Chvrches talks about new single ‘Thar’ and upcoming stadium gigs with Coldplay: “We’re out for comfort”

Chvrches spoke to NME about their new single ‘Thar’, the “pressure” of playing stadiums with Coldplay and how they are preparing to celebrate their 10th year together as a band.

The Scottish trio, which consists of Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, released the anthemic track on Friday (February 24) before confirming three UK headline dates this summer.

“It’s like a little minor in between [el álbum de 2021] ‘Screen Violence’ and whatever it ends up being next year,” Mayberry told NME about “Beyond,” which was helmed by Swedish producer Oscar Holter (The Weeknd, Coldplay and BTS, Charli XCX).

“I guess we usually stick strictly to the album format and the album campaign format, and we’re collecting songs over months and years, and then we record.”

While hinting at a future yet to be determined, “Beyond” harkens back to the classic Chvrches sound as Mayberry tries to escape a period of personal turmoil (“It’s getting harder to breathe/ So baby , put me to sleep/’ Until it gets better).This broad pop style, combined with a narrative approach to writing lyrics, meant that the song “It Wasn’t Right” ‘Screen Violence’ – an LP that commented on the horrors of modern society and our increasingly digital world.

“It seemed a bit stupid to leave it for an indefinite period of time until we were ready to work on the next thing,” Mayberry told NME about the reason for releasing the song now.

“So we thought we’d break free from the self-imposed norms of the album cycle and put the song out there because we have it, and we’ve got a lot more touring to do this year. So we thought it was good to try something different for a change, to get out of our comfort zone.” .

Synth Doherty went on to recall how “Beyond” “started life” when he and Holter were “having fun and writing songs” together in the studio a few years ago. But he said it wasn’t necessarily a first iteration for Chvrches, whose catalog has largely been self-produced so far.

“The song was already there and we were excited about it,” Doherty continued, “we brought it into the fold, and we brought Oscar in with it. So it’s hard to say if anything else would come of that with other outside producers .”

He added: “It’s certainly not a general indicator of what we intend to do going forward, but it’s not something I’d rule out either. We’ll certainly have to have a conversation when that happens. No We really thought about it.”

This June, Chvrches will return to the stage of our country with performances at Rock City in Nottingham, Fat Sam’s in Dundee and the Barrowland Ballroom in Glasgow, their hometown.

“All those shows will make more sense in the coming months,” Doherty quipped, admitting that the upcoming dates fall strangely outside the “traditional album cycle.”

Adds Mayberry: “People say, ‘Why don’t you just do three random shows? How lazy is this band to not bother playing more than three shows?'” So yeah, there’s a wider context. “

Chvrches previously hinted at possible plans for the tenth anniversary of their 2013 debut studio album, “The Bones Of What You Believe.” Speaking to NME last summer, Mayberry said the group had been “talking about it in the pub”, but had “nothing decided” at the time. Have those talks progressed since then?

“But yeah, it’s interesting. Everyone is looking around to see if there are any interesting artifacts from that time. Whether it’s audio content, photos, videos or whatever.

“We want to celebrate it in some way, and it is significant. On the one hand, it seems impossible that 10 years have passed. But on the other hand, it does.”

Mayberry continued: “I think we’re all just so grateful to still be here, to still be a band making music, and that enough people still care to bully us on the internet with great things that do for the anniversary. , she is a good bully. It’s positive reinforcement that they want to do something to celebrate it. So we’ll see what we can do.”

The process of digging through the archives gave the singer “a moment to properly reflect” on the early days of Chvrches: “For me, it was a steep learning curve musically, professionally. [y] socially,” he told NME about the ‘Bones…’ era.

“It was definitely there, but then I look at it [y] I’m like, ‘Oh, maybe I wasn’t doing as terrible as I thought.’ Part of me wants to go back and say, ‘Give yourself a fucking break because you’re doing your best and everything will be okay.’ I guess that’s the benefit of hindsight.”

Looking ahead, Chvrches will be performing ‘Thar’ live when they support Coldplay on their ‘Music Of The Spheres’ arena tour in Brazil next week. “No pressure!” Cook laughed. “We’re going to do a little practice at the start of this year before we go into the shows and we’ll just have to blow the hooves, get ready and go for it.”

Asked how she feels about big gigs coming up, Mayberry told NME: “My mood comes and goes. One minute I’m excited and then I realize what it’s all about and throw my shoes. There’s a lot of pressure on everyone, but especially I think it’s a big challenge to cover so much ground and figure out how to communicate and connect in that space.”

But yes, we are very pleased and grateful. And I’m trying to get my steps in guys every day, because I need to get my energy levels up, you know?

Doherty said it was an “unbelievable surprise” when Chvrches was approached to support Coldplay, recalling some words of wisdom Chris Martin gave him when they crossed paths in 2014.

“I met Chris Martin on Radio 1’s Big Weekend just after our first album came out, and he was absolutely lovely, and he gave me great advice about keeping the momentum going and going in and making your second record,” he told NME.

“I think what he was saying was that the opportunity we had at the time was something extraordinary, and if we could build on that momentum maybe we could turn it into a longer-term career . And here we are 10 years later, still going. .”

Check back to NME soon for more of our interview with Chvrches.

You can see Chvrches’ current 2023 UK tour dates below, and buy tickets here. The band has also been announced today for the Glastonbury 2023 lineup.

JUNE

9 – Rock City, Nottingham

10 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow

Chvrches shares lyrics to new single ‘Thar’

Chvrches announce details of their concerts in Scotland

11 – Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow

12 – Fat Sam’s, Dundee

Last year Chvrches’ Iain Cook and fellow Glasgow musician and producer Scott Paterson, formerly of Sons & Daughters, launched their new project Protection, sharing first single “Still Love You” and telling NME about their union and to come.

“When you start a new project, it’s like you’re testing the limits of what you can and want to do,” says Cook, “but listening to them, we realized that there weren’t many limits, but a lot of the boundaries. connective tissue between the songs. Yeah you asked me what it is, I don’t think I could tell you.”