0:00

I get so frustrated with my friends,

0:02

who you know, are like Tottenham

0:05

or Arsenal fans who complain about being

0:07

fourth, fifth or sixth in the league, And I was like,

0:10

you don't even know. You don't

0:12

know what it's like to beg for an eleventh

0:14

place finish.

0:17

Welcome to a new episode of Midnight

0:19

Chats, our music interview

0:21

podcast for late night listening. Our

0:23

guest on the podcast tonight is Samuel t

0:26

Herring, the charismatic front

0:28

person for Future Islands and

0:30

Future Island stew I feel like they

0:33

are a special band to me and

0:35

you.

0:35

Yeah, I feel like that our band in a way,

0:38

if we were getting married at first dance

0:40

would probably be to Future Island song because

0:43

I remember the album in Evening Air coming

0:45

out when we were living together and us listening

0:48

to it a lot, or maybe you're listening to like

0:50

a promo of the tin Man single

0:52

over and over again. Sam's been on the

0:54

podcast before. We should put a link

0:56

below if we can, but I mean, just

0:58

go back through the feed if you want to see first time round.

1:01

I did that one, You've done this one. I was livid

1:04

to not do this the second time. He's a really good company,

1:06

and when we did the first time round,

1:09

I forgot to ask him about the

1:11

football team that both he and I support.

1:13

I didn't realize he was a fan because

1:16

they're Everton and no one's a fan of Everton.

1:18

I was going to base this whole episode

1:21

around Everton Football Club. So it's probably a very

1:23

good job that I couldn't do it

1:25

and you had to do it. We've

1:27

saved our listeners from that

1:30

very boring conversation. But you do get a bit

1:32

of EVT and chatting in there, and i'd like to thank you for that. Right

1:34

now, you're welcome.

1:36

Well, yeah, the one that you recorded with Sam previously

1:38

is episode twenty two, so you might need to scroll back

1:40

a little way. But on that you talk to him about

1:43

the breakout Letterman performance, for example,

1:45

that's over ten years ago. Now I can believe

1:48

that. But I think this is interesting

1:50

because I think we find Sam and like Future Islands,

1:52

in quite a different place now.

1:55

And I went to meet him back in January of this year.

1:57

It was a couple of days after Future Islands I

2:00

had released their most recent album, which is called People

2:02

Who Aren't There Anymore, which.

2:04

Is really really good. Do check it out.

2:05

But it is their most like reflective

2:08

album, and I'd say this is probably the most

2:10

reflective I've found Sam in the times

2:12

that I've met him. For people that have listened to

2:14

the album, they'll know that this is quite heavy

2:16

on the heartbreak because Sam

2:18

and his partner separated a couple of years ago,

2:21

and a lot of this album is all about that. But

2:23

Stuart I was also excited to talk to Sam about

2:25

the fact that he's now an actor.

2:28

That's probably my favorite. I mean, other than the evidence stuff.

2:31

That's probably my favorite bit of this because I

2:33

didn't realize he was in a TV show.

2:35

I don't do Apple.

2:36

TV, by the way, Greg, I do too

2:39

many streaming services. I can't

2:41

also afford Apple. And the

2:43

show that you talk about is on Apple, isn't it so that? I think

2:45

that's probably why it's passed me by.

2:47

Yeah.

2:47

So last year twenty twenty three, Sam appeared

2:49

in a big Apple TV plus show. It's called The

2:51

Changeling. He started opposite la Keith Stanfield,

2:54

who's been in films like Selma and get Out

2:56

and Uncut, Gems and Atlanta.

2:58

The TV show.

3:00

We'll share some clips with Sam talking about that on our

3:02

Instagram we are Midnight Chats Pod.

3:05

Sam is just so charismatic and

3:07

warm guy to speak to, even

3:09

when he's.

3:09

Talking about Everton. Hey up the Toffees.

3:13

That reminds me actually that the

3:15

Liverpool mascot gets a shout out in this.

3:17

He's been up to some pretty Liverpool

3:19

esque tricks at Future Island

3:21

shows, trying to give Liverpool merch

3:24

and gear to the

3:26

sound man on Sam's team

3:28

to just I think.

3:29

To upset him.

3:30

It's the only reason any Liverpool fan would do that

3:32

to an Everton camp. So

3:36

if you are listening Liverpool mask, what's a

3:38

Liverpool mascot called? He must have

3:40

a name?

3:41

Oh there will be I wish I knew. I don't

3:43

Rocky the rooster we're calling him.

3:47

He'll be a live a bird running.

3:49

Here we go.

3:49

This is Sam t Herring on

3:51

tonight's episode of Midnight Chats. Thank you

3:53

very much for listening. Don't forget to give us a

3:56

follow on Instagram, especially if we want

3:58

to see some clips of all of the interviews we do, including

4:00

tonight. It is Midnight Chats

4:03

Pod. Sam Herring on tonight's

4:05

podcast, What a treat. I'm just

4:07

sad I wasn't there myself.

4:09

Me too.

4:12

In your Everton kit. Sam.

4:18

Welcome to Midnight Chats or welcome back,

4:20

I should say you've been on before. It was episode

4:23

twenty two, which was oh well

4:25

yeah, March twenty seventeen. A

4:28

lot of life has gone by since then, hasn't it.

4:30

Yes, yeah, a lot of life

4:33

has gone by a lot of Wow. That's

4:35

that is a trip? Yeah.

4:36

Yeah. And how are you doing? How are you doing today?

4:38

I've done pretty good. We've been

4:40

over here in London

4:42

for just two days now. I'm

4:44

still settling in my jet

4:46

lag and where I am, and yet

4:49

put out a record three days ago,

4:51

so there's a lot of excitement there

4:55

and you know, getting to see we

4:57

did we did a big record store signing yesterday

4:59

and just feeling the love from fans

5:02

and stuff. It feels really good.

