Future Islands’ Samuel T Herring reveals he was hurt by reaction to his Letterman performance

Frontman said he hopes 'it's not a joke to everyone'

Future Islands frontman Samuel T Herring has said that the reaction to his performance of song ‘Seasons (Waiting On You)’ on the Late Show With David Letterman, which went viral after it was aired in March, stung him.

Recalling the band’s debut TV performance, in which he danced across the stage with his T-shirt tucked into his jeans and beat his chest repeatedly, Herring told NME: “It doesn’t matter if it’s a joke as long as it’s not a joke to everybody.”

The singer explained that the spirit of the song “is putting forth this idea that we need to live by our own rules to get what we want out of life. And you know what? There’s kind of a ‘fuck you’ in that too.”

Advertisement

Herring also divulged that ‘Seasons’, which the band “wrote in an hour an a half”, is about a tumultuous two-and-a-half year relationship that went awry. “I was trying to get her to change so that she would love me the way I wanted to be loved. And I tried to change too, until I realised that you can’t do that,” he said. “That’s just one of the tragedies of love: it’s not always going to work out, even if there’s something there.”

Earlier this month, Herring revealed that he thought was going to die due to exhaustion this year in a new short film about Future Islands called ‘Road Dawgs’. “I passed out in the airport on the way to Primavera from exhaustion and had to be revived by medics and then made the plane and played the show and I thought I was going to die… But I just went for it as hard as I could, because I said ‘Well, if this is the last one [gig], let’s go’, and so it was a really good show!” he said.

Future Islands will return to the UK next year for a short tour, which includes an appearance at London’s Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Future Islands play:

London Royal Albert Hall – Teenage Cancer Trust w/ Noel Gallagher (March 28, 2015)
Sheffield Plug (March 29)
London The Roundhouse (March 30, 31)

To check the availability of Future Islands tickets and get all the latest listings, go to NME.COM/TICKETS now, or call 0844 858 6765

Advertisement

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories