“Gear is a nightmare. When you play every night, the failure rate goes through the roof”: Award-winning UK indie stars English Teacher on the dangers of self-relic'ing, and why they love Fender offsets “for the same reason any alternative band does”

Hailing from Yorkshire and Lancashire in the UK, English Teacher were already gaining plaudits for their enthralling blend of musicianship and punk-rock theatrical pageantry when their 2024 Mercury Prize nomination took them to new heights.

Lewis Whiting (lead guitar), Lily Fontaine (vocals, synths, rhythm guitar), Nicholas Eden (bass), and Douglas Frost (drums) pipped the likes of the Last Dinner Party and CMAT to the prestigious UK gong with that year’s album, This Could Be Texas.

A recent performance at NYC’s Mercury Lounge showcased Fontaine’s dramatic intensity and the solidity of the collective, with the sonic twists and turns of skewering tracks like I’m Not Crying, You’re Crying, Albert Road, and The World’s Biggest Paving Slab on full display.

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On stage, how do you maintain the recorded feel of songs like Broken Biscuits and Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space against the theatricality?

Whiting: For me, the guitar parts are locked in. I’m just weaving in between the piano, except for a few little bits when I pop out.

English Teacher - Broken Biscuits (Live on KEXP) - YouTube

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Eden: For Broken Biscuits to work, with the time signature changes and instruments dropping out, it has to resemble the record.

Whiting: We go one of two ways. Either, “This is too weird. What are the chords? We need to figure out how this is a song.” Or, “It’s too normal. It’s not engaging. We need to do something with it.” I love how Broken Biscuits sounds on the album, but it’s better live. There’s more of a dynamic range.

What happens if someone veers off into a different direction onstage?

Eden: I would just improvise something. On tour in Oregon, my bass amp died for like three minutes.

Whiting: We did a really rough cover of MJ Lendermann’s She’s Leaving You. It depends on the song; sometimes there’s a lot of room for that, and sometimes we properly tie ourselves into a knot.

Eden: After playing these songs as much as we have, I can pick up everyone else’s parts quite well. If something went down, it might not sound good, but I can play the guitar part, or maybe the cello part, on the bass.

Is that the most common trick the audience wouldn’t notice?

Eden: I’m always looking at what everyone else is doing. I have to with some of our songs that involve coming in at the same time as each other. Listening to each other is so crucial.

Whiting: If we’re not looking at each other, it tends to be a bad show. I’m chronically turning my back to the audience to look at everyone else. In this band it feels natural. But I have to keep that in check – I’ll be like, “I’m literally just not looking at the audience,” and I’ll slowly turn around.

How and when do you realize you’ve grown on an instrument – that you’ve crossed that line from feeling unaccustomed to comfortable?

Eden: I’ve always felt very comfortable on the bass, but I feel like I’ve reached a ceiling of effort and motivation. I want to learn more instruments.

English Teacher – ‘Not Everybody Gets To Go To Space’ | Pinterest Predicts | Live Session - YouTube

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Whiting: I’ve always played guitar, but I’ve never thought of myself as a guitarist’s guitarist. This band has pushed me to get better – a few times, I’ve felt like I’ve hit the ceiling of my ability. I had a lot of bad habits with technique because I’m self-taught, which is fine. It doesn’t matter if a song isn’t good at first – when you’re playing every night, and it becomes your entire life, it becomes good.

What does hitting the ceiling feel like?

Whiting: I don’t ever feel I’ve hit my limit while composing music. It’s more like writing a part that’s too hard to play, that I wanted to sound a certain way, but I keep fumbling it. I’m a bit of a sloppy player anyway. But I want to write like, “I need to be able to play this because no one else is going to.”

Is your Jazzmaster still your primary instrument?

Whiting: It is, but I’ve got a different one now. At the minute, I’ve got a very nice guitar that Fender kindly gave me – an American Vintage II. The neck is a little thick, which took a bit of getting used to.

I love a Jazzmaster for the same reason anyone in an alternative band does. It just sounds like that thing. The tremolo is amazing. Jazzmaster and Jaguars I’ve always liked. They’ve always fit me better, because I’m not the biggest guy, so the short scale ones are a little nicer.

And what about your Fender Precision?

Eden: The tone of the Precision doesn’t impart too much on anything. It’s so versatile, and does what I need it to do in this band. I have too many of them! But I love Jazz Basses. Fender gave me an American Vintage II P-Bass. It’s so nice to have a bass with a nitrocellulose finish. I can use it every show and know it’s still going to look beautiful in 30 years.

How have the Vintage IIs stood up to the months on the road?

Whiting: I’ve been playing the new Jazzmaster for four, five months, and it’s already got little chips. I get carried away and I’m not very delicate with it. Gear in general is a nightmare. When you play every night, the failure rate of everything goes through the roof. I wish things could just work forever.

Eden: I’m just so anxious about my pedalboard. I was always like, “Fender bass and an amp!” Then I had to learn pedals. I get anxious that I have this other thing to take care of.

I love the mojo of a used instrument – stuff that’s been through the wars. I have a Jazz Bass I relic’d myself, and I don’t like the relic anymore. It’s awful, this sanding I did! I want to get it resprayed.

Whiting: A working instrument should be played and toured.

What are you most looking forward to next?

Eden: Just putting a new album together as a group of friends and knowing that we have it in us. There’s just not enough time.

• This Could Be A Remix Album, English Teacher’s new version of This Could Be Texas, is out now.