Interview: Pale Waves
18th December 2017
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Remarkably, considering how inscrutable their cultural presence is, Pale Waves sold out their first headline tour.
Everything, from their interviews, to the two songs with black space artwork available in October, and their all-business social media presence, is small and unassuming.
Besides their background (singer-guitarist Heather and drummer Ciara met in 2014 while studying at the University of Manchester, soon connecting with bassist Charlie and guitarist Hugo), the most frequently discussed aspect about them is their relationship with The 1975, one of the most assuming bands of the decade. So how did they feel about that so consistently discussed link?
“It’s because of who they are. They’ve only produced two tracks and we’ve gone on tour with them, it’s not like we’re a different part of their band” said Heather, with matter-of-fact resignation. “Because The 1975 are so popular, people wanna mention it all the time. If we worked with someone else for two tracks, why would it be such a big deal?”
Ciara, with telepathic timing, added “we don’t resent it, we love those guys. It’s just that when people give us criticism for kind of leeching on them-” before Heather takes over: “that was never anyone’s intentions. We just love them, and they love us, and we wanted to make some art together.”
“Our EP is finished basically, it’s just being mixed, we’ve recorded all of it. And we’ve wrote like half of our album” said Ciara, answering the hanging question of when that art’s coming. “We’re going to release our album next year fingers crossed, we just need it to be perfect. We’re not going to wait too long, because it’s in quite high demand. Somehow!”
Given their stint in America, their own headline tour, and the downtime in-between, they must have found inspiration for dozens of songs. How would they choose what went onto the album?
“I like watching a band grow, watching the music develop and change” Heather tells me. She continues, “obviously when you write a song you get really excited about it, and so you want it to be everywhere-”, before Ciara cuts in “-But if you hold onto those songs that you think are better than the old ones, wait until the second album ‘cause then you see progression and better writing.” It’s important that they show who they were when they started, as well as where they are now.
This self-awareness comes out on multiple topics: one is what advice they’d give to students who wanted to start a band. “Don’t rush anything... figure out what you want to do, how you want to be seen. And just spend the time on getting it right” Heather tells me, getting straight to a principle that appears to consume Pale Waves: managing expectations.

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