Thank you very much for your time! Before we introduce your new release to our readers – what kind of drink would you recommend to sip on while they listen to your new music?
It has to be a cup of tea. Milk, no sugar. And please – I say this with love – don’t microwave the water with the teabag in it. That’s not tea. That’s a cry for help.
Please give us an update about your upcoming new album Heartlands and upcoming live dates.
Heartlands is out on August 17. It’s the most honest and emotionally vulnerable record we’ve ever made and also probably the most upbeat, weirdly. Think: if R.E.M. went on a road trip with The Cure, Stevie Nicks and Marianne Faithfull, and picked up a few slightly awkward gays from England along the way.
We’re kicking off The Heartlands Tour in the US and Canada on September 5, playing cities we’ve never been to before – we are of course terrified no one is going to turn up but fingers crossed. We also have some UK shows – with people coming over from France and Germany to see us – and EU dates are in the works too, hopefully, for 2026, so keep an eye out. Germany is TOP of the list.
Name 5 things we all should know about you as a band?!
- We used to be called The Gadsdens (our singer Jody’s surname), but no one could pronounce it. At one festival, we were introduced as The Gardens. So we rebranded as Autoheart and never looked back.
- Our songs tend to sound upbeat but are almost always about something quietly visceral. Bops can be cathartic. If you’re dancing and crying at the same time, you’re doing it right.
- For years we thought no one was listening – our former manager never showed us our streaming stats (or income) and we were too clueless to ask. Then the DMs and emails started. There was a tonne of fan art, Autoheart lyric tattoos, and really moving emails about how the songs had helped people get through difficult times. That’s when we realised the music had a life of its own.
- We do everything ourselves – we write, record and release on our own label, we self-manage, run the socials, ship the merch, reply to DMs… I even drained the tour van piss tank at a truck stop once, which ended in a minor explosion. It’s DIY in the most literal, chaotic sense.
- We’ve never really fitted in – too pop for indie, too indie for pop, too gay too soon – our manager before the one we mentioned above told us to keep the fact we were gay a secret, which wasn’t really an option – and today it sometimes feels like we’re oddly not queer enough. I think Heartheads resonate with this. They’re daydreamers, romantics, creative souls. Just like us.
What fashion style or brand would best describe your music?
I’d say you’ll find us somewhere between a charity shop rail in Southend and a half-dressed mannequin in a TK Maxx window. Bit chaotic but somehow keeping it together.
We live in times of many conspiracy theories. Which, harmless, theory would you wish were true?
OMG there are so many. Avril Lavigne has been replaced by a woman called Melissa but no one will admit it. That pigeons are actually government spies (surely true). I also choose to believe RuPaul is only ever in drag from the waist up when judging – and in pyjama bottoms and Crocs below the desk, because that’s the kind of style I aspire to basically.
If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
Oh lord. If we’re talking about the traditional industry – major labels – the monopoly on exposure is real. They’ve got the budget, connections, infrastructure. You just can’t compete with that as a DIY artist. But that’s the game. It’s a business, like selling cars or washing machines. And to be fair, loads of major label artists absolutely deserve the spotlight they get.
What’s changed is that streaming and social media have democratised things – there aren’t really gatekeepers anymore. You don’t have to get permission or ‘get a deal’ to put out music and make something. But it also means we’re all slightly losing our minds trying to be musicians, marketers, designers, video editors, tour managers and van mechanics at the same time. No idea if that’s an answer.
Tell us more about your latest single, “Indigo Chateau”.
It’s probably the most anthemic thing we’ve ever done – pianos, strings, guitars, all building into this urgent, defiant swell. Lyrically, it’s about reclaiming identity and a kind of personal magic – refusing to be boxed in or shut down, no matter how much self-doubt there might be. The video is directed by our longtime collaborator, queer artist and performer Joseph Wilson – is a surreal fever dream set in a dog pound. The pound owner forces the dogs to conform – they police identities that don’t belong to them. It’s pretty camp and also menacing. It’s not about any one person, but if the shoe fits… well.
A question you’d like to answer, but never been asked in an interview before?! + Answer pls
Q: What’s the most accurate way to describe being in a band?
A: Equal parts dysfunctional family, support group, admin hell, and low-budget theatre company. Occasionally we make music.
Instagram: @autoheartvision