Interview: A Good Sit-Down With Tors
Interview by Lindsey V. Britt / Photos by Louis Alderman
The three-piece harmonic indie band from Devon, UK, Tors, has just recently released their latest EP Miracle after touring with James Blunt across Europe. Matt Weedon, Theo Weedon, and Jack Bowden have just finished the UK leg of The Miracle Tour and are about to come across the pond for the US leg, as well as the EU this autumn.
You lads recorded your new EP Miracle with one of your heroes Simone Felice in the Catskills. What was it like working on a project with one of your heroes in a not-so-typical music scene place?
It was a wild, overwhelming experience to be honest. We truly didn’t know what to expect from Simone, but we were greeted by this badass mountain wizard (for want of a better description) with a hunting knife at his hip and a bottle of whiskey in hand. He immediately took us to the creek by the studio, stripped down, and took us for our first official baptism of the trip. It was a rollercoaster from then on in, Simone has the most amazing ear for what makes a song truly special and managed to pair everything back to its absolute essence. Woodstock itself is such a funny little chocolate box-style town full of retired New York hippies and generational rednecks. We loved playing the local open mics and getting to know the locals a little better, it was a very immersive experience.
I love your song “Still Life.” What inspired you guys to write and release it?
It was written with an American friend of ours called Paul Hammer, when he visited from the States. We sat in our shed in the beautiful Devon rain while Jack played a few chords on an antique harmonium we rescued from a village hall nearby, and the song fell out pretty immediately. It’s all about releasing. You’re letting your relationship stagnate to the point of it becoming set in place forever, like a still life painting.
You’ve described your music as honest, and to me, it also feels very raw and unfiltered in a way music isn’t made often enough. What gives you the bravery to be so honest in your music?
Thanks so much that’s a lovely compliment! It’s just how we’ve always written music, it’s a very cathartic experience for us and helps us address the issues we’re wrestling with. It just so happens that other people seem to feel similarly and connect with our music, which is an enormous bonus.
You’re about to come stateside as part of the US leg of The Miracle Tour, how excited are you to be heading to the States?
We couldn’t be more excited, bring on BBQ, road trips, and light beer! It’s a very surreal moment for us, our shows out there sold out in 2 days - we were terrified we didn’t have any fans in the US but it turns out we do. It’s going to be a little bit of a whirlwind visit - we’re playing a show or two every single day for 3 and a half weeks which will either kill us or make us more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
I live in Atlanta and I saw you don’t have a southern tour stop this time around, are there any plans for one in the future, or do you just not like Buc-ee’s or something? haha, just kidding.
Sadly the closest we’re coming is Nashville for Bonnaroo, we’d absolutely love to explore and play the South more and have already begun plotting tour dates there for the future. We are obsessed with country and Americana music so it feels like it will be a pilgrimage of sorts for us.
You’ve also got an EU tour coming up in Autumn, are you lads excited to be going back again this year after your tour with James Blunt?
We are very excited indeed, again it’s been a strange and overwhelming ride so far with the EU tour, we’ve had to upgrade all the venues three times now and tickets just keep selling - in all honestly we’re slightly terrified, it feels like a lot of pressure but we’ll rise to the occasion I’m sure! Europe is always such an adventure and we can’t wait to see what people we get to meet along the way this time.
Will the bonk bowl be coming along to the States and EU?
Absolutely, it’s the only way we can settle disputes as a band now, without it we’d be lost in constant arguments. Nothing silences our qualms like the satisfying ring of the bonk bowl.
Are you boys planning on making any more Tors on Tour YouTube videos?
Of course! The US tour is going to be a dream from a content point of view! It’s always nice to let the fans into our lives a little and let them experience things the way we do.
I noticed on your website that you’re selling patches that come with digital copies of the patch’s song and an acapella version of it as well, that’s so cool, whose idea was that?
I think that was our record labels idea, it’s quite fun giving people a little treasure hunt and making each bit of merch special in its own way. We have no idea how it works but we’re delighted it does!
Also, I noticed that you have Miracle available on vinyl, CD, and cassette. A lot of artists nowadays don’t have even one of those options for fans to get, is it important to you that fans are able to have your music physically as well as digitally?
Yeah absolutely, we still buy physical copies of all the albums we love - there’s nothing like throwing on a piece of work and listening to it exactly as it was intended to be heard. It just feels to us like that’s how art should be enjoyed.
Does Tors have a fandom name, cause I want to join it?
Ooh we’ve have a few suggestions - the Tornadoes, Toritos, Tortillas etc. We’ve always enjoyed the ‘RapTors’ personally.
Okay, I heard Jack joined the band while y’all went to a ‘Witch museum’, why were you guys all at the museum that day and do you think it was magic that brought Tors to be?
Jack was hocking Heather in the gift shop as a side hustle, he still swears by its mystical powers and attributes them to our success. Matt and I are still on the fence however, although Jack does threaten to curse us fairly comprehensively if we ever kick him out of the band so we figure it’s not worth the risk.
Recently I saw a video of you singing harmonies in a bathroom with the caption ‘Bathroom harmonies, normal’, how… how normal is that? I mean I know singing in the shower is a thing but harmonies?
Well, we all have a weekly bath together so for us it’s just a regular Tuesday night.
Do you boys follow any football clubs? I’ve been watching a lot of that documentary Welcome to Wrexham lately and I know football clubs are huge in England.
Arsenal is the one true team of the Weedon’s (there’s a fair few people who would dispute that though). Football is our national sport pretty much and it’s definitely a fun way to spend an afternoon in the pub.
The Eras Tour is coming to the UK soon, I’m curious if any of you boys are Swifties and planning on going?
We’re Swifties till we die, we’re also desperately trying to find tickets for any of the shows so watch this space.
If you were in a Battle of the Bands competition, who would you be up against?
Us as twelve-year-olds, we’d smoke those losers.
Do any of you have a cool hobby or even a party trick most people don’t know about?
Jack can open beer bottles with his rings, it always seems to impress people. Matt can whistle with Disney bird accuracy through his teeth. Theo can levitate but no one ever seems to notice.
Final question, do each of you have a recommendation, it can be absolutely anything, movie, advice, favorite meal at a restaurant, literally anything, and you three can pick the same category or different ones.
Matt would recommend the Ring of Bells, it’s a local pub we frequent a lot and their food is unbelievable. Theo would recommend watching The Big Lebowski, it’s his favourite movie and always puts him in a great mood.
And Jack recommends a good sit-down, never underestimate the power of a nice sit-down.
Don’t forget to check out Tors new EP Miracle out now along with the rest of their incredible discography and be sure to catch Tors on tour in the US this summer and in the EU this autumn.
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