LIFE: "I wanna make some bad decisions, y'know?"

Mick Sanders takes a break from his fifth twelve-hour work shift in a row ("my brain feels like a used condom") to tell us about LIFE's debut album, 'Popular Music'.

So, what can you tell us about your album - how would you describe its vibe?

The album is the end product of years of working, writing, gigging and fighting to tread water in a marginalised city. It's the sound of anxiety about the future and anger at the present.

How long have you been working on your debut for?

For what feels like a lifetime, ha. In some ways, I'd say it's something we've been working on for as long as we've been playing music.

Where do you draw your ideas from?

Lyrically, myself and brother Mez take structural influence from modern and post-modern poetry. Wordplay, blank fiction, beat visions. Thematically we can't help but reflect what is happening politically and socially, it has become unavoidable in the past year or so to not comment on the times. The world is batshit crazy, and it feels like we are walking through the hyper-realism of an Escher-esque dreamscape.

Are there any topics you haven’t yet covered that you’d like to on a future release?

I'd like to do a science-fiction concept epic about unknown creatures and sexual deviance. Or maybe a reggae album about dragon riding wizards that solve crimes. Other than that I guess we'll just continue to absorb the pus that oozes in society and comment on what happens next...

Why the title ‘Popular Music’?

A couple of reasons really. Firstly, when we wrote the titular track 'Popular Music' it felt like a mission statement for us as a band. It became the track that all other ones had to hold a candle to. The measuring stick by which we assessed our own output. Secondly, I think it has a positive message. It would be easy to see it as a snipe from a 'leftfield' band about the mainstream populous. I actually see it as the opposite, lyrically it paints the scene of working day life grinding you down and how getting 'off your face' and listening to 'popular music', or whatever music you choose, can help you escape that monotony. Whether you crawl into a dungeon in Dalston and listen to underground Belgium jungle groups that have just released a 15-minute demo or squeeze into a bra-let and high heels and go nuts to Beyonce in your local Walkabout, it’s all about the cathartic release of saying fuck it. This is my LIFE, and for the rest of the evening and early hours of the next morning, I wanna pretend my job does not exist. I wanna make some bad decisions, y'know?

What would you most like to achieve with your music?

Realistically we just want to keep the party going. I cannot imagine myself not writing and performing music so as long as we can continue the ride, then I'm happy. It would be great if we can continue to grow, become a flagship of Hull and the north, reach sustainability. Conquer the world... Action figures in kids toy shops... Our own scent bottled and sold to the masses... marry into nobility... Die on the toilet...

Taken from the June issue of Dork, out now. LIFE's debut album 'Popular Music' is out 26th May.