THE AMAZONS

Written by Mason Meyers / Photography by Ed Cooke

It’s been almost six months since the release of The Amazons’ highly anticipated third studio album ‘How Will I Know If Heaven Will Find Me’? (or ‘HWIKIHWFM’, as we will now refer to it to save the finger ache). And in that time, the Reading-born, now Brighton-based, rock outfit has toured the world and lost their drummer Joe to retirement, shrinking the band to a three-piece. But that didn’t stop the group from hitting the road once more, and after almost a year of planning, cancellations and rescheduling, there I am, a Portsmouth football fan in enemy territory, sitting on the steps of the Guildhall in Southampton, nervously clock-watching and waiting for an interview with my favourite band.

As I am on the phone with their tour manager, receiving the news that the interview would be held up further (an idea that terrified me after the slew of push-backs I had already encountered) due to the band sound-checking, three of the then still four members of the band walk out to say hello to fans that have been patiently waiting outside to later claim their well-deserved spots at the barrier. However, as the mildmannered British boy that I am, with confrontation not being part of my nature, I decide to waddle to the nearest pub to calm my nerves and wait for the right moment to come around. And before I know it, there I am, backstage in a dreary side room, sitting face to face with my rock and roll idol and frontman of the band, Matt Thomson.

I am bravely dressed in my band shirt, something I had deliberated about wearing for the entire month prior - would it make me seem too much like a fanboy? Especially with Thomson donning a blue corduroy shirt and a low-cut white vest, just barely hiding his silver chain, I feel a bit nervous. But then, “nice t-shirt,” I hear as soon as I unzip my jacket. “Thank you, if you like that you should see this!” I roll up my sleeve to show him a tattoo I had recently had engraved on my wrist of the art of their second album ‘Future Dust’. Can’t get much more fanboy than that. “Wow, that’s so cool. Can I take a picture to show the boys?”, Thomson replies, already whipping his phone out of his pocket to take a photograph of my permanent sign of admiration for the group.

I briskly move the conversation on as I am aware of the band’s tight schedule. Even though by this point in their career, it seems like not much can phase them anymore, which Thomson quickly confirms, stating that nerves are merely a distant memory for him. Still, I am interested to know what does make the rock star nervous, even after all this time. “Our show at the Théâtre Antique de Vienne in France was definitely a pinch-me moment. Not because of the size or the cultural importance, but because it’s one of the really amazing support slots that we’ve had. We definitely find that the more characterful venues live longer in the memory. There are a lot of purpose-built boxes out there, but I love the stuff that has been adapted for music. Also like the Southampton Guildhall, which isn’t like many venues across the UK, so for that reason, we will always remember this one,”, Thomson reflects, hinting at the gig that would be happening just a few hours later.

And funnily enough, it appears that this, what I think of as a rather mundane opening question, sticks with the frontman, as he later retells the conversation on stage as he sings the praises of the venue. Despite the band’s rise in popularity over the past few years, their humbleness has always shone brightly, with the singer never failing to seem earnest. From meeting fans before the show to performing an unknown track upon the request of their fandom on the online platform Discord, the trio has kept their boots firmly on the ground and still has a great admiration for their loyal fans. And despite their success, Thomson can’t help but get a bit nostalgic, reminiscing about their earlier shows and remembering faces in the crowds from years past. “There was one show at the Purple Turtle in Reading in the first year of us gigging. It was quite empty, but there were a few people at the front that we didn’t recognise and they were singing our songs, and that was like, “guys, we might be onto something here”. The idea that there were people coming to our gigs that weren’t our mates was just such a big moment.”

Their humble beginnings in Reading is something that the now three-piece also shares with fellow contemporaries Sundara Karma and SG Lewis, who, according to all parties included, have already spent the odd night out together in their earlier days - spinning vague yarns of messy gatherings on the tiles of Berkshire’s biggest music city. I need more info, but Thomson, professional as always, sticks to a comment of “no comment” and gives me a knowing look, with his tour manager laughing in the background.

Despite leaving out the juicy details of their (what we can only assume crazy) benders, Thomson reflects on the beginnings of trailblazing a music scene in an often culturally underwhelming city. “Us and Sundara Karma were putting on our own nights and we would step in as each other’s supports. We had a gig called “Two Step”, named after ‘Two Steps Twice’ by Foals. They broke a little bit before us, then SG Lewis, then us and it was like, “oh my god”. But that’s the thing, it happens with other bands like Peace, the scene is already gone by the time you hear of them. It was a really good time either way.”

It has been half a decade since the release of the band’s second outing ‘Future Dust’, an album that was greeted with a rather divisive release, so with the mood noticeably lighter, we delve into the reception of the record. “I feel like it was a really important album for us to make in our own journey as a band, just to work some things out. It was quite a dark time for me, so I’m happy to be out of that. That was the album we learnt the most from. But I think with first records, there’s not that much learning, you just put everything you’ve got down on paper,”, the vocalist explains, further going into the challenging creation of their second long-player. “It’s an album that had a deadline, so it definitely felt rushed. I think we only spent three weeks tracking it.” “But can you hear this when you listen to it?”, I follow up. “Absolutely, and I knew it when we were making it, and I knew it when we released it.”

This begs the question of whether it was still the same with their latest release or not. “This is the album where we had the time and space to work it out. We had two years of writing and eight weeks of tracking and that offered us so much more depth, both lyrically and sonically. When I think of ‘Future Dust’, it’s got quite a limited colour palette, we’re probably only working with three or four colours if you use that as an analogy for guitar tones and drum sounds. But with this new album, for example, ‘One By One’, ‘Are You Ready?’ and ‘Blood Rush’ all have wildly different colours.”

Thomson’s distaste for their older music confuses me slightly, after all, they have been closing their shows with ‘Black Magic’ for almost a decade now. Even with a huge change to the setlist and the decision to remove many of their older songs, they still choose to close on that song. So does he still consider it one of their best? “No, it’s definitely not our best song. And it is out of our control that it’s our most listened-to track because the way the algorithm works on Spotify, any piece that does well is rewarded. It’s great that people listen to it, but it’s definitely not our best.” “So what is your best song?”, I ask. Thomson laughs. “Ha! Good question. There are a couple of songs that we are working on at the moment that I think are really damn good.”

As the quickly moving arms on my watch catch my gaze and the interview begins to run over time (and with a queue of other journalists waiting outside), the question of their musical influences brings the conversation to a close. “You went on tour with Royal Blood earlier in 2022, so the effects of this can be heard in the breakdown for ‘Ready For Something”. Would you say this is a fair assumption?” “Yeah, I mean it is pretty Royal Bloodsounding, and we were indeed touring with them. I feel like we, more than anyone, are allowed to nick their sound a little bit on a couple of songs,”, Thomson states confidently, before pausing to think for a second and then adding, “Why would you want every band to be completely unrelated? It’s important to be original, but you can’t not be influenced by each other. Just look at all the bands in the 60s and 70s.”

I respond with a contemplative hum and just like that, my time with the singer is over. A selfie, a Christmas greeting on video for my best friend and a hug later I am on my way out of the venue to call half of my contacts list to tell them about my evening, regardless of their interest in my life. They say never meet your heroes, but all in all, meeting one of mine went pretty great.