DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL INTERVIEW: THE WARNING

CHARLOTTE: Welcome to Donington. I believe it’s your first time here?

TOGETHER: Yes, it is!

PAU: It’s our first time in the UK in general. This is our first festival in the UK so it’s been a blast. A bit of like a culture shock, but it’s been amazing.

C: A lot of firsts in that for sure. What have been some highlights for you visiting Donnington so far?

P: Oh the people, it’s the beginning of the festival, we played like at 1 [pm], we were opening the Opus stage. We expected it to be like max, 50 people.

ALEJANDRA: It was packed. It was full.

P: Like we couldn’t see where the people stopped and it was just, we were just arriving. So I’m excited to see how things get really packed up for the headlining bands. It’s just amazing to see this many people just enjoying music today.

C: Obviously with Metallica doing two sets, I can’t go without mentioning the collaboration track that you did with Alessia Cara, so can you talk me through the process of how that collaboration came about and what it was like to work with her as well?

P: Okay. So that whole thing was a dream come true. We as a band, we became viral with a cover of Enter Sandman when we were younger. So that’s what really launched our career as a band and how we started getting attention worldwide. So in 2021, being invited by Metallica to participate in the 30th anniversary of the Black album was just insane for us. And when we heard that it was with Alessia Cara, it was just, that was our first collaboration ever.

A: It was insane!

P: It was really nerve-wracking cause we had 10 days to do everything we needed to like write the whole version, record it, And Alessia was in Canada, we were in Mexico, and everything was still remote cause of the pandemic. It was crazy!

A: So much fun!

P: But it was just such a big honour for us and reworking such an iconic song, we were really nervous about it, but we were able to keep Metallica’s essence, incorporate our sound in Alessia’s sound and just find this amazing middle ground for everybody. We love playing the song live. We could just enjoy it so much and I feel like it was such a full-circle moment for us. Yeah, it was beautiful.

C: You were saying that most of the process was done remotely, so you were speaking with her and recording, I’m guessing, remotely. So how was that different to obviously your typical going-into-the-studio and sitting down and brainstorming that way?

P: Well it was very different because I mean, you don’t have that person there, you can’t read them as well. Because we reworked the whole version first and then we showed it to Alessia and we had no idea if she was liking it or not. She was just like behind a screen. But she left it and she was like, no, I’m super on board.

A: She did amazing. Yeah. She recorded very quickly.

P: Very quickly. She got everything on the first takes. She’s just such a talented person, and she’s so sweet as well. So we communicated very, I feel like if it was with another person it could have been a bit complicated. But she was just so easy to work with.

C: That makes the experience 10 times easier. Is she someone that perhaps you would maybe consider collaborating with her in the future?

P: Oh, that’d be amazing. Amazing. We have such a sweet friendship. We are able to see each other. It’s always very, very nice and we love her so much. So hopefully we get to work together again.

C: Fingers crossed! Last month you released a brand new track called More so tell me about the process of writing that and when we can look forward to some morning new music as well.

P: So we wrote this song, everything happened so quickly with this song. We wrote this song in a writing trip we had to LA in like February of the beginning of this year. And then we got back and we all love this song. So in March we recorded it and then we just released it a few weeks ago I think, and we’ve been playing it on tour for like almost two months now. And it’s been amazing. The crowd has thankfully loved it and we played it as well here and people reacted really well to it.

A: It was such a big step for us. Cause when we started out writing our own music, we were very young and we were just finding our footing and what we wanted our sound to be, what we wanted to say with our music. And I feel like this is such a strong step forward for us in finding a newer sound. And we were kind of scared in releasing it, like how would our fans react? Cause it was kind of new, it is in a different direction, but it’s been amazing to see how people are liking it and enjoying this new era that we are offering with our music. And playing it live has just been so much really and people are reacting really nice to it and um, we’re just very happy with it.

C: What kind of reaction did you get the first time you played it?

A: Oh, we played for the first time Mexico, right?

P: In Mexico. It was a festival. We were headlining that stage. So it was just so many firsts and we were playing it for the first time.

A: We were really nervous.

P: Because we recorded like in March and that festival was in April. And we hadn’t like rehearsed at all. We hadn’t had time to do anything. We were just so busy. So it was just like, let’s do it, let’s see what happens. And everything was great.

A: Everyone loved it.

P: Everything honestly and people reacted very nicely to it. So it was a good like first time. Yeah.

C: So you’re glad that you got to, kind of, air it in a live environment environment first?

P: Yes! Yes!

C: Awesome! And speaking of live performances, you had a very cool tour at the beginning of the year with Muse. Can you tell me maybe some highlights for that?

P: Oh, I think like everything, yeah, everything was a highlight. We got the news that we were opening for Muse very late. It was like a week before the shows. So we were like, there’s no way we’re opening for them. Like it’s too late. We don’t think it’s gonna happen anymore. And just for a little bit of context, Muse were one of our biggest inspirations [when] we were starting out, we love them and so we did get the news – I was crying

A: I remember that.

P: It was just, we were so floored because it wasn’t like just the show at our hometown. It was four shows throughout Mexico and the day of the first show arrived and we like got invited out for drinks with them, we met them that very day and they’re the sweetest people ever.

A: So nice.

P: People always say don’t meet your heroes, but over here it was just, we were so glad that we got to meet them. They’re the kindest people. And the very last show, which was in Mexico City, Matt, we were talking with him and, he just showed us, ‘Hey – do you wanna come over to the UK with us?’ we thought it was just like ‘oh yeah, like sure of course we wanna’ and he goes ‘no. Like I’m serious. Like everything is said in motion’.

A: And everyone in the team was like, ‘we’ll see you and a few months’ and we’re like, ‘oh, this is really happening!’

P: So now we just had like the first show we ever played in the UK was in Plymouth opening for Music. It was a stadium. We were so nervous but it was just so amazing. We still have like four more shows, shows with them and this month and we’re just so honoured because one thing is opening for them in like our country and like we have fans in our country, like it would kind of make a little bit more sense, but this is just genuinely, they like the project and they wanted to support us so they brought us over here and we’re just so humbled and so grateful for these opportunities and we can’t wait for the next show.

C: Amazing. We’ve got this new single, we’ve obviously got a few more dates with Muse. What else can we look forward to for 2023?

A: So we’re gonna be recording new music, more music. We’re gonna be playing more shows touring in different places of the world. Hopefully, we’re gonna be opening for Guns ‘n’ Rose in the US which is gonna be amazing.

C: That was such, like a forgotten thought that was ‘Oh yeah, we’re opening for Guns ‘n’ Roses!‘

P: We sometimes forget what we have announced and what we haven’t because we’ve had this news for a while! We opened for Guns ‘n’ Roses in our hometown last year. But to get like, be invited back and in like in the US it’s just…

A: it’s gonna be amazing. We’re really excited for that.

P: It’s gonna be really exciting. Amazing. It’s fun. Hopefully. We’ll, we’ll keep touring. I think we’re gonna tour South America and our country in Mexico and new music is gonna be released soon. So just be on the lookout on our socials and we’re just is very excited for this whole year and what’s to come.

C: Well I wish you all the best of all.

TOGETHER: Thank you so much.

Interview by Charlotte Hooper at Download Festival