TENDER on Audiotree Live (Full Session)

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to AudioTree Live. It is November 11th, 2024 and I'm your host, Fingy. Before we get into today's session, I do urge you to subscribe to our YouTube channel. Stay in the loop with all the amazing music we have going down in this studio. With that being said, we're on all streaming services, so Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, and beyond. You name it, we're there. Tap in. Without further ado, I'm so stoked to introduce, all the way from the UK, we got Tinder. Take it away. Please don't let me be the coward that gave up on you. Come clean. Too much time to gain. Proud to be a better self. Could be worse, yeah, you could be better. Stay inside, beyond all others. I don't get me out of bed, except the voice is in my head. Wasting away with you instead. Alone, alone. The greater fortitude. Safely home, alone with you. Wasting time, but what a view you are. Nobody told me when you were someone for real. That your mind's on hold and your heart's behind you. I'm so caught up in you, and it's all up inside of you. The greater fortitude, for the ones I know. Not the same as I used to be. My friends all lost touch with me. There's nobody to blame but myself. Nobody told me when you were someone for real. That your mind's on hold and your heart's behind you. I'm so caught up, so numb inside of you. The greater fortitude, for the ones I know. The greater fortitude, for the ones I know. Not the same as I used to be. My friends all lost touch with me. Nobody told me when you were someone for real. That your mind's on hold and your heart's behind you. There's nobody to blame but myself. We're together just a little too much. For you, if you do that, our team will continue to book the best bands we can, listen to your feedback, and book who you want to hear on this show, continuing to capture and share astounding music to you all. Thank you. Tender, thank you for being here. Thank you for having us. And, you know, thank you for deciding to dress in a colorway that compliments my outfit. This is the band uniform you're part of it now. Right. Well, I was going to break the fourth wall and say we all share the same mom, and she picked out our outfits. But, you know, that would kind of ruin the magic. But listen, we got a new project out, Flux. Very sonically eclectic, if I do say so myself. I'm hearing Future Bass, I'm hearing Shoe Gaze, Break B, I'm hearing Trap and Drill, I'm hearing Gospel, I'm hearing a lot of sonic influences, and I was wondering where that all came from. Is that because for a time we were in London and living there and experiencing that and being surrounded by such international citizens? Yeah, I guess so. Like, London is, you know, it's an amazing place to be and write music. Even if it's subconsciously, I'm sure some of that falls into that. But yeah, we've since left the city, but this was written during our time in London. But yeah, Dan, any thoughts on that? Yeah, no, I think that's spot on, really. It's, you know, cliche, but it's a melting pot of culture, isn't it? And having that time off, like, through COVID and lockdown, kind of gave us time to take stock and take in other influences. And yeah, I think that's all just fed into the way this record's turned out. Yeah, yeah. And it's also quite production heavy. I can hear that there are producers in this band, not just musicians, from, you know, the soundscapes and the sample play that you use. And I'm also happy to hear this project because historically, the vocals have been a little more hidden within the mix, and it's exciting to hear it pop out. How has that been for you, making that adjustment? Yeah, that sort of just came over time, I think, getting more confident with it. And also, I guess, the words in this record were a bit more personal and a bit more, you know, about... It didn't work hiding behind all of those layers, you know? Yeah, I think over the time, we've been in this band for a long time now. And yeah, the confidence, maybe getting a bit better at singing, just feels like it needed to be front and centre. James never started out as a vocalist, so it's kind of... He was always a guitarist in a band, and then he came to play a bit more keys, and he's grown, yeah, as you say, in confidence. And I think his voice is spot on now. We're letting him come to the front. Yeah, I love that. And it's cool, too, to see that growth in tandem, because I also know during this time, somebody became a father, which is very exciting. And we have multiple parents in this room. And this idea of focusing in on your vocals as you're focusing in on raising a new life, as you're focusing in on having a more streamlined project as in regards to its concept, is just really a beautiful personal and artistic cohesion. How has that been adjusting as a parent and finding focus within your priorities in life and how that plays a role within your own artistry? Yeah, it's a big one. It's a big change. I mean, Dan's father as well. He's got two, and I've only got the one, so I can't compete. But yeah, it's just