Maybeshewill 是许多乐迷来到本次越位音乐节的理由，这支被许多中国后摇乐迷誉为“启蒙”的乐队在时隔 11 年后再次来到中国大陆进行演出，成为了越位 3.0 第二日演出最令人感动的瞬间之一。演出当天傍晚，我们在后台与乐队的五位成员 John、Robin、Matt、James 与 Jamie 进行了一段专访，分享关于前一张专辑《No Feeling Is Final》的创作，最近的感受以及对这次越位的期待。
UPEE：在你们的第二张专辑《Sing the Word Hope in Four-Part Harmony》中有许多重型音乐元素，已经有许多走出传统后摇音乐框架的尝试；而在上一张专辑《No Feeling Is Final》中，也有许多乐迷感受到一种“电影配乐的质感，而非后摇”。“后摇”这个流派或者tag对你们来说会是一种束缚吗，你们会如何形容自己的音乐？
Robin：这是个有趣的问题。我觉得一开始，我们挺反对被定义为后摇乐队的。但近几年，我们的想法也更包容了一点。不过，我觉得的确有很多乐队都在玩“后摇音乐”，而且很多听起来都挺相似的，我们一直想做点不一样的。我们五个人都有各种各样的音乐影响，这些影响交织在一起，形成了我们创作的音乐。所以，我觉得我们在后摇世界里一直有点像个“异类”，和其他后摇乐队不太合拍。但这也算是我们的一个优势吧，因为这样我们就能更突出一些。
没错，我觉得第二张专辑确实更重一些。这很大程度上是受到当时和 And So I Watch You From Afar 乐队一起巡演的影响。我们在写那些歌的时候，刚和他们一起完成了一次欧洲巡演。他们每晚的现场表演都超级重，也非常有旋律感，这些都给了我们很多创作第二张专辑的灵感。
至于最近这张专辑，我觉得确实更多地借鉴了电影配乐那种感觉。这主要是因为我们对那种声音很感兴趣。我觉得我们的音乐就是多种不同影响的总和，这也是我们听起来是这个样子的原因。
Yeah, that's an interesting question. I think early on, we were quite against the idea of being as a post-rock band. But in more recent years, I think we've softened on that a bit. Um. But I think there are a lot of bands that play "post-rock music", and a lot of them tend to sound quite similar. And I think we've always wanted to do something a bit different from that. We all have loads of different influences, the five of us, and they all sort of collide to form the music that we make. So I don't know, I think we've always been a bit of a black sheep in the post-rock world, and we don't quite fit in with a lot of other post-rock bands. But, that's kind of been a blessing for us as well, because it means we stand out a bit more.
Yeah, I think with the second album, you mentioned it was heavier. A big influence for that was touring with And So I Watch You From Afar, because we had just gotten off a European tour with them when we were writing those songs. And they were just incredibly heavy and incredibly melodic live every night, and a lot of that fed into some ideas for the second record.
And then the most recent album, yeah, I guess it did pull more on cinematic, film score-type stuff. Um, that was just a natural result of us being quite interested in that kind of sound. And we like the sound of, I think we're just the sum of multiple different influences, and that's why we sound the way we do.
Jamie：我觉得 Maybeshewill 的每张专辑可能都和上一张不太一样，我们不会总是按部就班，总是想尝试点新的东西。我觉得这是个优点。
Every Maybeshewill probably sounds quite different from the last or and it's not really like always do a little bit of a left turn of each one, I feel. I think it's hopefully a strength.
