Thursday, June 16, 2016

Everything Everything's Jonathan Higgs: “We've Done Our Chubby Years”


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The lead singer on rock 'n' roll's attitude to fitness






















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Everything Everything are known for their eclectic and varied music style, inspired by a huge range of influences across many different genres. So with such a complex attitude with regards to music, does Higgs' views towards fitness fit the same mould?


How would you rate your fitness on a scale of one to 10?


About a three probably – I do a little bit of running and stuff, but not as much as I should. I was very much not sporty at school, basically. I'd be looking towards a seven, but any higher, it starts to get a bit weird – it's just something I want to get better at. I just need the motivation, really.


What do you do, fitness-wise?


I run, but I don't know if you could call it long distance, it's kind of a few miles jogging I guess – it's not particularly strenuous. I'd say I do it a couple of times a week, realistically. Sometimes when we're on the road we try to run together, but that depends on how much drinking we've been doing the night before...


What do you do to motivate yourself?


I just think back to all the terrible things I've been eating and try to remove that from my memory.


Does performing count as exercise?


It definitely does – you use a lot of energy when you're performing, especially if you're a drummer or something. Even singing can really take it out of you, particularly if you're recording and you're doing it all day, you just don't realise how much it knackers you out. And if you're on stage, you're putting a lot of emotion into things and you're moving around loads under hot lights – and I wear a massive robe when we play live, so it's like a little workout. To prepare, I'll have a little stretch beforehand and try to drink some water, but inevitably that always ends up being beer…


What will you never do again?


I'm not a huge fan of swimming; it's alright, but I don't really like doing lengths and stuff like that. But I've tried so little in the world of activities that I don't really have a hatred of anything.


How is your fitness fingerprint unique to you and your career?


It's somewhat frowned upon in rock 'n' roll circles – it's kind of the opposite of “cool”, to be sporty and healthy. That's what we used to think, but then we realised we were just getting really fat because of all the drinking. And you look around at other bands and some of them have realised this and some of them haven't. It's quite interesting the longer you spend in the industry… you get bands like McFly who are total health nutcases, which isn't much fun, so we're trying to find a balance. We've done our chubby years, now we're trying to work it off at least.


Everything Everything will be playing Truck Festival (July 15-17), Kendal Calling (July 28-31), LeeFest Presents: The Neverland (July 28-31), Standon Calling (July 29-31) and Electric Fields (Aug 26-27).




Gary Ogden

16 Jun 2016

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