Interview Versus: alt-J and Ghostpoet grill each other at the start of their UK tour

Gus Unger-Hamilton and Obaro Ejimiwe go head to head on the first night of tour.

Words: Will Richards
30th November 2015

alt-J and Ghostpoet’s huge UK tour began in Manchester last night (29th November), and to mark the start of the jaunt of the year, we got Gus Unger-Hamilton and Obaro Ejimiwe in a room together to grill each other on…whatever they fancied, really. They ended up discussing topics such as the best places in the world for a day off on tour, how to separate your person from your music as a solo artist, and where in the world Kiev is.

The tour, with added support from The Horrors, hits Bournemouth tomorrow night and continues into next week. View the remaining dates at the bottom of the page, and revisit our recent interview with Ghostpoet here.

Gus of alt-J, to Ghostpoet:

Have we played Manchester together before? I can’t remember..

I feel like we must’ve, as it was a pretty comprehensive UK tour with did together. It could’ve been somewhere like the Deaf Institute. It was a long time ago though.

Do you like playing here?

I like it a lot, I was actually here last week on my headline tour, and it’s great to be back.

You were saying that it’s nice that you don’t get recognised when you’re out in public - why is that a positive for you?

You don’t have to worry about going out to a pub and being left alone, which is really lucky. That kind of fame comes about from something other than the music, and I think it’s really important to keep your whole persona tied to your sound. You don’t want people to make assumptions and have pre-conceptions of your music from your look or style or person, and it’s nice to not have those from anyone.

What’s being a solo artist like?

I’ve had a band on tour with me for two or three years now, so it feels like a gang and a group on tour, but I am a solo artist, and the buck stops with me. I think I work best as a solo artist because I’m very demanding of what I want out of my music.

Would you ever be in a band?

I’ve thought about having a little side project, maybe as part of a band, but I find the idea of shared creativity difficult, and it would be hard to delegate and combine my ideas with someone else’s.

What’s your preferred tourbus entertainment?

My main entertainment this tour is probably coming from my Thundercat print duvet, but also maybe a bit of charades. Gettin’ lo-fi.

Ghostpoet, to Gus of alt-J:

You’ve opened your own restaurant - how’s it going?

It’s going really well. I’ve always wanted to do it, I just had to meet the right people to get it going. It’s kind of crazy, trying to keep it going while on tour so much, but it’s working. Sometimes when you’re on tour so much it feels like your job and your self are one thing, and this has given me an outlet to separate them a little more. You’re a solo artist so I imagine it’s even harder for you, where as for me, being in a band feels more like being a part of a company, whereas a solo artist it’s obviously just you, and only you. It’s just little things, like, your Twitter is your ‘professional’ Twitter, for your music but also for whatever else you want to write about, whereas we have the band Twitter and individual ones. Basically, it feels easier for us to separate ourselves from our band if we want to.

If you could play two nights in a row in any city in the world, where would it be?

We’ve done it in Manchester before, and Portland as well, which I really enjoyed. I think it would be pretty fun to do somewhere like Cornwall, as you could have a whole day off, go to the beach, relax. So yeah, Truro…

I think for me it would be Kiev. I’ve been there recently and it was amazing. Beautiful people, a great reception, great gig, they really looked after us. I would love to have a day off there. Have you ever been there? Does that count as Eastern Europe?

I guess so? Do you know?

(DIY: “I think it does.”)

What was the tipping point for you in terms of realising your band was going somewhere? The beginning of the rollercoaster, so to speak..

I feel like it was probably doing the summer festivals in 2012. We got booked pretty early on in small tents, but the album had just come out and people were liking it, and I remember playing Reading and it was rammed, and just thinking “oh shit, this might really be happening”.

What’s been your favourite album released so far this year?

Oh shit, I’ve barely listened to any music this year. I really like the Gengahr album, it’s a real grower. It’s got to the point now where it’s really comforting to listen to, and very soothing.

Was alt-J your first band, and if not, what were you called and what did you sound like?

In sixth-form, me and my friend Sarah played together a bit. It was basically us dossing about in free periods in the Music Tech room, but we actually wrote a few songs. We were on last.fm or something, and were called The Midgie Four* (sp - a quick internet search didn’t uncover any gems, unfortunately). We never played live, but I’d consider it my first band. The first band I ever played a gig with was alt-J though.

*turns out it’s Midi 4, thanks Gus.

Upcoming tour dates:

DECEMBER

01 Bournemouth, BIC
02 Exeter, Westpoint
03 Cardiff, Motorpoint Arena
06 Leeds, First Direct Arena
07 Glasgow, SSE Hydro
08 Nottingham, Capital FM Arena

Tags: alt-J, Versus, Features