Circa Waves are back with a brand-new single and we've got the exclusive on the video. Taken from their upcoming fourth album, Sad Happy, the eponymous lead track speaks to the record's wider theme: at the idea of our world being split into two extreme halves. As frontman Kieran Shudall puts it, "One moment you’re filled with the existential crisis of climate doom and the next you’re distracted by another piece of inconsequential content that has you laughing aloud. I find this close proximity of immense sadness and happiness so jarring, bizarre and fascinating.”
The album itself follows this format, with both a “sad” and a “happy" side (the new single has been taken from the former), featuring all the strummed chords and keyboard riffs indie rock lovers have come to expect from the Liverpool four-piece. The “Sad Happy” video, which we're premiering today, is directed by duo Bousher & Gee, and shows Shudall experiencing a kind of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest nightmare. From sad clowns to twisted therapy sessions, it's all very The Joker. Check out the video exclusively above, then read our interview with Kieran Shudall, guitarist Joe Falconer, bassist Sam Rourke and drummer Colin Jones where they answer 15 questions all starting with “the first”, from the first time they realised they were any good to the first thing each of them would do as prime minister.
The first time you met...
Kieran: “We met in different scenarios. Sam and I met on a five-a-side pitch and were immediately impressed by the other’s skills. Joe asked me drunkenly in a bar if he could play lead guitar in the band. He was a bass player. Colin was our guitar tech and eventually worked his way up to being our drummer. Hard work.”
Sam: “I met Kieran for the first time at a football game. He scored an overhead kick and then asked me to be in his band. It was really cool.”
Your first teenage pin-up was…
Kieran: “I had picture of Britney Spears in my bedroom for a bit. I fancied her loads, but it was a short phase.”
Sam: “Kelly Brook. She’s the thinking man’s pin-up.”
Colin: “I believe it was Hayley Williams from Paramore.”
The first time you played as Circa Waves in front of a live audience...
Kieran: “We had a bit of hype around the band so we played under the secret name Malkovich Malkovich for a good ten shows. Sometimes to 20 people; this one time to just one pissed women. She loved it.”
The first time you got silly drunk...
Kieran: “When I was about 14 years old, at my cousin’s 18th birthday. All I remember was throwing up bright orange Bacardi Breezers into the sink. I stuck to beer from then on.”
Sam: “Mine was the classic teenage experience of getting someone to buy us really cheap cider and then getting drunk in a park. Who the hell buys cider for kids anyway?”
The first time you fell properly in love...
Kieran: “When I was 18 and [I’ve] been with the same person ever since. Super romantic, super cliché, but I love it.”
Sam: “I was an early bloomer in the love department. I remember falling in love with a girl in school when I was about five. It’s been a bit of a mostly unsuccessful rollercoaster ever since.”
The first record you ever bought...
Kieran: “Michael Jackson’s History. It’s a double-disc ‘Best of’. He had so many hits, it’s ridiculous. I’d dance around and jump on my mum and dad’s couch to ‘Man In The Mirror’. I was dead cool as a kid.”
Sam: “The first single I bought was ‘Last Resort’ by Papa Roach. I think the first album might have been Metallica’s Black Album, actually.”
Colin: “‘No More Lies’ by Iron Maiden.”
The first time you put together a stage outfit...
Kieran: “Pretty much when we started touring as Circa Waves. For about ten years I’d never planned stage clothes, but when magazines start taking pictures of you, you pretty quickly change that. I just went for skinny black jeans and a black T-shirt. Extremely inventive.”
The first time you made money out of being a musician...
Kieran: “Me and my mates used to play a couple of sets in a pub in Crosby and earn about £40 each. It’s an amazing moment when you turn a hobby into a bit of hard cash. I think I spent most of the £40 in the pub after the gigs.”
Sam: “My first band would sometimes get about £50 for doing a gig. If there was any left after paying for my dad’s petrol we would try to buy some cheap beers with it.”
The first time you blew your paycheque frivolously...
Kieran: “When I worked in Woolton cinema in Liverpool I used to blow all that money on going to a club called The Krazyhouse. Three floors of dance, indie and metal. I was in my element.”
Sam: “My first paycheque from my paper round as a kid. I spent all £12 on sweets and learned a valuable lesson.”
The first time a politician made you mad...
Kieran: “Probably when I saw them all having a laugh in the House Of Commons for the first time goading each other in a game of one-upmanship. For some reason it makes my blood boil.”
Joe: “Like a lot of people who were students at the time, I’m still bitter about Nick Clegg’s complete U-turn on tuition fees. He turned his back on a significant portion of voters that got his party into that coalition and it was shown in his collapse in the following election. He also had a big hand in starting us down this shaky path we’ve found ourselves on.”
The first time you met a fan...
Kieran: “I think after our first tour you would meet people after the show who want a picture and you’re like, ‘Who would want a picture with me?’ But then it happens enough times that you get used to it. It’s still strange and funny to think people want to meet us and talk to us. I’m a proper meff, why would you want to talk to me?”
The first karaoke you always want to sing...
Kieran: “Very rarely do I ‘want’ to sing karaoke. If drunk enough I’ll happy destroy ‘Sexbomb’ by Tom Jones. It’s too important a song not to do.”
The first thing you’d do if you became prime minister...
Kieran: “Appoint Sam, our bass player, as my advisor. He actually knows a lot about politics and I can’t retain knowledge, so I’d really need him.”
Sam: “Get rid of the monarchy.”
The first time you realised you were actually any good...
Kieran: “I knew we were boss as soon as Zane Lowe played the ‘Young Chasers’ demo twice on his show without us having played a single show or done anything. Instant validation from a tastemaker I actually respect. After being unsuccessful for about eight years that was the biggest confidence boost ever.”
Sam: “When we were touring Different Creatures our sound man recorded the set and played it back to us the day afterwards. It was the first time we heard ourselves live and it brought a tear to the eye.”
The first time you threw punch and meant it...
Kieran: “A bully in primary school had me in a headlock for about five minutes. I eventually got out and chinned him. He later became my best friend.”
Sam: “My older brother ate a bunch of sandwiches I had made and it tipped me over the edge.”
The first time you got given a rider...
Kieran: “For our first little shows as Malkovich Malkovich we got beers and crisps. I was ecstatic. I thought I’d won the lottery. Turns out there were much bigger and more magical riders to come.”
Head to GQ's Vero channel to go behind the scenes on Circa Waves' “Sad Happy” video shoot now. Follow us on Vero to find out what the Circa Waves guys have been watching, listening to and reading, plus their favourite places. Join GQ on Vero now for exclusive music content and commentary, all the latest music lifestyle news and insider access into the GQ world, from behind-the-scenes insight to recommendations from our Editors and high-profile talent.
Now read:
Snakehips talk pickup trucks, bad haircuts and David Cameron’s dumb decisions
AJ Tracey talks Kanye West, fake news and £25,000 watches
Slaves talk tattoos, Wetherspoons’ breakfasts, suits and secret talents
