As Teesside outfit Weathership return with new single, ‘The Swimmer’, Lee Allcock caught up with frontman Jim Riggall to discuss working with Butterfly Effect Records, their favourite gig to date and more.
Tell me a bit about the release in general…
The way we work is generally I’ll record demos (lots of demos) and the band will basically choose what they like. I think I sent Nick the demo of ‘The Swimmer’ and he basically said I can’t use it for solo work – it needs to be the band. I think the original demo is still engrained in the finished version. We like to think we’re completely ‘original’ on tunes but you can definitely hear some influences on here when it came back finished, such as a bit of Athlete and other early 2000’s indie bands too. Lyrically, it falls under the same plane as a lot of tunes: a story told by one member to another (aboard the expedition vessel ‘Weathership’) regarding teaching their kids to swim and the momentary horror as they dip under the water.
Why have you decided to release a limited edition 7″ vinyl?
I’m a massive fan of Butterfly Effect and what they’ve done, essentially helping local artists reach a dream of being on a proper vinyl. I approached Ste with the idea (the song and the individual artwork for each vinyl) and he loved it.
What was it like working with Butterfly Effect Records on the release?
I adore Ste as he absolutely loves his music – sometimes the weirder the better it seems. I went for lunch with him and James Hewitson and we just talked music for an age and talked about loads of great regional acts too. As far as working with him, he’s an ideas man. He likes other people having ideas but he generally let me run with the concept of 40 individual pieces of artwork and a selected Polaroid from our gig at Christmas at the Green Room (Photos by Craig Ransom, Printing by Robbie Williams).
I know you’re currently trying to book some gigs across the country. How difficult have you found that?
Booking gigs outside of Teesside is the same reason that our music scene is great (even with closing of venues) because you still run into the “how many people can you bring?”Teesside promoters are great at putting the music first – proper promoters. We’ve been trying to connect with other acts too and do some gig swaps, which would be brilliant. But I don’t think it’s specific to a band in Teesside struggling to get gigs elsewhere – if you don’t have a booking agency, it’s really hard. The whole thing is a bit strange. Oasis, Coldplay, Travis, you name it, they all had a handful of people turn up to their gigs in a town that wasn’t theirs. Muse played Cornerhouse in 98/99 and I was told there were 4 people there, yet they sold out o2-style venues the year after.
What has been your favourite gig to date and why?
Stockton Calling was brilliant as we played to a packed Social Room when we were on at the same time as some other great acts. It’s such a strong festival that there are great acts on from start to finish. Opening up NE Volume Music Bar to a full house last year was equally brilliant as was Twisterella in October. I think our best is yet to come. I love these gigs at festivals but we’re just warming up by the end of 30 minutes.
And finally, if you could go to dinner with any musician, who would you pick? And what would you discuss?
I’d choose loads that passed too soon such as John Lennon, Jeff Buckley and Kurt Cobain to name a few. I’d pick their brains on the songs they were yet to record.
You can listen to ‘The Swimmer’ now on all major streaming platforms.
