ShareKieran Shudall, (seen here second from the left) lead vocalist and guitarist with English indie rock band, Circa Waves chats with Kevin Cooper about performing for ten thousand people in Japan, why Rock City is a must play venue, their latest album Death & Love Pt.1 and their 2025 tour of the UK.
Kieran Shudall is the lead vocalist and guitarist with English indie rock band, Circa Waves.
He met bassist Sam Rourke, along with former band member, Sian Plummer through mutual friends at the annual Liverpool Sound City Festival in 2013. They met current guitarist Joe Falconer shortly after. In December 2013 they released their debut single, a double A side of Get Away and Good For Me. In March 2024 the band opened the NME Awards Tour before releasing their Young Chasers EP.
During the summers of 2014 and 2015, Circa Waves played several festivals including T In The Park, Glastonbury and Reading and Leeds. In 2015 they toured the UK which included a sold out date at Brixton Academy. Their debut album Young Chasers was released in March 2015 and was followed by the release of four other albums, with the fifth and latest, Death & Love Pt. 1 yet to be released.
Whilst on the tour bus heading out to Europe, Shudall took some time out to have a chat with Kevin Cooper and this is what he had to say.
Kieran good afternoon, how are you?
I’m fine thanks Kevin, but more to the point how are you today?
I’m doing okay thanks and before we move on let me thank you for taking the time to speak to me today.
No problem, it’s great that you are interested in what Circa Waves are currently doing, so thank you.
How’s life treating you at this moment in time?
It’s really good man, we are just setting off on the European leg of the current tour on the bus. We haven’t been on a tour bus for a little while so it’s nice to get everyone back together. We have been rehearsing all of the new songs and I have to say that everything is sounding tip top so I am assuming that the gigs are going to be pretty good.
I have to tell you that I first saw you back in 2021 at the Tramlines Festival over in Sheffield and then two years later you were back again, and I really enjoyed what you were doing.
That’s great to hear and I have to say that the Tramlines Festival really is one of my personal favourite festivals. We have played there a bunch of times now and it really is a classic Indie festival and we really do always enjoy playing that one.
It really is a well run family friendly festival isn’t it?
Yes, it seems that way, and it’s great that the dressing rooms are in the footy ground so you get to sit in the football area which is really cool (laughter)
We must talk about the latest album, Death & Love Pt. 1 and I have to tell you that I can’t stop playing it; I think that it’s a great piece of work.
That’s amazing, thanks very much man; we really are so pleased with the album. The response has been awesome up to now so I really am made up with it.
Some of your fans are saying that it is your best work to date. Would you agree with that?
Yes (laughter). It’s hard for me to ever realistically judge our work until maybe five or six years later simply because you always like your new stuff the most. But I do feel that in terms of crafting songs, the time that I spent on lyrics and melodies, I feel like I have worked harder on this album than any other record so, I am hoping that has come through a little bit.
How many of the new songs will find their way onto the set list for the current tour?
Four or five but to be totally honest with you I’m not really sure yet. We will definitely be playing all of the singles from the album and maybe one extra. We have released six albums now so the set list is ever growing and it is getting harder and harder every year for me to write a set list (laughter).
I currently have four go to tracks which are Bad Guys Always Win, Everything Changed, Let’s Leave Together and Hold It Steady, I think that those four tracks are fantastic.
Thanks very much. Hold It Steady is one of my favourites, but to be totally honest with you, we usually will play all of the singles simply because they are the songs that the people know and then we will slip one more in that we all fancy playing (laughter). A lot will depend upon whether I can sing it or not (laughter). It is sometimes the case that I will write a song, record it, and then when I try to do it live it is to fucking hard to sing (laughter). The four tracks that you like are all pretty heavy emotional songs so you really must be an EMO at heart (laughter).
(Laughter) I’m far too old to be an EMO (Emotional)
In that case whatever it was before EMO’s came along, some emotional music perhaps (laughter).
I’m being told that Death & Love Pt. 1 is actually album number one out of a two album set, is that correct?
Just who have you been talking to (laughter). Yes that’s correct, there will be another album released sometime during the summer. I don’t think that the label have decided what date as yet but it is all finished, mastered and all ready to go whenever we see what is the best time for us to get it out there.
