Photo Credit: Jon Stone
The subject of mental health has never been more prevalent. We are now living in a time where it is totally acceptable to admit that you are in a place where you need a little help, or just someone to talk to. Deaf Havana are a band that have always made a point of being open about personal and general mental issues, as well as the good and bad ways of dealing with them.
With their latest album The Present Is a Foreign Land, we get to experience the first new material from the band in over four years. One that many of their fans never thought would come to pass, with strained relationships, addiction and the overall mental wellbeing of multiple members being key factors.
After what has been a pretty turbulent couple of years for the group, they came to a point where it was apparent they could no longer work together and went their separate ways. “We basically broke up,” concedes Matt Veck-Gilodi. “We got to a point where we just started to hate each other, and it was not doing any good for anyone.” However, as we all know blood is thicker than water and the two brothers have been very vocal in the way that they have stuck together through shared experiences. “The dynamic is a lot easier. We don’t have to sugar coat things or tiptoe around each other,” offers James Veck-Gilodi. “If he doesn’t like something or disagrees with it then he can just tell me to f**k off.”
One reason why the pair have garnered respect as songwriters is through their penchant for crafting open and honest songs that tell the stories from certain periods in their life. Within their first thirty seconds of the new album, there is a lyric that tells of a mental debate between jumping from a bridge or not. That is exactly the kind of subject matter that many bands shy away from or disguise in clever metaphors. The Veck-Gilodi brothers, however, have never shied away from it and in that very fact comes a whole lot of good, both for themselves cathartically and for those who listen in knowing that it is okay to open up and discuss these things.
“The whole theme of the album is about looking back on those darker times from a better place and reflecting,” explains James. A task that must be so monumental in its undertaking that it cannot be overstated. When discussing the album title Matt offers, “I often feel really out of place in everyday life and just trying to deal with the here and now. The phrase came to me whilst writing the album and we wrote it above the other song titles as we were piecing things together. The longer we looked at it the more it made sense as a title for the album.”
It’s a brave new world for the duo, as they step out from behind the curtain and take this show on the road with their largest UK headline tour to date. And why wouldn’t they? They have the songs, they have the passion and most of all, they have each other. In 2022 that feels like a winning formula.
Deaf Havana‘s new album The Present Is A Foreign Land is out now, available to stream or purchase HERE.
See Deaf Havana live at one of the following dates:
November 2022
Tue 8th – CARDIFF – Tramshed
Thu 10th – NOTTINGHAM – Rock City
Fri 11th – MANCHESTER – Academy
Sat 12th – LONDON – Roundhouse
Mon 14th – GLASGOW – SWG3
Tickets are on sale HERE.
