Across the countless comments posted to the YouTube video of Future Islands' busting-out breakthrough hit 'Seasons (Waiting On You)' on 'The Late Show', one managed to summarise the band's live dynamic better than any critic ever could: 'Imagine if your maths teacher and your science teacher started a band with your drama teacher' it read.
Indeed, the band's frontman, Samuel T. Herring, is compelling and extroverted to the point where you can barely look at anything else. Some may view it as limelight-stealing, but the band itself simply sees it as things being in their right place. “We definitely try to give Sam his space,” Gerrit Welmers, the band's keyboardist, says.
“I like to think of it as myself and William [Cashion, bassist] being two pillars on either side of the stage, holding everything together. It's our job to make everything run smoothly. Everyone is very assured in their own roles in the band, I think.
"We've all settled into our own grooves as far as that side of things is concerned. I think we all let it out in our own ways – think of it as dancing with our fingers.”
Since the release of their fourth, studio album, 'Singles', in the first quarter of last year, the band have gained remarkable, upward momentum. The aforementioned 'Seasons...' topped many critic's lists as the best song of the year; while the band's live reputation has brought them to such festival stages as Glastonbury and Splendour In The Grass.
In addition to sell-out headlining shows, the band have also been brought in to warm-up the stage for some true icons. “We just played a show with Grace Jones at the Hollywood Bowl,” Welmers says.
“It was really, really amazing – there was this lunar eclipse, so we were playing outdoors under this blood moon. We also got to open with Morrissey recently, which was something that we honestly never thought we would ever get to do in our lives.”
It's queried whether the band got to meet the legendary performers – perhaps some stories to tell of what they're like behind the curtain? – but it's quickly shut down. “We didn't get a chance to meet either,” he replies. “Still, that's alright. You know what they say – sometimes it's good to not meet your heroes.”
November will see the band return to Australia for the third time in just over a year, this time attached to another big-scale opening slot: supporting former folk-revivalists-cum-arena-rockers Mumford & Sons. “It's definitely a challenge,” Welmers admits.
“That's sort of why we accepted it – we're two, very different bands with two, very different followings. We're really excited to show people what we do that normally wouldn't ever go and see us. I think the element of surprise is always great at a show like that – audiences really tend to enjoy it a lot more.”
Although a fair share of the crowds Future Islands find themselves playing to now have primarily discovered the band in the time since their 'Late Show' appearance and the release of 'Singles', it's worth noting the band will celebrate a full decade as a band next year.
Their supposed, overnight success took four albums and a considerable amount of effort put into the band's survival. With that being said, Welmers is far from bitter about having a new flock of believers in their proverbial church. As far as he's concerned, the more the merrier. “There are so many bands out there that go from 0 to 100 so quickly,” he says.
“They have no idea about what touring is like or how much work goes into making a band work. I think we laid down a pretty strong foundation for our band by playing for a long time and building an audience naturally.”
Future Islands Tour Dates
Thu 12 Nov - Sidney Myer Music Bowl (Melbourne, supporting Mumford & Sons)Fri 13 Nov - The Gov (Adelaide)
Sat 14 Nov - The Domain (Sydney, supporting Mumford & Sons)
Mon 16 Nov - The Triffid (Brisbane)