everything, like the way you go about writing music. Before, you can be kind of selfish. Everything is when you want to do it. Like, I'd write music when I felt like writing music. And now it's like you have to slot it into these little windows of time and try and make something happen while juggling that sort of family thing. But it gives you real clarity, and I've never felt more driven to write music and make music since being a father. So maybe that's helped, subconsciously maybe, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. And have you found that, almost like you said, these boxes where you have to figure out when to slot that, has that limitation ended up having the flip effect of providing boundaries to think outside of them? Perhaps. I guess we never sort of put ourselves in... Well, I think it feels a little bit more focused in terms of when we are working together. It's like a little window as we get involved. It's not so much, oh, we'll break now, and we'll do something a bit later, and something will come. It's more a case of just getting everything down, and then we can assess it later on. So I think it's better getting more ideas down quicker. Yeah, I guess so. And as well, we sort of come back to ideas a bit more now, before it used to happen so quickly, and we'd just move on, but now it's very much like we can afford ourselves time to go back to something. It doesn't have to have an overnight, because it's so hard to get together as a band. It almost builds in time for the concepts to marinate. Yeah, for sure. You can come back and relisten and have a fresh head on it. Yeah, beautiful. And hey, it's translating. I'm liking what I'm hearing. Thank you. Should we do a couple more? Yeah, for sure. Sick. Don't be late I'm coming home this evening Cause I don't wanna, I don't wanna know Keep your secrets I'm a wolf in sheep's skin Where the hell have I been? I'm like someone else around me Still haven't been myself For weeks and weeks I don't know what I put you through Cause you're not you You're not who I know I'll give you my world Don't make me try and I'll be up till six in the morning This world, you are from Boy, I'm off to another world Don't leave me We should be leaving Try to contain I'm pretty beaten But you've got me with my wounds And I barely remember you I'm coming home this evening Cause I don't wanna, I don't wanna know Keep your secrets I'm a wolf in sheep's skin Where the hell have I been? I'm like someone else around me Still haven't been myself For weeks and weeks I don't know what I put you through Cause you're not you You're not who I know I'll give you my world Don't make me try and I'll be up till six in the morning This world, you are from Boy, I'm off to another world Don't leave me We should be leaving Try to contain I'm pretty beaten But you've got me with my wounds And I barely remember you I'm coming home this evening Cause I don't wanna, I don't wanna know Keep your secrets I'm a wolf in sheep's skin Where the hell have I been? I'm coming home this evening Cause I don't wanna, I don't wanna know Try to contain I'm pretty beaten But you've got me with my wounds Out of the key So I'm out of place To do Cause all that ---- Not yet It's gonna feel Maybe I'm out of time Jump off the cliff On my side Hands on my south side Cut glass and hollow inside Freshed up on Southfield Don't go so tender with me Think I deserve you Call my feet and ask you Listen If I know how you feel Kneel upon the crest in white Wish I had the time To let things grow Couldn't hide you for a lifetime I want that extra of daylight So I can cherish you Sunshine Sometimes I can let myself feel Maybe I'm out of time Jump off the cliff On my side Hands on my south side Cut glass and hollow inside Freshed up on Southfield Don't go so tender with me Think I deserve you Ask you Forever Need you Forever I can't wait till I'm needed forever That's beautiful. God willing, I guess. So with this new project, I was wondering, what are some creative abilities that you discovered within yourself through making this project? I think over the years we've sort of slowly got better at just production and writing. We've sort of grown as songwriters. But I think with this time, like I was saying earlier, just being able to go back to old ideas, that would have been throwaway normally. It used to be instant gratification if it wasn't written in like a day. Don't want to do that anymore. I think this time around, because of the way that our lives have changed, going back to something and really giving it time and letting it settle before making a decision, that was something for sure for me on this record that changed. Yeah, I kind of like the way that you go through spells of having a different kind of palette instrumentally in your head or production ideas. You'll use the same effects or same instruments. So to go back to something that we started working on three years ago, oh ----, I didn't, I haven't been using that effect or something for a while. So it's nice to marry that with what you're doing now and kind of intertwine the two rather than just stuck in the now. It