Manchester, UK’s indie rock band The Empty Page is readying their sophomore album, and their recent song “Level Sedentary” shows the duo is giving no quarter. A song devoted to introversion that takes cues from post-punk luminaries, Kel’s vocals give way to the heavy burden of modern life and the way it saps our energy. In the interview below, Kel explains how the song came to life.
The Empty Page’s debut album Unfolding was recorded with Gggarth Richardson (RATM/Biffy Clyro/Skunk Anansie) in Vancouver Canada and gained them a dedicated fanbase.
The band released three 7-inch singles in 2019 including the breakout track When The Cloud Explodes. WTCE was spun by multiple DJs on BBC 6 Music, chosen by Chvrches singer Lauren Mayberry from the BBC Introducing archives for airplay on BBC Radio 1 and stayed near the top of Spotify’s Punk List for months.
“I think people assume I am an always-on extrovert but sometimes, the last thing I want is to move from a prone position, never mind actually speak to anyone. ‘Level Sedentary’ is about those days when, for whatever reason, you are just saying ‘no’. I got the name from a fitness tracking app, which seemed to delight in ridiculing me for my off days,” Kel explains.T”elling me the ‘level’ I had achieved was ‘sedentary’ as opposed to ‘active’ or ‘highly active’ or ‘performative fitness influencer’ or whatever.”
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
Songwriting is kind of a dark art, in that it’s hard to really explain how ideas form. So my biggest tip would be the same as any creative writing teacher would advise: keep your eyes and ears open and write down anything interesting that you see or hear. I used to do this in notepads or on the back of bus tickets, and you can too, but these days I am obsessed with the notes app on my smartphone because the notes store in the cloud so I can access them anywhere and never lose them like I might a scrap of paper. I write down phrases from newspaper articles or books or films, snippets of overheard conversation etc. I also try and do morning papers where, as soon as I wake up, before I do anything else, I write. A lot of it is total crap but if you give your inner critic a virtual tot of whiskey and tell it to go for a nap, you can blurt out a load of stuff and come back later and pick out the roses from the manure. I find this way I am never short of starting points for the lyrics to a song at least.
Do you start off with the music or lyrics first? Why?
It varies but I always have lots of lyrical ideas noted down so I guess they come first, in that sense. Then when either Giz or I come up with a riff or musical fragment we want to turn into a song, I rifle through my millions of notes and see if any of the themes of the words vibe with the music. Then I try to shoehorn them into the melody that forms in my head from the music. In that sense, it seems like the music comes first because I usually fit the lyrics to the music. So which comes first kind of depends on how you look at it. More often than not I come up with vocal melodies pretty quickly. Occasionally I am stumped for a chorus for ages though. In those situations, I just try and trust the process because ideas always come. Usually when you’re not trying so hard. I can agonise over a chorus and listen over and over to the music and – nothing. Then one day I will be swimming or jogging or minding my own business daydreaming, not even thinking about the song, and it will hit me.
How do you kill the long hours in the van?
I am the kind of person who is rarely bored unless I am forced to endure something I can’t get out of like a tedious board meeting at work. In the van, on tour, I am free to do what I please as long as it can be done sitting in a moving vehicle. For me, that’s not a problem as it tends to involve lots of reading, writing, consuming of pop culture like films, music, podcasts, etc. Having the freedom to spend hours doing those things is an absolute pleasure for me. Sometimes I get antsy on tour so I try and do a bit of yoga or running to settle down the ants in my pants. When all those things aren’t working then I get mischievous and start winding everyone else up trying to lure them into philosophical debates or encouraging a mass singalong to the Pet Shop Boys. I love being on the road so I don’t see it as having time to kill really. I just wish I spent more time doing it. I have toured a lot and it never gets old for me.
What’s your biggest pet peeve about venues?
Probably that they often pay you, at least in part, in warm beer. Joking aside, I think it’s a serious issue actually. Paying artists in alcohol. Encouraging constant drinking. It’s perpetuating and normalising alcohol use and becomes more apparent when you are on tour and getting cans of beer thrust into your hands every single day. I’ve seen plenty of fellow musicians not be able to resist drinking from early afternoon just because it was there and free and easy to get stuck in. I’d rather have the £15 cash they spent on shit lager and put it in the tank.
How are you using your platform to support marginalised people?
I’m still learning how best to be an ally and I spend a lot of time listening and trying to learn. I do my best to be representative when shooting music videos, making sure I hire a variety of people to star in them. I read and consume as much art and film and music by artists from different backgrounds to me as possible. I also write songs in support of marginalised people when appropriate. The song “Wardrobe Malfunction,” for example, was written when I was working in an LGBTQIA+ bar and spending a lot of time with trans people and people who did drag or just enjoyed wearing clothes or accessories that might be considered inappropriate for their perceived gender. It pissed me off a lot to see so much intolerance toward people for the way they chose to express themselves sartorially, even in the gay scene. So I wrote a song about it. But yeah I think the main thing to do is listen and do your best to raise other people up so their voices are heard.
“Level Sedentary” is the second single to be released from The Empty Page’s second album due in spring 2023.
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