5:04

Yeah. And what do you do?

5:06

I mean, you've released quite a few records as Future

5:08

Islands now, so what do you do when it

5:10

comes to release day? Obviously there's like work to

5:12

be done in signings and interviews

5:14

and promotion and stuff like that, but like collectively

5:17

as a band, the day the album comes

5:19

out that still means something kind of sentimentally,

5:21

do you try and sort of have a moment of being like this

5:24

was you know, this sounds like a big achievement, this

5:26

one, or let's just look get our heads together, what

5:28

sort of happens on that day?

5:30

I think that, Yeah,

5:33

I think generally we've

5:35

you know, in the old days, we would do you know,

5:38

small album release shows and stuff like

5:40

that. As things have progressed,

5:43

you know, you're just doing like a ton of press

5:46

or something. So but

5:48

this one was special because we

5:50

were all we were all together.

5:53

It was funny because we flew we flew

5:55

over on release day here,

5:58

so we were kind of in the space

6:00

of of feeling togetherness

6:03

because we are so spread out these days. You know,

6:06

I'm I'm living down to New Orleans, Williams

6:09

out in Los Angeles, uh, and

6:11

the Guy and Mike and Garrett is still in Baltimore.

6:14

So so it is like there

6:16

is a forced togetherness

6:19

that I think we're missing a little

6:21

bit, which is part of what you know, this album title

6:23

is about, and this this period

6:26

of our lives being you

6:29

know, it's it's funny.

6:31

The thing that I've really been reflecting on is how

6:35

this band is where we are right

6:38

now. Geographically, We're we're

6:40

very much what I thought we were going to be when

6:42

we started this band. You know, the

6:45

name Future Islands came from a serendipitous

6:48

moment between

6:50

two really bad names as

6:53

we were picking our band name, Already

6:56

Islands or Future Shoes.

6:58

With you two Shoes. Yes, I

7:00

sort of kind of in us.

7:02

I can't imagine a world where Future Shoes

7:04

were headlining into the Lord.

7:08

Like we were like, what would they look like?

7:10

Get down the front.

7:13

Well, we were gonna spell it s h o o Z

7:16

from that band New Shoes. Yeah, yeah,

7:18

yeah, yeah, that we were obsessed with at the time. And

7:20

then so so then we you know, we we combined

7:23

up the names. Uh. Our old

7:25

drummer was just like, you

7:27

know, who cares you know, Already Shoes,

7:29

Future Islands, Like it's just a band name. Like

7:31

we got to pick a name, and we're like, oh, future Island

7:34

sounds pretty good. But to me, even

7:36

in those days, you know, I I

7:39

didn't see us sticking

7:41

around. And you know this,

7:43

this record has really made me, uh kind

7:46

of think about think

7:48

about this, you know, reflect

7:51

on the fact that this band kind of

7:53

started by chance, and

7:56

uh, you know, I knew that I was leaving that

7:59

city you know where we started, and

8:01

and I just assumed like we would all

8:03

be our own

8:05

you know, we were we're this group for

8:08

now, but I just felt that in the future

8:10

we would be future islands. You know, we would

8:12

be spread out across the country doing our own

8:14

things, and and this the

8:16

friendship would last, but the band wouldn't. And then

8:18

somehow it's been you know,

8:20

eighteen years next month, and

8:24

we're still going and still releasing music,

8:26

and but that geographical

8:30

shift has has happened and

8:33

we are spread out about.

8:35

So you'll move to New Orleans. Must

8:37

can't have been too long ago. What

8:40

an amazing place.

8:41

Yeah, amazing city.

8:43

Of all the places, you know, not visited

8:46

that many American cities, but without

8:48

a doubt, going to New Orleans was the best.

8:50

I felt like, what an incredibly

8:53

of place. Is so rich in culture of

8:55

just vibe, music, food,

8:58

people.

8:59

I mean, it's uh, it's a city that's continually

9:02

growing on me. I mean it's it's uh,

9:04

you know, it's where my girlfriend

9:06

lives. So I found myself spending time

9:09

down there and there was just like I love this

9:11

place. There's a

9:13

as much as there's like an energy and

9:15

a constantly replenishing energy because

9:17

there's you know, new groups of people coming

9:19

in every other day to uh as

9:22

tourists. There's also this

9:25

very slow, slow

9:27

way of UH of life and

9:29

just taking things in and

9:32

and uh and

9:34

just a beauty and a

9:36

mixed culture. Uh. That's

9:39

that's just really loved. Just I don't

9:41

know, it's it's it's like a city I've said,

9:43

it's like a city that kind of keeps revealing itself

9:45

to me every day. I'm

9:47

a person who likes to take walks, so going

9:50

out for going

9:52

out for a walk every other day and just finding

9:55

new things and seeing things in new ways.

9:57

It's it's a

9:59

really warm for my soul and

10:01

kind of what well, exactly what I need. But

10:03

there's also a bit of there's a bit

10:05

of an anonymity for me there that I really

10:07

enjoy as well, and just being kind of able to bop

10:10

around and not be bothered.

10:12

Yeah, totally. And good record stores there, my

10:14

great record stores. Yeah, loved

10:17

New Orleans. Good beer, I remember,

10:21

what do you remember it's there's

10:23

a there's a famous brewery there. The name escapes

10:25

me now, but a beta be Yeah,

10:27

I do remember.

10:28

Yeah, that was good.

10:29

Yeah, A few would Beta hangovers. When I was there,

10:32

I just loved it, didn't didn't want to leave New Orleans.

10:34

It was truly my favorite place in the States, definitely.

10:37

Yeah, well it has it has a bit of a European

10:40

flavor to it

10:42

is it's very different than any other American

10:45

city. Yeah.