UPEE：去年你们发布了《Fair Youth》的重制版本，为什么会想到会做这个 2024 Mix？
Jamie：为了发行十周年纪念，我们想搞点特别的，不想只是再版黑胶唱片，骗粉丝买不同颜色的黑胶什么的，想弄点“新东西”。《I Was Here For a Moment》十周年的时候，我们出了个四碟装黑胶，里面还有很多X光片之类的，非常酷。但《Fair Youth》十周年的时候，我们确实没什么特别的东西可以加进去。而且，我这十年里一直在做混音工作。后来我就想，我觉得我能做得更好。我也确实喜欢做这个，喜欢重新去听那些歌。所以，我就试着让专辑的层次感更强一些，听起来更有力一些。我觉得我当时的技术水平可能还没现在这么好，所以我对现在的版本更满意。希望乐迷们也会更喜欢。
So, for a ten-year anniversary thing, we wanted to do something, rather than just repressing the vinyl again, like conning fans for a different color of vinyl or nothing "really new". For the 10th anniversary of "I Was Here For a Moment", that's probably one of my favorite releases we did—a four-disc vinyl, loads of X-rays and stuff, really cool. We didn't really have too many extra things for "Fair Youth." Also, I've been mixing every day for ten years. In the meantime, I thought, I reckon I can do this better. And I enjoyed doing it and coming back to it. And yeah, I just tried to, you know, make it hit a little bit harder because there's a lot of layers on the album. And I think maybe my skill level wasn't quite where it is now. So I think I made it, kind of, I'm more satisfied with it, I guess. So hopefully, that's more satisfying for the audience as well.
UPEE：你们觉得现在重新开始活动的 Maybeshewill 与之前的 Maybeshewill 在音乐上有什么不同？
Robin：我觉得最近这张专辑的创作过程和之前的很不一样。而且，因为是在疫情之后创作的，所以每个人当时的经历也挺不一样的。很多歌的创作方式，还有我们聚在一起录音的方式，都受到了疫情期间各种限制的影响，以一种全新的工作方式完成了这张专辑。分享想法的方式不同了，有些工作是在网上完成的，我们会在 Dropbox 账户上分享 demo 和链接，还一起做了几次线上的创作。所以，这张专辑的诞生过程真的很特别。但某种程度上，这也让我们有更多时间去打磨作品，比以前更精细一些。所以，我对这张专辑特别满意，特别喜欢。我们当时就是想把那些觉得特别好的歌做出来，虽然过程有点曲折，但最后还是做出来了，而且效果还不错。
I think the way the most recent record came about was very different from previous ones. Also, I think everyone experienced something quite different because it was post-pandemic. And so, the way a lot of the songs were written and then when we got together to record was, you know, the restrictions imposed by the pandemic had quite a big impact on that. So, yeah, it was a different way of working. It was a different way of sharing ideas and stuff because a little bit was being done online. We sent links to demos and stuff on a Dropbox account that we had, and we did a few, like virtual writing sessions together. I mean, so it kind of came about from a really weird place, but in a way, we were able to take a bit longer and sort of refine things a bit more than we would have done previously, potentially. So I'm so happy with the album. I love it to pieces, and I'm really, really proud of it. And it came from a place of wanting to—we had some ideas for it, for songs that we just really thought were good, and we wanted to put them out. And it was a bit of a journey to get there, but we did it, sort of, against the odds, and, it's turned out pretty well a thing.
Matt：2014 年我们做《Fair Youth》那张专辑的时候，是从一个很积极的角度去看待当时的世界的。但那张专辑发行之后，世界就发生了很大的变化，政治上、社会上。然后，我们又遭遇了疫情，每个人的生活都受到了影响。所以，能有机会创作新的作品，通过音乐来表达那些感受，也真的挺好的。我觉得，我们虽然和《Fair Youth》这张专辑相处了很久，但再次听的时候，感觉已经和刚发行时不一样了，因为世界已经变了太多。所以，能再次通过作品来表达些什么，感觉挺好的。
When we did "Fair Youth" in 2014, the album four, that was from a very positive perspective on our experiences of the world at the time. And then after that record came out, the world changed a lot—it was around that time, like politically and just situational stuff. And then, I think, coming and then getting hit with the pandemic, and all of us having our lives affected in that way, having an opportunity to have a new creative output and kind of express what those feelings were like through that music was really good. I think, you know, we kind of lived with "Fair Youth" for a long time, but it didn't feel the same as it did when it came out, you know, because of how much the world changed. So it was nice to kind of have another statement to that.
