INHEAVEN: "I think we nailed it"

The week before they drop their debut album, INHEAVEN took to Reading & Leeds Festivals for a little pre-release shindig. They invited all their friends and they came to party in their thousands.

And nothing says afterparty like answering questions, so we cornered the band backstage as they were still “coming down from the excitement of playing.”

Hello INHEAVEN. How was that for you?

James: “We always seem to just have a healthy pit every time we play at Reading. We’re always happy with that. It was just so hot up there. We just love playing. We used to come here every year of our teenage life, so to actually play it is amazing.”

Chloe: “It’s like a rite of passage. I went past on the train the other day and I saw the Festival Republic Stage, which we played last year and then I saw NME/Radio One Tent, which is the one that we played today. The first one had one turret, then this one had 6 or 8 turrets. I was like, ‘oh shit. This is gonna be big’. But I think we nailed it. It was great."

Jake: “When you’re up there you get lost in the moment anyway.”

Chloe: “My favourite thing about the gig was Joe’s drum riser, the brakes weren’t put on so when James jumped on it…”

Joe: “I did like a full quarter turn! It was like being Tommy Lee.”

And the album is out in less than a week, any nerves?

Chloe: “That was the good thing about today. The fact that we’ve got the album looming meant that we were more nervous about that than we were for actually performing in front of thousands of people.”

James: “We’re just 24/7 nervous about everything, all the time. I think most new bands are because there are so many barriers to break through. As a new band, you’re kind of waiting for that plateau period of, ‘ah, this is it now. We’re safe.’ But then you speak to bands on their second album and it doesn’t feel like anyone ever gets to that plateau. They’re always nervous about something. You kind of just play a show and see people singing and starting circles and shit, that’s when you feel like you’re doing something that actually means something to people. We’re usually nervous most of the time. There’s always something to worry about.”

Chloe: “Crossing the road, North Korea, there’s a lot going on. Jake forgot to get tickets for his girlfriend so she’s sitting at home.”

Jake: “I had them in my back pocket before I cycled home last night but they weren’t there when I got there.”

Chloe: “We’re hoping that someone in New Cross last night picked them up and just turned up. We’re imagining two guys from The Hills Have Eyes just turning up with his passes, pretending they’re our guests. But I’d be friends with them if they did that.”

All this excitement that's only the build up, right?

Jake: “That’s right. The album will be released and then we start driving it. Just touring. That’s all we want to be doing, just playing live. We want to get to as many places as we possibly can.“