Interview with Small Talk: ‘People have to get out of the box, you can do so many cool things with music, it’s about that euphoria’

Bournemouth indie rock band Small Talk will release their debut EP ‘Teenage Fear’ tomorrow (19 May).

They comprise Ben Lewis (vocals, guitar and bass), Harry Whitton (drums), Rob White (bass) and Mickey (guitar). ‘Harry came in as a friend of a friend,’ Lewis said. Their name comes from their dislike of small talk: ‘We hate small talk but I do it quite a lot, it rolls off the tongue (laughs). We’re not the only band called this, there’s an Irish band called Small Talk as well, luckily we do different music!’

The four track EP has the energy we have come to expect from them and the story within it comes full-circle in the closer. The title track ‘Teenage Fear’ is a soaring song designed for festivals: ”Teenage Fear’ was written quite a long time ago, just after we wrote ‘Paris’,’ Lewis said. ‘I really liked the energy it had, we wanted it to be the title track. It’s very energetic and upbeat.’ I tell him that it reminds me of London-based band Sea Girls and he gets very animated: ‘They’ve been a huge inspiration to me, I love his vocals and how they craft their guitars,’ he said. ‘I’d love to write a song with Henry (Henry Camamile, their frontman)! It’s a song about not being happy where I was, when I thought I’d be a footballer or a film star (laughs). I wouldn’t have made my 13 year old self proud. I changed my course at uni, I had these dreams in music. It’s sad but everyone goes through it.’

The inspiration for the track also came from Katy Perry: ‘Her song ‘Teenage Dream’ came on and I thought “Teenage Fear”. The main part came to me then, that chorus melody, and I built it up from there.’ Lewis is in his final year of business studies at university, having switched from sport science: ‘I was a high-level runner, I thought my life would be sport but I just didn’t want to do it anymore.’

As the track kicks off: “I’ve been chasing dreams since I was 13. It moulded me into the person I became. I’ve tried to fight back but I didn’t have much to give. I’ve tried to better myself but I couldn’t resist. I’d wish I’d known that now in my teens.”

‘It’s the structural backbone to our sound’

‘Lifeline’ on the EP launches straight in; it’s a guitar-driven track with a massive singalong chorus. It’s one of those songs that just builds and builds into a wall of fuzzy, squealing guitars. It’s my favourite song on the EP and there are so many guitar lines that it’s hard to keep track: ‘I thought: “Let’s write a song with as many hooks as possible” (laughs). We had so many guitar parts that I took some out and put them in other songs! It’s the structural backbone to our sound. It’s really difficult to sing live, the chorus melody is very jumpy, it’s very high. I have to brace myself for it, playing it live, I think “Here we go”!’

‘Lifeline’ turns out to have been inspired by a previous relationship: ‘I ended a two-year relationship and thought I had to write music, thinking nothing will compare,’ Lewis said. ‘It could be about a job or a new relationship. That was the basis for the lyrics. I wrote the chorus melody a while ago but hadn’t really used it. I might bring in melodies from previous songs. I batch write melodies and sing them into my phone. When I’m in the zone, I’ll write hundreds of parts. I’m not particularly fond of sitting down for two hours and writing a song, it feels forced. My dad taught me the basics of guitar when I was 18. He got me into writing music.’

As it kicks off: “I did what you said I went and moved on and I’ve found somebody new. I opened my heart to someone I loved but I couldn’t get over you. I have something really good with her but I’d throw it away to be in a heartbeat. I have something really good with her but I’d throw it away to be with you.”

Endearingly, his biggest musical inspiration is his dad, who was the singer and guitarist in a band called Spank, and who introduced him to 90’s music, Oasis, ‘a bit of everything’. Lewis, for his part, is also a huge Taylor Swift fan, citing her ability to switch from country to rock, pop and back to country again. He’s also a big fan of The Wombats and Sam Fender.

