The lascivious London indie quartet interviewed at the recent Offset Festival.
TextTom Rowsell
I spoke to Toby from London indie band O Children at the recent Offset Festival.
Dazed Digital: how do you feel about playing Offset and festivals in general?
Toby: Offset is the first festival we’ve played. We’ve only been together for six months now, and in six months we’ve definitely gone quite far, we’re doing really well and we’re just kind of hoping that it gets a lot better because I feel musically we’re better than... most people, that’s quite an arrogant thing to say but... whatever. I do feel that. So we’re doing Offset now which is really cool, its got a good atmosphere and its our first festival, we’ve had a lot of fun, we just want to have as much fun as we possibly can, at the same time making music that’s... good. A lot more people see you, than would in East London, where we usually play. East London is a really cool place but it’s very limited in terms of the people you can “touch” if you will. I mean you’re trying to touch the minds and souls of people but you can’t really do that if it’s always the same people coming to see you every time with a bunch of dregs in the background going “yes that was good, you sound like joy division” all the time. But here it’s very different because we got quite a good reception for the time we were playing at and it was just generally really cool.
DD: How do you expect the listener to feel when hearing O children?
T: Personally, I’d like it to be like as if I was molesting them! it sounds really bad but I want it to be like we’re all hanging out at a party and I’m the guy that wants to turn you on. I want it to be to the point where you almost feel really turned on or horny by the sounds that we make, but not so much by force. I don’t want it to be a rape scenario where I’m raping the listener’s ears, I want people to understand the stuff I say, get turned on by it and also enjoy it. It’s very much lust based, there’s a lot of lust and seduction in the lyrics and the sound. We want people to have a good time, but when we get on stage we want people to feel like they need to get laid. It sounds bad but that is what it is!
DD: is there anything else about the festival you’re enjoying?
T: I’m happy to be in the vicinity of Gang of Four, because I’ve loved them for so long, I met the guy from Gang of four outside the dressing room, that was kinda cool! I said to him “You basically gave me the inspiration to start music” and he said “Oh... OK” and walked off. At the same time I feel it has been a good time in general, good vibes, I get to hang out with people I haven’t seen for a very long time, its been more about seeing people that you know as opposed to actually playing. Our set was good even though we woke up really hung over.
Dazed Digital: how do you feel about playing Offset and festivals in general?
Toby: Offset is the first festival we’ve played. We’ve only been together for six months now, and in six months we’ve definitely gone quite far, we’re doing really well and we’re just kind of hoping that it gets a lot better because I feel musically we’re better than... most people, that’s quite an arrogant thing to say but... whatever. I do feel that. So we’re doing Offset now which is really cool, its got a good atmosphere and its our first festival, we’ve had a lot of fun, we just want to have as much fun as we possibly can, at the same time making music that’s... good. A lot more people see you, than would in East London, where we usually play. East London is a really cool place but it’s very limited in terms of the people you can “touch” if you will. I mean you’re trying to touch the minds and souls of people but you can’t really do that if it’s always the same people coming to see you every time with a bunch of dregs in the background going “yes that was good, you sound like joy division” all the time. But here it’s very different because we got quite a good reception for the time we were playing at and it was just generally really cool.
DD: How do you expect the listener to feel when hearing O children?
T: Personally, I’d like it to be like as if I was molesting them! it sounds really bad but I want it to be like we’re all hanging out at a party and I’m the guy that wants to turn you on. I want it to be to the point where you almost feel really turned on or horny by the sounds that we make, but not so much by force. I don’t want it to be a rape scenario where I’m raping the listener’s ears, I want people to understand the stuff I say, get turned on by it and also enjoy it. It’s very much lust based, there’s a lot of lust and seduction in the lyrics and the sound. We want people to have a good time, but when we get on stage we want people to feel like they need to get laid. It sounds bad but that is what it is!
DD: is there anything else about the festival you’re enjoying?
T: I’m happy to be in the vicinity of Gang of Four, because I’ve loved them for so long, I met the guy from Gang of four outside the dressing room, that was kinda cool! I said to him “You basically gave me the inspiration to start music” and he said “Oh... OK” and walked off. At the same time I feel it has been a good time in general, good vibes, I get to hang out with people I haven’t seen for a very long time, its been more about seeing people that you know as opposed to actually playing. Our set was good even though we woke up really hung over.
