London Grammar's Chemistry Lessons From Coldplay

Even with his beloved English national squad suffering at the World Cup, Dan Rothman still has plenty of reasons to smile. Closer to 20 than 30, the guitarist has seen his band London Grammar develop from the University of Nottingham halls to become a globally-lauded live drawcard, while their debut full-length album, If You Wait, has just secured Platinum sales in both their native UK and Australia.

Listening to the record, the British success is something of a given. If You Wait has plenty of touchstones from various pockets of English brilliance past: the classical purity, the restrained electronica, the emotive textures and tones that are uplifting and heartbreaking – it recalls everyone from Massive Attack to Florence & The Machine. But it's surprising that the album has struck such a chord in our humid home – it's not exactly backyard barbecue music after all. Rothman agrees, saying that on their first visit (over New Year's period for Falls Festival) the band felt like they were arriving into the unknown, making the response given to them all the more memorable.

“When we went to Australia [the first time], it almost felt like we'd broken earlier there because triple j was playing the record and Strong was on the radio and I think it was going into the top five at that point,” remembers Rothman. “And it really culminated, and there was all this excitement about us coming, so when we got there we didn't know what it was actually going to be like, and until we stepped onto the stage at Falls and Lorne we really didn't have any idea.

"You have to accept the chemistry of the band.”

“Then when there was like 10,000 people there – okay, it's not the biggest festival in the world, but I assure you it is quite something to see that; if you've never had that many people [watching you] before it's quite something to see in an outside venue. It was very overwhelming. And beyond that it was just the amount of people that knew the words and were singing along and were excited to see us, you really sensed that. It was just wonderful, and it's one of my best memories of the band, I think for all of us.”

For a group like London Grammar – whose intricacies and space need to be heard as much as the hero elements – a respectful audiences goes a long way in helping make the show a success, especially at festivals. But that can be coupled with a welcomed rowdiness too – it's all dependent on how deeply the crowd is connected with the music.

“If they're loud during the songs, that's necessarily not a good thing for us because we have such quiet music sometimes,” Rothman admits. “But you can get passionate fans that can listen intently and then are rowdy as well, and that's the ultimate combination, that's what we always hope for.

“In Australia you have that to some extent, and we've always experienced that in France as well. English audiences, as much as I love them, are different in that sense; they expect a lot more and I don't think they're as appreciative of bands coming over because they're more used to the bands being here. That might be a complete generalisation, but particularly in London it's always difficult. If you go outside of London the shows become much more enjoyable, but London is undoubtedly always stressful.”

That inaugural Australian visit wasn't completely full of victories though – the trio's first Sydney headline show at Metro Theatre was a “bit of a nightmare” after their laptop packed it in. However, the overall experience played a big part in London Grammar's artistic growth, allowing them to gain awareness with regards to what crowds want from the band.

“When we first started playing [the songs live] we immediately wanted to make them different and a bit more experimental and weird, and it was wrong, it was wrong from the beginning,” Rothman stresses. “We had a really terrible initial gig where we played this secret show and it was a fucking disaster – it really was, I'm not shitting you. It was really bad and our managers were very worried about it, but me and Dot [have since] put a lot of work into getting the music right.”

As well as being a capable Harry Styles lookalike, Dominic 'Dot' Major is responsible for keys, synths and rhythms – the technical beauty in the band's sound. “He's a computer nerd and a real whiz like that,” says Rothman. “I'm very lucky to be in a band with that guy.” But without a doubt the most arresting element of London Grammar is the vocal of frontwoman Hannah Reid. Soaring and longing, youthful yet brimming with confidence, her voice removes time and place from your mind. Rothman still remains grateful that their paths crossed while studying in Nottingham.

“I heard her sing and was obviously incredibly surprised by it – that was probably my initial reaction. And [I was] just genuinely excited about finding someone who was great at music. It was quite innocent at that time, I don't think we were ever like, 'Oh, we're going to make a band.' Me and her played acoustic gigs for a year before we even met Dot; that was what it was like.”

It seems rather incongruous that Rothman wouldn't have at least daydreamed about the possibility of future success after connecting with Reid. He assures us, however, that there was never an initial goal outside of making tracks together – a by-product of seeing peers pass him by as a teenager.

“I was in bands before I ever came to university, and I had this dream of being in a band, and I was in indie bands, and I'd seen other bands get signed, and I lived in the same area as Bombay Bicycle Club, they'd been signed and I'd seen their [quick] progression, so I went to university and was just like, 'Fuck, I don't know, it's so much more difficult than I thought.' But forgetting the aspiration made it a lot more easy and a lot more enjoyable, and ultimately it led us to making better music and progressing quicker. Most importantly, I was excited about writing songs with Hannah, and excited about what she can do.”

"She's got that talent that's just a little bit... you can't quite put your finger on what it is."

Working with Reid as a centrepiece, London Grammar have written some of their finest tunes; Hey Now, for example, was an extended jam that was melded into an almost operatic pop song. But other notable tracks like Wasting My Young Years were brought to the band by Reid almost fully realised. “In some ways [those tracks] are the most impressive,” remarks Rothman. He goes on to add that as a songwriter, the blonde-haired Reid is “one of the most gifted people I've ever seen”.

“I genuinely believe that she's just different,” Rothman smiles. “Like obviously I write music, I'm a songwriter, but I don't think it's the same, she's got that talent that's just a little bit... you can't quite put your finger on what it is. And she doesn't know it at all, which is even better. I'm just very, very lucky to be in a band with her.”

Listening to the affable guitarist, it's clear he truly believes in his friends and loves what they do. But for their wealth of unique individual talents, the three band members of London Grammar are all an integral part of a greater, more powerful whole, a fact they value more than ever after chatting with one of the world's biggest groups.

“A massive namedrop, but when we met Coldplay they stressed that importance to us, so we don't ever take it for granted, how important the chemistry of the band is,” Rothman says. “They've always respected that chemistry and that's arguably why they've been around for so long and have been so successful, [and] I think we've learnt the importance of feeling that [too].

“If any one person thinks they're beyond the band then the band would cease to exist. And it's easy to go that way, it can just happen, like particularly from a lead singer point of view, and again this is where Hannah as a person, I have so much respect for her because she is such a star that really she could do it without me or Dot, but she knows that it doesn't necessarily mean that it would be right. Like, how rare is it that you're in a band whose music actually connects with people? So you have to accept the chemistry of the band.”