The xx is a band that people love to say they love. It’s easy to see why; they’re cool without seeming pretentious, are accessible without being overexposed, and they wear a lot of black (it matters).
It also helps that the South London three-piece are supremely talented musicians who won the Mercury Music Prize in 2010, created some of the most catchy remixes of the last few years and generate the kind of slow burning tunes that seem to seep deeper into your brain with every listen. Their highly anticipated second album,
Coexist, is due to drop in September.
We caught up with the softly spoken vocalist and guitarist Romy Madley Croft after the Melbourne show of their ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss it’ promotional tour of Australia.
Sinead Stubbins: Hey Romy! Last night’s show in Melbourne was kind of mind blowing. Everyone is talking about it today.
Romy Madley Croft: Oh wow! Thank you!
SS: Were you feeling the good vibes?
RMC: It did feel really lovely. It just felt good to be in a venue – we’ve been playing so many festivals and there are just so many people you don’t know what’s going on… we’ve forgotten that at our own shows people are pretty silent. It was great to have that concentration of an audience.
SS: I thought it was funny when Oliver said “Thanks for not throwing beer cans at us you guys!” like that was remarkable.
RMC: [laughs]
Yup.
SS: Does that buzz of having hundreds of faces staring at you adoringly ever go away?
RMC: Not for me. The fact that at last night’s gig you could see everyone’s faces… when I used to go to gigs to see my favourite bands I never thought that they could see me. But when you’re on the stage at a venue like [the Forum], you can really feel everyone’s eyes. It’s all equally terrifying, really.
SS: That’s not ideal!
RMC: It’s still good though!
SS: The thing that has blown me away from seeing you live and reading your interviews, is how weirdly polite the three if you are – sorry if that’s not a cool thing to say.
RMC: [disappointingly] I knooowwww.
SS: With everyone constantly talking about how great The xx are, how do you not have giant, inflated egos? How is it you’re not horrible?
RMC: Oh, god. I’d
hate to be known as someone with a big ego. I mean, the three of us have known each other for such a long time, I’ve known Oliver since we were three years old and Jamie since we were 11. I guess some people in bands get a bit caught up in persona, but if any of us started doing that you would be get told, “What are you doing?”
SS: Have there been any moments like that? Like “Hey Jamie, step back mate”.
RMC: [laughs] No, no. But we’re just about to go on a long tour, so wait for next year! We’re all pretty calm people. I’d really hate to be like that. I don’t even know what demands I’d make…
SS: You’ve been touring heaps.
RMC: I enjoy different aspects of touring. We’re only in Australia for five days, which is ridiculous.
SS: I didn’t want to say, but yeah it totally is.
RMC: That’s the aspect of touring I don’t like, you move so fast and you don’t see anything. People are like “Wow, you’ve been to Australia!” but I haven’t actually experienced it.
SS: Don’t worry, the weather is super bad at the moment.
RMC: But still! This is like summer in England [laughs]
. We’re definitely coming back next year… I really love Melbourne. I need to spend time there.
SS: Great! Let’s talk about the new album. The xx have such a recognizable sound, were you conscious of maintaining that on
Coexist?
RMC: We didn’t have a big discussion at the beginning about having to change our sound or keep it. Our instruments are still the same, my guitar playing is pretty similar, so there are elements that transfer from the first album to the second. But I think we have a lot more confidence now. I mean, we were thrown into the fire a little bit. Now we have a bit more of a range of influences, and dance influences are definitely in there. It sounds familiar but it’s not the same.
SS: Did the dance music influence come from Jamie’s experience DJ-ing, or you and Oliver just opening up to it more?
RMC: A bit of both I think. It also came from playing live. Towards the end of the last tour we did different versions of our songs live, especially for 'Nightime' - we made it a bit house-y and suddenly people were starting to dance. But we haven’t made a dance album though, it’s not a party album! It just has elements.
SS: You can tell that Jamie had more of a hand in writing this album. Previously it was mainly you and Oliver, right?
RMC: Yeah, Jamie had much more of a role in writing music and Oliver and I wrote lyrics. On the first album some of the songs we wrote when Jamie wasn’t in the band, this time around we were all just playing together. It was really good, he’s a bit more knowledgeable about music than me I guess [laughs]. I just sort of play my guitar and makes sounds, he actually knows what the cords are.
SS: That’s pretty funny. Was it hard for you all to come back together after your separate projects?
RMC: Jamie is the busiest, but he makes himself busy. He’s a self-confessed workaholic. He just needs to be constantly creating music and DJ-ing. Oliver and I were just happy to have some time off, to come home and have a life. All our friends had gone to university, moved out of home… we needed to catch up.
SS: You were doing some pretty good things though…
RMC: I moved out of home! I just needed to do some normal stuff and be inspired again.
SS: When you went on that break I was pretty scared you were going to break up.
RMC: I think it was a bit like “we don’t know what’s going to happen, let’s just go back to London”. We came back and we weren’t inspired, we weren’t writing anything. But I think after we'd been home… writing is just our complete passion and that worry about pre-empting what would happen to us was gone. Luckily.
SS: Very lucky. Given the three of you know each other so well, is it hard being in a band?
RMC: It’s great, but I can’t imagine anything different. Some bands - and not to say it’s a bad thing - advertise ‘looking for a bassist’ and you don’t know each other very well. Then you’re in all these bizarre situations, it gets overwhelming. I’m so grateful I have two of my best friends around. It makes things nicer.
SS: Um, that’s super sweet.
RMC: Yeaaahhh.
SS: I read this interview in
The Guardian in 2009, where you in particular were quite appalled when the interviewer said that your songs were about sex… so I’m not going to do that.
RMC: [laughs]
Oh yeah! That was a weird interview.
SS: Is it weird that people interpret your songs as great sex jams?
RMC: That interview was quite an awkward one. We never write the songs like “Oh, this is going to be a sexy song”. But I think it’s been funny, I guess I didn’t think about the sexy side of it. People come up to us and say “Hey, me and my girlfriend first got together to your song!”. People have over-shared some weird things…
SS: Someone I know calls The xx “hipster make out music”.
RMC: [laughs]
We would never make out to our music!
SS: Oh my god, imagine if you had someone over and to set the mood you put on The xx.
RMC: That is my WORST nightmare. Agh!
SS: Speaking of bedrooms, I once heard that when you were writing the debut album as teenagers, you would practice at night super quietly so you wouldn’t wake your parents, and that’s how The xx got their subtler sound. Is that true or an internet rumour?
RMC: Yeah, that’s true. Oliver and I worked quite separately and we were living at home at the time. We were quite shy, and for some reason didn’t want people to know we were singing? I don’t know why. My dad didn’t realise what I had been doing until he came to our gigs. That’s why it’s probably a bit more hushed sounding, a bit whisper-y. I love writing at night. With this album I did the same thing, I didn’t want my flatmate to hear. I hoped I didn’t wake her up!
SS: Cute. Given you’re so shy, it must be weird meeting all these musicians and celebrities at your shows. Celebrities love to get photographed at The xx gigs.
RMC: It’s weird. It’s fun though, just a different side of things.
SS: One day you’re playing in your bedroom, and the next Courtney Love is at your show.
RMC: Exactly! I don’t really know what happened in between…
Check out Everguide's gallery of The xx's Melbourne show here.
WORDS: Sinead Stubbins