“[Beach Coma] totally went past my expectations,” he says. “But you know, it’s one of those things. I’ve been in bands a long time now and gone are the days of having delusions of grandeur. I’m happy just to be hanging on by the skin of my teeth. Anything more is a bonus. The fact of the matter is, there comes a point where you need to make that decision, what is it that you like about doing this? If it’s writing music and performing, you should be able to do just that and hang on. I’m happy that I’m able to be able to write some words, play them with musicians who are interested in turning them into songs, and they get heard. People give a shit about them to want to write about them or talk to me. That’s a pretty good thing.”
With such hypnotic, haunting songs, it’s little surprise Shifting Sands have found an eager audience. Between Corbett and backing singer Anna Clifford, the storytelling becomes near-novelistic (just listen to Boyfriend and Other Girls for a sense of the band’s weaving narratives). It’s a significant sidestep from Corbett’s former project, SixFtHick, which he started with his brother Ben back in the mid-’90s.
“I wanted to do something polar opposite to SixFtHick,” he says. “I’d always been into the type of music which Sands is drawn from, but it’s just not something that suits SixFtHick. That’s a completely different beast, but I really wanted to give this kind of style a go. And it’s good fun. I get to sit on a chair, I hardly crack a sweat, I get to drink a lot. Actually playing a show sitting on a fucking chair is amazing. Why didn’t I think of this earlier? 18 years it took me to come up with that amazing concept.
“But [Shifting Sands] is like a character we’re making, but one based on something true. We’re much better at just writing a bunch of songs, playing ’em, and seeing where they take us. I have a constant need to get away and be a hermit, and that’s kind of what Beach Coma was trying to tap into. Either situational or enforced loneliness, the 2am feeling when the pub is shut and no one wants to talk to you, no one to hang out with except your demons. We’ve got songs for the second album, and we’re like, ‘Which way are we going to take it?’ And fuck, I don’t think we can dictate that. We wait until we have enough songs for an album and see how it steers itself.”
Until that second album arrives, audiences will have to remain content with catching the band in the flesh. Thankfully there is ample opportunity to do just that, with their appearance at Chopped coinciding with another gig at The Tote. Just what folks can expect from the festival, though, depends on what they’re willing to give.
“It’s in the daytime, which is going to be fucking stressful for everyone involved. But you have to work with what you’re given, so I think everyone should wear dark sunglasses and start drinking early to get the full Shifting Sands effect. Neck a few wines, trust me.”
BY ADAM NORRIS
