Interview: Glass Mountain

SlantedPress caught up with Bradford’s very own alternative rock band, Glass Mountain. Following the release of their latest EP, Wow & Flutter, I caught up with William Sand (keyboardist and bassist) to discuss the band’s latest music, tour schedule and much more! With such an eccentric name my first question for Williams plays to the band’s name, Glass Mountain. William admits that all bands struggle finding a name “that isn’t cringe worthy”, but Glass Mountain has its name rooted in something a little more special. Based off an illustrated version of Grimm’s Fairytales, a particular etching by David Hockney called ‘Glass Mountain’ caught the eye of the band’s bassist who thought the artwork “tied beautifully to Bradford”. On the topic of genre, William highlights how that the band’s first EP Glacial offered a “very slow moving” sound that was often termed as either “yearning” or “sorrow”. Even with these terms thrown around, Glass Mountain knew they “had to define [their] sound”. All in all, William summerised the band’s genre as “alternative rock music”.

Glass Mountain have been busy and recently released their second highly anticipated EP, Wow & Flutter. From their debut EP, Glacial to Wow & Flutter there’s no doubt Glass Mountain have matured in their sound and I ask William how the subtle change in musical direction came about. “We didn’t want to think ‘yeah, we’ve done that, and it was really well received, so let’s keep doing that’” William explained, “The Wow & Flutter EP was certainly not an easy EP to make!”. Made up of 4 tracks, the EP is quite the feat. “I’m really proud of ‘Gin Flows Through My Veins’, and ‘Have To Lie’ is a great track” Williams tells me. “‘Ghosts’ has been around since ‘Glacial’ really. ‘Wait All Alone’ was really the wildcard of it all. It’s like two songs bolted together; you’ve got this shoe-gazing dream pop and this angry rant over some syncopated hip-hop drums.” It might sound like an experimental mix, but the band have an authentic formula for their music: “as long as we feel it’s good, we’ll put it out.”

Glass Mountain are also due to play at the Lazy Sunday Afternoon festival this Sunday. Following the success of last year, we have been able to pull together an even stronger line up of artists. “We’re very, very excited” Williams says. The band have even taken a unique marketing approach to appeal to festival goers. “Inspired by our Single ‘Gin Flows Through Out Veins’, which we put out last October, the venue has kindly allowed us to have a gin and tonic reception party!” If you ask me, that’s a pretty creative marketing technique.

Now that Glass Mountain’s latest EP is out and they’re ready to play their fair share of tour dates. I ask William if the band are sticking to their current music or if they’re already working on new content. “We’re always brainstorming seeing if there’s anything we can do differently and catch people’s attention,” he tells me. “It comes down to the songs, if the songs are good then, eventually, we should find the right fan base… who knows!” While William doesn’t give too much away he does let slip that the band are working on their 3rd EP and have “5 songs ready to go”. Out of them all, there are 2 really, really sad songs since Harry (lead singer) went through a break up and a couple that will surprise people because they’re up and happy!”

With the interview drawing to a close, I ask William who Glass Mountain would want to collaborate with for their upcoming music. “We would love to work with Robert Smith of The Cure. People have compared our cinematic style to The Cure. Harry (our singer) and I went to Hyde Park and saw The Cure play in London and it was brilliant. There was something magical about what they do, there’d be something really magical to have him onboard as a producer.” Other than The Cure, William listed Rei Kawakubo (founder of clothing brand Comme des Garçn), David Lynch as a music video director, Mogwai, and, of course, David Hockney in a hope to use his artwork for a 10” vinyl sleeve cover.

You can catch Glass Mountain at Lazy Sunday Afternoon festival on August 19th!