UPEE：无论是《Fair Youth》还是之前的作品，有许多乐迷认为你们此前的音乐是有朝气的、积极的，你们如何看待这样的评论？你们当时在创作这些作品时主要是什么样的感受，与现在相比来说有什么不同吗？
Robin：我觉得 Matt 已经说到点子上了。创作时的环境确实影响了音乐的声音，还有音乐背后的那些电影般的想法、标题之类的。就像你说的，一切都是从某个特定的地方、特定的背景中诞生的，这取决于我们当时的生活和世界发生了什么。
I think, Matt, he touched on it a little bit. I think the circumstances that it was born from affected the sound of the music and some of the cinematic ideas behind the music, the titles, and, like you said, everything comes from a certain place and has context surrounding it, depending on what's happening in our lives and the world more generally at that point.
James：暂停现场演出和乐队活动，其实也给了我们时间，让我们能像普通人一样，去观察周围的世界。而不是一直去寻找灵感，灵感自然就会到来。所以，换个环境，暂时放下乐队的事情，其实反而为创作音乐创造了一个不同的环境。因为以前，我们总是在巡演和创作之间奔波，感觉就像是在生产线上一样，“哦，这就是我们今年要做的，巡演、演出，然后就这样了”。
That's having a break from performing live and being a band, it gives you time, as normal people, perhaps to just look at the world around you. Rather than constantly trying to look for influences, you naturally take on those influences. And so, yeah, being in a slightly different place and allowing yourself to not be in a band, in a way, creates a different environment to then write music in when you do get around to doing it. Because, like before, when you're just touring and writing music, it all kind of feels like you're almost on a conveyor belt of getting stuff out. Like, "Oh, this is what we're doing this year. Tour and live, and then that's it down the line." It's just, you're on this conveyor belt of production
John：通常，只有在做第一张专辑的时候，你才有这样的时间。因为第一张专辑是乐队成立到那时的全部生活的总结，通常需要好几年的时间。所以，能再次拥有这样的时间，就像 James 说的，能让我们慢慢积累，真的挺好的。虽然一开始我们并没有这样的计划。我们刚开始创作那张专辑里的歌的时候，只是想试试水，写一两首歌而已。但后来却变成了一张完整的专辑。这个过程真的挺好的，让我们有更多的空间去呼吸，去弄清楚我们想要的新作品是什么样的，时间压力也没那么大。
Normally, you only get that kind of time when you're doing your first album. Because the first album is the entire life of a band up to that point, and that normally takes a few years. So it was nice to have, again like James was saying, having time to build up to doing that. Not that that was always the plan. I mean, when we first started working on the material that ended up on the album, it was just gonna be a song or two, like, just to try out working on new material. And then it turned into a whole album. It was quite good to go through that, like to have a bit more room to breathe, and to figure out what we wanted the new material to be, with less time pressure.
Jamie：每张专辑之间，虽然声音和感觉上可能有所不同，但总是有那么一两首歌，像是为下一张专辑铺路一样。比如在《I Was Here for a Moment》里的《Red Paper Lanterns》，它的感觉就引领了《Fair Youth》的声音。然后《Fair Youth》里，有首歌叫《In the Blind》，它的基调稍微暗一些，可能也引领了《No Feeling Is Final》的感觉。所以，总是有那么一点点……（延续、启程的感觉）
Between each album, even with the sonic differences or feeling differences, there's always like a breadcrumb song that kind of leads the way to the next one. So, on "I Was Here for a Moment", you've got 'Red Paper Lanterns,' which is the kind of song that leads into the sound of "Fair Youth." And then "Fair Youth" has, probably, 'In the Blind,' which has a slightly darker tone and maybe leads more onto the feeling of, "No Feeling Is Final." So it's always like a little... (feeling of continuation)
UPEE：相较许多长期蛰伏于地下圈层的乐队来说，你们当时成名的速度是比较快的，在此之后也有长期的巡演以及越来越多的乐迷。名气有给你们带来怎么样的压力吗，在当时或者现在你们是如何对待它的？
John：没有。我觉得名气这东西有点主观。我们并不觉得自己是个特别有名的乐队。能有个听众群体当然很好，但我们还是能做自己想做的事，创作自己想创作的音乐，不用太考虑外界的影响。
No. And fame, I guess, is slightly subjective. It doesn't feel like we're necessarily in a famous band. It's nice to be an band that has an audience, but we're kind of able to do what we want to do, make the music that we want to make, without considering those outside influences too much, I guess.
Jamie：我觉得 Maybeshewill 真的很幸运。虽然我们有了听众群体，但之前有很长一段时间，特别是在我加入乐队之前和刚加入的时候，我们在很多城镇都演过很多场，但观众并不多，直到慢慢积累起来。这里面确实有运气的成分，比如我们的第一张 EP 就受到了关注，而很多乐队的第一张 EP 都没什么人听。但我也觉得，我们也付出了很多努力。虽然乐队的工作很有趣，但我们确实也走了很久的路，才走到了当时能在 300 人面前演出的地步。
I think we've been really lucky with Maybeshewill. Although we've developed an audience, but there was a long period of time, especially before I joined the band and at the start when I joined, where we played a lot of shows in a lot of towns for many years to, you know, not a lot of people, until we built that audience. There was definitely an element of luck, like our first EP reaching an audience, whereas most bands' first EPs reach no audience. But I also think, yeah, there was a lot of grafts involved. Well, the bandwork was enjoyable, but, like, yeah, we put in a lot of miles in the van to get to a point where we were playing to 300 people.
UPEE：作为一支来自伦敦的乐队，Maybeshewill 在中国一直有很多乐迷在收听。无论是笔者还是其他中国乐迷，Maybeshewill 都是一个大名字了，在千里之外有喜欢自己音乐的人是什么感觉？
Matt：我觉得我们可能得益于音乐没有语言障碍吧，能有这么广泛的听众群体，真的很幸运。我们也很感激能有机会去各地演出，有听众来看我们。
I think we might perhaps benefit from having less of a language barrier on music, it's a blessing to have audiences that are far-reaching. We're very grateful to be able to travel to places and have an audience to come for.
UPEE：除了《Fair Youth》之外，还有哪些作品你们会觉得想要制作一个新版本？
Robin：我觉得到目前为止，我们已经差不多对大部分专辑有这样做。我们可以对前两张专辑进行重制，基本上把技术上能做的事情都做了。
I think we've done most of the albums by now, a couple of remasters. We could remastered the first two albums, bascially do everything that is technically possible.
John：这是一部分原因。另一部分是，我们刚开始做乐队的时候，并没想到会有现在这么多听众。所以，我对当时的录音和创作也没那么上心。所以，有些专辑只有成品存在，没有母带可以回去修改，所以要对那些早期的专辑做点什么就很难。不过，对于像《I Was Here for a Moment》这样的专辑，我们就有更多的选择了。但回去对前几张专辑做点什么，让它们更“专业化”一些，感觉也挺好的。
That's the first part of it. Part of it is that when we started as a band, we didn't necessarily think we'd have the audience we do now. And I was less careful with our recordings and the things we created as a band. So in some cases, those records only exist as the finished product. There's no master session to go back to and do anything with, so it's been quite difficult to do anything with those earlier records. Yeah, we have more options. with things like "I Was Here for a Moment", but it's been nice to go back to those first couple of records and do something with them, to kind of make them a bit more, just slightly professionalize them a bit.
Jamie：（接John的回答）让它们更丰富一些。我觉得那些专辑里的能量是复制不来的。天真烂漫总是一闪而过的。我觉得那真的很有吸引力。就像理想的音乐，你只能拥有一次。
(Following John) A little bit richer. I think the energy on those records is something you can't replicate. Naivety is a kind of fleeting thing. And I think that has a real appeal. Like, ideal music is something you only have once.
