The Download site was pretty much a bathtub of doom this year. Turbowolf offered a place of refuge from the rain with their set inside a giant tent halfway through the Saturday. The show brought mosh-pits, a giant conga and some new material. We caught up with them on their home-turf following the gig:
How did today go for you?
Today went great. We played the right set for the right audience. We haven’t played live in quite a few months so we’ve been holed-up writing songs together. That’s why it was nice to be able to walk out on a stage with loads of people there.
Download almost feels like your home in a festival capacity…
Yeah absolutely. I get quite nervous with these big shows but I walked out today feeling much more settled. It’s like familiar because you recognise a lot of the faces out there.
I can see you guys slaying a main-stage soon…
I guess we’ll let the people decide ultimately. It’s not something we’ve considered because we like to take it one step at a time. Popularity is overrated. I don’t want to be loved by everyone, I just appreciate the people who do love us. If that means that we’re playing in front of three-hundred people who love us, then I’d rather do that than ten-thousand who aren’t fussed.
Today was massively different from the early days back in Bristol…
Back in the day we used to say it was a good show if eight people turned up. If those eight were up for it then that was all that mattered. There was at least eight today, maybe even ten! I don’t even know what it is now, I never think we’re a successful band. We’re constantly moving forward, if you stop and think about it then that’s when it gets weird. We also don’t listen to people, it’s dangerous to believe your own hype. It’s best to just crack on.
The new track ‘Domino’ was a storm, was that worked on solidly?
That’s what we’re doing this year really, this is our only show in the UK in 2016. We’re just solidly concentrating on writing. Me and Andy write the music, get together and jam stuff out. We’re all based in Bristol, we have no need to go anywhere else.
Does that make the Bristol shows special then?
It just seems to be. We remind people that we’re from Bristol every now and again and the hometown shows are a bit special. For me the last show at The Croft was a very special show. That’s where we all learned to hang-out, drink, that was our place. It probably gets a shout out in your magazine every month but we can’t emphasise enough how much that place meant to us. The guys who ran it like Matt and Paul and stuff, we just want to thank them for all the work we put in.
What’s your favourite story from that era?
There was a clock behind the bar that I spent an awful lot of time looking at over the years; and when we were all getting kicked out Matt took the clock off the wall, took the battery out and gave me the clock. I’ve now got it in my kitchen at home so I know exactly what time the party stopped.
Just to finish up, when can we expect that new material?
Definitely in the future I’d say, although they can do amazing things these days so you never know. I would say early next year, we’re trying to get in the studio at some point this year. So we’ll see what happens. People that know us will be aware that we don’t rush stuff. We want to make something that’s great so if it takes a bit longer then so be it.
Check out some early Turbowolf right here:
