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X-clusive: Athlete Reveal The Story Behind ‘Wires’
On the eve of the release of their sophomore album ‘Tourist’ Athlete have been talking about the more mature sound of the record and the highly emotional lyrical content of their new single ‘Wires’.
Speaking to Xfm after their performance at the Brits nominations announcement ceremony, drummer Steve Roberts and keyboardist Tim Wanstall explained that their new album ‘Tourist’ marks the emergence of a new more mature band than was evident on their debut ‘Vehicles And Animals’.
“I think it’s definitely true that in some ways it’s a more grown up sound,” Roberts explained, “I think the single [‘Wires’] in particular and actually a lot of the album lyrically is perhaps a bit more emotive and a bit less happy go lucky than our last record and part of that is cos we’re a few years older and we’ve been through different things to what was happening around the time of the first record.”
They also revealed that ‘Wires’ itself was written about the near death of singer and guitarist Joel Pott’s newborn daughter late last year.
“’Wires’ is about a harrowing experience that Joel had when his daughter was born,” Wanstall continued, “Basically, she had a seizure just after he’d gone home, and the song came out around that time, as he was trying to work it all through.”
Athlete will also be doing a signing of the single at the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street in London on Tuesday January 18 at 6.00pm and are currently in the middle of a headlining UK tour.
The band are also playing an exclusive Xfm Live Session in association with Jameson Irish Whisky at The Carling Academy, Islington, London on Tuesday January 25. Click here for details fo how to win free tickets
'Wires' is released on January 17 on Parlophone Records with ‘Tourist’ expected later in the year.
The full tour dates are:
- Edinburgh Liquid Rooms (January 14)
- Sheffield Leadmill (15)
- Portsmouth Pyramid (16)
- London Electric Ballroom (17)
- Leeds University (March 3)
- Glasgow Carling Academy (4)
- Manchester Academy (5)
- Newcastle University (6)
- Norwich UEA (8)
- Nottingham Rock City (9)
- Birmingham Carling Academy (10)
- Cardiff University (12)
- Bristol Carling Academy (13)
- London Forum (14)
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