze. And having amassed a total of 21 members since its inception, the final lineup sees the Roberts (vocals/guitars) joined by Adam Craddock (bass), Tom Shand (drums), Victoria Morris (keys/vocals) and Mali Anthony (the “unofficial band hairdresser”).
Tomorrow sees Tepid Days release their debut single, The Rot. Exclusive to Sun 13, ahead of its release you can listen to the song below.
Speaking of the recording process, per the press release notes, Roberts said, “The only space we could afford to rent to record in was an empty warehouse unit in Birkenhead, it belonged to an old fishmonger and we could only spend [two] hours at a time tracking before we had to leave. We’d spend longer dragging our equipment over than we could spend recording! On vocal days, I’d be gagging between takes, and then the cockroaches moved in… I spent [four] years writing music and lyrics only to be dominated by the ghosts of old fish and creepy crawlies, it really became apparent, what are we doing with our lives?!”
With whirring keys running through song’s spine, The Rot fizzes and bangs with all sorts of wild electricity. With romantic love at its very core, by the end of The Rot, Roberts questions whether it’s worth it at all! Think somewhere between The White Album completely off the rails (in a good way) and something Ween forgot to include on Quebec!
There are more column inches to fill, and while we offered Roberts to answer a few of our questions to celebrate the release of The Rot, the Tepid Days leader went one better, suggesting he interview himself!
So, as a Sun 13 first, Roberts does just that…
Jamie Roberts: Hello, firstly, thanks for taking the time to chat with me today.
Jamie Roberts: “You’re welcome, like everyone else this October I’m just lying in bed, full of cold and wishing I had more sunshine and more money.”
JR: So, first things first, you started Tepid Days just after lockdown, why on earth has it taken you so long to do anything?
JR: “This is already a thing that has started terrifying me. I’ve spoken to several people in pubs and public spaces since announcing the song and the idea of myself as some kind of perfectionist has come up numerous times.
“That’s not true, there was a protracted period of vague mental illness and trust issues after the Lockdown it took me a good while to rediscover the trust in making music again, and then, personal circumstances remained as unsteady as ever, so it just took some time to get it going.
“Although, I counted it the other day and we have worked our way through 21 different members of the group before we landed on this consistent lineup so, maybe a LITTLE perfectionism, at least in terms of musicians.”
Tepid DaysJR: Did you ever consider that maybe you wouldn’t get back into the music game? Perhaps you could just coast on by, writing silly little bits of prose on Instagram and revelling in the scraps of attention that that provided?
JR: “Every day. It takes an unbelievable amount of work and a vast variety of tertiary skills just to do a bit of music half well. And then nobody wants to pay you, nobody wants to preserve the spaces you do these things in, it’s absurd. I’ve worked in basically every other job around bands in some capacity and you get paid for everything else, it’s somehow only the acts that don’t.”
JR: This song discusses the moment right at the end of a relationship, was this factual or fictional?
JR: “I don’t think it benefits anybody for me to let them look behind that curtain, I don’t think it would make the lyrics better to hone right in or over-explain them, right?”
JR: That sounds like you’re being a coward.
JR: ….
JR: Do you think you’re depressed?
JR: “What is this, now?”
[STORMS OUT IN EMBARRASSING STYLE]
Pre-save The Rot here.
Tepid Days play their single launch at Liverpool’s COMMUNE on Thursday October 31. Full information here.
Tepid Days - The Rot
One reply on “Track Premiere: Tepid Days’ ‘The Rot’”
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