Interview: Get Inuit

Words originally for Vapour Trail Blog

Are you a fan of Pokémon, kebabs, flavour themed songs or amusing band names? Yes? Then you need to get a slice of zesty up-and-comers Get Inuit in your life my friend. The Kent quartet have been dotting their way around the country this year, stirring fields nationwide with their energetic festie slots, as well as hitting the road with VANT and Spring King and then some. With a tasty new single streaming right at this very second, here's a wee chat we had with guitarist Jamie and drummer Rob when we visited their home turf at LeeFest last month. 

The last time we crossed paths was with Spring King back in May. How do you know those guys?

James: Ages ago I used to do a sound for a band called Story Books and James from Spring King played keyboards with them for a couple of shows, so I knew him a little bit through that. When we heard they were doing the tour we sent a message to their manager who was like ‘yeah, it would be great to have you.’ So it all worked out quite well. And we had such a nice time that they invited us back for more!

Teriyaki is the new single. What's the vibe? What's the message?

James: Jamie wrote the song about an argument he used to have with his brother about vegetarianism, and about how you can’t get enough protein from it. Jamie's a vegetarian and he fully believes that you can. The vibe just came from that general bickering.

Rob: But it’s encased in a summer pop song of two minutes ten seconds. It’s definitely a nugget of pop. Maybe not a chicken nugget. A veggie nugget. What would it be, Quorn? Quinoa? A quinoa nugget sounds rubbish – no offence vegetarians.

While we're on food, one of your band t-shirts has a pizza slice on it with 'Get Inuit' spelt out in mushroom. What are your favourite pizza toppings?

One slice fits all. No? Anyone?

Rob: I drew that pizza on a piece of paper in about four minutes and, I'm not joking, it went from paper to t-shirt in like five days. We saw someone wearing one on the way in today which was nice. I personally enjoy a barbecue chicken. Texas BBQ from Domino's is a firm favourite for me.

James: I can’t actually eat the main bit of pizza cuz I can't eat dairy or gluten, so I eat kebabs mostly. James from Spring King was on a tour I did with a band which we ended up dubbing ‘The Kebab Tour’, because over fifteen dates we had fifteen kebabs. He was there for four of them and he just thought we really liked kebabs! He thought four days in a row was alright but when he found out it was fifteen in the end he was a bit grossed out. We’ve stopped that now, I mostly eat Subway salad.

Rob: Me and Ollie have a bit of a Subway addiction. Probably about 50% of days on tour we have a Subway. You have to time eating right when you’re a support band, because you only have about an hour after sound check before you’re on. You have to eat afterwards and then there’s nothing open. There’s been a lot of 1am Subways which is always fun.

It seems like you've got a schedule packed with interviews today. Are there any questions you hate getting asked?

Rob: Where the name comes from. [Vapour Trail: Where does the name come from?] Ha! It’s a silly play on ‘get into it’ that's kind of backfired. Some people don’t get it. They’ll ask what the band’s called and they go ‘get in your what?’ Although it’s very Google-able, which is quite important these days. I was looking the other day for a band called ‘Dead!’. You search ‘Dead’ on Google and nothing comes up. You search ‘Dead band’, doesn’t help, it’s just any dead band.

L-R: James (guitar), Ollie (bass), Jamie (guitar/vox), Rob (drums)

At least we're here at LeeFest in the sunshine. Is there anyone you're excited to see perform?

Rob: I’m going to go see Clean Cut Kid. We saw them in America when we played SXSW and I haven’t seen them since, but when I hear their songs I always think of that working holiday. It’s soundtracked it in my brain. And then Spring King later today, the old pals.

James: I know VANT are on tomorrow. We saw them a couple of weeks ago at Truck Festival. I think it might even be the same tent we're playing in. There was just sweat dripping from the ceiling at that one.

Rob: I feel like today might have the same vibe as Truck - people there to hear new music. You can go to Truck as a new band and there’s people who know you, whereas if you go to a lot of bigger festivals people don’t. Truck was great because there were kids into new bands. We came on to the Pokémon theme tune at Truck, I hope to do that again today. 

Rihanna called out people for playing Pokémon Go at her shows. Is that a problem you've had?

James:  So far it’s not been an issue. Because we’ve been doing mostly festivals there’s not been many Pokémon in the fields, plus there’s not much signal.

Rob: I feel like at a Rihanna show there’s enough people there that it might be a problem. If you’ve got 30,000 people running to the back of an arena to go catch a Charizard or something, that might be a bit annoying. But I’d probably join them. Halt the show, take my phone, I’ve gotta get that Charizard.

Teriyaki is available to download from September 2nd, with a vinyl release coming on September 30th. Get Inuit play the JägerHouse stage at Reading Festival next weekend, and tour the UK with Spring King throughout October. Tasty!

www.facebook.com/getinuit

Words: Alex Cabré