THE CLAUSE Talk Self-Booked Tours, Bad Habits, and Touring with Your Best Friends

Over the last twelve months, Birmingham indie rockers The Clause have been making a bit of a name for themselves with a self-booked DIY tour which not only sold-out across the country but saw the run finish with a sell out gig in front of 600 fans in their home town. The hard-working band who met at school in 2016 are back out on the road now so we had a quick chat to them about life on the road.

Each member of The Clause will tell you “I’m “In My Element”” playing sold-out gigs across the UK:

You did a self-booked tour earlier this year, tell us your favourite story from that ?
The Clause: I reckon the best story would be when we were traveling down to London and a wheel on our van just fell off in the middle of the motorway. We ended up having to help screw a spare wheel on ourselves, it’s a mystery how we made it there and back alive. Not quite sure if that’s funny or scary?

What’s your live show like ?
The Clause: We make all our shows a spectacle for those in the audience, especially if you see us in a big venue we hire our own lighting rig to create an unreal show. The biggest ingredient is a lot of energy and passion on our end, that’s what really makes the show.

Where is your favourite town, city and venue to play and why ?
The Clause: As far as cities outside of Birmingham, we’d have to say Glasgow at this point, there’s a certain atmosphere when you do a gig there which is unique and crowds always seem to go mad up there! Manchester comes close though. But of course Birmingham is our stomping ground and where our podium is at the moment, I don’t think you can top 600 people going mad for your songs in your hometown.

Have you ever had a gear-go-wrong incident that you want to tell us about ?
The Clause: It always seems to be with Liam, when we played the 02 Institute 2 back in February it was our biggest headline to date (500 cap). Midway through the set his pedal board almost caught fire and cut out! Luckily we had a class crew who were straight on the case otherwise we might have been down a guitarist.

What’s your favourite song to play live and why ?
The Clause: It depends on the show, At a hometown show it’s got to be “Where Are You Now?”, the energy and passion is insane. For getting the crowd going a new one we’ve got called “Dig This Beat?” is going down well, it’s proper gritty and kind of psychedelic and gets the crowd going for sure. Saying that we’re still yet to play “In My Element” at a headline tour prior to its release so ask us this again in 3 months.

What’s your favourite and least favourite thing about touring around the country with your friends from school ?
The Clause: The best thing is the general craic of it all, the memories and experiences you get are amazing and unbeatable. The worst is definitely when you finish touring or play your last gig and know that it might be a while before you’re out on the road again. Looking back on it you cherish those memories of being on tour.

What essential items can’t you live without on tour ?
The Clause: Birra Morreti and Jaffa Cakes

Who has the worst habits on tour and what are they ?
The Clause: Pearce tends to be the worst for bad habits. In fact, we’ve played a couple of shows now where he’s forgot his own shoes. The rest of us have got into the habit of bringing a spare now.

Tour bus tunes – whose responsible for the music and what are your favourite on the road songs ?
The Clause: Pearce hogs the aux for sure but we listen to a lot of music on the road. It’s where you discover a lot of new stuff. Mostly Disco & Soul because it gets us all in the mood.

Thanks for your time, good luck with the tour. Last chance to plug the dates…
The Clause: If you’re reading this and haven’t bought a ticket to our tour make sure you get one. If your city has already sold out don’t miss the chance to catch us at the next one.

Tour Dates:

11/28 – Oxford – The Bullingdon
11/29 – Glasgow – Firewater
11/30 – Liverpool – EBGB’s
12/06 – Bristol – The Mothers Ruin
12/07 – Manchester – Jimmy’s
12/14 – Leeds – Lending Room
12/21 – Birmingham – O2 Academy

Here’s more video footage of the band performing their track “Tokyo”: