Start Listening To: Normal Village
A Leeds DIY favourite with a knack for chaos, charm, and oddly coordinated brilliance, Normal Village talk broken gear, wrestler-based visuals, and the making of their debut EP Pile On.
Village are one of those bands shaped first and foremost by the community around them. They’ve spent the last few years bouncing between Leeds’ DIY stages, tightening their songs in real time and figuring out their sound by simply playing it a lot. That approach sits at the heart of their debut EP Pile On, a record built from tangled ideas, shared graft, and the people who’ve supported them along the way. In this Q&A, the band talk about how the EP came together, why no one could agree on how to spell “Pylon,” and how their live shows have grown from nervous early sets into something far more confident and unrestrained.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
We’ve been a band now for about 3 years. We’ve never really had a specific aim regarding our sound, it’s just naturally formed based off what everyone likes at the time of writing the tracks. Everyone in Village is influenced by different sounds, and it comes together in quite a surprisingly coordinated way.
What inspired the title of your debut EP, Pile On, and how does it reflect the themes present throughout the tracks?
When we first wrote the track “Pylon” it wasn’t decided yet whether it was “Pylon” or “Pile-on”. When it came time to actually naming the track for the EP we realised that everyone thought it was spelt differently, including Evan who produced the EP. In honour of this we decided to use both names because we thought they were both cool and couldn’t decide. Regarding the themes of the EP, theres not much connection, however we do owe a lot to our friends and so we decided the cover should feature as many of them as we could fit on a big mound in hyde park.
Can you describe your songwriting process?
The way we write music has changed over the course of us being a band, it’s a lot harder to get us all in a room now we have sad jobs like Paddy who works in an office. Our tracks normally start with short but complex sections, followed by a session of desperately trying to link them together as a team. We aspire to write as a group more often but we’re just such busy bees.
How did your experiences within Leeds' DIY-gig scene shape the music on this EP?
The Leeds DIY scene is a massive part of how the tracks sound. Playing so many gigs helped refine the 4 tracks on the EP, especially regarding the energy we put into them. “Pylon” (being an instrumental) might not have made the cut if it weren’t for the love people give it.
Which track from Pile On was the most challenging to create, and what obstacles did you encounter during its development?
The hardest track to create was probably “Bereft”. There's just so many stupid parts in that song where we all go in and out of time and getting it right took so long. Fakie kept playing everything different, and Spike likes his part to be perfect. Lots of moving parts. Fakie: Lucy believes “Pylon” was the hardest to create, more in terms of writing, and to be honest if my parts were as good as hers I think I’d agree.
What visual elements do you envision accompanying your music, whether in music videos, album art, or live performances?
We come up with all sorts of ideas for visual accompaniment, Lucy wants us to sit on the shoulders of wrestlers, and paddy wants POV five a side football footage. If anyone knows any wrestlers who would be game give me a shout.
How has your live performance evolved since you first started playing together, and what can fans expect from your upcoming shows?
Our live performance has changed a lot since we first started, especially regarding the quality of musicianship. We’re faster and sometimes we play things a little different. A large part of that can be attributed to Spike joining the band. Top Shredder. We’ve started getting crazier on stage too and we like moving around a bit now.
Can you share a memorable moment from your recent tour with Bathing Suits?
The most memorable moment from our recent tour was the look on Paddy’s face when he pulled out the top half of his guitar from his case, followed by its mangled body. All of our gear in Village is broken to some degree, and Pad’s guitar was the only fully working part of the set, so to see it in two pieces felt quite poetic. We also had a karaoke night which was quite fun, coming together as a big group to sing ‘all my friends’.
What role does community play in your music-making process, and how do you engage with your local scene?
The local scene means a lot to us, and it has helped us become a much better band. I’m sure there's a lot of shit local scenes in the world, but the Leeds scene actually consists of some of our favourite bands and there's really good music to be heard. James (Private Reg) Vardy puts on so many shows of all different kinds, and all of them are such great nights. That guy knows how to party!
What do you love right now?
We love Yangs Noodles in Hyde Park, Napoleons Casino, Football, Book Club, Our lovely friends involved with Private Regcords.
What do you hate right now?
We hate Eczema, Alex Mulholland, That rat singer with the fruit phobia.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
AM by the arctic monkeys.
When someone hears your music for the first time, what do you hope sticks with them?
We hope they enjoy it for starters, and that they want to come hear it live. We enjoy gigging the most out of all band activities, and we really want to put on a great show.
