Start Listening To: The Family Battenberg

The Family Battenberg talk embracing the rough edges, the strange stories behind Super Deluxe and why nobody has had any fun since Slade.

The Family Battenberg have little interest in getting things perfect. The South Wales four-piece would much rather turn everything up, fry it in fuzz and capture whatever happens in the room.

That philosophy sits at the heart of their debut album, Super Deluxe. Recorded live with producer Tom Rees in just seven days, the record deliberately favours energy over precision, with the band even choosing what they describe as everyone’s “shitter” takes in an attempt to recreate the chaos of their live shows. It’s a fitting approach for a band who have coined their own genre, “spider rock”, even if they’re still waiting for the rest of the world to catch on.

Across Super Deluxe, that looseness extends beyond the recording process. Ghosts, aliens, cryptids and bed bugs populate songs that twist seemingly mundane ideas into something much stranger, while the influence of The Stooges, T. Rex, The White Stripes and early AC/DC is channelled into something playful rather than reverential.

We caught up with The Family Battenberg to talk about making Super Deluxe, breaking through a months-long bout of writer’s block, going down “like a spoonful of shit” supporting English Teacher and why rock music could stand to have a little more fun.

For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?

We’re a four piece garage rock band from South Wales. We coined the term spider rock and it’s not quite caught on yet.

You've spoken about choosing everyone's "shitter" takes for the final album. Was it difficult to ignore the instinct to polish everything, or did those rough edges immediately feel more exciting?

We all wanted the record to sound like our live show, no-one more than Tom the producer. At the time of recording we definitely focused more on what we felt sounded cool rather than what sounded correct - I think everyone felt a little sensitive when it came to their parts but it can’t be a ‘warts and all’ record without any warts.

The album was recorded live in just seven days with Tom Rees. How did that pace change the atmosphere in the studio compared to the way you'd worked before?

Previously with our EP we’d done almost everything in Eliot’s flat, it had its limitations and the neighbours hated it. We’d have to record drums in rehearsal spaces and community centres around Cardiff. It felt like each song took an eternity to finish. Having such a short time frame to record almost twice as many songs was just the total antithesis - you got that lightning in a bottle feeling. No time to fuck about and agonise over takes which I think suited us just fine.

You spent months struggling to write songs before ‘Bed Bug’ finally broke the drought. What do you think unlocked the floodgates creatively?

Honestly, stripping everything back and just going with it. We were in the throes of a busy gigging season with little time to scratch your arse - we arrived at a festival in Orléans much earlier than we needed to be there, so we sat in a tent in 30 plus degree heat nursing our hangovers. We wrote the biggest sounding song we could with one guitar (no amp), a guitar case (as a drum kit) and a vocal. Earlier that year we’d beat our heads against the wall with everything in-front of us.

A lot of your lyrics flirt with sounding like they're about sex before revealing something much weirder underneath. What is it about taking everyday ideas and twisting them into the absurd that appeals to you?

It’s story telling and you’ve only got three and a half minutes to fit it all in. I like the mundane and I like an unusual perspective. As for the sex thing I’m not sure what to say, the game’s the game.

You cite bands like The Stooges, T. Rex, The White Stripes and early AC/DC, but Super Deluxe never feels like a nostalgia exercise. How do you borrow from those bands without ending up trapped by them?

I think a lot of it is just the intention behind it, they’re bands that we love so you can’t help feeling inspired by them. Ultimately you want it to sound like you but if it makes you feel like Iggy Pop when you perform it then that’s a plus.

You've played everything from SXSW and Reeperbahn to tiny club shows across the UK. Has there been one gig that completely changed the way you think about yourselves as a live band?

Our first (and only, what the fuck is that about) Greenman set at the settlers stage on a Thursday. It was really early on in the Battenberg, one of our first festival slots. Every time I looked out at the crowd there was more people than before, props to the sound guy cause he must have been cranking it. The ‘sick set bro’ kept coming in all weekend, we felt like celebrities.

There's a sense throughout the record that fun is taken very seriously. Do you think rock music sometimes forgets it's allowed to be entertaining?

Absolutely, I’m not sure when things got so unrelentingly brooding. Not to say that I don’t appreciate that side of the coin but I don’t think anyone has had any fun since Slade. Hard exception to the rule is Getdown Services, I feel like we learned how to loosen up from them.

You famously decided never to take yourselves too seriously after supporting English Teacher. Looking back now, was that disappointing show actually one of the most important moments in the band's history?

I think it was a pivotal moment for sure, I’m just glad it happened as early on as it did. We went down like a spoonful of shit, still happens from time to time now. English Teacher were great and quite kind to us if I remember rightly. To my mind we’ve not had a bad gig since, just shitty audiences.

Cardiff has quietly become one of the UK's most exciting places for guitar music. How has being part of that community shaped The Family Battenberg?

There’s a great history of guitar music from Cardiff. It’s a tight knit scene, everyone is very talented and supporting of each-other. There have been shows where the crowd is almost exclusively other Cardiff musicians and they’ve been rippers.

The album is packed with ghosts, aliens, cryptids and bed bugs. Where does that fascination with the strange come from, and do you think it says something about how you see the world?

Life is a bit more interesting with those stories in them. I’ve always liked that stuff and I guess that you write what you know. I think there’s plenty of songs written about love and politics, I’ve never been very good at writing anything worthwhile in those avenues anyways.

You seem to spend as much time on the road as you do at home. What have constant touring and festival life taught you that you couldn't have learned in a rehearsal room?

People and food stink, open a window. You can also fit an unreasonable amount of shit into a Ford Fusion.

What do you love right now?

Neil Diamond

What do you hate right now?

Beatboxing

Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?

Ty Segall’s Melted. That was the blueprint for us continuing to just absolutely fry everything with fuzz, and it still works!

Photography By: Ren Faulker