London five-piece Toy have been building a steady fan base and solid reputation as one of the best live acts around. It’s not hard to imagine why – their perfectly formed, guitar-driven pop songs explode into long stretches of fuzzy freakouts onstage, and have made them poster boys for the new psych revival scene that’s taken hold of indie music over the last few years. Now, with the release of their third album Clear Shot on October 28th, i-D chats to bassist Maxim ‘Panda’ Barron about the first single from the record.
Check out our interview below and take a look at video exclusively here on i-D…
Hey Panda! Tell us about the lead single, I’m Still Believing. What’s it all about?
It’s about voodoo, I think. Actually, we really liked this cover of Good Vibrations by Psychic TV – the harmony and the insistent beat as well as the simplicity of the song. We hadn’t done a song like that before so the idea interested us.
What’s your writing and recording process for the album been?
For this one, we had two home studios – one at Dom’s house and one at the house I live in with Tom and Max. We’d write and record demos there and then we picked 10 tracks out of those for the record and went away and recorded them.
What’s going on in music at the moment? Are there any other bands or musicians out there that you’re excited about, in London or beyond?
Yeah, we’re digging JC Flowers who are coming on tour with us in November and a lot of our friends are doing interesting projects. Our friends Group A are doing great things in Berlin as well. There’s lots of good stuff around.
You guys have been best friends for a long time – most of you since childhood. Is it still fun to be in a band together after all these years?
It’s great. We go watch demolitions together. We saw the tallest grain tower in Britain be demolished the other day. We’re going to try and find some more stuff like that.
What is the current state of UK guitar music? We’ve been in EDM hell for a few years, and it feels like it’s due a return to popularity soon…
We haven’t really paid attention. There’s always an audience for things that aren’t the norm or the most popular thing around.
How would you describe Toy in three words?
Metal Machine Music.
If you could only listen to one record for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Terry Riley, In C.