INTRODUCING: Terminals
One of the UK’s most exciting fresh talents, TERMINALS have just unleashed their stunning debut EP Baptise. We caught up with the trio about recording in an Air BnB, their friendship and having utter trust in each other in all areas of their music.
“When we started this band, I didn’t feel comfortable vocally,” vocalist and guitarist James Whitehouse informs. “But as soon as I started writing about the stuff that was in my head that I kind of hadn’t fully processed, I don’t know, I just became kind of comfortable with it,” having that relaxed dynamic, to make bold moves within their musical space and it not only be acceptable but encouraged is an ongoing part of the magic for TERMINALS. “The fact that we can have clean melodic vocals, and then these big, unapologetic heavy riffs underneath it all, put it together, and it sounds like it works is really, really gratifying.”
There’s some pretty heavy riffs and heavy themes through TERMINALS‘ debut EP Baptise. The way James could approach putting his dark ideas out into the world with the band’s brooding, groove laden sound comes from the level of respect the guys have for each other. “I think with the nature of the music, because I’m writing all the lyrics and come up with the subject matter. It’s all coming from me and if I wasn’t comfortable enough to be open with how I’m feeling maybe it wouldn’t get translated over well. But it’s nice to know that because we’re comfortable with each other enough that I can write a song about something really dark and tell the guys about it. It feels more gratifying when we actually put the song together, that the guys know where everything’s coming from. And that comes out from their performance as well as mine.”
The importance of that friendship can’t be understated for how TERMINALS operates. To have such a distinct sound, you have to be completely at ease to be creative and outspoken. “Even though it’s like James‘ lyrics and the meanings behind the songs comes from him, the rehearsals are normally like a bit of a group therapy for us all,” bassist James Cohu explains further from the other bandmates perspective. “We’re just friends, we just chat and get a lot of stuff out. So it feels like when we perform those songs, I can perform it with James‘ thoughts in mind, because we know like the backstories and the meanings that songs that come from so even though they’re like his stories, I feel like we’re all projecting those feelings.”
The bands sense of assuredness and confidence in each other in inherent in all areas of their work, from writing and recording, to live playing. “I’m so sure of them,” drummer Joe Cooper assures of his bandmates. “And so sure that we know the songs, because we love the songs and we admire them. I think songs get better once we’ve played them live loads of times. There are little things we do live that are just natural, it’s funny because that’s one thing that most people just wouldn’t care so much about or wouldn’t pick up on, [we are] really locked into the little things. To us, those tiny little details are really important.”
While TERMINALS have a close bond, they don’t necessarily get much time to just be mates. The recording of Baptise was as good an opportunity to get together as friends as well as work. “With the Air BnB,” James Whitehouse describes the place they rented to put together a makeshift studio for the week, “we wanted we wanted to go somewhere that was like far away from everything. And this place was literally in the middle of nowhere, which was great, but it was kind of like a little holiday; when we spend time together, we just laugh and talk absolute bollocks to be totally honest with you. But it’s just like, we have a lot of fun doing what we do.”
“Because we live so far apart, we only meet up once or twice every couple of months. So we want to just get in a room together and play and do stuff. Having a whole five to seven days, in a really nice place together, recording music as well. It was just loads of fun.”
The record has a big sound, and an organic energy the band can pat themselves on the back for; not only did they write and record it all, but they mixed it in house too. “We only had like eight inputs!” James Cohu recalls. “It’s kind of annoying because we like to make it sound live, without being able to record it live. So that was the whole process behind it, trying to recreate how we sound live, but recording instruments individually. To use the space was a bit of a nightmare,” they laugh, “we had we padded out all the windows and the doors with pillows to stop the sound getting out more than anything acoustic. Mostly it was just throwing mics up and fix everything afterwards. Which was why it took so long to mix and why it was me pulling my hair out for ages.”
Baptise is out now via self-release.
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