Alt-J Open Up About Sex And Serious Health Issues

"I was born with a rare genetic condition," says alt-J drummer Thom Green, as he settles into the couch. "I lost my hearing when I was six." 

Green is explaining what it's like to be a professional drummer living with Alport Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that has rendered him without 80% of his hearing. It can also cause kidney failure. "I knew I would be going on dialysis, I knew that my kidneys would fail, but I didn't know when; I didn't know that it would be that soon — I was 19."

While Green is talking, bandmates Joe Newman and Gus Unger-Hamilton are listening quietly; having conducted most of the interview between them, it's Green's turn to hold the floor. It's not that he's seemed uncertain or shy — certainly that might come into play — but mostly he just appears content to let his friends do the talking. It feels strikingly intimate that the few words he shares are of such a personal nature. 

"It happened very quickly. I've been on dialysis for about four years now, and I had a transplant from an anonymous donor in Plymouth — it was 2008, so it's been about nine years. I still don't really understand it, I kind of have to live with it every day. It's odd, because it's forever; it's not going to go away. I'm not going to... there's no cure. 

"I've been on dialysis for about four years now, and I had a transplant from an anonymous donor in Plymouth."

"I'm not shy about it because there are young people who are experiencing it and it's important that they know that it can get better, because when you're going through it, you think you're going to die, you're kinda like 'This is it', and for some people it is if you don't get a transplant — especially in America where you can't afford it, you have to stay on dialysis... I do what I can, I have to take a lot of medication — if I fuck up that then it's a big mistake."

Alt-J owes a large part of their success to Green's inventive drumming, stemming from an untrained background in metal and grunge. If you've ever caught the band live you would have glimpsed his strange set-up, usually consisting of a parallel formation, a suspended tambourine, a complete absence of cymbals, and a cowbell packed out with newspaper. Back when they had band practice while they were studying in Leeds, he'd tie a saucepan to his leg in place of a high hat.

"I don't ever really think about playing drums as the way it sounds at all," he explains. "I can't tune a drum kit... For me, it's how it feels; how the rhythm feels. My drums are quite dead actually when I play them live I use tape and stuff to make it more packed."  

Alt-J, named after the keystroke for rendering a delta symbol, came together while the three were at university. "I can't remember the jamming process, I just remember you playing along to what I was doing and it working very quickly," Newman says to the others. "We had very basic equipment," Unger-Hamilton remembers. "I think Joe had a guitar which you'd borrowed from your dad, I was using keyboards which you'd borrowed from a friend and gave to me, and Thom had a few bits of drum stuff that he was bringing home from his dad's house on the train. It was very basic."

Unger-Hamilton takes us back to the moment they realised that alt-J was not just another uni band — at Reading Festival in 2012. Check out the poster: if you can tear your eyes away from what looks like the ultimate line-up of headliners: The Cure, Kasabian (for whom this was their debut festival headline slot), Foo Fighters, Florence & The Machine, The Black Keys, The Shins, Crystal Castles, The Vaccines, Paramore... and then down through the tiers; passed Two Door Cinema Club, Miike Snow, Of Monsters & Men, Foster The People, Santigold; nope, even further, below Azealia Banks, Grimes, Bastille... and then you'll hit the fine print, finding alt-J buried in the micro-mentions. 

"We were playing at like 3pm in the afternoon in one of the smaller tents and it was fucking packed. Unbelievably packed," he remembers. "The crowd kinda moving left and right, because there were so many people, they couldn't stand up, we were side of stage waiting to go on, just going 'What the fuck's that?'" adds Green.

"We just have sex with each other. Oh, you can print that, it's fine."

Now on to their third album, Relaxer, alt-J have solidified themselves as true raconteurs, capable of weaving stories of strange worlds and rich characters brought to life across eight immensely intricate tracks. The multitude of individual influences play into the album's diversity — signature choral and classical compositions intertwined with falsetto harmonies, and a broadened scope into electronic filters (Deathcrush), experimental rock vibes harking back to Led Zeppelin, The Doors and The Velvet Underground (Hit Me Like That Snare) and even an appropriation of folk classic House Of The Rising Sun, as Newman tells, based more on the Woody Guthrie version than The Animals' classic.  

"The second verse is all original lyrics, the chorus is original, so us as kind of folk artists in a way are picking up an old folk song and playing with it, and then passing it on in that tradition," he explains. 

Deathcrush is about "if we were to have a 'dead crush' who would it be?" offers Green. "The first verse is about Lee Miller, which is Joe's pick; second verse is about Anne Boleyn, which is my pick, so that's the dead crush," continues Unger-Hamilton. "What was Henry the VIII like? How big was Henry the VIII? Did he stink? How bad was his gout?" 

"Bad," everyone laughs. 

And then there's lead single 3WW — "Three Worn Words". "I think it's about the use of the phrase 'I love you' and it being overused, and occasionally [being] quite trite," Unger-Hamilton explains. The track's lyrics take a particularly jaded view on love and sex: "Was this your first time / Love is just a button we pressed." Are they actively trying to bring a cynical view into their music's sexual overtones? 

The three burst into gales of laughter. 

"I thought you were saying 'are you really active?' Unger-Hamilton chokes out. 

"I'm just thinking about how sexually active I am," Newman joins in. 

"Currently, pretty bad. It's just us," laughs Unger-Hamilton.

"We just have sex with each other," Newman jokes. "Oh, you can print that, it's fine. I don't think we've said anything too..."

"Oh no, no no no, just that we have sex with each other," Unger-Hamilton cuts him off with the last snicker. "Wouldn't that be amazing if it actually became a thing?" 

Newman calms down and continues. "Actually, it's a big part of my life, sex, and I like to talk about it." Coming from the man who penned the line: "In your hoof lies the heartland / In your snatch fits pleasure," this makes a lot of sense. "I think people just love talking about — and enjoying — sex. It's a big part of our culture, it's the way that people are sold things, and we don't do it cynically, but we are aware that it's a great way of getting over a message because sexual attraction is the cornerstone of what makes us tick. 

"I feel like it's good to have an open dialogue talking about sex and how sex comes in many different forms, and there are different ways of having sex with different people.... We don't take advantage of it because we know it can sell, I think it's just what is intrinsic within all of us."