Can you leave it alone now or are you a meddler?
(Laughter) now that it is all mixed you can’t really do much more with it. We paid a mixer and if by any chance we had to remix the album it would cost us another thousand pounds every time that we do that. Once you have settled on the mix you sign it off and put it to bed. If you don’t like it in a year’s time then it is too bad (laughter).
Saturday 15th February you are going to be here in Nottingham at Rock City. In your opinion what makes Rock City a must play venue?
It has always been steady, it has always been on the tour list and I have to say that every time that we play there. It feels the same, it feels like an amazing crowd, the staff are always nice, we get treated so well, and the city as a whole is just perfect in the fact that it feels so Northern, in a Liverpool kind of way. To me Nottingham always feels like a mix of Liverpool and Glasgow, the people have a really nice way about them, which can’t be said for every city in the world (laughter). I love it. We always have had some really good food whenever we have played Rock City, nice food, great gig, and a totally great time.
The two cities, Liverpool and Nottingham really do have a similar feeling.
Yes they do and I feel that it has grown out of a working class background. They are just real people, and I feel that there is a real family vibe in both cities. I have always felt an affinity with places like Nottingham and Glasgow, which I really do feel has come from that working class background.
And we do make a mean curry (laughter).
(Laughter) so I have heard. There is a pasta place in the city centre where we usually go and let me tell you it is fucking amazing (laughter). Let me tell you from experience, it’s not the best idea to have a curry before a gig (laughter).
Putting you firmly on the spot, what would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?
I personally feel that it is really hard to beat ‘firsts’ isn’t it. The first time that something happens, the first time that you are played on the radio, the first time that you play Brixton Academy, the first time that you play the Reading and Leeds Festival, the first time that you play Glastonbury, the first time that we played Japan was fucking insane. I think that they are the things that when someone says “what sticks out” or “what are the highlights” I always shoot back to those moments simply because it is such an amazing thing to experience something like that for the very first time. Playing to ten thousand people in Japan having just landed, and being jetlagged, and all that I have done is written some songs in my bedroom and then there are ten thousand people in Japan listening to them. They are the things where you really have to pinch yourself and are the things that you have really never gotten over.
Are you always writing?
Yes I am pretty much. For me, it is almost like a diary for me, but I have to say that I write more melodies than lyrics. I don’t write lyrics everyday but I’m always writing little melodies and ideas which I then try to form later on complete with proper lyrics. It is just something that I feel that I have to do.
In your opinion, what makes Liverpool such a breeding ground for great bands and great artists?
I think that for many years now Liverpool has been a melting pot, and you have to remember that Liverpool is a dock in town, so you are getting all of the influences from the trade, from the cultures that have come into the city, together with that melting pot of all different people. It also comes from the working class background of the people, and I personally feel that any kind of heighted emotion brings out a great melody. When people have their first love, when they have their loss, you will write amazing melodies which is all part of great song writing. People coming from great hardship is one of the same reasons why bands and artists from Manchester write great music, it’s always raining and miserable in Manchester so that helps them to write good songs (laughter).
But in answer to your question, I really don’t know. People will learn from example because there are so many people doing it. You want to copy them, recreate what they are doing, or be as good as them. I grew up near to Strawberry Fields so I had The Beatles constantly there telling me that I could do better, which for me was a good reminder.
What was the first record that you bought?
(Laughter) oh no, it was Michael Jacksons History album. That one didn’t age very well (laughter).
Who did you first see playing live?
I saw Feeder here in Liverpool at the Royal Court and I have to say, that blew my mind.
What was the last song or piece of music that made you cry?
There is a song by Bat For Lashes called Laura, and melodically it is totally fucking flawless. I personally feel that Natasha Khan is a totally underrated artist. It is actually an old tune but there is something about it which really hits you and it made me feel emotional.
On that note Kieran let me once again thank you for taking the time to speak to me today, it’s been a pleasure. Good luck with the tour and I will see you at Rock City.
Thank you very much Kevin, I appreciate that. And let me just say thanks for not being a boring interviewer. I will see you in Nottingham.
