July Talk: The only reason it's fun to drive fast is the risk of crashing your car

​In a world saturated by backing tracks and lip-syncing, vulnerability creates tension. Art that inspires us always has a realistic human condition at its epicentre. Our favourite Hitchcock films, Laurel Nakadate photography or David Bowie albums all deal with the true vulnerability of human beings.

​For us, the risk of failure is an imperative element to our show. Whether we are dousing each other in honey, fake blood, or just physically fighting on stage, there’s no way we could do any of it if we were tied down to a clicking metronome in our ears counting us down to the next big chorus drop. For our show to work, all five of us need to be in a constant state of reacting to each other.

​The only way we have felt fully connected to an audience is if we do our best to create an environment where anything can happen and there are no rules telling them to act a certain way. Ideally, something similar to the open relationship between an audience and a cabaret performer. In the early days of July Talk we had the pleasure of seeing a set by Mx. Justin Vivian Bond who always has the audience eating out of the palm of v’s hand. Bond’s performance was raw, honest and unhinged. Nothing draws in an audience quicker than curse words and casual over-sharing of taboo personal anecdotes. Why are certain things “inappropriate” to say on stage? Hecklers are welcome because a show like that can never be ruined by an unexpected interruption. This creates an equal give and take dynamic between performer and audience. After all, any separation between the stage and the dance floor is an illusion, no matter what most bands lead audiences to believe.

The thing about committing to spontaneity as an artist is that it forces the audience to swerve whichever direction the show takes. It allows for someone who just thought they were going to a rock and roll show to step outside their expectations of themselves and create a night that they will remember. The show can take on a body of its own, one that we as the performers cannot even begin to control. That is what is so intriguing about honest spontaneity; it allows for the piece to exit the artist’s control.

​A middle aged woman heard us on the radio and decided to come to our show. When she arrived we saw her standing at the back, watching the first band quietly. She seemed nervous to be there and unsure of her place in a room full of people half her age. When we went on, she must have edged her way to the front because about five songs in, we saw her dancing in the front row back and forth with the crowd. Broken beer bottles strewn across the stage floor, the woman tentatively held her arms high as a massive wasted guy crowd-surfed over her. She beamed up at us as she helped hold him up.

​After the show was finished and we came out to say hi to the audience, she approached us and told us we had taken too long to come out. She actually seemed kind of angry so we apologized. She laughed, “No, it’s just that your show really made me want to go home and have sex with my husband so I didn’t want to wait around.”

​We spoke with her about comfort zones and how she had felt so proud to have immersed herself in the show. It was so inspiring to feel like we had a small part in a liberation of sorts.

​Inherently, a band with a male and female singer singing conversationally about love creates a sexual show. What’s important to us is that we depict real sex and not fantasy. Real humanity and not conjured gloss. Just like the honesty and spontaneity that we attempt to bring to our show musically, we try to depict the actual reality of sex. The nervous feeling of showing someone your naked body for the first time. The fear of committing yourself physically to another human being and the elated feeling of release that comes with exploring each other without judgement. No smoke and mirrors, just two people at the same time. As we do our best to depict it, that vulnerability is what inspires July Talk to perform the way we do.

The Summer Dress EP is out June 8 on Sleepless Records / Polydor Records. July Talk hit the UK capital to play The Old Blue Last tonight (27 May) and Brixton Windmill tomorrow (28 July).