Quick-fire Questions: 10 minutes with Everything Everything
The sun is blazing its goodbye as it sinks beneath the horizon, and the sky is a tangle of orange and purple in a summer tryst, when Jonathan Higgs sings, “It’s alright to feel like a fat child in a pushchair”. Drunken faces dancing to the pulsing melody turn quizical in an instant. That’s the beauty of Everything Everything on the festival stage.
That’s how I discovered the band more moons ago than I care to admit. I know plenty of others who have had similar experiences. Similarly, they then invariably go on to see Everything Everything in a rather more darkened setting. Once again, their music contorts faces. This time, into an ambiguous mix of carefree joy, thoughtfulness, and often a smattering of sweat. They’re a unique band.
Three of the members grew up together in the small town of Gilsland, Northumberland. Soon enough, Higgs met Alex Niven when studying in Salford, and the beginnings of a band began to take shape. By 2007, Everything Everything had formed. Almost 20 years on from that, they’re set to headline the Tramshed in Cardiff, where a sound that captures their rare journey will unfurl.
While the group’s catchiness may have mass appeal, the art in their art-pop mix really establishes itself in DIY venues like the beloved Tramshed. The complexities of a sound shaped by the likes of Radiohead, Aphex Twin, Eels, K-Klass, and Bat for Lashes weave around the audience in effortless swells in these sacred spaces where lads from rolling hills can happily express themselves. At this juncture, their live sound takes all of that into account and has playful fun with it.
So, ahead of their Tramshed show in July and a busy festival season ahead, we talked to Higgs about sundown sets, The Beatles, ghosts, and their favourite album of 2026 so far. When you’ve only got ten minutes with a band who clearly have a lot to say, you’d better make your questions quick-fire.
Quick-fire Questions with Everything Everything:
1. What song would you want played at your funeral?
“I think ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’ is a good shout. It’s one of the greatest melodies I’ve ever heard, and the sound of two voices together has always been the best sound. I would like it to be followed by the theme from Terminator 2, however.”
2. What’s the best festival set you’ve ever seen?
“Radiohead, and I can’t even remember where, as I’ve seen them several times, and I never know where I am. They have the back catalogue to really turn the screws when it comes to crafting an emotional set, and the majority of the songs are mid-paced or really slow, perfect for big fields and rolling reverb. Hearing ‘Let Down’ or ‘Karma Police’ alongside thousands of others is really special.”
3. What’s your strangest memory of playing in Wales?
“A few years ago, we did Cardiff Castle with Foals and very near to the gig, I found this little joke shop. I got a fake poo and put it on the tour manager’s desk, then sprayed this fart spray around. Everyone played along and acted shocked when he discovered it. Absolutely priceless. The spray was called ‘Liquid Ass’.”
4. What has been your favourite album of 2026 so far?
“Well, technically, it isn’t out yet, but Ebbb’s Shallow Hits already is my most played just from the singles. It doesn’t come out ‘til July. I saw these guys in concert, and they can really pull it off. Excellent players, and I love the sound.”
5. What’s the best moment of a festival as a band?
“The best moment is probably getting a sundown slot. There’s something magical about that time of day, going onstage just as the day is dying and coming off in the dark. The gig is always the best part, of course, but that’s the best type of gig to get.”
6. What’s the best moment of a festival as a punter?
“It’s always exciting to stumble across a scene or a band that you didn’t intend to. I don’t mean you accidentally caught the end of a band you like, but more when it’s something you have never heard of, that’s weird, and there is just a small crowd going nuts. Wandering around and entering little zones and communities, seeing people doing crazy shit.”
7. What classic album would you happily delete from history?
“Appetite for Destruction, maybe? I’ve always known GnR were shite, but recently I came across this song called ‘One in a Million’ by them, which is so disgustingly homophobic and racist I will happily choose them. And yes, I know that song is on a different album, but I feel like pissing on their chips, so I’m deleting their most famous one.”
8. What is your abiding memory of releasing ‘Suffragette Suffragette’?
“Probably the first time Zane Lowe played it on Radio 1. That was a dream scenario, really. Playing a show and strangers knowing one of my songs was also bizarre. I was like ‘how can you possibly be singing this back to me?’, even though it had been played on the radio, I just couldn’t get over it. Up until that point, all our gigs had just been to a handful of mates.”
9. What is your abiding memory of Gilsland?
“Well, my entire childhood was spent there, so I have quite a lot. I think the most precious thing to me is the sense of freedom and wildness that you get in a place so remote. Hadrian’s Wall and the Milecastle, the Sycamore Gap (RIP), Spa Woods, Crammel Linn waterfall. Making bombs and lighting fires with friends. General destruction and manic behaviour goes deep in a little boy’s heart.”
10. Who is the best Manchester band ever?
“I’m going to say the Bee Gees. I have very little grounds to call them a Manchester band, as they were born on the Isle of Man, and moved as children to Manchester, and didn’t make the band until they went to Australia. However, I think where you’re raised has the biggest influence, and I love them. They are somewhat misunderstood in general, I think, because of the massive phenomenon of Night Fever. Disco was only a little period in their career, and there is so much good stuff that rarely gets an airing. Excellent songwriters.”
11. What’s your favourite song to play at a festival?
“This one is easy: ‘No Reptiles’ is the best for us. You have people who know it, which is always amazing, but you have people who don’t know the band watching, and when we get to the latter half of the song, I always catch sight of perplexed faces due to the lyrics. Love that feeling of ‘getting’ someone and making them momentarily out of their depth. Do I laugh? What does it MEAN? Why is this good? Is this moving? All at once. I’m sure some people just think it’s terrible too, which is another type of pleasure for me.”
12. What is the greatest festival banger of all time?
“‘Killing in the Name’ by Rage Against the Machine has got to be up there. I guess it wouldn’t travel as well as some more melodic and grand things, but I like the idea of hearing that song wafting over the wind from afar and seeing the steam rising off the writhing moshpit.”
13. Do you believe in ghosts?
“No. However, I feel like I understand what haunting means. I thought the idea was that a ghost comes to you from the dead and does stuff. This is not the case. Haunting is when you can’t stop thinking about someone or something, and you see it everywhere you look. I don’t know why I didn’t get this earlier in my life. Haunting is PTSD. Maybe everyone knows this! So, I guess I believe in them in a psychological sense. People definitely see things when they are in a state of distress, like a bereavement or whatever. I just don’t think the thing is there.”
14. Are The Beatles overrated?
“No, not really. I often wonder what music John Lennon would have made if he had lived. He died in 1980, which is just before the rise of hip-hop, and I feel like he would have really ‘got into it’ and made some extremely bad rap music. Who knows. It seems like the sort of thing he would do. Beatles alone are nowhere near as good as The Beatles together.”