‘It seemed everyone I knew on social media was moving on with their lives and doing amazing things while I was stuck in the same place’

Small Talk’s debut single ‘Headstart’, which they released in February last year, is more of a nod to 90’s Britpop and is a more melancholic, introspective track. As Lewis described it at the time: ‘It was written at a time when I just felt inferior to everyone. It seemed everyone I knew on social media was moving on with their lives and doing amazing things while I was stuck in the same place. It kind of tackles that issue through the eyes of someone who went through a difficult relationship and experienced this downfall.’

‘This Is Not The End’, the closer on the EP, serves several functions. Whilst unquestionably being the saddest song on the album, there is also a sense of Carpe Diem in it, extolling the listener to make the most of everything: ‘Lyrically, I was not in a good place,’ Lewis admitted. ‘I was on the train going back to uni when I started to write it. The music is upbeat but the lyrics are darker, there’s a dissonance between the two, that’s what we do. British people, we love a moody, depressing song (laughs) paired with an upbeat melody and that’s what we did – we’ve got the upbeat instrumental with dark, moody lyrics. The verses are really dark but the chorus is me looking back and saying that it’s never as bad as you thought. The whole point of the song is that it’s never as bad or as deep as you think. It feels like a fitting track to end with because it’s not the end, there’s plenty more where that came from! It drags a little bit, the verses are a bit longer. It’s about the build up, not just about when the hook comes in. People have to get out of the box, you can do so many cool things with music, it’s about that euphoria.’

As it kicks off: “Medication prescription drugs that’s what it takes to fall out of love. And therapy and old TV. It will never clear my memories. And the childhood dreams and Ponzi schemes won’t restore my crumbling self-esteem. And this out of touch unrequited love got set alight with gasoline.”

‘We’re leaving that direction behind for a darker sound’

However, it’s the third track ‘Sometimes’ that feels like the turning point on the EP, it has a quiet defiance, pulled along by jaunty guitars and Lewis’ almost imploring vocals: ‘We struggled to write it, we had so many versions,’ he said. ‘We recorded one but it wasn’t working for me. We did another demo but I still wasn’t sure about it. We’ve played it at every gig we’ve ever played at. It doesn’t have a real story behind it (laughs), I just liked the riff. It’s immature writing, that’s not a bad thing, but it’s a song we wanted to release. I do love it, it has its place but we’re leaving that direction behind for a darker sound. It’s probably the song I’ve listened to the most.’

As the track goes: “You go left while I’ll go right. You save yourself, you’re out of sight. You left me stranded and it’s too late. But I’m not going to give in just yet.”

That darker sound is not far away, with their second EP expected to come out around September: ‘It’s a level up,’ Lewis said excitedly. ‘The songs are similar, they’re anthemic and upbeat times two, with massive guitar riffs. If you like the catchiness of previous songs, this’ll be ten times better. The songs are better written, they feel like a turning point for us. We’re planning on having five songs. There’s an acoustic song, just me and my guitar and a few parts around it. We’ll record it on 19 May in Liverpool. We’ve got another song on it, it’s a bit more rocky with a groove. It brings out our musical ability more, we broke away from the formula a bit.’

He’s a big fan of Inhaler’s new album, calling it ‘brilliant’ and would put them on his dream line up: ‘Our dream lineup would probably be something like this: Inhaler, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Sam Fender, Wolf Alice and Sea Girls and, of course, it would be rude not to include us! I would pick them because they helped me fall in love with writing music. And they would just put on an amazing show. it would be a great lineup!’

If he could go for a pint with anyone, he picks Sam Fender: ‘I’d love to have a pint with him, he’s a genius and a big inspiration to us. Or Jimi Hendrix, I’d love to know how he played the guitar. The stories he’d have! I’d feel very inferior, I’d be that mate in the friend group who doesn’t say much (laughs). Jimi wouldn’t understand Sam Fender’s accent! It would be a strange night but good!’