We Have Band

Hipsters with all their hacked black tights and crop tops have given good music a bad name. There is not a single East London kid in heavy-duty DMs and fraying denim shorts filling the pages of I.D sullenly claiming to be at least partially musical, no matter how untalented, unfriendly or wasted. Thankfully, we an aural saviour, descended from musical realms on high to deliver us from this kind of crap, we give you electric trio: We Have Band.

We Have Band are Darren Bancroft, Dede and Thomas Wegg-Prosser.

So why haven’t we heard of them before now? Well, ‘Band have earnt their brownie points a little differently from their distant ‘It-band’ cousins; shunning the fanzine route they have taken to the high road and have been touring the world for the past two years, collating a barrage of musical knowledge, life experiences and credible creative stylishness that culminated in their debut album, the subtly titled, WHB. Having garnered ‘nuff respect from leading music afionados and fans alike, the band have set themselves apart from other scene stirrers by self-confessedly dubbing themselves a ‘geek’s revenge’ (just what we like to hear at –ology). Having come a long way from playing Catch and Club Motherfucker as well as the usual barrage of European taste-making clubs, the band are now poised Spidey style, synth in hand, to set the music world alight alone.

“I guess it’s a bit strange,” is vocalist and drummer Darren’s blasé summary of the recent global tour. A day after touchdown we catch up with Britain’s hottest unconventional export and find that after all the frenetic flying to and fro over four months; from the Continent to South America, the Pacific and back, a sand fight in Dubai and a tour with semi-precious Basque rock band Crystal Fighters, it is back to reality, back to a dull Dalston and Darren is having problems with his laptop. In between raving about his new obsession with musician Twin Shadow, admitting he never really, shock horror, ‘got’ the Kings of Leon and his celebrity claim to fame was having make-up done by the animator of seasonal classic, The Snowman, we discern a fact or two about what will definitely be your next repeat-button band.

The band’s name was Dede’s brainchild, because, of course behind every great band is a great woman. “It’s the only name we’ve ever had,” admits Darren, pausing. “She’s a bit strange,” he further admits. “Before we started making music, the name was there first.” Flaxen-haired Dede, who is interview-shy, is absent, nursing a sore head from the previous night’s tour wrap party, no doubt. Her and bearded band-mate Thomas are married and together with Darren they formed after a dinner-time tipple or two lead to the trio toying with a musical note here over an old drum machine et voilà, we had band.

Having effectively lived in each others’ pockets for the past two years, one might expect a few cracks to be showing; a Doherty-Barat style rivalry, perhaps? Or a diva-ish demand for stylist B.Akerlund instead of Dede’s usual vintage garbs? How about a struggle over who sings lead in a band where all three alternate on vocals? No. It would appear not. The band has a very mature approach to what they call their ‘business’.

“We’re all quite different personalities,’ muses Darren. “I’m very talkative, whereas Dede’s quite camera-shy and then Thomas is the organised one but on top of that we’ve all been friends for a while, so we all got used to the touring situation quite quickly. The only time is before we go on stage; we all get a bit fractious with nerves and deal with it differently. Like there’ll be some friction because I’ll be chatting away and moving about and the others are more reserved and quiet and they’ll be all like ‘Ok, shut up, now’,” he chuckles.

“A lot of bands break after the first album but seem so extremely grounded, so what’s the secret to staying together, ahem forever?”
WHB: The key is to have as many fun experiences as you can, it should never be boring reality. My favourite memory I suppose was seeing in the new year on Phillips Island in Australia; playing to a thousand strong crowd with a tropical storm overhead so ferocious, it threatened to cancel the gig altogether. Everyone was outside and then suddenly everyone came stampeding inside to escape the rain and there we were playing the dance stage and it was just insane, honestly amazing. Security were going mad. It was electric.

Playing a mixture of drum machine-based electro pop, what they refer to as ‘disco-rock’, We Have Band’s musical influences come in some very grand shapes and sizes indeed, from the ethereal Kate Bush, to the robotic eeriness of Talking Heads and right back to Bjork. Some heroes, huh? “It’s people who have a strong identifiable image; people that the very moment you see them or anything to do with them, you just know, you just identify with it.” And it’s this attention to detail that has become something to define ‘Band by; with meticulous videos such as stop motion animation, You Came Out and the finicky Divisive- that comes as close as you can to Sesame Street on crack under their belts.

“We like care in everything that is done,” continues Darren. They have been dubbed the new LCD Soundsystem; no mean feat and one they are extremely wary of. They are extremely suspicious of titles and press-hyped adulation, instead adopting a refreshingly modest and chancey attitude to what they do; bandying about words like ‘fun,’ strange’ and ‘random’ in the vein of an over-excited teenager. “If you think about that kind of thing it can destroy you, you can’t really think about it too much whatever path you’re on, especially with the way the world is right now.” The key thing about ‘Band is that they don’t take themselves too seriously and thank god.

“How do you feel about this hipster scene, bands like Alice Dellal’s, for example?”
WHB: I don’t know about her but in the beginning when we were starting out we had a couple of songs on the French Kitsune albums and everyone was like, ‘Oh yeah, these are the new thing’ but then the first album came out and we weren’t hip anymore. We were talking to Crystal Castles after a gig once and they were saying how relieved they were about releasing the second album because they could be taken seriously. It’s a hurdle we all have to cross when you’re new. Like, we’re not hip anymore and I’m glad. It happens in anything, any area of industry, like in fashion with bloody Gareth Pugh. We’re just happy now to have a support band to be honest.

Given the nature of the music press’ often overzealous attitude to ‘new music’; one that raves prior to the first album and then chews you up and spits you out after, it can be quite exasperating for music fans to decipher who and what are the next band for them. We Have Band is the kind of music you listened to when music felt new and exciting; in the same way that four years ago clubs were rocking Ladytron and Long Blondes and music felt fresh and young, We Have Band are from the same calibre, the same aural generation. Their pop box-fresh synth will inevitably lure even the least discerning musical ear to the dancefloor on Friday night, an otherwise dulcet melodies belie poignant lyrics and not least because You Came Out is quite possibly the most addictive track that has ever resided in my I-tunes.

Following a self-confessedly ‘random’ year, the band will continue to make music ‘they suppose’. In the vein of so many artists these days, the band want to bring the innovative nature of their visuals on stage and live to their fans; something Darren and the band are jumping in their seats at the thought of. “Last year we did some really fun and random things and I mean we’ll see where the music takes us but I think it would be quite nice to have a visual story that runs through all the singles. You’ve got to be quite brave to do something creative, got to know what’s going on out there and stuff.”

“Thomas always says ‘I’m here for a good time, not a long time.’ The fact of the matter is that none of us really know how long this is going to last or what’s going to happen next, we just want to enjoy life as it comes.”

Long live the Band!
-ology magazine, 2011