Coasts | Full Interview

I can’t wait to have my hands on the vinyl, basically.

This time last year, Coasts were thrilled to be selling out the modest Louisiana. But oh, how things can change in such a short space of time; this summer they’ve been playing some of the world’s biggest festival stages and have landed a deal on Warner. I shared a few words with frontman Chris Caines about this transition, their new album and the upcoming tour.

The jet-lag having not quite set in following the band’s return from LA, Chris is wholly enthused about the release of their first proper record this month. “It’s great, obviously when you first start a band it’s one of those things that you aspire to eventually have. I can’t wait to have my hands on the vinyl basically, and to play it on my own record player. It’s a bit of a surreal thing I guess, but we’ve worked super hard to get here so it’s kind of an indication of that.”

Sheer hard work has been key to the success of this band; it took the former Bath University students four years of slogging to create traction and get the right people interested. They, like so many other bands, faced local shows in front of a handful people on damp weeknights in the city. Although those days are gone, they’re not forgotten and the album almost details the band’s journey up until this point. “Some of the songs we’ve had since when we first started around four years ago, they’ve just been reworked. So the album just feels like a chronicle of where we’ve been since the beginning.”

An unusual decision was taken for the album — to work with six different producers. The idea behind this, explains Chris, was to pull their attention on individual tracks and ensure each one was given its own sound. “The album feels like a collection of singles really, that are all shaped into a bigger thing. Using so many producers was certainly a different way of doing it. Most bands go into the studio with one person, and that works, but for us we wanted to do something different.”

Those who’ve been following Coasts’ steps so far will be expecting hard-hitting, shimmering summer anthems — and they wouldn’t be far wrong. “We write pop music essentially, songs that we know will work in front of a massive audience who, we hope, will be screaming the words back at us. That’s where we start with the songs.” Yes, few bands are as festival-ready as Coasts.

Although to an outsider it might look like this band have swept to commercial success, Chris says it feels like a very natural progression. “It still feels organic because it’s happened over the space of years and years. So it’s been really gradual for us. In the wider view of things though, we signed a major record deal at the end of last year and are playing bigger venues, so I guess changes like that will always come quickly. For us though, making the music and playing the songs live, nothing has really changed. The dynamic of the group is the same as it always has been, five mates just having a laugh onstage”.

When I ask about their relationship with big-boys Warner Music, the intentions of this band become vividly clear. “I think they’re essential for us to move on and to get where we want to be. We want to be one of the biggest bands in the country one day, so the kinds of things they can do are important to us.”

It’s staggering how the goalposts can shift from last year’s aim of selling out The Louisiana, to becoming one of the top acts in the UK and beyond. Whatever that means to them, I’m sure they’ll continue to do Bristol proud.

Tickets are now on-sale for next month’s Marble Factory show, which will no doubt help them on their way.

Coasts’ shimmering self-titled debut is out 25th September.

Check out ‘Oceans’ right here: