Most Wanted: The Line Of Best Fit meets Cults

“Somebody’s written down these questions and sent them to us…’Is it what you expected?’…Is what what I expected?!” Madeline Follin is getting quite used to this interviewing lark now, following a very quick and very well documented rise to the forefront of the blogosphere. With her musical partner, Brian Oblivion, their band Cults have succeeded in infiltrating nigh on every musical resource that the internet has to offer, as well as reaping critical acclaim after notable performances at SXSW, Coachella and most recently, England’s very own Great Escape festival. It all started just last year with the release of three demos via the band’s bandcamp.

Does it feel like the success has happened all of a sudden, or has it been a long time coming?

Madeline: Yeah, it definitely feels like it happened really fast, but we’ve tried to do our best to slow everything down.

Brian Oblivion: It wasn’t that stressful really, because we always moved at our own pace. We got some recognition in the beginning, but then we didn’t make the record any faster than we would’ve done anyway.

M: We probably actually made the record a lot slower because that happened and took our time with decisions, so that it didn’t feel too hasty. We really wanted to think about what we were doing.

B: Everyone thinks it’d be such a head-rush, and it kind of is but at the same time, when you take control of it and you don’t let people pressure you into doing stuff and you take it at your own speed, it’s the ideal way to do things because opportunities are available when you’re ready to do them. So like, if we’re ready to put out a new song, we’ll find somebody to put it out where people will listen to it, or we have a record done so let’s go and find a record label. I can’t imagine if we had put out a record 3 months after the EP, it would’ve been horrible. We wrote like, 23 songs to get the 11 that we wanted, so it’s all been good, it’s what we wanted.

How does it feel to be finally getting an album out into the world?

M: We feel ready! We finished it in January, so at first we were really nervous and now that it’s been so long, we’re just thinking hurry up. Come on!

B: Our personal friends and people that we run into at interviews and stuff have had the record for almost 3 months now, so in the beginning we were worried about how people would respond, but we’ve lived with it for long enough now, we don’t have too much anxiety about it.

M: I think it’ll be nice for when people come to our shows, they’ll know our songs. Because right now, it feels a bit weird to be playing long sets because if you don’t know the music, it’s not as exciting. No-one wants to listen to 45 minutes of songs they don’t know.

How did you go about making the album, was it a long process?

M: I think it took about 2 months. We’d been working on the record since we made the first 3 songs that we put up. We kept on working, then we went on tour for a month, then we’d go back into the studio for 2 weeks, then tour for a month. So I guess from March to January, but the time was really split up.

B: And in all honesty, that’s the only way I’ll do a record ever again, it was the healthiest process. If the inspiration wasn’t there, we’d just move on. Normally, we’ll start a song, and if we can’t really get it together in a day or two, we’ll just put it aside. We may come back later with brilliant ideas, but…

M: The cool thing is that we got to go on tour and listen to the songs, and learn how to play them and then change them around a bit.

B: People get really upset with us because I’m very much of the school that creativity can’t be forced, it can’t be put in a space. Just wait until the idea comes, because if you try to force it, it never ever works. All the songs on the record that we ended up using were mostly written in a day, songs that were really immediate, when we were in a good headspace and when we listened back, it felt good – songs that have a shape and are direct. Whereas sometimes if you work on something for too long and you lose focus, and there’s no continuity – that frustrates me.

Although a fairly young band, both Madeline and Brian seem to have very sane heads on their shoulders despite the enormous surge of attention that has raced in their direction since the apparition of the enormously catchy ‘Go Outside’. An attitude which could be attributed to Brian’s distaste for celebrity culture and invasion…

B: I don’t like it when bands are about personality. They should be about music. It should be about songs, it should be about reacting, it should be about art. Celebrity stardom bleeding over into music is something that I think we should avoid. I know musicians, they’re not actors, they’re not that interesting, no-one wants to fake it for the rest of their lives. It needs to just be about the songs.

With a whole host of festival dates yet to play and the release of their album, things aren’t going to be slowing down for Cults anytime soon, but they’re confident, they’re having a great time and they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Cults is out now via Columbia.