10:46

Something that's quite cool that as we sit here today,

10:48

it's almost fifteen

10:50

years since Feature Islands played their first

10:53

show in the UK. Actually a venue called Barden's

10:55

Boudoir, which is ten

10:58

minutes drive from here at least, sorry

11:01

to say, it was a great basement

11:04

venue in Stone

11:07

Newington in northeast London. And

11:11

yeah, I mean that that seems extraordinary

11:13

that fifteen years gone by, But like, what

11:15

do you remember your feelings? I

11:18

mean, you'd been playing a lot of shows in the States in

11:20

the years prior to that, but like leaving the States

11:22

for the first time to come to Europe place

11:24

some shows with Future Islands. Was that even

11:26

at that point, was that like we've

11:29

achieved something that we never thought was gonna happen.

11:32

Yes, yeah, I think I

11:34

think that first tour there

11:37

was a sense of who did we

11:39

trick to get here? But

11:44

you know, but part of that feeling

11:47

too. It wasn't just that it

11:49

was happening, it was that it was

11:52

especially the shows in shows

11:55

in and around London were really actually

11:57

pretty successful, so

12:00

so we were like, Wow, this is really

12:02

happening and people really care

12:04

because, you know, our first the first few rounds

12:07

record came out on Upset the Rhythm in

12:09

London, and Upset the Rhythm was not

12:11

only putting out our record, but were uh

12:14

you know, and and still doing show promotion

12:17

and just really in the thick of it, so

12:20

putting on putting on those shows

12:22

and giving us uh

12:25

an audience that we didn't you know. That's that's

12:27

one of the things that's always been enjoy in touring is

12:29

going to a new place and seeing that there's people

12:31

there and they aren't always

12:34

there. Because that first tour,

12:36

you know, we spent we spent a

12:38

good week and a half in the UK and

12:40

then went to to uh

12:42

Europe and mainly played in Germany. But

12:46

but there were actually.

12:46

Couple of quiet shows.

12:47

There were a couple of quiet shows. I remember.

12:50

I remember playing in foot

12:53

foot for

12:57

for uh

13:00

Fu r umla are

13:03

Thh

13:06

Germany, and we opened

13:08

for like three metal bands

13:11

and there was maybe like fifteen people there, which was

13:13

like the three metal bands, and

13:16

it was actually kind of a fun show, but it

13:18

was Yeah, it's just one of those you know,

13:21

I think any band that exists

13:24

is you know, for many years can

13:26

tell you that same story. You know, it's it's part

13:28

of the rite of passage. But but the London

13:30

shows we were amazing, and

13:33

even like Barden's I think we that first

13:35

show, I don't I don't think it was a sold out

13:37

show, but I think there was like one hundred people there and

13:40

it really it blew us away,

13:42

you know, we felt, I

13:45

don't know, like, well, we talked about

13:47

this a lot. For the people

13:49

that don't know our history, you know, they think of the big moments

13:52

for us being the ones that broke us out

13:54

into the world and the

13:56

late night performance and performances

13:58

and things like that. But it's really like those

14:01

small triumphs, you know, and

14:03

like coming here and

14:06

seeing that there was an audience and they were responding

14:08

to our music, that those were

14:10

the moments that really gave us heart, that allowed

14:13

us to uh or made us feel

14:15

comfortable to keep pushing forward, because

14:19

you know, a lot of the life of a band

14:22

is is the can

14:24

does anybody care? Can we keep doing this? Can

14:27

we make this work? And

14:31

you know, I don't know how many amazing

14:34

bands that I've known and toured with

14:36

or been cross paths with, or were

14:38

like some of our best friends who just you

14:41

know, by the time they were twenty eight, twenty nine and thirty, just

14:43

gave up on music, sometimes earlier because they're

14:45

like, I can't do this anymore, or

14:48

I want to have a family, or I am starting

14:50

a family and I can't do this where

14:53

I don't know what it was for us where we

14:56

just you know, lived in the bubble

14:59

with the belief, and those those little moments

15:01

are the things that kept us going until we

15:04

found like, oh this is uh, we're

15:06

actually living now, you know, we're living off of our art.

15:09

But those those hard years, you know, that was

15:12

that first trip over was still very

15:14

much entrenched in the hard the

15:16

hard years of the band.

15:19

Yeah, can we talk about

15:21

the Changeling of course.

15:22

Yeah.

15:23

So for those listeners who don't know,

15:25

you've been acting in your first TV show.

15:29

It's on Apple TV plus Star.

15:32

You're starring opposite like the multi award winning

15:35

late Lakeith Stanfield and

15:38

among others, and it's a horror fantasy.

15:41

It's a big deal.

15:42

Like how I'd love to hear

15:44

about how that opportunity came away and

15:46

how prepared you felt for it and how

15:49

or whether you just went with it.

15:51

Did you have to audition? What's tell us

15:53

about how that came about?

15:54

Well, the so the funny thing that happened

15:57

with with the changeling.

15:59

You know, I've never I've never like properly

16:01

acted before, and

16:05

it's not something that I

16:07

was going for. I've always been

16:09

interested with stage acting because

16:12

I love the stage. But yeah,

16:15

never really thought about it. Anyways.

16:18

In late October, at the very

16:20

end of that tour in twenty twenty one,

16:23

we were the

16:27

writer of the show. Kelly Marcel came out

16:29

to a Futreallenge show. She was a big

16:31

fan, like so many people.

16:33

She found us through Letterman, you know, seven

16:36

eight years before, and it

16:39

had been a big fan of our music. She actually

16:41

was using she was listening

16:43

to as Long as You Are, our last record while

16:46

she was writing the Change thing. It was like

16:49

her soundtrack of like three or four records that

16:51

she would put on loop to kind

16:53

of get her in writing mode. But she'd

16:56

never seen the band play, and so we were

16:58

coming through her city, yeah, towards

17:00

the end of the tour, and and

17:02

she came out with a friend of hers, and

17:05

you know, they were at the time they were casting

17:08

for this show, and

17:10

the character that I would eventually come

17:12

to play, she couldn't.

