Photo Credit: Jodi Cunningham
At 2000trees 2023, we spoke to LostAlone‘s Steven Battelle about unlikely pairings, the band’s return to music and what the future holds for LostAlone. Having recently released their new single The Final Call For Forever and a tour with McFly just around the corner, it was the perfect time to have a chat with the band’s frontman.
Hi Steven, so you’re playing on the Main Stage later today. How you feeling about it?
Anxiety is huge. I can never visualise why anybody would choose to come and watch my band. Yeah, I can’t. I can’t just visualise that anyone will go ‘Oh yeah, I’ll go and watch that band’. So, I just feel really nervous. If there’s an audience there, I’m not nervous. I don’t want there to be no one there. So I’m hoping there will be people there!
We can guarantee there will be people there.
If there isn’t though, you guaranteed it and I’m coming to find you. I’ll be onstage going ‘Excuse me, you said there would be people!’. That’s a deal. If you look over and see there’s no-one there for us, just get out of there.
Haha, noted! It’s lovely to have you back. How has it been for you with the response from everyone?
It’s been amazing. I mean, to be able to come back the way we did, which was like, in real brief, so I’m sure you know, but it was a such a cool way. We were doing solo stuff and I was writing for other people and then I won a cruise to New York and I was on this cruise and I decided I wanted to do the band again. Everything felt possible on the high seas and I got to New York, and I called the band. Then Ray [Toro]and Gerard [Way] called me up from My Chem, and were like do I want to support them? And I was like, well, can I not but could LostAlone and they were like yes! I’m doing this really quick. So anyway, then they were like, awesome. That was November 2019 and then a pandemic hit, the shows were supposed to be that year. We had to sit on knowing we were doing that and we were back for two years.
The only positive was we made a record in lockdown remotely. The best thing has been, I’m not even answering your question but I’m getting to it now, the best thing was in one day last year, we got to go – Hi, we’re back. Here’s a new single. We’ve got a new album. Not we’re recording it, we’ve got one and oh we’re doing stadiums with My Chemical Romance. So, the amount of love, I was so surprised. I know people like our band but I was so unbelievably surprised by the positivity towards us being back. I’m quite a cynical person but I felt very like loved. It just felt so nice. So, so happy. It’s been an awesome time since really.
Talking about being back, last week you released The Final Call Forever.
Everyone’s done this because I’m so bad at writing song titles. The Final Call For Forever.
We have that right in front of us!
You’re just like me. We can forget we did that.
Should we expect your new music to be along those lines?
Yeah, I think so. I think it’s quite heavy. We did the classic thing of putting out probably the heaviest LostAlone song as we announced the tour with McFly. So I was like, ‘Damn, we kind of shouldn’t have’ but to be fair, it always ends up in a big melodic chorus. I think after the My Chem shows and where I’m at now, I’ve been feeling very riffy and LostAlone has always been riffy. But the albums have always been a balance between maybe three different kinds of more straightforward, just rock and then big riffs. So yeah, a lot of new music is recorded and scheduled to come out. It’s the usual LostAlone, some’s quite riffy, some’s straightforward. I like to think that one was maybe on the heavier side though.
Regarding the McFly tour, can we expect any music?
Definitely. There’ll be more music out before the McFly tour and we’ll probably because it’s so long, I hate the kind of modern way now that people because everything gets filmed, people don’t like to play new stuff until it’s perfect and out. I want to go pure Queen in the 70s when you just play a new song to test it. Led Zeppelin used to play, I think Pink Floyd played all The Dark Side Of The Moon before it was released live. So, I’m more like because I buzz off the new track more than a song that came out 10 years ago, you know.
The LostAlone and McFly tour, we don’t think anyone really expected it. We know how it all came about. But can you summarise and tell us how it came about?
Five year ago me would not have expected that. But two years ago, I was asked by a guy called Jason Perry who’s an awesome producer, if I would send some riffs to McFly for the new record. I was like yeah, awesome. I recorded ten riffs in an hour and sent them over and he replied to me to say one of those riffs had definitely made a song. It’s the song that became Land Of The Bees off their new record. They invited me down and I stayed for two years and I have become very close with them. We wrote seven songs for the album together. We individually in that band have a massive thing we all like in common, it’s insane. Like we’ve all got one thing where we’re like, no way! We suddenly became very, very, I literally spend most of my days with those guys because we now have a writing team together where we write for other artists. The reason for the tour is we made the record, it’s quite a rock record and they were like, well obviously we should tour it together because we’re mates and so I was over the moon for them to ask us and it just feels quite natural thing to do.
