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White Lies: 'There will always be demand for music'

West London trio give their view on the state of the music industry

May 24, 2009 | 11 Comments
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White Lies have said they do not fear the current state of the music industry.

Despite illegal download figures continuing to rise and CD sales constantly falling as previously reported on NME.COM the West London trio believe no matter what happens, demand for music will always be there.

Singer Harry McVeigh said: "People will always make music; people will always listen to music, so there's demand out there. You’ve just got to figure out how to make enough money from it to do it full time.

"Maybe the music industry wasn’t quick enough on the uptake in terms of downloads – if they’d jumped on a bit more, then maybe they’d be a bit more successful."

White Lies have enjoyed a successful 12 months scoring a new one album and the band say they have been unaffected by the changing shape of the industry.

Drummer Jack Lawrence-Brown told BBC 6 Music: "We’ve had the most successful year of our careers, and it doesn’t seem to have slowed us down at all, and I think it’s the same for other new bands.

"If you believe in what you’re doing and it’s good enough, then it won’t affect anyone."

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Comments (11)

aphexbin

May 24, 2009

Fantastic pearls of wisdom here. Harry, why dont you just say 'The music industry is fine everyone! Does anyone want to know the size of the advance Polydor gave us after a much contested bidding war between all the major labels? (who also were all at our first ever gig)'I dont know if there is a future for the music industry if it keeps giving hundreds of thousands of pounds to douchebag pseudogoths who less than a year before their first gig (which had an exclusive audience of industry and press people) were singing happy songs about routemaster buses and girls to hordes of spoilt west london teenagers.Tossers.

gazhat

May 24, 2009

...maybe, but i certainly have no need for your second rate joy division pap...

statesofemotions

May 25, 2009

Amen to aphexbin, thats so easy for you to say Prince Harry. Fair play they've got some good tunes White Lies but it does make me feel a bit sick how they seem to have had everything handed to them on a plate. I reckon if they'd have spent an extra 6 months on the writing of the album it would have made the world of difference. Still, not gonna take away from them the fact that "To Lose My Life" was a fucking fantastic single, one of the best of the year infact x

aliciaaaaa

May 25, 2009

Everybody's going on about "Oh they're fakes, they copy Joy Division, they're posh and they're young." The music is brilliant, you can't copy someone's voice, it's simply uncanny... get over it. No one was saying Echo and the Bunnymen were copying Joy Division / vice-versa back in the 80's. The lyrics have more soul than most bands and they actually connect and entertain people (maybe not for the better), they're distinctly true and blatant, if anyone were to critisize them for being "fake", you'd be calling the millions of fans which are also on the same wave-length as White Lies "fake". A very talented and good-looking trio, dominant with ambition & undoubtedly going to get more popular as they gain more intelligence within the industry. Maybe they should be more experimental, and explore a bit more, however I heard their next album is going to sound like the "The Price of Love" which is disappointing. They need to keep the emotion and energy if they want to gain even more recognition, but open their minds a bit more. They sound posh and they aren't cliche rockstars, but who cares, it's about the music and it's fucking amazing. You don't have to have intelligence or age to be talented, however, these guys are definitely intelligent and I can't wait to see them live again whilst the anticipation grows for their next album.

irish rover

May 25, 2009

anyone here who slags off white lies are propbs the same pepble who buy razorshite albums so clearly have no taste in music. they are a breath of fresh air from the hangers on of the so called indie rave scene and have quality songs. anyone who has seen them know they are a great live band the show is very uplifting. people are slagging for defending music? what idiots. alsoid like to know how the other people know record lables "bidded for themn" or how they had handed to them on a plate?! what total scumbags.stick to your razorlite/killers montage and stick to listening smash hits. the lyrics are quality and the music is great. so stick to your mika if you dont rate white lies

Febreze

May 25, 2009

It seems that if any band that have made it and if they're from a privileged background, they're instantly branded as 'spoilt west london teenagers'. Not all of west london is such an affluent area and like alicia said, it's about the music and they made a fantastic album. If you hate 'posh' people so much go pretend you're from some sort of working class background and listen to the enemy, and I'm sure that any other band you like are in some ways a rip off of another band. So stop with the 'they're joy division', because younger kids who never listened to joy division don't actually care whether he has the same vocal range as Ian Curtis.

i_once_wrote_for_this_rag

May 25, 2009

Fair enough, White Lies are derivative and largely irrelevant. But isn't it strange how bands who sound a bit like Joy Division (Interpol, Editors, etc) end up getting criticised for it, yet The Horrors pull off the trick of sounding EXACTLY like JD on their second album and (almost) every critic in the land is practically falling over themselves to heap praise on them? Curious.

MahadyTheLips

May 25, 2009

theyre honestly not great.i'd giv em a 5 out of 10.everything is fairly simple by them and its made out to be complex and special. i dont think theyre like Joy Division at all. if thats what theyre aiming for theyve done an incredibly poor job. Curtis cud genuinely haunt you with his style and lyrics were pretty twisted.the lyrics out of this lot sound like something a pissed off bullied 13 year old writes. emotional or depressing music just doesnt work when its made by posh and well off little boys like white lies. theyre decent and will hav plenty of kudos with the indie kids but nothing special. read pitchforks review of the album, fairly accurate.

bertrum85

May 25, 2009

i do like their music, not enough to have bought their album but it is good. they have had success bought for them though. who else can with no track record of gigs play a pr'd to buggery debut show at hoxton bar kitchen? almost all other bands earn the opportunity to play at decent venues, this takes time, so whilst locking yourselves up in a studio paid for with your parents money and being able to eat whilst doing so has made them into a world-wide touring band, i have no respect for the way in which it was achieved.

shityourlegoff

May 25, 2009

Shite Lies

i_once_wrote_for_this_rag

May 25, 2009

irishrover - Spouting pious nonsense doesn't make you a fan of music, it merely means that you subscribe to the childish notion of 'mine is better than yours'. Surely no one is slagging off the band for defending music, but the idea that a singer in a much (over?) hyped band can make such grandious statements about the music industry is laughable and of no real consequence (thanks must go the NME for picking up on such a non-story).If you are that passionate about them, then slaver over their every borrowed key-change and faux-melodramatic hook instead of pretending to be the defender of 'real' music.