17:15

She was trying to wrap her head around who could

17:18

be his character because the character like makes

17:20

a change within the show and she

17:22

didn't want to telegraph it. Basically, she

17:25

came to the show, she'd been listening to us for

17:27

years, loved the band, but then had never

17:29

seen his play live. And then about halfway through the show,

17:31

I started like ripping it, ripping

17:33

it the mask. I put

17:35

that in quotes of my face, like trying to

17:37

rip my face off, and I'm starting to go

17:39

into the more guttural growlse. She

17:41

turned to her friend, who had read this book, and

17:44

was like, I think he's the guy?

17:46

Could he be the guy? And our friend

17:48

is like, holy shit, I think I think he could be

17:50

the guy. They watched a couple

17:53

more songs, and the funny thing is

17:55

is that Kelly got really uncomfortable

17:58

after this realization and watching me

18:01

go, you know, this thing is intensifying,

18:05

this ripping it my ripping

18:07

it my flesh mask and

18:11

the guttural growls, and so her and her friend left.

18:13

And then a couple months later, I

18:16

just got an email like, Hey, have you ever

18:18

been interested in acting? I am so and

18:21

so I'm writing this show. Would

18:23

you like to I would like for

18:25

you to audition for this part. I really think that

18:27

you could kill it and

18:30

that you know, the wild thing that happened for

18:32

me in my life was just

18:34

a month after finishing

18:36

that that tour, this

18:39

life you know, this life affirming

18:41

tour. You know, I got back from that A

18:43

week and a half later, I got my Swedish residency.

18:47

I you know, me and my ex had just bought an

18:49

apartment in the summer in

18:52

Sweden, and I and so I returned to

18:54

Sweden only to be there for a few days

18:56

and then we split and then I found myself

18:58

back in Baltimore. So so

19:00

I was like, at this point, this

19:03

very confused point in my life of like, what

19:06

the hell is my life? What

19:08

happened to my life? Because you know, I had these all

19:11

these plans and we

19:14

had you know, me and this person had all these

19:16

plans and then it all was

19:19

gone. So so then you

19:21

know, a month and a half. Two months later, I get this email

19:23

like, would you be interested in

19:26

acting? I know you're not an actor, and I was like,

19:28

I guess I don't have anything else

19:31

to do. I mean, that was pretty much the thing.

19:33

So I just started talking to

19:36

to Kelly. She shared with me the scripts and

19:38

I was surprised to find that it wasn't

19:40

a cameo. I just assumed it was like this little

19:42

role and I was like, oh, this is a real like

19:45

I'm in. Yeah, this is a real

19:47

role where this character

19:49

is. I mean, I actually ended

19:52

up playing three characters in the first season. I

19:55

read with the casting director and the

19:57

main director in La and

19:59

they gave me the part.

20:01

Yeah, and now you've got an IMDb page.

20:05

But yeah, I got the part. And but

20:07

it was funny. It was like, you

20:09

got the part, but you have to take acting

20:12

lessons.

20:12

Okay.

20:13

So at that point they were like, you know, you've

20:16

you have like the you've got the raw you

20:18

got the raw thing, you got the raw talent, and

20:21

let's just get you make

20:23

you feel a little bit more comfortable. So I had I had

20:26

six one hour sessions just over Zoom

20:28

with this legendary guy named Larry

20:31

Moss and and he was

20:34

amazing, and he gave me so much with

20:37

just within that short period. He really made me. He

20:39

gave me the confidence and myself. I

20:41

mean, the first thing he said to me was like, I

20:43

just watched a bunch of your interviews. I watched a

20:45

lot of your stage performances, and like, you're

20:47

you're an actor. You just don't know it, and

20:49

you have to like trust what

20:52

you're doing and you have to you know,

20:54

be natural. But the biggest thing he ever told

20:56

me was just to like take a breath

20:59

and keep my jaw loose.

21:04

Maybe not that loose, but

21:10

uh, but there is something about that

21:12

natural, just like feeling natural.

21:15

He's like, if your nose, it's just scratch your nose, like

21:18

if there, if it feels like something's on the top of your head,

21:20

like move it. It's like all those things are

21:22

what make an actor interesting. Yeah,

21:25

and but yeah, like he really

21:27

gave me the confidence and then uh, but

21:29

yeah, it was very nerve wracking because pretty

21:32

much all of my scenes are against la Keith, who

21:34

is a phenomenal actor

21:37

who I'm very aware of, and I'm just like, this

21:40

guy is amazing. And because of that, I felt

21:43

that I got to also learn

21:46

with one of the best because I was just learning

21:48

and and luckily he was really uh,

21:51

he was open. He was unsure of me at

21:54

first. Yeah, the day

21:56

before we did our first scene and my first

21:58

scene, he asked me up to his

22:00

uh his hotel room to talk about

22:02

it, about that scene

22:05

and uh, and it was the first time we had had like

22:07

a one on one and

22:10

he uh, you know, we just we kind of just

22:12

like spoke about ourselves for a bit, just get

22:14

comfortable, and then we he

22:16

read against me, and I

22:19

was like, I was fully prepared,

22:21

Like first day of shooting. I think I had all my

22:23

lines for the whole show memorized, you know,

22:25

because I because I'd heard that this was the most important

22:28

thing was getting the getting the

22:31

words in my body so that when they came

22:33

out they would be natural. So I was like, I

22:36

just wanted to get this right. And so after

22:38

we basically we ran the scene and

22:40

he was like, oh, Okay, this is

22:42

great, he was like, I was, I

22:45

can tell that you've been working, and

22:48

I really appreciate that you've been working,

22:50

and this is going to be great. He

22:53

was. I think he was surprised. He was

22:55

like, oh, okay, this is

22:57

this is great and thank you

22:59

and I was like, yeah, I don't I really want

23:01

to get this right.

