Interview with Other Half, ArcTanGent
Other Half by Derek Bremner
Most certainly not least but definitely the last for this season, we chatted with Other Half at ArcTanGent Festival. The DIY alt-punks have been making a name for themselves as one of the UK’s premier alt-scene noise makers. Last year’s sophomore album Soft Action drew wide attention and praise for the Norwich-based band.
As cheery as the photo above suggests, we met up with Cal Hudson (guitar, vocals), Alfie Adams (drums) and Sophie Porter (bass, vocals), along with a special appearance by Chris the driver and fellow Norwich-musician, between their Thursday night set and last minute Saturday slot for a lot of giggles while we chatted about their sound, Mr Blobby, and playing our own parts in cultivating active local scenes.
We caught your set last night. Thought it was great, how was it for you?
Cal: Genuinely really good.
Sophie: I smiled so much.
Cal: We never come in expecting much of anything. And the fact that there was anyone there, and that anyone there gave a shit, was very, very, very heartening indeed. I think we had a nice time, didn't we?
Sophie: I had a lovely the time.
Alfie: Yeah, it was really nice actually.
Other Half by Derek Bremner
I think many, many shits were given. You had a very engaged, active, exuberant crowd with you.
Cal: Yeah, sometimes we’ve played to more people, but maybe not necessarily people that were as engaged. It meant an awful lot that people took some time out of their day and meant it. Lovely.
For our readers and listeners who haven't heard your music, how would you describe it, yourselves and what you're trying to do?
Sophie: Wordy noisy nonsense.
Cal: Yeah, that's pretty much it. I think, now at least, we write a bit like Other Half and the songs sound like Other Half. And I don't really know what that means or anything, but they try to be heavy and daft and goofy and jam too many words in. Chris, what do we sound like?
Chris (the driver): What do you sound like?
Cal: What's our ethos?
Chris (the driver): Play it like you mean it? It's angular, it’s heavy. It's witty, it’s gritty.
Cal: Ha oh Chris!
Chris (the driver): I haven’t read NME since like 2003!
Sophie: Can we please keep that? Going back to what Cal said, we always say that it really felt like it clicked into place as soon as we started just bringing all the bits to the table that we each enjoy. So whether that's Alfie liking a blast beat now and then, I like Stone Roses baselines, and Cal really likes The Hold Steady. Bringing what we like together, I think it's nice.
Do you think you’ve been doing that from the beginning? Or is it something that you'd found over time?
Cal: No way. We were a band, that for a very long time, did like bad pop punk stuff. That's probably a bit damning of it. But it was stuff that maybe none of us were overly comfortable playing. I think it took a lot of years to get to a point where the music was all the stuff that we all like. And even if it didn't make sense, straight away, I think it makes sense now. Because that's what we've been pounding for the last three years.
Sophie: I felt like I was wanting to do the opposite of bands I'd been in previously. I think that's something we'd sort of said - let's try something that's completely not that.
Cal: But then we ended up drifting back.
Sophie: Yeah, back to what we each enjoy. And it felt way more organic, I suppose.
Other Half by Derek Bremner
Was there something in taking that time building confidence to bring the stuff you love into the music?
Alfie: Probably mainly, that Cal just started playing heavier. And I thought, oh this is much nicer, why aren’t we just doing this?
Cal: That was the gist of it. I think also, it helps just being a band that long. Over time I was more comfortable bringing that stuff to it. When you play that long with the same people, you end up making something that sounds more like what you all actually like. I think that takes time.
I think we hear a lot stories of groups where, maybe the fans or “critics” liked the sound, but the members themselves wanted to do something different, and they couldn’t grow or transition together, as a group.
Cal: Well, I think luckily, we will never progress from this stage! There will never be any progression from here. We've just found that groove in the sofa and we’re very happy in it.
