Interview: The Rotanas release ‘Figure It Out Alone’ and ‘Morphine’

Cardiff-based gritpop group The Rotanas will release their latest single ‘Figure It Out Alone’ today (7 August), with ‘Morphine’ on the B-side.

The group comprises Harry Watton (vocals), James Wilson (guitar/songwriter), Aled Owen (bass) and Tommy Evans (drums).

‘Figure It Out Alone’, which is based on someone the group knows, is about ‘a man with a very short temper’, Watton said. ‘It’s about someone who’s not working with you, it’s a slight romanticism of that so that it seems less bitter!’

Ultimately, ”Figure It Out Alone’ is based on Wilson’s personal lockdown experience, where he spent nearly three months on his own in his flat, only leaving to go to work, before heading straight back home.

‘The track was written whilst I was in self isolation and had far too much time to myself to mull over past relationships,’ Wilson said. ‘I learnt that I needed to let them go in a mature way, and close the chapters of my life which they were a part of.’

‘Morphine’, is a deeply personal and haunting track. ‘It’s based on someone close to us,’ Watton said. ‘James wanted to write a song about this for a long time.’

Both songs were recorded as acoustic versions, without Evans, who has been shielding due to his step-sister’s vulnerability to the virus. However, the group is headed back to the studio later this month to put down two new tracks. While the titles have yet to be released, Evans will be rejoining the band, with a view to releasing one of the tracks in September. ‘One of the songs is about the same person as in ‘Figure It Out Alone’ but it’s more angsty. It’s a big tune,’ Watton said. ‘The second one is about stingy people. We sound really bitter, don’t we?’ [laughs].

Describing the meaning behind ‘Caught On Camera’, a track that The Rotanas released in October last year, songwriter Wilson said: ‘The song is about accepting you’ve caused a romantic relationship to break down due to poor decision making and naivety. It’s designed to be relatable to people who have had a similar experience and also to make listeners who feel they haven’t look back at past relationships and learn and grow from them.’

Of their songs to date, Watton’s favourite is ‘Fuel for the Youth’: ‘We’ve performed it a few times but I don’t think we’ll put it out as a single this year. It’s massive and not bitter! It’s all about 90’s bravado, it’s very us!’

After recruiting Evans in January, the band released their third single ‘Scores on the Doors’ in February, which was added to Spotify’s Hot New Bands editorial playlist. In March, the band performed a live session for Janice Long on BBC Radio Wales. Just one week later, their plans for the year were derailed, as so many bands’ were, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Formed in Cardiff in May 2017 the band embarked on their debut headline UK tour in November 2019 working with promotion company This Feeling. In the same month, This Feeling made the band’s second single ‘Caught on Camera’ their Track Of The Week.

Highlights of the band’s career so far include selling out Cardiff’s Clwb Ifor Bach, sharing stages with Black Grape, Pete Doherty, and Kyle Falconer of The View, as well as playing last year’s Isle of Wight Festival, and the Shimmer Sounds festival in their hometown alongside Temples, The Blinders, Black Honey, and Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard. 

The release of ‘Figure It Out Alone’ is complimented by a B Side ‘Morphine’, which can be listened to HERE.