23:06

I saw you posted some videos on nine of some spectacular

23:09

makeup, like a make to

23:12

call it makeup is just underestimated?

23:15

Is this kind of like insane, bloodied

23:18

scowling?

23:19

I got beat up pretty bad.

23:21

Yeah, you posted this video

23:23

all nine.

23:23

It was just like you had like outside your trailers

23:25

having a cigarette. I was like, wow that like

23:28

with that like five hours in the chair

23:30

like that was that was It's pretty convincing.

23:32

It looked like you had just been like run over.

23:35

It's probably it was probably

23:37

like an hour and fifteen.

23:39

Okay.

23:40

The hardest part was I had this eye prosthetic

23:43

which was a complete cover over of my eye,

23:45

which and then but

23:47

what would happen was would create a It

23:50

actually created an oxygen pocket

23:52

around my eye. And the second

23:55

day I had to film in that, I

23:58

was just sweating underneath it, and I started to get

24:00

a pool of water. My

24:03

eye was like half submerged, and I started to freak

24:05

out and get really mad at

24:07

people, like you have to like

24:10

open this thing up. Yeah, I'm freaking out

24:12

over here.

24:13

Uhonerful

24:15

feeling.

24:16

Well, the thing is is like your because I was also

24:18

had to wear these uh these contact

24:20

lenses that were a bloodshot eye contacts

24:23

and you can only leave them in for so long because the cornea

24:25

has to breathe, and so I started to freak

24:27

out, like, hey, my also, this eye

24:29

is not breathing too. Okay, can

24:32

somebody help me out here?

24:33

Can somebody help my eyes breathe?

24:35

I was really scared. So

24:38

but it all got it got sorted.

24:39

Yeah quite, I mean yeah in a macaboy

24:41

it looked like a little fun.

24:43

Yeah yeah, well and also I was in I

24:45

was in distress. So it all, it's all. You

24:47

got to use it, man, exactly, use it

24:49

for your performance.

24:50

This is it channeling it channeling it.

24:53

I mean you talk there

24:55

about like an opportunity opening up for you,

24:58

like it's just sort of accepting

25:00

the opportunity to do something new and like

25:02

that sense of kind of renewal and learning

25:04

something new, and like, has that opened up

25:06

your mind to possibilities around

25:08

that? I mean you mentioned that that you kind of you don't

25:10

really know whether you will do more of that

25:13

or not, but has it have you dreamed

25:15

a little bit more about the idea of doing that.

25:17

Yeah, yeah, I mean, I'm I'm interested, but it would

25:20

have to be the right thing. I mean, so

25:22

much of you know, part of the drive

25:24

of doing that was, you

25:26

know, the course is a drive for myself to

25:29

do something to myself, to prove to myself that I can do

25:31

it. But also you know, I was like,

25:34

hopefully there's sells some records too. I

25:37

mean, of course, you know, like I

25:40

still very much am

25:42

and feel in partnership. So

25:45

I want, you know, all all all

25:47

the stuff I do, like when I do features or

25:50

even when I do rap stuff like I want I

25:53

want that stuff to reflect back on

25:55

on the family, which is future

25:58

Islands, you know, and I hope that it

26:00

it just brings us more exposure. And

26:02

because you know, we do work for one another,

26:05

and we do we do this thing to

26:07

support one another and support

26:09

each other's families, and

26:11

and so I still feel an important uh

26:14

responsibility. There is it going

26:16

to affect my downtime because the other thing is like we're

26:19

getting to a point with the band where we don't

26:22

want to be touring so much so that we can live

26:24

a life and we can enjoy a

26:26

life. And it's like so we don't

26:28

keep losing things. You know, in

26:30

my case, like holding on to

26:33

things more and

26:36

being able to be there for the people that we love

26:39

is really important. So it's like, cool, do I want

26:41

to fill that with being away?

26:44

You know. So it's it's a very it's

26:46

a tricky line, but

26:47

uh but you know, well

26:50

we'll see you know, it's really my phone has

26:52

not been ringing off the hook, but that

26:54

doesn't matter.

26:54

And before we move on, let's dream.

26:56

Let's dream big, like if if if

26:58

the equivalent of it was it lead the writer?

27:00

Yeah, the amount of Kelly is listening

27:03

to this right now? What are we talking?

27:04

Sam? Like, would you bond villain or

27:07

villain?

27:08

Easy? Found villain?

27:10

Easy? I can go arch. I can go arch all

27:12

day. I

27:14

love to do a bit of Shakespeare. Yeah

27:17

I could.

27:18

I could see you.

27:19

I love that challenge. I'm just really

27:21

curious about, uh learning

27:24

the text, you know what I mean. I don't know

27:26

any Shakespeare, but the idea of

27:28

the idea of like, uh, committing

27:31

that to a memory, it

27:33

seems like the challenge that I love, you

27:35

know, I love I love a word challenge.

27:38

And you know, it's like what what I do as

27:41

a writer. You know, I came up as a as

27:43

a rapper and writing long text

27:45

and putting it to memory. I think that's why the

27:47

memorization, uh part of

27:50

doing the change thing was was actually

27:53

kind of I don't want to say it was easy, but it

27:56

kind of came very natural and uh and

27:59

I was able to like hold these things pretty

28:01

quickly because that's what I do.

28:03

You know, I have to learn this stuff, uh,

28:06

for for the stage all the time.

28:08

I want to ask you about I want to ask you about

28:10

football.

28:11

Soccer, soccer.

28:13

For American listeners.

28:16

You're an Everton fan.

28:18

You're a fan of the British

28:20

football club Everton. And I know if Stu was recording

28:23

this podcast with you, he would talk all day longly about Everton

28:25

because he's a big Everton fan. The topies, the

28:27

topies. He'll clip

28:29

that and just have it playing. That would be like his uh

28:34

exactly, Yeah, every time a text comes through.

