[music]

Alison Stewart: This is All Of It, I'm Alison Stewart. The Heavy Heavy, our UK band on the come-up, currently on tour in the US, and then it's off to their home country in late May, and then back across the pond for a summer tour around the United States. Their debut EP, Life and Life Only came out in summer of 2022 and just last month, they released an extended edition of that EP with some new songs, and their full-length debut album is on the way next year. The band was formed in Brighton in 2019 by co-founders Georgie Fuller and Will Turner. Here's a little bit of The Heavy Heavy.

[MUSIC - The Heavy Heavy: All My Dreams]

Alison Stewart: The Heavy Heavy just played New York last night and head to Delaware for a show later on, but first they were kind enough to come by our studio. I'm surrounded by musicians. Co-founders, Georgie Fuller and Will Turner, along with the rest of The Heavy Heavy, we have Houston Matthews and Thomas Holder, and Ben Parker. Did I get everybody?

Will Turner: Yes.

Alison Stewart: I got everybody. Welcome to the studio, y'all. You're going to perform a song for us. What are we going to hear first?

Will Turner: Go Down River.

Alison Stewart: Let's do it.

[MUSIC - The Heavy Heavy: Go Down River]

Alison Stewart: That was gorgeous. That's Go Down River by The Heavy Heavy. They're our guests for the rest of the hour. The rumor is, well that was one of the first songs that y'all wrote together.

Will Turner: Yes. That's one of the very first, yes.

Alison Stewart: Okay, so the rumor's true.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Can you take us back to that time? Can you paint where were you? What headspace were you in?

Will Turner: At the time, I wrote that before we moved to London. I was in very, very rural English countryside, and it was very green. I spent a lot of time outside on the hills with my friends having good times. It's just this dream-like vision of the great outdoors as it were. It is. It's meant to sound like it's outside. I haven't actually ever thought about it. Now you've mentioned it.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: That'll be awesome, maybe next time you play it outside.

Will Turner: Yes, yes.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Next time. Georgie said the band was formed in Brighton and for folks who haven't been to Brighton, it's this really, this seaside city with this-- it's got its own personality?

Georgie Fuller: Very much so.

Alison Stewart: Very much so. How would you describe?

Georgie Fuller: Well, they call it London by the sea. It's got all of the kind of creativity and the pace and excitement of London, but then I know New Yorkers will appreciate this, then suddenly you look out and there's the water. That's a really amazing thing that London doesn't have so much as New York, I don't think, and that Brighton gives you in the UK, which is super cool. You just get this moment where there's a whole wall of sea and no people. [laughs]

Alison Stewart: S o interesting. We're talking about nature a lot, for people who are city people.

Georgie Fuller: Yes, yes. Well, we both grew up kind of in amongst the hills and countryside and then gravitated towards cities, but our heart lies in the countryside.

Alison Stewart: You guys are on tour as I mentioned, and you played New York last night. Well, how do you know you're playing for a New York crowd?

[laughter]

Will Turner: That is a good question.

Georgie Fuller: I actually said last night during the show that I love New York crowds because they feel like London crowds. There's an edge to New York crowds there. I don't know. It's front foot and a bit electric and like, "Go on, show us what you got."

Will Turner: Yes, I'd agree with that.

Alison Stewart: How do you feel about that?

Will Turner: I agree.

Alison Stewart: I mean, how do you feel to a musician about that when you hit the stage?

Georgie Fuller: Oh, it's cool.

Will Turner: It's always good to see people having a good time listening to our music. It's good. It's always good. I think every place we go has got a different flavor for sure, but I think they're all good flavors.

Alison Stewart: I was going to ask since you've been touring around the states, what is something about the United States that maybe you had one thought about, and touring it maybe changed your mind?

Georgie Fuller: I knew it was big, but I don't think I realized quite how big, and also how many varying terrains there are. It's unreal to drive for 8 to 10 hours and you're in mountainous Colorado and then you get to flat more New Mexico or Texas or something, and it's just beautiful.

Alison Stewart: We're going to have you play another song for us. Will, can you set up this? It's Miles And Miles?

Will Turner: Miles And Miles indeed, yes.

Alison Stewart: Tell us a little bit about it before we listen.

Will Turner: Miles And Miles was conceived with the imagination of driving across America.

Alison Stewart: Oh, nice segue. Well done.

Will Turner: It's come full circle.

Alison Stewart: Here's The Heavy Heavy with Miles And Miles. [MUSIC - The Heavy Heavy: Miles And Miles]

Alison Stewart: We'll have more with The Heavy Heavy after a quick break. This is All Of It.

[music]

You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. We're back with The Heavy Heavy. I'm going to ask you to introduce everybody again. You'll do a better job than I did.

Will Turner: On drums we've got Houston Matthews, on bass we have Thomas Holder.

Thomas Holder: Hi there.

Will Turner: We have, he's got two names, Frank Fogden on guitar, myself, Will Turner, and the lovely Georgie Fuller on vocals.

Alison Stewart: They are The Heavy Heavy. Your EP, Life and Life Only, Georgie, what does that title mean, and you're not going to say something about nature.

Georgie Fuller: I'm actually not. You've given me a question where I can't talk about nature. Thank you. It's a Bob Dylan lyric. It's from, It's Alright, Ma. It's the final line. We just love that song and it's such an amazing and succinct way to round up that song. I don't know, we were listening to it one day and we went, yes, that's the title.

