Interview with National Opera

What got you into music, and if you had not gotten into music what would you be doing today?

The three of us have been musicians for most of our lives in various forms, from Jack singing in school choir, Gary playing in various college bands and Chris is a classically trained pianist. We met at university around 2017 at a music society and started performing together then in various groups until we formed this one after the pandemic. It’s hard to say where or who we’d be without music because it’s always been such a big part of our lives, I suppose we’d probably have more money, and Gary would be a rally driver.

What do you like to do when you are not playing music and how does that influence your creativity?

We’re all the types of people to get really into lots of little things and learn through doing: cooking, painting, reading, going to museums, cinema, outdoors, all kinds of things. Creativity can be inspired by the strangest things and to that end it’s important to broaden your horizons and be curious. There’s a line in the King’s Of Convenience song “I’d Rather Dance With You” that goes “I doubt my reply would be interesting for you to hear, because I haven't read a single book all year”, that sums it up, it’s important to always learn to stay interesting (we’re doing A LOT of heavy lifting assuming we are or ever have been interesting).

How long has your band been around? Also, please tell me about the dynamic of the band of what brought you all together.

We kind of loosely started working together on this project right around the first lockdown, without much idea of what we were doing really. We just wanted to write and processes we’d been previously used to (getting in a practice room, jamming the songs out, playing them at gigs to see what stuck) had been stripped away, we were sending each other little ideas on Soundcloud and after a while we got to a point where we had figured out what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it. Being able to write and produce and mix our own tracks remotely has been such a learning curve but we’ve grown so much from it.

Where are you based and how did that influence your music?

We’re based in Leicester; Chris is the only one who still lives there but it’s where we met and it’s where we usually get together to write and gig. Thinking about it, we are less influenced by the city itself than by the people we have met – we met each other here, but we’ve also met so many bright, creative and talented people who inspire us and challenge us to be better.

How did you come up with the name of your band and what does it mean to you?

We’ve always liked band names that feel larger than life, bands like Manchester Orchestra, Public Service Broadcasting, and we just wanted to evoke that kind of thing. There’s no specific meaning behind the name, but it does inspire us to dream and write big, songs that National Opera would write, not songs that Jack, Chris and Gary would write.

Tell me about your most memorable shows.

One of our first shows in 2022 in London was incredibly memorable, we played well, but most importantly we fell in love with performing again after a long time without really gigging. It was that force that just pushed us on to just keep going.

What is your favorite venue to play at, and do you have any places you want to play that you have not already?

The Big Difference in Leicester is fun to play, it used to be called The Cookie. It’s got a low low ceiling so you just feel super close to the audience and as if everyone is packed in there. I suppose we’d quite like to play the Pyramid Stage, if they’ll have us.

If you could play any show with any lineup, who would be on the ticket?

Not us that’s for sure – we’ll just sit back and enjoy. Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, Hot Chip and Everything Everything – why not?

What is some advice that you would give to someone who is just getting into playing in a band and some advice that you would give to your younger self?

Go out to shows, engage yourself with other musicians in your city. Worst case you spend a night supporting local musicians, but you’re almost bound to meet new friends, collaborators and just all-round cool people.

Of your songs which one means the most to you and why?

We’ll all have different answers for this, but there’s a shout for our song Remember Who We Love in there. It marks a special place in our history as the closing chapter of what was our first chapter. It’s all about friendship and holding on to the people who mean the most to you, so it serves as a useful reminder, too.

Which songs are your favorite to play and which get requested the most?

The Scenic Self always makes us feel something when we play it, it’s about change and growth in a way that’s quite wholesome, and musically it’s driving, brooding, and loud. As you’re playing it you really move with the song as it builds and builds and builds, and then when it ends you just feel it come over you.

What is the creative process for the band, and what inspires you to write your music?

We still by and large create our demos working remotely, just plugging away at little ideas and sharing them between each other. Now that we can get back together to record and write we use this time to nail down the feel, extra melodic elements and other production stuff that just helps to make the songs tick. We’re quite insular as people so I think getting those initial ideas developed in our own time works really well for us.

What kinds of messages do you like to get across in your music?

Recently, and without any real effort into making it that way, we’ve really been quite hopeful in our songs, not hopeful for the world – we’re not stupid, but hopeful for ourselves. Hopeful that we will find that bit of peace that we need, that challenges are part of a much bigger picture, or that things happened for the right reasons. There are more and a few things to feel quite negative about right now, so I think we’re writing are a tonic to that.

Do you have any new singles, videos, or albums out that you would like to tell me and your fans about?

We’ve just released our brand new EP ‘The God, The Child’ on the 16th February which is available to stream and hear everywhere. It’s 4 of those songs of hope, and – surprise, artist thinks their latest work is their best – it’s our best and most complete work.

What are your plans for the future, and do you have anything that you want to spotlight that is coming up?

We’re celebrating the EP with two shows, 5th May at Duffy’s here in Leicester, and 9th May at Paper Dress Vintage in London. After that we’ve got festivals lined up and a big summer planned, but nothing I can tell you about right now.

How can your fans best keep up to date with you, any socials you want people to check out?

We’re @nationaloperaband on Instagram which is where we’re most active. Find us on streaming services by searching National Opera (we’re usually after the Estonian National Opera Band)