Radar sat down with Lower Than Atlantis bassist, Declan Hart, for an exclusive interview before their intimate gig at The Lemon Tree.
On Tuesday Radar sat down with Lower Than Atlantis bassist, Declan Hart, for an exclusive interview before their intimate gig at The Lemon Tree. We chatted to him about what they’ve been listening to, touring Australia and the inspiration behind their fifth album Safe in Sound.
How is the tour going so far?
Wicked, we’re kinda playing smaller rooms than we’ve played before. Not that we haven’t played smaller room than we have before but over the last few years we’ve gone back to all these places that we haven’t been in years. I think the last time we played here was maybe with You Me At Six in 2010.
You said that this is an intimate tour, what prompted the decision to make it intimate?
We’re at the end of our album cycle now so we couldn’t go and do another massive tour unless we put out new music and we didn’t want to do that yet but we still wanted to do a UK tour just to top it off at the end. This was just the best way to do it because there is actually more people attending than any tour we’ve ever done before but it’s just spread out over 22 places.
You were just in Australia, how was that?
We did 11 flights in 12 days because you have to fly between all the places so we got to see as much of it as we could. It’s the third time we’ve been there but it was sick.
What bands have you been listening to on tour?
At the moment I don’t think any of us been listening to as much current music, we’re in the process of writing new music so we put a Spotify playlist together and everything’s from the 80’s and 90’s like Phil Collins, I love Phil Collins.
Style-wise you’ve come a long way since Far-Q, what was it that made you guys want to change your style?
I think the whole ethic about LTA is that every album has to be a completely different concept. Mike’s voice has got its own little thing so it will always sound like LTA but to keep it interesting for ourselves we don’t want to make the same album time after time because we’re not Iron Maiden.
What was the inspiration behind Safe in Sound?
Lyrically you’d have to ask Mike but the whole concept of the album is just that music is escapism. Have a good day, have a shit day, you want to just chill out and you put music on and you just forget about everything else.
Lastly, have you got anything new in the works?
We’ve recorded a new song; it was supposed to be out during part of this tour but we’re doing everything ourselves so we’ve been going back and forth with it on this tour. It was supposed to be out but now it’s going to be out after the tour.
Dec told us that the “the show is gonna be well sweaty” and they definitely delivered on that. As soon as we walked through the doors to the The Lemon Tree’s tiny little room we had to just accept that we were going to leave the gig as sweaty messes. The room was packed to the brim, way more than I’ve ever seen it before. We arrived just towards the end of Boston Manor’s set who really got the crowd going for Lower Than Atlantis. After they left the stage it felt like a matter of seconds before LTA came on to a roaring crowd.
They started off their set with ‘Had Enough’ from their latest album which was obviously a perfect choice as the crowd went wild, with Mike loving every second of the crowd’s reaction. The crowd really came into their own though during ‘Work For It’ when Mike ordered a massive mosh pit that took over the entire floor.
‘Another Sad Song’ was a moment that can’t be remembered forever. Mike grabbed an acoustic guitar jumped down off the stage into the middle of the floor. He told everyone to sit down on the ground and be quiet – everyone happily obliged and did what they were told. Before he kicked the song off a fan ran to him with a shot of Sambuca which he promptly downed. The crowd went quiet and Mike serenaded the crowd with a beautiful rendition of their 2011 track.
During the bands encore they played two favourites ‘English Kids In America’ and ‘Here We Go’ a great way to end a night that brought so many people back to their teenage years.
Expected a great night and ended up with a drink downing competition, some of the most insane mosh pits, serious stage diving and crowd surfing. The LTA boys created an amazing night for everyone who was there, one that will be in everyone’s memories forever.