News Stand Up Against Heart Crime

Crafting the sort of gorgeous, swooning dream-pop (or perhaps kraut-wave?) that makes you reminisce about long, lazy days of bygone summers, it´s amazing to think that Stand Up Against Heart Crime have been flying under the radar for so long, but with their debut album being recorded as we speak and support slots with both Crocodiles and Porcelain Raft in the next month, that’s all about to change. DIY caught up with Josep Xorto and Arnau Obiols for a chinwag on why analogue rocks, doing things properly, and what it means to be on someone’s iPod.

How did you guys meet, and what made you think you could make music together?
Arnau: We met about seven years ago when we started playing in a garage band, doing 60´s covers and that kind of stuff. We spent three years playing and recording in Barcelona, having tons of fun, before Josep decided to move to London. We ended up involved in different projects, before I moved to London and we started playing together again.
Josep: Yeah, but how we actually met was through a girl. Or rather, because of a girl. I was gonna have Arnau as an enemy, but then I thought he´d be much better as a friend. We originally decided to hang out coz we were both into 60´s music at that point, and so we decided to form a band together – him on drums and me on guitar and pedals. It never really worked coz I wasn´t comfortable playing on my own, whereas before I used to just sing. We played our first ever show in his garage, just three songs. That was the start.

You’re big fans of analogue, right?
Arnau: Definitely. Jordi and Miqui, the other guys in the band, are both sound engineers, and are real experts with that kind of equipment. We got together originally through our shared love of vintage music from the 60´s, although it’s the same being interested in synths and a more 80´s vibe. We totally love that warm, vintage sound - it´s just better.
Josep: We are surrounded by it! Jordi´s family have a ton of old recording equipment, as they are engineers too, so we got into it that way. It´s very nice, and we love it. I love old bands who just played with pure guitars, bass and drums. It´s romantic, I guess, but I also love software and computers, and have been getting more and more into that as well. I´m trying to combine the best of both worlds, you could say.

Speaking of recording, how´s the album coming along?
Josep: It’s coming along nicely. At the moment, I think we have about seventeen songs, and we obviously need to produce them really well if they are gonna last forever. They have to be “right”. We also have to be sure which label releases them, that we´re working with the right people.

I hear you´re going to record some material in London soon.
Josep: Yeah, the 1st July, for three days. At Sarm Studios in Notting Hill. We can´t wait!
Arnau: A drummer who played with Josep after I’d left London, and who still lives there, offered us the chance to use it for these three days. It´s a short time, but we´re gonna make the most of it. We´re aiming to do a single, an A-side and a B-side. That’s the goal.
Josep: It´s a hugely expensive place, so we´re really, really lucky. People like Madonna and Coldplay have recorded there, so we need to do ourselves justice. Plus, it’s the perfect warm up to supporting Crocodiles on the Spanish leg of their tour – we’re so excited, they’re one of our favourite bands.

Where do you get your musical inspiration from?
Josep: When I got into our current sound – this synthy, 80´s pop type sound – it was because of Electrelane and Whitey. He brought me to this synth-heavy, drum-machine, dance type thing we have going, and his vocals were also quite inspirational. I love Electrelane and what they do with keyboards - the chords are very long and they change in intensity all the time. It´s a really interesting effect. They also both have this fade in / fade out thing going on, which gives you a sensation of travelling and moving. Actually, the guy who produces Whitey is Robert Harder, who mixed “A Hundred Lovers” for us, and I love the way he does it. He fades each instrument in and out separately, which gives this weird feeling of space…it´s hard to describe.

What do the next six months hold for SUAHC?
Arnau: We want to play live as much as possible, spread the word. Maybe a few festivals as well.
Josep: Yeah, we don´t want to just play repeatedly in the same city though, you know, week after week – we want to get out there.
Arnau: Ideally, we´d love to support someone on a European or UK tour, and do a bit of travelling. It´s something we´re looking for after the summer. We also want to finish the album and get it released as soon as possible. We believe in it, and we think people will like it. So, we just need to keep working away as hard as we can.
Josep: The album is vital. At the moment, we have about twenty songs in total, but only six of them are available – for free, on bandcamp. That EP has spread around various blogs and the internet quite well, and we´ve had good reaction to it, but we need to kick it up a level, and I want the album to do that. That’s why we´re taking so much care over the recording, it´s our chance of success.
Arnau: We love the whole lo-fi ethos and that sound, but we don´t want the album to seem as if it was recorded quickly, or really cheaply. As Josep said earlier, it´s something we want to last forever, so it has to sound great. Otherwise, what´s the point?

Success is…
Arnau: Being happy with your work and at peace with yourself, just like Dylan said. We´re not doing this to become rich or famous. I guess if you get recognition from the crowd, your audience, or your critics, it means you´re doing ok.
Josep: Really, it´s effecting people and ending up on their iPod. You can pretend a lot, and swan around like the world´s biggest rock star, but if people aren’t engaging with your music, you´re not doing anything. We just got a message on Facebook from some girl in Argentina who´d heard our music on some blog, and that’s just amazing – it makes it worthwhile.

Apart from heart crime, what else should people stand up against?
Josep: Solitude. And illness.
Arnau: Mediocrity, which seems to be taking over the world.
Josep: Basically a lack of health and love. We should all have those things.

Stand Up Against Heart Crime by Stand up against heart crime