AND ALSO THE TREES interview (part 3)

“I suppose we have matured at a natural pace.”

In the first two parts, (you can read number one here), we began talking to Simon Huw Jones about the new album “Mother-of-pearl Moon” and a song that desperately wanted to be a love song but wasn’t going to be. We also focused on imaginary urban planning, visuals and much more. Now comes the last part.

Anniversary?
Orkus: Some sources put your founding year at 1979, which would mean that you are celebrating your 45th anniversary this year. But there is also often talk of 1980. What is true and how does the anniversary feel for you?
Simon Huw Jones: We call 1980 our founding year, because that was the first time we performed live. Which is a bit like lying about your age, but it also makes more sense to us. So that will be next year and I don’t think we’ll make a big deal out of it.

A look into the past
O: What memories come to mind when you think back to the beginnings of the band?
SHJ: I started writing about my memories of the band’s beginnings when we celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2020. Of course, we couldn’t play any concerts to celebrate this year, so I quickly wrote a short article about this time and published it with a photo on Facebook and our website. People liked it, so I followed up with another one and things took off. The more I wrote, the more I enjoyed it. It was fun and I realized that our story is actually quite unique and interesting because we come from a completely different corner than most bands. However … I’m currently writing part 29 and I’m only just out of 1984, haha. Maybe one day it will become a book.

O: Are there things you would do differently with the knowledge you have today?
SHJ: Not really. I’m pretty happy with where we are now as a band. We are evolving in a way that interests us and most of our admirers, and we are as strong as ever live, maybe even stronger. Creatively speaking, we have always done what we wanted to do, when we wanted to do it. And that has made it difficult to manage us, and impossible to categorize us accurately… which makes it difficult to market us. That made life difficult for us as a band, even now, but that’s the way we are and we have to live with it.

Natural maturation
O: People change over time. And with this development process, the music they make also changes. How do you see this in relation to And Also the Trees?
SHJ: I think we have remained stable as people. No huge ego explosions, drug addiction, alcohol problems … none of the creatively destabilizing effects that I think fame and fortune might bring, and no pressure to make music to maintain a high media profile or an extravagant lifestyle, and no pressure from a record label either. Also, we never cared whether we were fashionable or not, so we’ve changed creatively pretty much constantly … I suppose we have matured at a natural pace. Occasionally band members have had to leave the band, but we’ve been incredibly lucky in that respect as we’ve found other people who have brought something different but compatible.

O: You will be going on tour soon! How far along are the tour preparations?
SHJ: We’re just learning to play the new songs live and it’s going quite well. We hope that our German booking agency will be able to put on a few shows in the fall, but that is proving difficult for various reasons. I’m a bit obsessed with playing in Berlin for reasons I don’t really understand, except that I just really like the city and the Berlin crowd. The last time we played there at Urban Spree 2022, a young punk girl came up to me in the parking lot and said, “Hey … You’re my favorite band!” and then she turned around and I saw “And Also the Trees” painted on the back of her leather biker jacket. It’s funny how something like that can make your day.

Claudia Zinn-Zinnenburg

Line-up:
Simon Huw Jones – vocals and words
Justin Jones – guitars, zither, autoharp
Grant Gordon – Bass
Colin Ozanne – clarinet, bass clarinet, piano
Paul Hill – drums, percussion

And Also the Trees live:
March 24, 2024 UK-Birmingham, The Castle and Falcon
April 02, 2024 BE-Namur, La Nef de l’Eglise Notre Dame d’Harscamp
April 03, 2024 FR-Strasbourg, La Laiterie
April 04, 2024 FR-Amiens, La Lune des Pirates
April 05, 2024 FR-Limoges, Centre Culturel John Lennon
April 06, 2024 FR-Paris, Le Trabendo
April 07, 2024 FR-Brest, Cabaret Vauban

Do you already have your ticket?

Watch the video for “This Path through the Meadow” here:

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