Sophie: Progression is a strange term. There's no “aspiration”. I think, and I like to think I speak on behalf of all of us, Other Half is literally just three best mates. It's just what happens when we all go sit in a room together and write music. And that's the best thing about doing it; we get to hang out with each other. For me anyway, I get to hang out with my best friends. And occasionally that means that we get to play really fun shows and really fun festivals, like ArcTanGent. Which I never thought we'd ever, or I’d ever, get to do. But here we are. And that's really lovely. But I don't think we’re ever expecting any more than that. Or ever thinking about the next thing that we have to do or write better, or write these kinds of songs to progress. I don't know if that's a tangent.
Cal: It’s an arctangent.
Not to drag out the point of focusing on what’s next, but, you had your second album out last year. What have you been up to this year?
Cal: Nothing.
Fair play.
Cal: Bits and bobs. Some shows, some festivals. Tiny bits of writing. Might be something next year. But not a lot.
Sophie: Oh, wink wink.
Cal: Not a wink wink! But time flies, so bits and bobs.
Sophie: Well we're writing a new album.
Cal: And actually, we have done stuff this year that is bigger than ever. We sold out a show in our local venue that we never thought we would play - the Art Centre. For us, 300 cap is a mad thing. And that's more a testament to all the local bands that we played with, and putting on a nice show ourselves and trying hard. Which not everyone does. It was so heartening to see. There was a time where we’d play to five people in Norwich and now there's 300 people.
Alfie: Sometimes we still play to five people.
Cal: Yeah yeah, sometimes. So this year we've mainly been enjoying our time together.
Other Half by Derek Bremner
The Norwich scene seems really active right now. What was it like coming up in that scene?
Alfie: The scene is probably stronger than it's ever been in Norwich, which is unbelievable. It's gone through so many highs and lows. And for some reason right now, it's really good. And people show up. I think COVID helped, which is a weird thing to say. But I think people were begging for live music afterwards. And as soon as the shows were back on, they were all at full capacity and people were jumping around and dancing and singing and having fun. The bands are pretty good. The people are pretty good. And the venue's need some help. Other than that, the people want to come to the shows, and they have a nice time.
Cal: It's a nice age range, as well. I think there was a point for about five years, which felt like fallow years for us. We'd done stuff in other bands but all the older bands couldn't be bothered. And I don't know if we just didn't know of any younger bands? I think we still had an eye out for stuff to be happening, maybe there weren't the right venues around? But then, as Alfie says, we did one show post-COVID, one of the first things that happened in Norwich, and suddenly there were loads of kiddies at that show that we hadn't ever seen before. But were actually like…not hungry for it, that sounds awful.
Alfie: They probably were, they were hungry for being out of their houses, you know?
Cal: And then suddenly there were loads of bands. And none of the bands sound the same either, so it's not like it's a genre-based scene, which is refreshing as well.
Sophie: But also all those people, they show up for any kind of genre show. We have quite a lot of mixed band bills. Generally, it's never all one style, sonically speaking. And that’s really refreshing as well.
Cal: I think the shared identities and the shared views and ideals outweigh what you actually sound like. And I think that's probably a pretty good secret to a pretty fertile scene. If your whole thing is about those shared ideals, then that's a pretty good route to a good scene.
Something we’re trying to do is think of what we can bring as facilitators of “the scene”. We could complain about a lack of activity, or we could facilitate it to happen more. And it sounds like you’re filling a bit of that space too with putting on shows? Do you feel like you have a role to play in being a facilitator of creating and building those shared ideals and values in your local place?
Cal: I think we could do more, but Alfie puts on shows with Phase Shifter in Norwich. How long you been doing it?
Alfie: Like a year and a half or something? But it's done so well that people do come see bands they would never ever have seen before. There's loads of people. I mean, you spoke to Jack from SUDS who has a record shop and that's all really brought people together; they do shows there. It's all just built up into a really good space. I wouldn't want to ever say that we were part of it, but it doesn't mean we don't try and be part of it. I’d never say it’s thanks to us, but we are trying.
Other Half by Jonathan Dadds
Cal: Luckily now there are loads of people trying. And that's the thing, you can't do anything if there's just one or two people trying. That's an easy way to burn yourself out. We're just really lucky that there's a whole host of people that would happily get stuck in and do things.
