Interview by Marina Malin
UK’s lots of hands is the duo of Billy Woodhouse and Elliot Dryden who bonded over their shitty music tech courses in Newcastle. Balancing their love for Fortnite and beer, these best mates are releasing their record label debut into a pretty room this January on Fire Talk.
Read on as we discuss their forthcoming record, stage fright, pushing the ordinary boundaries of song structure, the angry dude from Whiplash, pressures of a record label, how all DIY bands rip off Alex G, friendship making the best collaborations, and most importantly, Justin Bieber.
Marina: So can you set the scene of how lots of hands started?
Billy: lots of hands started as a solo project. I was in a group chat filled with other SoundCloud DIY musicians back in the day, like mage tears and Hysterla. I just started making demos to impress them but when I went to music college in Newcastle, I did some really shit tech courses and I met Elliot. We started writing more cohesive songs and now we got another record coming out in January.
Marina: In your last album fantasy, I felt like there was some Alex G influence. Can you talk about who or what inspires your music?
Billy: Yeah Alex G is definitely an inspiration. I got shown him when I was 14 by my friend, Robbie who is in a band called Cavetown. I started writing music by essentially just ripping him off. I think a lot of the bands in the current DIY scene are probably the same. It’s kind of good to have someone in the middle that everyone bases bits of their music off. Another inspirations is my mom who is an art teacher. She’s got a lot of art rock influences like The Velvet Underground and some folk. She lived in Ireland for a bit so I like to create organic soundscapes that go behind the music. I only play guitar and I’m not very good at it so I try to create sounds out of weird things that sound like they could be in movies. Soundscapes are always what I’ve enjoyed making most, up until I started writing with Elliot. He was raised on a farm and writes songs about living on a farm so it’s been good to meet in the middle and have this kind of experimentation going. We’ve got a cohesive sound and a narrative that we’re trying to say, but at the same time, we both try to pull each other in different directions.
Marina: You said your mom is an art teacher; do you ever dabble in other types of art forms?
Billy: Yes, I’m currently going to university in Newcastle for fine arts. I do print work and painting. I see music as the side thing, which is weird because of how many people on TikTok are making videos to my songs and no one’s given my Instagram posts any love (@uncle_billy_woodhouse).
Marina: Do you approach your visual art the same way you approach music?
Billy: I would say it comes from the same ideas and concepts. I’ve been doing some pieces based on spiritual journeys through grief and the idea of the afterlife. The more I drew out ideas for that project on grief and afterlife, the more me and Elliot talked about using those ideas as a concept for an album. So I think my visual art and music really go hand in hand, conceptually and as a way of storytelling.
Marina: It is impressive that you are able to take the same concept and translate it sonically and visually in different mediums. In terms of your new album into a pretty room –first of all, I love backseat 30– would you say you approached this album differently or tried on new hats that you didn’t in the last record?
Billy: Yeah, we’re trying loads and loads of new shit that we just haven’t tried before. Especially because this is the first album that me and Elliot have fully collaborated on. We wrote every song together. I was living in Leeds which is about 90 miles away from Newcastle, where he lived. Elliot would come down on the weekend every couple of weeks so we’d have very limited time to do everything. It was the first time we’d been like alright we need to make 13 songs here. For fantasy or mistake, we just built up the songs over time. It was the first time we’ve properly bonded over songwriting and writing together in a much less nonsensical way. We approached the album more intentionally.
Marina: What would you say you’ve learned in the process of making this album? Do you think there has been an ambitious shift from fantasy to into a pretty room?
Billy: I think we were super ambitious making this record which is why it took much longer to make than we thought it would. I produced and mixed it all myself so I had to teach myself how to actually mix a song because before I was just putting a shit ton of effects and everything. So I had to learn a lot with Logic. I like learning but Elliot and I are very Northern lads; if we had to choose between recording and just getting drunk and playing Fortnite, I’d probably choose the latter. It’s kind of weird now to have a label telling you to write and record stuff and we just have to be vulnerable together in order to write. But, I definitely got a lot of weird shit going on in my brain that makes it easy to write tracks about.
Marina: How do you and Elliot get along as creative collaborators?
Billy: Outside of being in a band, Elliot is my best mate. I met him in college and now we’re old as fuck. We live in the same house now so we’ve had a chance to grow as people together, which is what we’re writing about. It’s nice to be able to be vulnerable with someone and be able to talk about what you’re writing about. I’ve been in bands before where you’re just saying shit and no one talks about the meaning of it. So it’s been nice to write it with Elliot.
Marina: Has it always been just you two in the band?
Billy: We got my good friend Amy to do some flute and saxophone parts on the album. In terms of writing, it’s just been me and Elliot. I think I’d prefer to keep it that way too just because the more people, the more stressed out I get.
Marina: Have you guys toured?
Billy: We did a tour in 2023 with five dates across the UK. Now that we’ve got some big label money we might try and go to America since we’ve got a very a Western sound that doesn’t always go in the UK and there’s a lot more demand for us to come to America. I’ve been thinking how the hell are we going to do that? We’ve also got a tour that I still need to announce. It’s only three or four dates in January in the UK. Playing shows is definitely my least favorite part. I actually hate playing shows. You have to get really drunk and sing in front of people. Elliot is always pushing me and being like, well, if we do it, we’ll get a promoter or an agent. But, I just don’t like anything about it. When we played The George Tavern for the first time, I put my monitor wedge facing behind me on the stage and faced away from everyone. I think I am growing more comfortable with it now that I feel much closer with the people that I play with. I also know that at this point that I have to perform. It’s hard to find a support artist that I like, which is weird because when I started the band there were so many bands that I wanted to play with. Now, I feel like I’ve drifted away from them.
Marina: Is there one track in particular that you’re really excited about?
Billy: When Elliot and I first started properly sitting down to make a record, he came with the most basic little guitar riff. I recorded it and then looped it on a logic track. We had a few beers and just made some mad shit on it. We did it in like 20 minutes and it’s probably my favorite song on the album. It was just such a fun experience making it. It’s so weird. It’s called “barnyard.”
Marina: What track do you feel you took the biggest creative risk in?
Billy: Elliot was super nervous about “game of zeros” when it came out because it’s more of a song song with verse chorus verse chorus bridge chorus, you know what I mean. It’s harder to make it apply to us and make it that shitty kind of looped garage bandy style that we’ve been doing for ages. But, I was talking to my grandma and she said “oh that ‘game of zeros’ track might make you big. That’s a pop song. All of your stuff, you’ll get a cult following but you won’t get that pop song. Just keep getting Elliot to write ‘game of zeros.’”
Marina: Is there anyone that you dream of collaborating with?
Billy: Maybe Justin Bieber. Justin Bieber and Banjo. I’m actually crazy for him. I check up on him from time to time, bro to bro, you wouldn’t understand.
Marina: What goals do you have for yourself as an artist in the future?
Billy: Just be more collaborative and more open to other people. I got a backing band for these shows and my bassist said I was like the guy from Whiplash. Just imagine an angry ass music guy, that’s me. But yeah, I’d really love to be more collaborative and more open to other people’s ideas. I’m very isolated in terms of my own thoughts and ideas. I think it’s either from an ego about my music point of view or just an insecurity thing, but I just find it really hard to work with people.