Robin：我觉得，无论好坏，你的生活经历和其他所见所闻都会塑造你。当你还没有那么多经历的时候，你几乎就像是一张白纸，等待着事情来填充。所以，创作出来的东西就来自于一个，我也不知道是什么影响了它的地方，就是一些奇怪的想法和东西，现在听起来我其实挺不舒服的。但我也挺惊讶的，甚至有点惊叹，有些想法竟然是我们想出来的，因为我们现在肯定不会做那样的选择了。所以，回头看看我们年轻时的那个瞬间，试着去想象那些灵感是从哪里来的，我觉得挺有意思的。
我以前也贬低过我们的前几张专辑，但其实那些专辑里有很多东西我现在还是很喜欢的。虽然那些专辑我们现在做不出来了，因为我们的心态已经不一样了。
I think, for better or worse, you are shaped by your life experiences and the other things you see. And when you don't have as many of those experiences, you're almost more of a blank slate for things to come into. So the stuff that comes out is from a place that, I don't know what influenced it, you know, it's just some strange ideas and things, which now I feel quite uncomfortable listening back to. But I'm also surprised and kind of amazed that some of those ideas came from us, because they're not choices we would make now. And so it's really interesting to look back at that snapshot of us as much younger people, or, you know, and try to imagine where that inspiration came from. I think it's quite fascinating.
I've been guilty of talking down about our first a few records, but there's a lot of stuff on those albums that I actually really still enjoy. And though it's those albums, it's just not something we could make now, just because of where we're at in our headspace.
John：回头看看自己二十出头创作的音乐，而现在已经快 40 岁了，真的挺有趣的。你已经变成了一个不同的人。而且，从某种程度上说，那些专辑里的音乐真的是由不同的人创作的。
It's just funny to look back at yourself as a 20 or 21-year-old making music when you're heading towards 40; you're a different person. And in some cases, those records are music made by literally different people.
UPEE：Maybeshewill 之前来到中国巡演两次，一次是乐队刚出道不算久的时候，而第二次是在 2014 年，关于当时有什么印象深刻的回忆吗？
Jamie：那真的是一次很棒的经历……两次巡演都很棒。对我们来说，食物是个很大的亮点。我们在英国从来没吃过那样的中国菜，真的完全不一样。而且，我们的观众也很多，真的是一次很棒的体验。不过，第一次巡演的时候，我摔断了拇指，所以不得不打着石膏演出。他们还有拍那次的照片。（James：是在六月）对，六月，特别热。而且我以前从来没用手指弹过吉他。所以，第一场演出的时候，我就把手指弹破了。我以前从来没这样过。然后接下来的演出，我就不得不把拨片粘在手上，看起来就像个可怕的巫婆。但演出真的很棒。
It was an amazing experience ... both of those tours were wonderful. A big thing for us was the food. We'd never had Chinese food like that in England; it's nothing like it. And also, we had pretty big audiences straight away, like a real, real experience. Although, on the first tour, I'd broken my thumb, so I had to play in a cast. There's a picture of me. (James: In June) in june, yeah, it was very hot. And I'd never played with my fingers before. So, the first thing that happened on the first show was that I ripped fingers a bit. I'd never done that before. And then for the rest of the shows, I had to use plectrums taped to my hands, so I looked like a kind of scary witch. But the shows were really good.
Robin：我觉得六月份来中国，更增添了这次远赴他乡为熟知我们音乐的观众演出的超现实感。就我们在夏天来到这里，天气那么热，对我们来说真的是一次疯狂的经历。（James：我们现在就是六月，已经五月底了，Robin：是的）没错，这些演出真的很特别。我们之前也去过亚洲，但只是很短暂地去了日本演了几场。但我们从来没在中国演出过，所以第一次来中国真的是一次非常难忘的经历。我们玩得很开心。
I think coming in June heightened the surrealness of traveling so far from home to play for audiences who knew our music. Just the fact that we were there in summer, and it was so hot temperature-wise, made it a really, really crazy experience for us. Yeah, (James: We're in June now, it's late May, Robin: it is). Yeah, there was something about these shows that was very intense. And we'd been to Asia before, very briefly. We played a few shows in Japan very early on. But we'd never played in China before, and my first time there was a really, really memorable experience. And yeah, we had a good time.