And that's probably what encouraged you (Alfie) to start doing it again? There was a point where loads of us hadn’t promoted shows for awhile because it felt so difficult to build anything. A lot of it is probably happenstance. When that comes around, jump on it because that might not be around forever. But that's not to say you can't build something from nothing,
Alfie: But do build a local scene. That's really, really important.
Cal: Talk to people, go to every show.
Sophie: Even if it is just sharing a show on social media, or sharing a band that you like. I know it's not easy for everyone to get to shows - you might not have the means or you’re a little too far out to get to it, or whatever - I think even those things can still help. Because that lull in Norwich was barren.
Cal: And no one was talking about it.
Sophie: We have one venue that was putting on a lot of the shows a few years back. And when it was closing down people were so vocal about it. But beyond signing a petition, no one was actually thinking, or saying out loud, if I recognise that this space is a huge part of my life then maybe there's something that I could do to help support or fill it.
Cal: When there weren't many places to put on shows, and this isn't easy for everyone, both Sophie and Alfie put on shows at their houses. We had this really sweet thing, this like punk rock acoustic house crawl, and people just played acoustic guitars in their gardens. And that was one of the sweetest things in the world. It’s not doable for everyone, but it was just great.
Sophie: With the cost of living, and also the absolute travesty that is just trying to rent somewhere at the minute, it's so much harder. I do think at one point it was much easier. When I first moved to Norwich at 18, the scene was so fertile and it was very encouraging. People I’d only known for a couple months were leaving me in charge of repping a show. And I really wanted to contribute so I put things on in my house. But as we got older and venues were closing down, there wasn't really anywhere for bands nor fledgling promoters. It was really hard to get a thumb in anywhere. And now, it's so nice to see where people are carving out those spaces and how we can jump on that or elevate it.
Cal: We’ve been on so many arctangents, sorry.
Other Half by Jonathan Dadds
It’s really excellent. Before we wrap up, what haven’t we asked you that we should have asked?
Cal: What did we ask in the car? On the way up?
Sophie: I was asking a lot.
Cal: What’s the most inane question you asked?
Sophie: If you could change the colours of the tarmac and…
Cal: Roadmarkings, that’s one of the worst questions I’ve even been asked.
Sophie: Then we came to the blobby highway on that!
Cal: Sophie said pink and yellow and realised it’s just all to do with Mr. Blobby.
I have a list of ridiculous questions on a note in my phone that I do like to ask people. Like, how many owls would you need to see in a day for you to think something is definitely afoot.
Cal: I mean one owl is a miracle. Two is suspicious.
I’d have to see like, five owls. But we have a lot of owls near us.
Cal: I think I’m very suspicious of anything so two owls is too much. I’m going with two.
Sophie: Oh see, I am not observant at all. I’d just keep thinking, aww! Aww that’s that owl from earlier. That’s nice.
Other Half by Jonathan Dadds
And last question: if you were dead asleep, or unfortunately in a coma, what one song could get you up and out?
Cal: What would get you up Alfie?
Alfie: Bloody hell, I have no idea. Let me work on that.
Cal: Would it be visceral hate of a song that would get me up from a coma, or would it be something I actually like? Do you want both answers? My favourite song in the world is “The Jangling Man” by a band called Cleaners From Venus. He's a little old man that has written some of the most beautiful songs in the world. I don't know if many people know who they are, but he's playing in Colchester in September. He's got a song called “The Jangling Man” and I actually only heard it about five years ago, but it made all the bits my body tingle like I hadn't since I was a teenager. I genuinely hadn't felt that feeling from music for such a long time.
What’s our worst song?
Sophie: Okay don't get me wrong, I like them as a band, but, we did this one tour and we didn't have any CDs and the only song that anyone had on their phone was “Champagne Supernova” by Oasis. We drove from, I think Oslo to Bergen, with only “Champagne Supernova” on repeat. I've never wanted to smash someone's phone more. I think that would get me up to turn it off, smash a stereo.
Cal: But also, what a way to awake from a coma, with “Champagne Supernova”.
Sophie: It would be biblical!
Big thanks to Other Half for taking time to chat with us. Catch them later this month at Wotsit Called Fest and stay tuned for new album news!
