Interview with Fossil Collective

Fossil Collective are a Leeds-based band duo who next month launch their UK debut album tour. The duo is made up of multi-instrumentalists Jonny Hooker and David Fendick. To date they have released highly acclaimed EP’s On and On and Let It Go both of which have secured the bands must hear and must see status. This April they release their debut album Tell Where I Lie, we spoke to Jonny about the impending tour and what to expect from their album.

A: Since Fossil Collective formed, how has the band developed?

JH: Dave and I started Fossil Collective after the break up of another band we were in Vib Gyor. It was very much part of a healing process and a chance for us to just enjoy writing music and being creative again, there was never any set plan as such, so we feel really lucky to have been so busy and productive this past year. Since we signed to Dirty Hit Records and released the two Ep’s we’ve had the chance to travel, play on some stages we’d only ever dreamed of (our second show was at the Shepherds Bush Empire) and to record in some really great studios. The band has evolved with this too and we now have Sean, Antonio and Zane who play with us and have completed things – great musicians.

A: Where do you draw your influences from?

JH: As a band we all listen to music pretty relentlessly to be honest and I guess in this respect our musical influences are really diverse. When we’re touring now we have to take turns as to who gets control of the playlist, it can make for quite an eclectic mix and it can go from Air to Ravi Shanker and everything in between. If it’s good, it gets played!!

A: How would you describe your writing process? Is it a natural quick progression or more of an experimental method?

JH: Sometimes we write as individuals and sometimes as a group. A song can start from anywhere, a beat, a chord progression, a mood. Initially a lot of our ideas were based around the acoustic guitar but we’ve wanted to move away from this a little and so we started leading with the piano or the drums. Lyrically Dave and I will build the song up as it goes along and we try to leave tell a story but always leave some ambiguity as we like different people to be able to interpret our songs differently. As the band has developed more we’ve also found that we’re starting to work on ideas in the rehearsal room. Eventually I think it would be nice to play all the ideas live and really work the parts out before recording them – we did this with our latest single Wolves and it was really interesting to flip things around.

A: This year you’re busy with your UK album tour; you’re really starting to make waves in the industry. How do you feel about it all?

JH: We feel really lucky and privileged to be doing what we love in life. At the moment we’re busy taking the songs we recorded for the debut album and working out how to play them in the live show as most of them we’ve never played before as a band, it’s a challenge but a good one. We then have a busy UK tour coming up in April / May and some of the shows are close to selling out with a month to go so we’re obviously very keen to get going with it and hit the road. After that we have some plans to go over to the USA which will be really great. Then it’s festival season. As I say lucky and privileged!!

A: Your debut album is out on 8th April 2013, that must be so exciting. What can we expect from this album?

JH: The album is a collection of songs we’ve recorded over the last year or so, a couple of our fans will know but otherwise it’s completely new material. We went into Vale Studios a few times at the end of last year and finished all the recordings and then mastered it at Abbey Road. Having lived with it for a few months now I can say we’re really very proud of it. We’ve put a couple of sneak preview tracks up on our soundcloud page so far (www.soundcloud.com/fossilcollective) and the response has been overwhelming so we’re keen for everyone to hear the finished album.

A: The video for your song Let It Go directed by Ashley Dean, scooped first prize in ASFF 2012, how did that feel?

JH: It was really great for it to be acknowledged in this way. We’ve done two stop animation videos with Ashley now (On And On / Let It Go) and to see the amount of time and passion he puts into them is amazing. Let It Go was filmed over a few months by him and his team and it involved moving the characters by hand, taking photo’s and then putting it all together in real time. He’s super talented so it’s nice to see him get the recognition he deserves too. The animated videos get by far the most views on YouTube.

A: A lot of 2013 is taken up with your UK tour, what else can we expect to see from you this year?

JH: This year is shaping up to be very busy from a touring perspective and I guess this will continue to be honest. We also plan to do lots of writing whilst on the road and start working on the next EP’s and Album. If we can continue to be busy and creative then we’ll be very happy indeed.

Fossil Collective start their UK tour on 10 April in York. See here: www.fossilcollective.com to find out more.

You can pre-order their debut album here.