James caught up with Tom Ogden and Lee Wilson from Deaf Havana before their headline show in Birmingham to talk about their current tour, playing shows at train stations and much more.

You released your album “Fools and Worthless Liars” late last year, how has it gone down with the fans and press?
Tom: Surprisingly well. We were worried that people wouldn’t like us anymore but it seems like everyone that liked us before still does.

Lee: The only problem was that we had to adapt to just James singing but it just seemed to work and the fans liked it

What themes and stories do you cover within the album?
Lee: It’s basically about our singer James and what he went through. It wasn’t a tough time but he was like “why am I doing this”. He was living in London and I think struggling a bit with being a frontman and having lots of pressure on him.

You are currently starting a massive UK and European tour with The Swellers, what can people who have never seen you before expect from your live shows?
Tom: It’s a lot more chilled. We are playing some rock songs obviously there’s some acoustic ones in there and one on the banjo.

Lee: We’re mixing it up a bit and trying to do something a bit different.

Tom: We kind of went with the idea of what would we want to see from a gig. It’s basically a few types of music mixed into one.

You are getting bigger and bigger, with your singles being played on Radio 1 and with sell out dates on this tour, is it a little daunting or you taking it in your stride?
Tom: This tour was a bit of a shocker (laughter). The first show sold out in like a week and then the rest started to go and now they’re all pretty much gone. I mean we’ve been upgraded twice.

Lee: It’s overwhelming really.

You are playing a few festivals this summer, with Hit The Deck this weekend, Banquets Big Day out, Hevy Festival and most importantly you’re playing the main stage at Leeds and Reading, how do you feel about playing these shows?
Tom: Reading and Leeds was the one (Laughter). When you’re a kid you always want to play there.

Lee: It’s nice to see that we’re playing higher and higher on the stages. We’re use to playing on smaller stages or opening to it’s nice to see that we’re getting somewhere.

You recently played the Station Sessions, at St Pancras Station in London, how did this come about and how was it playing this intimate show?
Lee: I think our manager sorted it out for us.
Tom: It was good because is gave us a chance to do something that we don’t normally do. It was more like a lounge session than a gig but it was really good, we enjoyed it.

Lee: It was nice to play to people who were just walking by, to catch their ears and see them stop and listen to our music.

Tom: We’d like to do a tour of smaller venues with brushes and acoustic guitars but if that will happen or not I don’t know.

You seem to be constantly on the road, is it hard being away from home all the time?
Tom: Yeah it is. We haven’t been that busy up until today but now we’re on the road for a full month. We definitely get home sick.

Lee: Trouble is when you’re on the road you miss home and when you’re at home you miss the road so you can’t win either way.

What would you say your biggest high and low points as a band have been so far?
Tom: The high point for me was the whole Reading thing, I was like “wow” (laughter). It’ll be even better when we actually play there but we’ll probably be cacking ourselves (laughter).

Lee: When Ryan left and James wasn’t entirely happy with everything and we were wondering if we should just jack everything in; that was pretty low.

Tom: But then we wrote this album and thought it was wicked. The whole transition period was really hard but it’s made us what we are now.

What’s your opinion on the whole anti-piracy laws going on at the moment and how it will affect the music industry?
Lee: I don’t mind people illegally downloading but if they like it then they should buy it rather than just downloading it and keeping it. We put a lot of effort into this and it’s really hard to put in this effort for someone just to go along and not buy it even if they do like it. I understand that you need to hear it first but if you do like it then you should buy it.

Where do you hope to see Deaf Havana in a year’s time?
Tom: Headlining Reading (Laughter)

Lee: I don’t know, I guess we’ll just take it as it comes

Tom: We didn’t expect to be here this time last year so who knows. We could be doing the big room or we could be doing nothing.

One last random question that we ask every band, if you could be an animal out of a zebra or Giraffe which one would you be and why?
Tom: I think I look a bit like a giraffe anyway (Laughter)

Lee: I’d probably say a giraffe because you’re less likely to be eaten

Thanks for your time is there a message for your fans reading this?
Tom: Thanks

Lee: Thanks a lot; we wouldn’t be here without you.

Interview by James Daly