After their illuminating set in the Red Bull tent, talk music pioneers Dan Smith and Christin Nelson of Listener kindly spared Trebuchet a few minutes of their time.
Trebuchet: Given that you’ve toured with the likes of The Chariot recently, you’re obviously comfortable playing with heavy bands. When genre of festival are you most comfortable on?
Listener: Nearly every genre – we’re open to pretty much everything. We’re comfortable here – necessity makes heavy music and a lot of hardcore is about being honest and genuine to yourself.
Trebuchet: You definitely got a great crowd reaction. How does that feel?
Listener: It’s great when people connect with what we do. We’ve spent a lot of time touring! You definitely give a lot of yourselves on stage! It’s all or nothing, really. We’ve never been able to go half-way
Trebuchet: How do you choose your set?
Listener: This is the first year we’ve thought about a set, really – we just focus on each other and the music! Where do you find your inspiration to do what you do? Living life. We just start with an idea and flush it out.
Trebuchet: You definitely have a very diverse sound
Listener: A lot of bands are stuck in a ‘we’re gonna be a hardcore band’ mindset. We write a song to what the song needs – the passion comes later, after we feel we own the song. Whatever we want to make of it, we’ll make – no genre boundaries. So what comes first, the words or the music? It all happens together, really – sometimes words, sometimes music!
Interview: Jed Saint & Kyle McSweeney
