Originally from Falmouth but based in Brighton, Tall Ships have, for most of the past two years, drawn many column inches in various music publications and websites. It’s hardly surprising, as they had been attracting media attention even before their 2010 debut self-titled EP had hit the shelves.

Touted as much for their inclination towards math rock (which some critics have also described as intelligent rock and ‘brainiac indie’) as for their propensity to delve into other styles and sounds, Tall Ships are, by their own admission, essentially “a rock band that plays really loud and hard”.

Add to that a broad musical vision that, even while still evolving, has successfully propelled them into the limelight. With headlining slots on the BBC Introducing stages at Reading and Leeds earlier this summer under their belt and a fair amount of hype surrounding the upcoming release of debut album Everything Touching on October 8, the band’s performance in Malta this Friday as part of the Nil By Mouth sessions promises to be a memorable night.

Maltese act Violent Violets and UK duo Joe Gideon and The Shark will also be performing on the night. See the event details on page 39.

Interview with Tall Ships

Where did the name Tall Ships come from?

It came from Falmouth where they have Tall Ships stuff everywhere and a huge festival every 10 years. It was basically the most obvious and boring name we could choose, coming from Falmouth.

What prompted you to relocate from Falmouth to Brighton?

We left Falmouth because it was just so far away from the rest of the country. It would take us at least six hours to drive to any gigs that we had booked, so we decided Brighton would be a good place to be based because it is much closer to London and is a really great and relaxed city.

Where, among the math rock, indie and other tags your music has been given, do you feel you fit in best, especially since Hit the Floor and Gallop point to relatively different directions?

That has always been a tricky thing with us. We use a lot of different sounds and styles – all of which hint at various genres, and our songs are all quite varied.

Generally, I think we’re best understood as a rock band though. At our core we’re guitar, bass and drums and play pretty loud and hard so it’s the most suitable term when describing our sound.

Your most and least favourite gigs so far are…

We were lucky enough to go out and play in Brazil, which was incredible. We’d never thought we would be able to visit somewhere like that and to be actually flown out there, play, and then get to spend some time exploring was pretty special.

We feel the same way about coming over to Malta to play. We’re chuffed to be visiting somewhere new and exciting; it’s definitely one of the best things about being in a band.

We’ve had a few ‘least favourite’ shows, like playing to three people after driving seven hours, or when our equipment decides to break down onstage.

A particular one that springs to mind was a show in Manchester. We were still a very new band and drove for eight hours to get there, only to be told that all the other bands had dropped out.

We went onstage in a venue built for 200 people and five turned up. It was awful then, but looking back now it’s actually funny.

Your star is clearly in the ascendant, with loads of plaudits rolling in and some significant festival appearances too. How have you managed to handle all the attention and did you ever think, back in your early days, that you’d get to where you are now and so quickly too?

When we first started we never had any aspirations to be a band. We were just playing songs and having a laugh. It’s been a very gradual progression to this point so we never really noticed how it’s changed until we sometimes step back and think ‘wait a minute, we’re actually a proper band now’, which always makes us chuckle.

Our favourite thing now is that people come to our shows and sing along. Music at times can feel so self-absorbed, almost selfish, so it’s those moments where you can see that your music means something to people and that they’re getting something from it that really mean a lot. It’s just one of the best feelings.

With your debut album due to be released imminently, we’re obviously curious. Any pointers as to where it stands in relation to your previous releases?

We’re so excited to get it out! We feel it’s a huge progression from the EPs both in terms of song-writing and production.

With the first two EPs we were trying to figure out what sort of band we wanted to be. With this album we really honed in on what you could call our sound. As a result it’s more confident and cohesive than our previous material and better for it.

How did the new songs fare when you tested them live?

We’ve been playing a few of the new songs live and they’ve been well received.

When we write we’re conscious of how they’ll transpose live so they generally work out fine.

But we’re still figuring out how we’re going to play the closer on the album. It has 40 people playing on it... but yes, we’ll be playing new stuff in Malta.

What’s the single most valuable piece of knowledge you took with you from Falmouth?

That’s tough. Probably that Cornish pasties are the tastiest lunch England has to offer.

http://wearetallships.co.uk