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THE AMAZONS

After nearly a decade of The Amazons, Matt Thomson knows experience can make you a better songwriter — but it can also cost you the spark that got you there. He talks 21st Century Fiction: Epilogue, changing the band’s line-up, resisting musical trends and why they won’t be making a Fontaines D.C.-sounding record anytime soon..

It’s nearly a decade on from your debut. How has your relationship with songwriting changed?

I think we’re better songwriters as a whole. There’s more of a craft to the songwriting now. I think the trick is, as you get older, to not let the spark and that kind of urgency leave you.

You’ve built a career in a world where everyone’s competing for attention. How do you stop yourselves making music for trends?

You’ve basically got to make the art that sustains. Otherwise, you’ll just check out. Most of my heroes are from the 20th century, so we’re not going to be making a Fontaines D.C.-sounding record anytime soon.

Has there ever been a song everyone else in the band believed in before you did?

We had a song on this new album called Pitch Black that I thought was cool, but whatever. Chris went to town on it and took it in a direction that got me really excited about it again.

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Whoopi Goldberg

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Whoopi Goldberg

“Awards are great, but they’re subject to other people’s opinions.”

David Morrissey

“It’s a fine line between having a structure you can build on…”

James Norton

“The more understanding we’ve of institutionalised religion, the more we can accept it.”

Alicia Coppola

“Sit down and write like everyone’s dead.”

Heida Reed

“Icelandic people can be incredibly fiery and blunt.”

Sorabh Pant

“I sound really pretentious, but I’m a dude who makes dick jokes!”

RECENT INTERVIEW

HENRY ROWLEY

UK comedian Henry Rowley built a following through character-led sketches online, turning everyday behaviour into sharp comedy, and is now taking that instinct onto the live stage.

A lot of your comedy comes from observation — where does that come from?

 It’s10 those everyday, consistent behaviours that we don’t notice because they happen so much, but when you really focus on them and bring them out, that’s where the humour is. People, like the gym — everyone’s walking around like they’re the main character, like this warrior that’s fighting a battle that no one knows about, and you think — relax, it’s a fun thing that we’re doing here. It’s not usually one person who’s completely different — it’s an amalgamation of things, these behavioural consistencies, and then just amping it up a little bit. Sometimes it doesn’t even need that.

Some of your funniest videos feel completely improvised — is that how they work?

 Yeah, a lot of them are completely improvised. I’ll think, “Right, I’m doing this character,” and see what happens — that’s why I sometimes laugh in them, because I don’t know what’s coming. Those are my favourites.

Did you ever have a long-term plan with it? 

No, not really. I think if I set a goal, you put so much pressure on it that it takes all the enjoyment out of it. The whole thing is meant to be fun, and if I’m not enjoying it, no one else will. So I’ve always just thought — do it, keep enjoying it, and see what happens. Opportunities have come from it that I wouldn’t have expected…

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