Before their show at Think Tank in Newcastle, Alex Joyce sat down with Superfood lead-guitarist Ryan Malcom to chat about their new, innovative sound for 2017...
Q: How are you finding the 2017 Bambino tour so far?
A: We’re absolutely loving it, so good. We haven’t had our first headline tour in a while so we are trying to keep the momentum going.
Q: What’s the best thing about Newcastle for you?
A: I know that it has bloody lovely bridges!
Q: Your new album is called Bambino, what was your inspiration behind it?
A: When we wrote our first album it was not a true representation of the kind of music we were into. This second album we were way more comfortable around each other and the music we were into. We detached ourselves from worrying about what other people wanted and did what we wanted to do.
Q: It’s been 3 years since your debut album ‘Don’t Say That’- what have you learnt in those 3 years?
A: We’ve learnt just to believe in ourselves more and not overthink things too much - simply do what we think is good. Particularly, not putting too much pressure on ourselves.
Q: This album definitely felt more relaxed and playful…
A: That’s definitely how it felt for us. I think the reason why we called it Bambino was just because we were making those kid references and stuff like that. Having that kid mentality is a good mentality to have throughout life.
Q: What’s your favourite song to perform and why?
A: Probably ‘Supersoul’- that’s really fun to play. It’s because of the effect that we use on our guitar auto-war which makes it go “war war war”, a bit like a duck.
Q: Is that everyone’s favourite?
A: I think so actually. I feel that. That was one of the new songs we didn’t have to work much because we all just clicked when we were learning it. It was one of those effortless ones to play.
Q: What artists have you been listening to as a band or individually?
A: Me and Dom have been listening to a lot of LA hip-hop producers and stuff like that. Recently I’ve been listening to Wolf Alice a lot. We are with her on her tour in November which I can’t wait for. I've been listening to those guys a lot because they’re great.
Q: What has been the weirdest gig you’ve ever performed at?
A: Ever, ever? I know the answer to this I think. There was a really weird gig we played at in Ireland when we were first touring. We went to Ireland; I don’t know why. We actually performed in front of one man. One man stood against a pillar, there was no one else at the venue. We chatted to him afterwards he was really nice and was like, “I really liked it, it was great”. Its so uncomfortable just having one person just standing there looking at you.
Q: Who was your musical icon when you were younger and why?
A: Pharrel Williams was mine- yeah he was just an idol. I can’t speak on behalf of Dom, but I think Dom’s was Tom Jones. He’s really old but Dom still loves him now and plays him every night.
Q: What is the song writing process for superfood?
A: Well, me and Dom are just really old pals. We used to live with each other, so we are always jamming together. It varies sometimes. I’ll have half a song and share it with Dom and sometimes Dom has half an idea of a song and we mix it together. Most of the time we sit together and think about themes, think about riffs. Lately, we have been sampling a load of old beats and music so we were sending each other drum beats and asking each other, “What do you think of this? What do you think of that?”. Its all fun, it’s great.
Q: If you weren’t a musician what would you be?
A: I think I’d be homeless. Actually if I could be anything, I’d probably want to be a fireman. They are just cool aren’t they. I saw some firefighters the other day and they just jumped out the engine and I was walking from my street. They had the helmets on and stuff, they were just marching alongside me. I was in awe of them, I felt like I was a little school girl again.
Q: So is the next album going to be about firefighting?
A: Fireman Sam? It would be a pretty cool song.