Interview - Tribes frontman Johnny Lloyd
Published: 2 February, 2012
by ROISIN GADELRAB
Anyone with even the vaguest knowledge of Camden music will be well aware of Tribes.
They once stopped traffic by playing a rooftop on the High Street, have fought the Crown & Goose’s cause at the Town Hall and are familiar faces in the Lock Tavern beer garden.
More recently, it seems the rest of the country has woken up to the existence of Johnny Lloyd, Dan White, Miguel Demelo and Jim Cratchley.
Their debut album Baby has just entered the charts at number 9, the Sun devoted three pages to them and they learned on Monday they will battle Lana Del Rey, Foster The People, The Vaccines and Wu Lyf for NME Awards’ Best New Band title.
Tribes are so in demand that they don’t have a weekend off until April. Frontman Johnny Lloyd, who lives close to the New Journal office, left rehearsals just long enough to discuss his love for Camden, concern for Scar Studios and his disdain for Lana Del Rey haters.
Tribes, who will a mini-acoustic set at the Purple Turtle on Monday (February 6), play Brixton Academy (February 25) for the NME Tour before embarking on their own attempts at world domination.
But for now, Johnny’s got more pressing concerns, in particular the plight of Scar, which is under threat of closure due to the Hawley Wharf redevelopment scheme.
He said: “The council isn’t stepping in to do anything, which we think is outrageous.
It’s a heritage site.
The Clash, The Libertines, we’ve rehearsed there – every band that’s ever done anything in Camden has come from there.
“It’s classic Camden Council, overlooking it for the sake of a bit more tax revenue from another Chinese restaurant.
It’s absolutely outrageous that no one’s helping these guys out.
They run their own campaign, work hard to keep that place open on a shoestring budget.
“It’s an important place for kids with no money to start bands, the only place we could afford to rehearse for two years – I’m sure Pete Doherty would say the same about The Libertines.”
Johnny is also upset about the negative public reaction to “revelations” that Lana Del Rey was not always the polished performer she is now.
“Everyone needs to give her a break.,” he said. “She’s worked her arse off over a number of years and written one of the best songs to come out in 10 years – Video Games.
“The album’s not even out yet. Wait till we hear it before we start telling everyone she’s shit. It’s ridiculous, she’s under a lot of pressure and dealing with it really well.”
Johnny said learning their album was in the top 10 “blew my mind”, adding: “It’s very exciting, really lovely how much this means to our friends in Camden, our success and how proud they are. It’s really humbling to feel that – we won’t let you down!”
Album tracks Corner of an English Field and Nightdriving were written with childhood friend Charlie Haddon in mind – the former Ou Est le Swimming Pool singer who died in August 2010.
Johnny said: “I met Charlie when I was six. Me, him and Jimmy were best friends till I was 25 and he died. It’s a big loss. I wanted to get a nod on the album because he died when we were about to get signed. It felt like a big weight lifted when everyone accepted the fact that that’s what the songs were about.
“I hope people buy his album and listen to his music because of that, which is the aim.”
Living in Camden, Johnny insisted, is not “as pretentious as East London”.
“Everyone here is themselves, you can be who you want to be,” he said. “It’s a safe environment for bands and everybody to get together, a really creative place, I love it. It was nice being back over Christmas seeing all our mates, hitting the local pubs.”
The video for single We Were Children documents the unforgettable moment they played a friend’s roof on the High Street, taking advantage of the fact he was moving out the next day.
“We were only up there for about 10 minutes before the police shut it down, it was great,” said Johnny. “We were quite pissed, I don’t actually remember much about it.”
And his greatest Camden moment so far?
“Me and Dan were once standing outside the Jazz Cafe and were beckoned in, they thought we were somebody else. We met Ritchie Havens, the guy from Woodstock, and spent three hours with him. It was brilliant, one of my favourite Camden moments.”