Am I right in calling you The xx (pronounced ex-ex)?
Yes. That’s right.
My friend used to call Chk! Chk! Chk! "exclamation mark, exclamation mark, exclamation mark" so I just wanted to check…
Yeah, I think so did I actually! I was always a bit unsure how to say it, so I totally understand.
So, it’s been a big week for you guys, huh?
Yeah, it has.
I heard that Baria has left the band temporarily from exhaustion?
Everyone’s just been pretty tired. We’ve been a band that has just played gigs in, you know, short bursts but we haven’t really done the whole full on touring thing so it has been a bit different. It’s cool, we’re going to see how it goes, with everything.
So where are you guys at the moment?
I’m actually at home for the first time in a long time. I literally just sat down on my bed. We’re in London just for a little bit, to sort ourselves out and then carry on.
Hey, how did the band start?
Well I’ve known Oliver – who’s the guy who sings – since we were, like, three, so we’ve been friends for a really long time. We grew up together and went to primary school, secondary school, and when we were about 15 I think we just simultaneously just fell in love with music. Going to gigs and listening to albums, really loving everything about it and I think around that sort of time we were both playing instruments. I was teaching myself guitar. We weren’t especially... skilled at anything, we just thought ‘Hey, let’s try it ourselves’. It just kind of came from that.
How rad is it being able to travel around with your besties, playing music?
Oh, I mean it’s incredible. I kind of don’t really know it any other way. When I meet bands, I realise that not everybody has been friends forever. There is, like, bands that have met in the pub, bands that have met by a few adverts and stuff... [bands] that don’t know each-other inside out. It can be good when you’re so far from home, you can be relaxed.
The lyrics are really beautiful in your tracks, and the fact that you and Oliver write them separately and then bring them together is really intriguing, because they’re very open lyrics. Do you enjoy that process of writing?
Yeah, I mean I’ve always really loved writing. I was quite late with singing, I didn’t really realise that I enjoyed singing or could sing or anything like that until I was about 15. I always did enjoy writing poetry and using words and, I guess, the thing is with me and Oliver, we both really like beautiful imagery and things in our writing but we don’t explain too in depth to each-other about what we’re saying about what past experience it is. So it kind of allows us to, sort of, put it out there to each-other without having to pick it apart – like I won’t be like ‘What exactly is this about?’. I think we’re both appreciative of the best work that we can use, and be really sort of open but not you know, have to bare ourselves too each other too much.
Your sound has been described with words like: moody, spooky, minimal, bashful, and haunting. How would you describe your sound?
All those things I can relate to and I really like. I always have a bit of a problem with putting it into a genre. I think for me I guess it’s night music really. From what I’ve written, it’s all at night. But when it comes to people being ‘What exactly type of music do you make?’ I always struggle to put it into a genre box. We all, as a collective, like such different types of music that what music has come out is just kind of a middle ground between all of those things. It becomes a hybrid you know? Jamie was into dubstep, Oli’s into RnB and I’m into things like new wave and things like that – but then again, I don’t even like using genres to describe what I like. Someone said 'dark pop' and I quite like that, because it’s really, really broad. There’s definitely a darkness in it, which I like.
What do you like about the night-times that the daylight doesn’t offer?
It’s so different. When we were writing I was much more nocturnal, I think all of us were. We had a lot of free time and we ended up in this cycle of sleeping more in the day and being awake more at night. It gets you into a pretty weird state of mind! It pushed that level of half-awake, half-asleep and slightly delirious as well. I‘ve written some of my favourite songs just because things come out and I look at it the next day and I’m like, I don’t remember doing that. It’s just that kind of out of it state.
It’s awesome that that slight delirium has worked out so well.
Yeah. Jamie and I are always awake at like five in the morning and that’s when we send each-other different things. Now being on tour it’s impossible to do that because you have to be up at, like, 10 to go somewhere and do something. It’s weird slipping out of it, having a normal time routine. For me, at home when I’ve been working it’s just so still at night, no disturbance. At night you can be left alone, I just find it a bit more inspiring.
Is wearing black compulsory for The xx?
[laughs] I definitely think there is an undeniable colour scheme, but it’s not enforced. Jamie’s started to wear some different coloured shirts, you know, nothing's been said, it’s fine.
Nothing to his face.
Yeah [laughs]. I’d hate to think of it as a really enforced thing, I guess I’ve always worn black... You’re not going to get shouted at if someone was wearing pink or something [laughs and coughs].
You sound like you’ve got a bit of a cough or something. How are you?
Yeah, tired! We’re all just trying to keep well. But yeah, I’m fine.
How was CMJ?
Oh, that was amazing. Again, very busy. We were there for four days and had about three shows a day and loads of press and photos and things like that.
I heard that one of yours shows was set up and played next to the frozen yogurt counter?
I’m trying to think of which show that was. We played a show at the Mercury Lounge, we played in one in the Apple shop, which was quite surreal. Basically, I stopped a really long time ago reading about us, like trying to search on the internet and stuff. I find that everything on the internet is so fickle; just from like bands I like and blogs when I’ve been trying to read about them and get music. Whenever I look at bands, there is always a comment underneath that’s really positive and then one that’s really negative and I think that if I was reading that all the time I’d be a mess. Analysing myself…
This is an awesome segue to a game I thought I’d play with you. I found some kind of hilarious quotes that have been written about you and wondered if you would like to play a little game called True or False? I’ll read them out and you can give me your opinion on them, ‘kay?
OK, sure.
'Singer-guitarist Romy Madley Croft in particular seems all but incapable of uttering a line that isn't a come-on (or) post-coital musing'
[laughs] Yeah. Oh God, [laughs] you tell me. I think that’s one I have been aware of, is that from
Pitchfork? ...Yeah, this is the one I’ve been a bit inescapable of avoiding. Ever since that, all the journalists I’ve spoken to have brought up sex and it’s kind of difficult when you have a 50-year-old guy telling you about his life experience. But, it’s not intentional if that is the case.
The next one is, 'The only thing that would be more tender than [The xx] music would be “A kiss from a cloud?”'
A kiss from the crowd?
Oh no, like from a cloud – in the sky.
Oh wow! I like that. I’m fine with that, that’s funny.
And the last one is 'The xx is a marketing gimmick for the beer Dos Equis'
[laughs] Oh God, the beer in America?!
Yeah.
Oh my God, wow. I wish, that would be hilarious. Maybe they can sponsor us?
I think it’s from when Oliver wore a bottle cap as an earring one time.
That’s really funny. He won’t admit it, but I’ve been wearing bottle caps around my neck since I was about 14. I used to wear one in my ear and all of a sudden he started doing and I was like, "Hey, you’re stealing my thing", but I didn’t say anything. I’m glad someone picked up on that, that’s funny.
And lastly, you’ve got a bunch of tours coming up, like everywhere for the next few months?
Yeah, we’ve got to finish off our European tour, which is in two parts – this is the second part coming up now, and then around America with Friendly Fires. I’m really looking forward to seeing different parts of America.
Well, I bought tickets yesterday to the Laneway festival in Melbourne in January, so I guess I’ll see you then.
Yeah. Great, thanks!
Thanks, Romy.
Thank you. Bye.
Just announced tour dates:
THE XX
29th January: Brisbane, Laneway Festival
30th January: Melborne, Laneway Festival
31st January: Sydney, Laneway Festival
3rd February: Melbourne, Corner Hotel
5th February: Adelaide, Laneway Festival
6th February: Perth, Laneway Festival