How are you feeling about that tour?
Awesome. If you’d have asked me 10 years ago, I’d have said no way. But I’ve seen them play and they all if you could take away, like I was talking to the guys about this, take away the baggage of knowing your perception ‘Oh they were in Smash Hits magazine’. If you didn’t know any of that stuff and you put Weezer, Green Day and McFly. If you see a McFly show, it is a full on, heavy, loud, massive choruses and a brilliant band. So, I’m a huge advocate. They should be headlining Reading Festival, they’ve got a back catalogue that everybody knows. They’re a full-on rock band. I’m really proud that my band can play with My Chemical Romance and eighteen months later play with McFly. I will take that contrast. I think today we’re playing quite a metal day, actually with Bullet For My Valentine headlining. So, I think we could play with heavier bands, we could choose our sets to just be our riffs. I feel really proud that we can do that.
Years and years ago – ten in fact – I interviewed you and I’m going to ask one question from that interview again. Where would you least like to be lost on your own?
Can you tell me what I said before? I’m interested, can you remember?
I looked it up beforehand and it was in a dark tunnel.
That’s a rubbish answer!
See if you can redeem yourself now.
I feel like since then I have been lost alone. I did think I was gonna die. I was in a leather jacket, walking up the Griffith Park in Hollywood with no water and I took a wrong turn. It’s all like sand and it’s going up to the Hollywood sign. But it was a point where I was so hot, no water, no phone signal, and I was genuinely like, this is one of those things where they’re gonna find me as a skeleton in, 30 years. That’s scary. Yes, it was beautiful but I was terrified. Yeah, it was absolutely crazy. So probably there. That’s way better than before.
You’ve definitely redeemed yourself with that one.
I’ve got a second answer there as well. Better than that, there’s two places. When I won that cruise to New York. I loved it. One thing though, when you’re sat, I won a state room with a balcony and every night I’d sit on it. We’d look out over the ocean at night when it’s black and I can’t think of anything, anything more scary than being in the middle of that ocean, just on your own in the water. You know you’re dead. You can be the best swimmer anything and those ships will not see you. We went for seven days and seven nights and you don’t see anything. There was nothing and it makes you realise how big, it sounds silly but how big the planet is. It was just water for seven days. So that was two examples. One that actually happened to me and one that I would never want to happen to me.
You’ve definitely redeemed yourself and we’ll forget about that old one.
Forget about that one and get it off the internet!
Finally, what are your plans for 2023, 2024 and beyond?
Lots of new music both years, there are a load of singles ready to go and more next year. This year, I think the McFly tour is the thing we’re doing and then next year, few plans that are in the works. But what I could say is LostAlone is now definitely back in terms of where I, it sounds a bit weird but I don’t want to not do this. As far as I’m concerned, it’s til I die now. It’s just we are doing the band again. I love it so much.
You can read our review of 2000trees 2023 here – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The Final Call For Forever is available to stream/download HERE.
See LostAlone live on tour with McFly at one of the following dates:
October 2023
Mon 23rd – BRISTOL – Academy SOLD OUT
Tue 24th – BRISTOL – Academy SOLD OUT
Wed 25th – NORWICH – UEA SOLD OUT
Fri 27th – LONDON – Alexandra Palace
Sat 28th – BOURNEMOUTH – BIC
Sun 29th – SOUTHAMPTON – Guildhall SOLD OUT
Tue 31st – BIRMINGHAM – Academy
November 2023
Wed 1st – BIRMINGHAM – Academy
Thu 2nd – NORWICH – UEA SOLD OUT
Sat 4th – EDINBURGH – Usher Hall SOLD OUT
Sun 5th – NEWCASTLE – City Hall
Mon 6th – NEWCASTLE – City Hall
Wed 8th – GLASGOW – Barrowlands SOLD OUT
Thu 9th – ABERDEEN – Music Hall
Fri 10th – BRIDLINGTON – The Spa
Sun 12th – CAMBRIDGE – Corn Exchange
Mon 13th – LEEDS – Academy
Wed 15th – MANCHESTER – Victoria Warehouse
Thu 16th – MANCHESTER – Victoria Warehouse
Sat 18th – DUBLIN – 3 Arena
Tue 21st – NOTTINGHAM – Rock City SOLD OUT
Wed 22nd – NOTTINGHAM – Rock City SOLD OUT
