WE ARE BODIES Talk New Album, Hometowns And More

WE ARE BODIES is the British duo of Dave Pen and Robin Foster. They create anthemic electro-prog soundscapes that combine guitars and electronics with lyrical subjects inspired by love, loss, paranoia and…robots. Their new album ‘The Love Was All We Had’ is out now and they kindly chatted to us about the new record and more:

Who is in We Are Bodies, what do they play and how did you meet?
Dave: We Are Bodies are Dave Pen & Robin Foster. Dave Pen is the writer, singer and lyricist and Robin Foster is the Writer, Guitarist and producer.

When did you begin songwriting?
Dave: We began writing together for Robins 2nd solo album Where Do We Go From Here around We then wrote the lead song – Life & Death for the film Metro Manilla of which Robin wrote and scored the soundtrack and then we wrote the 1st We Are Bodies album after that in 2015.

What is your earliest musical memory?
Dave: My earliest musical memory is my Father sitting me down in the lounge of our house, turning
all the lights off with only the fire lighting the room and playing me the whole of Dark Side Of The Moon, I think I was around 6/7 years old

Robin: Similar story for me, I was mesmerised from probably 3 or 4 by my dad’s vinyl of “For A Few Dollars More”, it’s still a huge influence on pretty much everything I do.

Your new single ‘Lost’ is out now. What was the story/inspiration behind the track?
Dave: This was the first song we wrote but didn’t know it would end up on the album as it wasn’t actually quite fitting in with the other songs we were writing at the time, lyrically It’s a song about someone doing everything they can to please someone else but that someone else is selfish and enjoys the struggle of the other person failing and in the end the other person figures it out and leaves but only after trying everything and ultimately losing everything, It’s tragic!

Robin: Yeah, I had planned this to be on my own album but as ours progressed it started to fit into
the picture, and once we started rehearsing it, it became obvious that it was a single for WAB

In addition, you have released your new album ‘The Love Was All We Had’. How did you want to approach the making of the album?

Dave: We almost wrote this album twice I reckon, we thought we kind of had the premise and the ideas during the pandemic, but then it didn’t quite feel right. We knew we had some good songs but not all of them were great, the others were ok and we wanted the album to have 10 great songs on it!. It also took a little while to figure out the thread of the lyrics as the album is kind of about love but from so many different views, feelings, fears and hope that it all had to come together some how, so it took a while of sending ideas back and forth, I didn’t recorded any of it together in a room, it was all done between both our home studios.

Robin: Yeah the pandemic was a game-changer for us, as I’m sure it was for so many artists, but it also perfectly mirrored our dystopian vision of WAB. The whole experience was quite cathartic with everything happening around us.

Where did you record the album and who produced it?
Dave: I wrote the vocal melodies and recorded all my vocals at home in Southampton. Robin wrote, recorded & produced all of the music at his studio in Brittany, France. It was also mixed by Robin and Jim Spencer.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the recording sessions?
Dave: When we were writing the album, the song Runaway was pitched to Rick Astley, he kindly declined.

Robin: Ha, I’d forgotten that! I’d met and performed a track with Rick at a friend’s wedding, he is genuinely one of the nicest people you could ever meet and I was quite surprised to find out that he’s a huge Smiths fan like myself, so we jammed a couple of tracks in the hotel. I chanced it with Runaway, but he wasn’t having it!

What two things do you hope to have achieved once you have left the stage?
Dave: That anybody that paid to come and see us saw something sincere and real and that they’d be a fan for life.

Robin: exactement!

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?
Robin: This could be an extremely long answer if I think too long about it! For this album most of the synths are actually guitar going through an arsenal of effects, I used an EHX Synth9 into a POG , through various reverbs quite a lot and I played pretty much everything on the semi-hollow “Continental” guitar made for me by the amazing Patrice Blanc in Nantes, google him and then sell a kidney.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?
Dave: Southampton – The Titanic, Matt Le Tissier, The Spitfire, The Joiners Arms Music Venue and
Benny Hill

Robin: Camaret-sur-mer, an isolated seaside town on the Crozon peninsula that I lovingly refer to as
“Twin Peaks on the sea”

Which of the tracks on the new album hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

Dave: I wouldn’t say there’s much happyness in it lyrically but Dancing In the Midnight Howl is the easiest and most optimistic Lyrically. Most reflective I’d say is World Is Out & The Things We can’t Control. Most Angriest is As We Implode.

Robin: I was asked to do a jingle for one of the big French radio stations last year, the brief was “Happy”… They told me it was way too melancholic, which I took as a huge compliment.

How do you look after your voices?
Dave: Don’t drink too much alcohol, try and stay hydrated as much as possible, Avoid shouting in crowded pubs. Rest before shows.

You are given the opportunity to write the score for a film adaptation of a novel that you enjoy. Which novel is it and why?
Dave: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, I love this book and collect it, I have over 30 different editions from all over the world in different languages.

Robin: I’m always on the look out for that book for Dave in car boot sales here on the port. I’m lucky enough to earn my way as a film composer, so have actually managed to be in this situation, especially with Anthropoid after reading HHHH. Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis would be a great one to tackle.

Who designed/created the album artwork?
Robin: That would be my wife Barbara Smith Art. …ma femme est une artiste!

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

Dave: I’m a big Swans fan, Faith No More, Talk Talk, Roger Waters, Boards Of Canada, Sleaford
Mods Young Fathers to name a few. I’d Recommend – October Drift, Why Dardii, Joycut and We Fight Till Death

Robin: Classics for me : Talk Talk, New Order, The Stills, The Smiths, Tears For Fears and an infinite amount of soundtracks. Lately I’ve been enjoying Norwegian trumpet maestro Mathias Eick, Deep Sea Diver, Matt Berry, Sharon Von Etten, Go-Go Penguin and Hermanos Guiterrez.

There also this amazing icelandic jazz-rock group I love called ADHD that everyone should publicise because their albums are impossible to find and they are oblivious to how cool they are!

Do you have any live dates planned in the UK/Europe in 2024/2025?

Dave: Not currently sadly.
Robin: We’re open to offers!

Was it a difficult album to write?
Dave: In a way it was as we had to go back and forth a lot and at times it felt like it might never
quite get there but we never gave up and it was only earlier this year that we wrote the last
song for it – The Love Was All We Had and then we knew it was done…..4 years later!

What makes We Are Bodies happy and what makes you unhappy?
I’m always happy when I know our music is in the ears of the listener and if the music helps things in anybody weather it be at a BBQ, going for run, Stuck in Traffic, a wedding, a break up or a funeral. I make music to release my thoughts and hopefully that connects with people. I think our music does that.

What makes me unhappy – reading the news.

Robin: Creating music and then testing it by driving around the wild coasts with family in tow, listening at maximum volume and hoping that it will in some way give others the same feeling of purpose it gives me.

What makes me unhappy – humans with power but without love.