Alison Stewart: What was on your mind, Will when you thought, this is our going to be our EP, this is going to be an introduction in a way for people who don't get a chance to see you play live?

Will Turner: It's stepping into a golden dream world and bringing back a certain sound which is familiar to people and also new to others. It is exciting to make stuff that people have maybe not heard before, but also a sound that people have had and then not had for a while. It's bringing it back and also carrying it on. It's exciting just to be able to make that style of production for me, which is a huge part of why I do this, is to make those similar sounds to my favorite records with the reverbs and the vocals and all of that. I just wanted more of it in the world, so I had to do it myself.

Alison Stewart: Georgie, when you had to choose which songs to put on the EP, what was your criteria? What were you thinking about as you had to make those decisions?

Georgie Fuller: I don't know. Will, I'm going to have to bring you in on that. I can't remember how it came together. We had a load of demos and I think these were just the ones that we went, these are our favorites, and actually they work in a really good order, and there were only five on the original idea, Why Don't You Cool was added later. It just flowed, it felt right to use those.

Will Turner: Each song's quite different from the next. It's a quite a broad range within the same album.

Alison Stewart: Then what was the plan for the extended EP?

Georgie Fuller: We had some covers, some of our favorite songs, Real Love Baby, and Guinevere.

Alison Stewart: CSMY.

Georgie Fuller: Yes.

Alison Stewart: CSN, sorry.

Georgie Fuller: Desert Raven by some of our favorite artists. It was so exciting to be able to put a Heavy Heavy spin on those songs that we love so much. I think it was just a case of going, we've got these songs, let's put them out in the world, and we had a studio version of Man of the Hills ready to go, and we thought this is a really nice time to do it in between releasing the EP and writing the full length first album.

Alison Stewart: When you say a Heavy Heavy spin, what does that mean?

Will Turner: I think it means our signature vocal sound with that crunchy, [unintelligible 00:17:03] vocal sound and adding our golden vibe to it. It's intangible really to describe, but I think that's what we mean.

Alison Stewart: What's it like to sing Guinevere now that David Crosby's no longer with us? Does it feel different, does it?

Georgie Fuller: Definitely. It's haunting anyway. It's a very haunting song and now it definitely has a different feel to it. Obviously it's very sad but it adds an extra sadness to it, I think, which adds to the more of the mystery of the song, which is what we love so much about it.

Alison Stewart: How about for you, Will?

Will Turner: He is a major influence on my musical taste as well as how I write music. We do a few songs by them, but that one's my favorite, and I think if we're going to do one song by his forever, it would be that one. I love that song. I suppose it's a little different. Luckily he actually sent us a message on Instagram before he passed on a version of us singing in New York actually, a version of Find the Cost of Freedom in a hotel lobby. He liked it, which was nice for us to have had that actual connection with him.

Alison Stewart: Oh, that must have been a lot to you.

Georgie Fuller: Oh, it was crazy. We couldn't believe it.

Alison Stewart: We're talking to The Heavy Heavy, they played last night in New York City. They're on tour in the US right now. Georgie, when was the moment when you two and maybe when all of you realized, oh yes, this might work, we might be able to do this for a living?

Georgie Fuller: It was around this time last year, ATO Records and our management got in touch with us and offered us a record deal and management, and we went, wow, and the rollercoaster hasn't stopped yet, and there's such a force, we have such an incredible team. We have a lot of faith and excitement in the project.

Alison Stewart: It got real.

Georgie Fuller: It got real very fast.

Alison Stewart: How about for you? When was the moment when it got real for you, Will?

Will Turner: I think it was when those guys rang us up, because we were doing everything ourselves, very DIY, just navigating the internet, and then these people, and they were like, if you are ready, we'll start Monday. They weren't joking.

Alison Stewart: Really, is that fast?

Georgie Fuller: Yes.

Will Turner: Yes, and books as well with Black Pumas, and that was our first gigs.

Alison Stewart: Oh, that doesn't stink to open to Pumas.

Georgie Fuller: It was very intimidating because we'd only played about six gigs as a band by that point, and we are opening for Black Pumas, we're going, oh my God.

Alison Stewart: That's amazing. I want to give people some dates when you'll be back in town now that people are listening and thinking, I want to see these folks, Heavy Heavy will be at concerts and studio in Freehold, New Jersey on April 30th, in Philadelphia April 29th at Brooklyn Bowl. If you already have plans, you can look out to June. They're going to be at the Stephen's Talkhouse in Amagansett. That'll be lovely, and Lake Hall in Albany on July 27th. June 22nd for that Amagansett date. All right. You guys, play us out. What's the last song we're going to hear?

Will Turner: All my dreams.

Stewart: This is The Heavy Heavy.

Georgie Fuller: Thank you for having us.

[MUSIC - The Heavy Heavy: All My Dreams]

Dreaming of a place where the sunlight never sleeps

It's a beauty, color paradise

Paradise

Trees don't grow old and the blue sky's on your mind

And it's forty miles

Forty miles back from here

You don't mind if we stay here for a while

Dreaming of summer paradise

Paradise

Your love is real

You're all of my love

All of my dreams

You don't mind if we stay here for a while

Dreaming of summer paradise

You don't mind if we stay here for a while

Dreaming of summer paradisе

Your love is real

You're all of my lovе

All my dreams

 

Copyright © 2023 New York Public Radio. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use at www.wnyc.org for further information.

New York Public Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline, often by contractors. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of New York Public Radio’s programming is the audio record.