28:37

How's the experience of the

28:42

plugging into the feeling that lots of us have in the

28:44

UK of basically supporting a

28:46

team that is kind of not

28:49

always failing, but failing a lot of the time

28:52

and takes you on this sort of emotion I share

28:54

this. I don't support Everton, but like

28:57

that sense that sort of like roller coaster feeling

28:59

of just being like you you sort

29:01

of love you love to hate it. You're

29:03

taking on this just kind of like this emotional

29:06

journey of just being like, oh my goodness, what next?

29:08

How do you find following it?

29:11

It's like any spool, I guess, but.

29:12

Yeah, well, I think being

29:15

an Everton fan is uh

29:17

is keeping life realistic

29:22

on the ground. The thing is when you support

29:25

one of these monster clubs or

29:28

a constant winner, then UH.

29:30

So boring all the time.

29:32

I get so frustrated with my friends,

29:34

who you know, are like Tottenham

29:37

or Arsenal fans who complain about being

29:39

fourth, fifth or sixth in the league. And I was like,

29:42

you don't even know. You

29:44

don't know what it's like. You don't know

29:46

what he's like to beg for an eleventh

29:48

place finish and feel like that's

29:50

okay, Like you know

29:52

what. I picked Everton because they were

29:54

an eleventh place team.

29:57

You know. I came to this because I needed

29:59

I wanted to team to support. Uh it's

30:01

been eleven years now, but uh, I

30:03

wanted a team to support, and I picked the

30:06

ninth tenth and eleventh place teams and watched him

30:08

play. And I when I saw Everton play, I was

30:10

like, that is my team. And so

30:12

I really feel, as I've said to Raj

30:14

Bennett from min and Blazers, like who's

30:16

a massive Everton fan and

30:19

a Scouser is like that, you know,

30:21

Everyton really picked me in a way like I

30:23

felt, and I feel that kinship

30:26

with that team, and I love you know, the other things

30:28

are I'm I'm an underdog

30:31

and I'm not always winning, but

30:33

that but that joy that

30:36

that defeat, being able to like accept

30:39

defeat as an inevitability is

30:42

an important thing in life. And that and

30:45

the joy of victory

30:47

is like so much sweeter

30:50

in those places. You know. I like,

30:52

like Everyton's an underdog team

30:55

for me and and I'm an underdog.

30:57

So so I don't know, I

31:00

I love them. They're my family. Yeah, they

31:02

don't know me, but I but I know them.

31:04

I was going to say, I heard it was like Taylor

31:06

Swift when she goes to see the Kansas City

31:08

Chiefs when when you go to Goodison

31:10

Park, like the shirt sales

31:12

go like three through the.

31:14

Reef oh Man, I went the heiring thirteen

31:17

Jersey. You

31:19

got a shirt, right, have you got I've got a few shirts.

31:21

Amazing, amazing.

31:22

Have any of the team or anybody associated with Everton then

31:25

ever come to see future Islands play when

31:27

you've been bad? What

31:29

was a joke that my dad used to make. Yeah,

31:32

my dad used to say, oh, my football team,

31:34

don't come and see me when I'm bad.

31:38

Well, the only the only player

31:41

that's come out was Layton

31:43

Bains and he was he was still playing at the time,

31:47

and he came out with Danny

31:49

Donakey, who was a trainer at

31:51

Everton for many years. I did a podcast

31:53

recently and they told me that Ditch

31:56

was a big music head. Yeah,

31:58

so I shouted him out. I told him a plus twenty

32:00

for the next gig in

32:03

Liverpool. I hope they get the whole team out. Yeah,

32:05

team building exercise.

32:07

I know, we need to just get that email center the Everton

32:09

press office.

32:09

I will be the highest I will have the highest high

32:12

kicks that night of any show. Knowing

32:14

that there's all of Everton.

32:16

And if you got picked up for like a major TV

32:18

series by doing your thing on stage,

32:21

hey listen, there might be like there might

32:23

be a chance of at least in like charity.

32:26

Yeah, yeah,

32:29

we could, like you know, they do like this sort of Everton

32:32

teams versus like celebrities thing for

32:34

like charity matches.

32:35

You could. I think you need to get onto the grass,

32:38

just some park.

32:39

Well I did get to go. They took

32:41

me down for a pitch on the pitch interview

32:44

last time I was out there, So it was really cool.

32:46

Yeah, I felt like a little kid and made

32:48

so happy.

32:52

On that point of the physicality

32:55

of playing shows with Future Islands, like,

32:58

I mean, it's been so to

33:00

death over the years of just like how hard you've worked,

33:02

how many shows you've played. Literally, if you lined

33:05

up all the shows that Future Islands

33:07

have ever played, it would probably last about

33:09

four and a half years. That's not even

33:11

a joke. That is literally you've played like fifteen

33:13

hundred shows. And

33:16

I just wondered, like the last time I saw you, you

33:18

did something on stage I hadn't seen before, which was this

33:20

amazing kind of from

33:23

the back corner of the stage that the opposite

33:25

front corner of the stage like dive across

33:27

the floor. And I was

33:29

just like, and you just jump back up again.

33:32

I thought that must have really hurt and it

33:34

was spectacular. I was like, Sam's still

33:36

adding new moves, like to

33:38

his future islands, you know, repertoire

33:41

after fifteen years. I'm just like, you know, full

33:43

respect, but how does it,

33:46

Yeah, that the energy that goes into it, Like, I

33:49

mean, you've hurt yourself over the years,

33:51

like you do, you do bear the physical scars

33:53

of everything that you've kind of put into the.

33:56

Shows, right yeah, yeah, so well

34:00

off that move is called the seal and

34:02

it's I do that in Long Flight, which

34:05

is really funny because it all started

34:07

with about a just a two foot

34:10

well a creeping down to

34:12

whisper into someone's ear who's laying

34:14

like on a futon bed on the floor,

34:16

and then that became like a two foot

34:18

dive, a four foot dive, a five

34:21

foot like shoot out to then

34:23

I was like how far can I go?

