Music: Tellison

Jeff Hemmings chats with Tellison

Realism in the music industry? Not a common commodity, but there is a veritable tidal wave of artists who are quickly grasping the fact that no matter how good you are or how hard you work, the financial rewards are unlikely to be seen. There once was a time that bands used to mouth off about how great they were and how big they would be. Not any more, it seems.

And so there are plenty of bands like Tellison, who, while superb at what they do, have developed an acute awareness that there are other ways to pay the bills than to be a full-time musician. At the same time, they can try to enjoy what they do with love and interest at the heart of it, not some unattainable fantasy that only a few enjoy. “Last year we only did about ten shows,” says lead vocalist and guitarist Stephen Davidson in the middle of his lunch break, “mostly because we were writing and working out how we could still be a band! We’re getting into our late 20s, we have bills and rent to pay. It’s a different approach, but we’re enjoying it. It’s a labour of love. It makes no sense to be in Tellison, we are out of pocket every year…”

Formed in 2003, the band decided to carry on with their university studies at the same time. But, at the beginning, things were looking good. Their debut album Contact! Contact! won much praise for its intelligent and thoughtful power punk pop. It led to their signing with Naim, an unusual but forward thinking indie label that releases music across the board with quality as an overriding ethos (to help pay their bills they have a high-end audio company called Naim Audio). The Wages of Fear came out in 2011, again to much acclaim, but poor sales. “I saw The Wages of Fear (1950s French film noir) out of the blue in a cinema in New York. I was completely blown away. It fitted with the record at the time – trying to make it happen, to get out of having terrible jobs, like phone sales or rubbish collection.”

Despite the refreshing realism that emanates out of Stephen’s mouth, Tellison are still here, have almost finished their third album, and will be road testing the material as part of a forthcoming tour with American singer-songwriter Kevin Devine. “For this record we’ve got terrible equipment and bad instruments, but it will be much more our record,” says Stephen, who felt The Wages of Fear was ‘overblown’.

“This record is about failure, or the idea of missed opportunities – it’s quite sad and introspective, lyrically. We’ve all got day jobs now, and we’ve had to record it in the evenings, at weekends… for the first record (Contact! Contact!) I was writing my thesis while in the back of a van, and going back to university straight after gigs. I was exhausted. I’ll never be a top lawyer, but I wouldn’t change what we did – it’s a life experience!”

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