is nice to write new songs and make it all fresh, but then you can lean on your past as well. I think it just makes it interesting. So recontextualizing past production techniques with three years post musical growth. And would you say during those three years before the revisit, were you playing instruments more? Were you listening to new music that helped inform that new taste? Or what was it? Yeah, I think we were probably listening to a bit more new music at that time. But also I think where we didn't know what we were doing, that's good in a creative sense. You can be too clear with your vision when you get good at something. So I like it is a bit raw and we can then interpret that a new way with the fresher sounds and cleaner sounding things around it. Yeah, that's sick. And then when you translate this music into a live nature and you're performing with an astounding world-class band while working with musicians and making this transformation, has their artistry and creativity re-informed yours to then modulate and elevate the recorded tracks into live tracks? Yeah, I guess so. Like I said, we've grown as people and we've learned a lot doing it. But also this record was produced by a friend of ours called Frank Colucci who did the first record actually and he's come a long way as well since those early days. I feel like people around us for sure have grown with us. Yeah, I agree with that. Yeah, it's difficult. When we actually play the songs live, we've already recorded and made the song and it's usually out there in the world and then we basically relearn it as a live band. So it's hard to, not saying you guys don't teach us anything, but it's not in terms of the tracks that are already laid down. It's new stuff for the upcoming songs basically. Right, right. You're not like figuring out live, shopping it and then tracking it. Exactly. We've known these guys for years as well. We've been in numerous bands that we won't mention, but like old bands when we were kids and things, these guys grew up with us. When you were kids, that's awesome. And now, I mean, you're clearly traveling the world, which is awesome. Also, I like the canvas on the Flux title track of y'all just chilling in Joshua Tree, sitting on a boulder, pondering. But it's real because like, whoa, I've had moments on those boulders myself in Joshua Tree. They're quite inspiring. And I was wondering, where are some places on your musical sabbaticals and adventures you've taken that have been a large source of inspiration? That's a tough one. I mean, we come out here and you know, you go out west and it's beautiful and arid and very alien to back home. So that's quite inspiring. But we didn't get to go out there very often. So I suppose like dreary UK is our inspiration, isn't it really? The rain. Damp. Yeah, the damp. But what else? You know, we have been further afield and things like when we went to Istanbul, we've got like some samples that we've taken from a record that was found in a record shop when we were out there. Instrumentally, there's a few like influences, but it's nothing too upfront and yeah, nothing too clear essentially. We're not like claiming that as our own. It's just, you know, interesting textures. But yeah, we have been lucky that we've been able to travel around and play shows. And yeah, it's been a long time now. It's been like four and a half years. Yeah. It's a beautiful revisit. And I heard we're grilling it up at the RV stops. Hell yeah. Just shooting, shooting dice, living the American experience. Yeah. We were crammed into a little bus thing. So yeah, it's, you know, days off. That's a welcome break. Just hanging out by the fire. Beautiful. I love that. Maybe with this outfit, it's gotten me a ticket to join you sometime. You're welcome. You're welcome to join us. Well, shall we close this one out? Sure. That's all me. I'm scared to leave my perfect truth All I need lights are dimming and the air is cold breathing heavy but I know it's wrong hope I never wake my best mistake let me see you in the early light I barely know your name it's hard to hide the shame but that's on you I wonder if you're gonna blame me when it's time we strike your mind we scatter light hope the sun doesn't rise cause the fear's on fire I'm scared I'll be over when the morning comes I've fought too many things in my life I'm scared to leave my perfect truth All I need lights are dimming and the air is cold breathing heavy but I know it's wrong hope I never wake my best mistake Thank you for having us. Now, I'm like, it's a beautiful day outside in Chicago but I kinda wish it was a London gloomy day now. I don't at all. Yeah, right, right, right. Thank you to our crew for getting this done. Can't do it without you. And thank you for watching. We also wouldn't be here without you. By the time you are watching this, what you heard in the studio is on all streaming services. So, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, you name it, this is there. Tap in. My name is Fingy. Thank you so much for watching. We'll catch you next time. Peace. Alright, so you guys wanna do it for real now?