34:26

And so it was like came

34:28

to walking to the back corner of the stage

34:30

and then shooting off hoping

34:33

to reach the front corner of the other side of the stage. And

34:36

it is my favorite part of the show because

34:38

I am just like how far can I make

34:40

it?

34:40

And I was just like, please don't slide up the

34:44

like it's a bit like if people want to imagine it. It

34:46

was always like you know, if you put down like

34:48

a plastic map and then like cover it

34:50

in water or something, you just you just Glideah.

34:54

Yeah, and that that move did.

34:57

It used to hurt, but I figured

34:59

it out.

35:00

Yeah, you're wearing like pads underneathy.

35:02

Trousersh

35:04

no, no, no no, Maybe that's what you need.

35:06

Oh a bit like you had in the Changeling. Maybe you need to

35:08

get boduit.

35:12

You just have to get a very low trajectory

35:14

point. You got to get the crouch and

35:16

the shoot off, so you hit on the front of

35:18

your chest and not not your thighs

35:21

because that's I have banged my knee doing that

35:23

as well. But yeah, you know I've I tore my

35:25

a CL in two thousand and nine

35:29

actually performing with on tour

35:31

with Dan Deacon and performing with Dan Deacon, I

35:34

tore my a CL tackled

35:36

by some very drunk of French

35:38

teenagers in a park. And

35:40

then I was able to get my ACL fixed

35:43

in twenty ten, but then it only

35:45

lasted about five years and then I tore it again

35:47

in at Red Rocks in opening

35:51

for Morrissey. So basically since

35:53

the end of twenty fifteen, I've been performing

35:55

on a rapidly disintegrating

35:58

knee and

36:00

just having to find new ways to

36:02

to move to do like

36:05

physical therapy. You know, I have routines

36:07

of you know, now I have this crazy ice compression

36:10

machine.

36:10

I was going to say, do you have to do like an ice I've

36:12

seen artists in the past do like ice

36:14

baths. Yeah, and then and obviously

36:16

like adminstream like you know you

36:19

mentioned like professional sportlia like literally

36:21

like steroid injections and everything else that you have

36:23

to do just to get through.

36:26

Yeah, you have to do some of that stuff.

36:28

Yeah, Yeah, I've done. I've done the

36:30

the PRP treatments

36:33

in my knee numerous times, which

36:35

is like spinning out your own blood, spinning

36:37

out the hemoglobe and your own blood, and

36:39

then re reinjecting like

36:41

just the white blood cell part of

36:43

your blood back into an

36:46

area that's supposed to increase healing. It

36:48

also helps with like kind

36:51

of swallowing loose bodies, because I have like

36:53

loose bone floating in my knee cavity.

36:57

Crazy dude. I used

36:59

to drink before shows, and a lot of

37:01

the reason was it was a mask

37:03

for the pain. You know, it was it

37:05

was a way to cover up

37:08

the pain. But but what happens, So

37:11

I can do all the squats and you know,

37:13

all the all the crazy movements,

37:15

but what happens is is like pain exists for

37:18

a reason. You know, You're supposed to feel

37:20

pain, so that you don't do that. So

37:23

after the pandemic, I I

37:25

started to UH to

37:27

do shows sober for the first time in

37:29

my life, and

37:32

it I found that I was bouncing back a lot

37:35

faster and I was My

37:37

fear was that I wouldn't be as good a performer, but I

37:39

found myself to be a better performer

37:41

because I was actually engaging with my

37:43

emotions in a natural way. I was engaging

37:45

with the songs in

37:47

a more natural way that I'd forgotten about

37:50

instead of reacting like like

37:52

like I'm great on a stage when I'm drunk too.

37:56

But but but that that emotional

37:58

range is it's

38:00

like, you know, we drink and we kind of

38:03

we open up a part of ourselves it's hidden, but

38:05

we also we we kind

38:07

of cut off the actual uh

38:10

connection to the feelings, you know, or

38:12

it's or that the range of emotion

38:14

is more like between joy

38:17

to raige very quickly, and you don't find

38:19

the intricacies between. And

38:21

I find my performances not

38:24

not drinking, are much more introspective

38:28

and uh, and I don't know connective

38:31

within myself. I'm like, I

38:34

just I feel like I've I like

38:36

found a part of the storyteller that i'd lost

38:39

a long time ago and that

38:41

and it's just good to find that. I'm not saying

38:43

that it's better. Uh,

38:45

I'm not saying it's better. I'm not saying it's worse. I'm

38:47

just saying that it's it's a

38:50

it's a it's fresh. I still have a

38:52

drink after the show, but but doing

38:54

that beforehand and

38:56

not not dulling, I

38:59

mean literally dulling my senses on purpose

39:01

so that I don't feels.

39:05

Yeah, I think made me a better perform at this

39:07

stage of my life.

39:08

Yeah. I've got a final

39:10

question for you. The

39:13

it feels like there's been so much has happened

39:15

in your world and your bandmate's world

39:17

the last few years that like a lot

39:19

of kind of untethering, changing

39:21

geography, s places that you live, and things moving

39:24

around outside the band. And I guess I

39:26

wanted to ask what future Islands

39:28

has come to mean in that context,

39:31

like you talked about future Islands as kind of so

39:34

core and so your home in a

39:36

way, like your

39:38

band is this almost this sort of like the the

39:40

unchangeable thing, the thing that does seem to

39:42

stay at constant that is almost like reliable

39:46

there for us, we always know we can go back to that

39:49

point your compass in a way, Is

39:51

that fair to say, like what does the band?

39:54

What does the band meant in this time of great

39:56

upheaval?