UPEE：这是你们第一次来到越位，对此有什么期待或者感受吗？无论是演出，还是食物或者其他体验？
James：我们已经吃过一些很棒的食物了，这已经是个加分项了。
We've already had some really great foods, but that's scoring points of that.
Robin：这里的景色很美，我们早些时候四处走了走。真是个办音乐节的好地方。
The sight is is beautiful, like, we've just been walking around a little bit earlier. And yeah it's a lovely place to hold a festival.
UPEE：同时，Maybeshewill 作为一支成立时间已经很久的乐队，你们对于刚起步、新生的后摇音乐人们有什么想传达的吗？
Robin：我觉得，作为一支年轻乐队，试图在成千上万支同样在努力崭露头角的乐队中脱颖而出，确实会让人感到沮丧。很难给出建议，因为当我们开始的时候，世界完全不同。我们当时的很多运气都来自于时代背景，比如我们赶上了 Myspace.com 那个时代，我们就是通过那个平台把音乐放到网上的。很多人通过那个平台听到了我们的音乐，我们的音乐也被大量合法下载，这挺好的，因为这意味着我们有了庞大的听众群体。但现在，有太多人在做同样的事情了，想要让自己的音乐被听到非常非常难。我不知道该给新人什么建议。
It can be really disheartening being a young band and trying to break through the noise of all the other thousands of bands who are, you know, trying to do the same thing. It's difficult to offer advice because when we started, the world was a totally different place. A lot of the luck we did have came from the circumstances, like we were around during the era of Myspace.com, which was how we sort of put our music up online. And a lot of people heard us through that way, and our music was torrented, a lot of people downloaded it legally, which was fine because it meant that we had a big audience and stuff. But there are just so many people trying to do the same thing these days that it's really, really difficult to get your music out there. And I wouldn't know what to suggest to someone.
James：我想说的是，就像我刚才想提到的，那时候，大家更关注的是音乐本身，而不是乐队的视觉形象。但现在，随着社交媒体的发展，视觉方面变得重要多了。如果你不能在三秒内吸引住别人的注意力，那就没戏了，很不幸。我们刚开始做乐队的时候，我觉得人们更愿意花时间去听新东西，而不是直接跳过，这让现在的音乐人更难出头了。
I think, as I was just going to briefly say, back then, the focus was more on the music rather than the visual appearance of the band. Whereas nowadays, with the way social media is, it's very much more of a visual thing. If you don't grab attention within three seconds, then that's it, unfortunately. When we were doing it, I think people gave a lot more time to listen to new things rather just than skipping, which makes it even more difficult now for new musicians.
Matt：我想说，要一直保持关注，不要停滞不前。但确实，现在的环境更艰难了，我同意这一点。还是有人在做，还是有人能脱颖而出，不过这确实很有挑战性。但其实没有多少人知道具体的途径，甚至专业人士也不知道；他们付出了很多努力，但也不一定能成功，没有人会魔法。但停滞不前，肯定是无法让你自己被看见的。
I would say, keep an eye though, you never progress from stopping. But it's definitely a more difficult climate now, I would agree with that. But people are still doing it, you can cut through, but it is very challenging. No one really knows the way to break through anymore in music. And even professionals don't; they put in lots of effort and still can't always cut through. But no one has a magic formula. But stopping, definitely, is the way to not break through.
John：我只想说，不要试图去复制你看到的东西。相反，要努力保持自己作为乐队的真实性，让乐队的个性展现出来，而不是只是复制你从别人那里听到的东西。
I just say, don't necessarily try to just replicate something else that you're seeing. Instead, try to be authentic as a band and let your personality as a band show, rather than just replicate what you're hearing from another eyes.