Everything Everything on Their India Debut and Writing ‘Emotionally Interesting’ Music

Over a Zoom call from the U.K., Everything Everything’s frontman Jonathan Higgs says, “I can’t believe I’m talking to somebody in India about Ronnie Pickering. It’s crazy.”

Higgs is referring to one of the inspirations behind their song “The End Of The Contender” from their 2024 album Mountainhead. Ronnie Pickering was a local and national legend in Britain after a viral video nearly a decade ago, thanks to his road rage.

But even if you didn’t know Pickering, “The End Of The Contender” is wrapped in memorable melodies (“It’s all about the Benjamins,” Higgs sings) along with a story about male egos and feeling lost in a fast-paced digital world. That’s part of the allure of Everything Everything’s music – even a hyperlocal reference is put across in a way that resonates universally, going over experimental songwriting that had first been inspired by the likes of Radiohead and now lives in its own sonic space, between moody rock riffs to dancey detours and more.

After releasing Mountainhead – their seventh album – earlier this year, Everything Everything went on to tour the U.K. and Australia, plus head to the U.S. with seasoned British rockers Keane. Now, to close off the year, the band comprising Higgs, bassist Jeremy Pritchard, guitarist Alex Robertshaw and drummer Michael Spearman are making their India debut at the second edition of music festival Bandland in Bengaluru, on Nov. 23, 2024. The event is produced and promoted by BookMyShow Live. Higgs says, “We got an email from somebody who is involved with the festival, saying that they were a big fan of us. so we absolutely jumped at the chance. It’s an amazing opportunity. We’d never been there, and it’s somewhere we’ve always wanted to go.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone India ahead of their first visit to the country, Higgs spoke about their new album Mountainhead, the universality of their songs and how emotions drive most of the writing. Excerpts:

Rolling Stone India: Have you heard about other bands playing in India? What have you heard about music from out here?

Jonathan Higgs: We’ve actually heard that it’s only quite a new thing that bands will go out to India. So it’s exciting that there’s a new wave music scene that’s growing there. So I think that’s something that like 10 years ago, we never would have heard about, but now it’s like a whole new area, which is really cool.

What’s in store in terms of the setlist, especially when you come to a country for the first time and you have seven albums worth of songs to choose from?

It’s a good question. We’re discussing it at the moment. We think we’re probably going to play maybe a third of our new album because we’re good at playing it right now, and then the rest is going to be greatest hits from the last 15 years, which is obviously a long time now. So, you know, the best songs.

How do you decide the flow of a set when you have new songs and a different sound to work into your performance, in terms of energy?

You have to remember that most people just want to hear your hits, even if we just want to play new stuff. We try not to play too much new stuff, and we try to keep everyone happy, but also maybe throw in some things that are a bit more unusual, like an album track from an old album that people never get to hear. It’s bit of a balancing act, and we’ll change it as we go through the tour. We’ll say, ‘Oh, that song didn’t work.’ Or ‘People are really missing this song that we usually play. We should put it back in.’ It’s a constant discussion.

It feels like the band is one of those with obsessive, diehard followers. What is it like seeing that? Has it felt like it’s increased with Mountainhead?

It’s great. I think it’s the best kind of fans you can have. Some bands get very big very quickly, but then people lose interest. But we’ve got the kind of fans that are with us all the way through, and they’re very obsessive, and they’re very dedicated and they really dive into what we’re trying to do, and I think those type of fans are the best.

With every album, new people find us. We’ve been on the radio a lot with this newest album, so we’ve got a whole load of new young fans, which is really cool. But we do keep our old fan base… I think we do. It’s not like people tell us they’re leaving if they’re leaving, but with seven albums, it’s quite difficult to know what kind of band you’re supposed to be. You just have to keep doing what you think is good.

Mountainhead is such a layered album full of stories and I read that it was inspired by the current times you’ve lived, in the U.K.. It’s still got global, wider resonance, though, right? Is it because you speak through emotions of the topics rather than the topics themselves?

I think it’s a mistake to try and make albums and make music that are too specific. I always think about Eminem talking about things that are in the news, like [American politician] Sarah Palin or something. And I think, ‘Well, that’s funny for about six months, and then in 10 years’ time that no one’s even going to know what that means.’

I think you have to have something all the time that is universal, like you say, something that can always apply without being too vague. Emotions are the things that people remember and people relate to. So don’t try and be funny, don’t try and be clever, don’t try and be anything if you are not emotionally interesting. So that’s the big goal — to be emotionally interesting, really at the core of a song or an album or a band. Everything else is meaningless if you don’t have that.

Do you get fans who’ll talk to you about how a song helped them personally, but then others who’ll happily talk to you about political issues and the like?

There’s an awful lot of variety in what people take from the band, which I think is really good. I think if it was all the same stuff, then it would be a bit too one-dimensional. So yeah, you get people talking about politics or emotions and sometimes, often, and people will have an interpretation of the song which is completely different to my interpretation of my song. And I think that’s great. I think that’s really cool when they say, ‘Oh, you know, this song helped me with my illness or something in it, and it reminded me of this thing.’ And ‘I love the way you talk about this other thing.’ And I’ll say, ‘What are you talking about? That’s got nothing to do with it. This song’s about my sister or something.’ I think it’s really great that people can take so much from it and apply their own emotions to it.

Is the varied interpretations also the case within the band as well?

Yeah, definitely. There’s members of the band who really like songs for reasons that I don’t understand. Sometimes I’ll write a lyric when I’m writing a demo of a song, and it’s just placeholder lyrics. And then I’ll come to do the real recording, and then, Michael [Spearman], our drummer will say, ‘What happened to that lyric? I really like that. It really means a lot to me.’ And I’ll say it doesn’t mean anything, like I just, it’s just sounded good when I wrote the demo, and he’ll say, ‘No, no, you have to keep that in. That’s really great. That means all this stuff to me.’ And I just have to go, ‘Okay, that’s it’s not mine anymore.’ As soon as someone else hears it, it’s not really the artist’s [lyrics] anymore.

You did the U.S. tour with Keane earlier. They’ve actually come to India just this year, for Lollapalooza. What was it like supporting them?

We forgot to ask them about India, so I’m going to send them a message as soon as I’ve talked to you. It was amazing. We were all over the place, saw so much of the country, saw so many people and so many classic, iconic venues. We ate some great food, and Keane were lovely guys. So it was a huge privilege, really.

When you’re in India, is there anything you’re looking forward to doing outside of the performance?

We are talking at the moment about trying to stay in India for a few more days so that we can see more things. We want to take an overnight train to Kerala, maybe, or just try and get to… I don’t even know, with this, it’s such a big place! We have no real idea about anything that happens or what to see or do. So it’s a big adventure.

What else is coming up in 2024 and 2025?

We will be probably doing some touring in 2025 but it’s all being decided at the moment. Probably, a bit of writing will happen, usual band stuff, but all of it’s a bit too early to be certain about. But we’re trying to do some stuff in Europe, if we can. That’ll be really good.

Everything Everything performs at Bandland 2024 in Bengaluru on Nov. 23, 2024. Get tickets here.