40:00

I don't know, because I mean, you're so you

40:03

are so right, but I

40:05

also see the push

40:08

and pull within our

40:10

own lives as well that you know,

40:13

there are the fears that does does

40:15

the band continue to exist? Because

40:18

because there's the one side where you say, how

40:21

can it not? But uh,

40:23

but but yeah, we we move, we're

40:25

moving around, we're finding new

40:28

uh, new possibilities in

40:31

other sections and uh, you

40:33

know we have we've got a father

40:35

in the band now who needs to be close to

40:37

home and uh and

40:41

that's I

40:45

think that's part of what we've been going

40:47

through, which is that are we constant?

40:50

You know? And that's what this album title

40:52

refers to, is you know, the people

40:55

who aren't there anymore? Also ourselves.

40:59

They're they're the people that

41:01

we used to be, you

41:03

know, And so there I

41:06

think I think that consistency

41:09

has allowed us to get

41:11

here and continue to navigate. But I would

41:14

say as much as we are just

41:16

putting out a new record and we're going to go on tour, we

41:18

are also in uh in

41:21

this point of this

41:24

this waving point of being

41:26

in the sea and finding out where we are and how

41:28

we go forward. You

41:31

know, that's the thing that futures has allowed

41:33

me for so much of my life is

41:36

a plan, you know, and even

41:38

if that is a loose plan, there's

41:42

like a belief and a heart, and

41:44

it's like built on on a

41:46

love and a shared creation. You

41:48

know, when you get older, you

41:51

start to make plans with other people, and

41:54

and we do have to find find ourselves

41:57

and find time for ourselves. So I

42:00

am curious what

42:02

happens next. I mean, one way or another,

42:05

it's creation. You

42:07

know, there's no part of me that will never create.

42:11

But but there's a big part of me right now

42:13

that is questioning what do

42:16

I share because

42:18

with this record, I really I

42:21

don't like that I'm sharing

42:24

about someone who I wish didn't

42:26

have to, you know, be a part

42:28

like I still care about that person

42:31

enough that I don't want them to be hurt. You

42:35

know. We I had a conversation with them a couple

42:37

of years ago now, like hey, and I'm writing

42:39

these songs and it's

42:43

that is, if you don't want me to share

42:45

them, then I won't. And then they told

42:47

me, you know, no, that's your art. You should share.

42:50

You know, I would never keep you from your art. But I'm

42:52

starting to realize through this process, you know, how

42:55

do I feel about sharing about these things and

42:57

how do I move forward as an artist? So I

42:59

mean honest, with all of that feeling

43:01

of not being certain, there's

43:04

a whole lot to write about. And there's a

43:06

part of me that's like, please give me music

43:08

right now. So I

43:10

always think like can we keep you

43:12

know it's right when you put out a record, where are like

43:15

can we do this again? And

43:18

there's the other part of me that's like, give me music.

43:20

I have so many emotions that I'm going through and

43:22

I want to share this to I want to

43:24

see it, you know. Like writing for me is like

43:27

taking the feelings out of my

43:29

body and putting them on a page so I can study

43:31

them future islands didn't exist

43:34

through those years of the pandemic, you

43:36

know, and we're still I think we're still

43:38

coming to terms with what that means. I think the world

43:40

is still coming to terms with what

43:42

that means. I think that two years

43:44

ago, when we kind of came out of our came

43:46

out of our homes, everyone said, yeay,

43:49

we're back to normal. And I think people are just now

43:51

realizing that everyone's all fucked up,

43:53

that this that this thing that the world

43:56

went through is actually

43:58

created of you know, kind of it was a t madic

44:00

experience that people are still dealing with

44:02

that the world really changed, and the way that we

44:05

we communicate with with each other

44:07

and what what we find is important

44:09

in our work, in our relationships,

44:12

uh is different. You know. So

44:15

so there's there's a great recording and in a

44:17

lot of things definitely.

44:20

Well listen, Sam, thanks for coming back on the podcast,

44:23

Ending on a Light. I'm

44:27

fully expecting that in seven

44:29

years time when you come back on the podcast, you'll

44:31

be returning with an oscar and you're just going

44:33

to like smash it down or

44:36

you like it.

44:37

You all you'll have won like the f A Cup with

44:39

Everton or something. Yeah. I don't

44:41

mind which whichever you whichever you prove.

44:44

Like the mascot. Yeah, hey, I just want to

44:46

put I want to put this guy on blast, the

44:49

mascot of Liverpool. I

44:52

think his name is big Red.

44:53

Yeah yeah, it's Bigger the Yeah yeah yeah yeah.

44:55

Uh.

44:55

He's a huge futures

44:58

fan and he he's

45:00

ashamed because he knows that

45:03

I'm a blue nose. But

45:06

he comes to the shows and he's always trying to turn

45:09

our sound guy against against me. No,

45:11

he gives him tons of Liverpool merch and

45:14

I just have to like chuck it in the I

45:16

chuck it in the trailer. I'm like, not on the bus

45:18

man, keep it in the trailer.

45:20

I don't know that be seen. I know how much

45:22

trouble I could get me in Red.

45:23

I'm putting you on blasts right now.

45:27

We need to find a way of getting that's a big Red.

45:29

That's such a brilliantly like scouse thing to

45:31

do as well. I'm going to the sound desk being like, hey,

45:34

Nate, can you give this to sound.

45:37

Now? He wants him to wear it. He knows

45:39

that I won't have it. He wants in wear it

45:41

in front of me. I'm like man trickster.

45:44

Well, now Clops go in. You might you know Everson.

45:47

I think that the city's going to change.

45:49

Change.

45:50

Yeah, yeah, thanks so much.

45:52

Sam, like so brilliant to get to speak

45:54

to you again on the podcast. And yeah, I really

45:56

look forward scene against scene awesome cool.

46:03

Midnight Chats is a joint production between

46:05

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46:07

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46:09

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