TOUR DE ACCENTS, TOUR DE UK AND WHAT’S NEXT FOR ORACLE SISTERS

INTERVIEW| ORACLE SISTERS – TRAMLINES FESTIVAL by Gracie Erskine

The Oracle Sisters tidal waves have rippled over to their dressing room, sipping pints of Guinness and indulging in the views of Hillsborough Stadium.  Whilst the brief discussion of UK football rivalries, the history of Hillsborough and the wonders of modern technology concluded; Chris, Lewis and then Julia, sat down with Northern Exposure’s Gracie Erskine to discuss the nitty gritty.  

Gracie: It’s the band’s first time in Sheffield, how is it treating you?

Chris: Absolutely beautiful. We’ve been to the Sheffield Tap at the train station. Incredible pub at the train station. It’s a weird and lovely, oaky and smoky and stenchy, lovely little place. 

Gracie: Did you venture any further? Perhaps the pub opposite.

Chris: Absolutely not, we hate that pub. We’re Sheffield Tap people. We’re loyal.

Gracie: Besides from the pubs, how does touring in the UK differ from back home?

Chris and Lewis: (Northern accent) People here like to fucking have it. They like to fucking have it. 

Gracie: Have you been learning that in the Sheffield Tap?

Lewis: I’ve got a friend from Hull (somewhat Hull accent) who talks like that. 

We were hanging out with him today, so we’ve been listening to his accent, trying to copy it. 

But no, the UK is more…more kind of heart, it’s a bit more gritty, all or nothing a bit, I feel, whereas things are in continental Europe, as you’d expect, like tea and porcelain and, and, you know, and clinking cups, which happens in England, but, but the gig culture here is very strong. It’s very, very, very like everyone getting together. And I feel the further north you go, the warmer the crowds are. It’s like this culture of a bit of heart and, you know, all the great bands are coming. You sense it’s really a moment for people. They know they’re going to that gig; they all meet up before, they get in the mood, and they turn up with a good spirit. 

Gracie: Did you feel that in your set earlier? 

Chris: No.(joking) No, it was great. It was lovely. It was a very good ,warm reception from the crowd, but it was it was a fast show. It was a 30-minute set. We like to have longer and build up the show a bit. So it it was an experience of like, lock stock and two barrel. That movie with Brad Pitt, where he…

Lewis: (now Irish accent) He speaks like Irish like that and his accent’s really bad. 

Gracie: If the band ever goes to shit, then at least you’ve got a career in accents. 

Chris: We’re really good at doing fake Irish accents.

The bands quality of Irish accent is debateable. Back across the pond however…

Gracie: Do you feel like your mix of backgrounds as a band helps influence your sound?

Lewis: Yeah, absolutely. I think we’re very free in that sense. We’re not limited by where we come from. I think it can be restrictive for certain people. I think we can turn up with all of our influences and do what we want. Chris was in Scotland for a while and I was in New York, it semmed a lot of the bands resonated across the pond. Scottish Krusty Pups with New York Krusty Pups. And then Julia just teleported to us from Finland. 

Gracie: The latest album Divinations has quite a mystical theme. When you were recording it did you approach it with the idea or did it just teleport in?

Chris: Good question. After touring quite extensively the year we released our first album, the songs were kind of a response to what we felt we wanted to add to the set list, essentially. After almost being quite burnt out, we were just going deep within ourselves and pulling out whatever we could. 

Julia enters. Teleporting once again. 

Gracie: So when you’re writing, do you want to write for escapism and ‘to teleport’ or draw what’s happening in the real world? 

Chris: I feel like you can combine all of those things, and you can also write something from a fictional perspective where you’re trying to channel something personal into that and you’re using a different character to actually tell a story that you want to tell about yourself or about something that’s happening in the world. 

It had a bit more of a paranoid feeling about it. I think this album in some ways based on what type of place the world is at. And I think we channelled that in there and we wanted something a bit harsher sounding. 

Gracie: The last album had a lot of nods to Leonard Cohen and Talking Heads, but are there any bands today that inspire you? 

Lewis:  Yeah, there’s quite a lot. Some of them are playing here. I like Baxter Jury and Fat White Family.  Their attitude as musicians is quite fun. Fontaines DC, who are friends going way back, are great. And it’s been amazing to see them grow. 

Gracie: You’ve got a headline show at Koko in London this year. What’s the next step for the band after the show?

Chris: What’s going to be better than Koko? I mean, for our next album, we’re going to do a lot of stuff with strings. We’re probably going to do a show in Paris and in London with strings at like a big, more sort of orchestral venue. Yeah, the Royal Albert Hall. Maybe. That would be good for strings. 

Lewis:  We’re kind of at a place right now where we have a lot of songs that have been kicking around for a bit and a lot of songs we’re writing right now. And I think we want to just be a very free in our next record.

Gracie: And I’ve just got one more very serious question; are you going on the Helter Skelter?

Lewis: Every festival in England has a Helter Skelter. We have to!