Sebastian Rochford on Finding Ways

Long celebrated for his work with the Mercury-nominated ensemble Polar Bear and collaborations with artists such as Adele, Brian Eno, and Grace Jones, the British drummer and composer Seb Rochford, turns his creative focus to the guitar on his new album Finding Ways. Joining forces with seven guitarists, including Tara Cunningham and David Preston, the album bursts with the same unfailing dynamic energy that Rochford first brought with him when he hit the jazz scene two decades ago.

I was delighted to speak to Seb a few weeks prior to the album's release about the project's creation, how his deep connection to his family still inspires him today, and how Finding Ways may be the start of a new chapter altogether... 

What was it that drew you to music?

I can't remember not ever being into music. I used to listen to music quite obsessively, even when I was three or four years old, to the point where my sisters actually broke a record and pretended that they did it by accident just because I was listening to it too much. They did feel really bad about it, so I've got about three copies of this album now because they keep on buying it for me!

I always wanted to play the drums, too. I can't remember a time when I didn’t, but my parents wouldn't let me at first because they wanted me to learn piano, to get a grounding in harmony. They said that if I still wanted to play drums in secondary school, then I could – so I learnt piano and the whole time I was just waiting for the moment I could play the drums. 

You’ve had such a rich and eclectic career, but many people first came to know your work through Polar Bear. How do you look back on that chapter now?

I feel happy with everything that we did – it was such a good time. We had so much fun and it ended at the right moment. At the time I thought ‘If I stop now, I’ll feel happy with everything that we’ve done’. We were playing to our biggest audiences, and it just felt like a good time to close that chapter.

Let’s talk about Finding Ways. What inspired this album?

In the last few years, I've had quite a lot to deal with personally in my life. So my frame of mind became about finding ways to be positive, taking it day by day and thinking of how I could keep my spirit boosted. Part of that was also writing the music – because essentially music is just vibration, and sometimes your relationship with that vibration changes. I felt like the vibration of this was that I needed to boost myself and keep myself buoyant, so that's how this music kind of came about.

I often think about how I want to record something way in advance - the kind of sounds I want, what the drums are doing, the whole sonic of it - because I really want to express the feeling as accurately as I can. That’s why meeting Tara was so incredible. People have been telling me for years that I should play with her, and so I made a point to check out what she was doing. I heard a live recording that she did with Caius Williams and Steve Noble, and I just thought I need this person for this record. Immediately when I spoke to her on the phone, I just felt really relaxed and connected. She asked if we wanted to go for a coffee to chat beforehand, and I just felt that she was definitely my type of person. I started playing music with my friends, so that kind of thing really resonated with me – that that’s how she operated, too.

How did you approach curating the sound of the album, especially that raw guitar sound? 

I feel like I'm often quite clear with the vision in my head of what I want a record to be like. But then when I play it with the musicians, they always take it past that point. I’m getting their imagination, and if you pick the right people it makes it complete. I love David's playing, he's so emotional when he plays, and I felt like the combination of him and Tara meant that they really bounced off each other and inspired each other as soon as they were in the studio. Anders, his bass playing is just very melodic, and I feel like he's someone that can just play anything and it just sounds amazing. 

With the nature of this music, I wanted it to be quite intense in a sort of tactile way, so I asked everyone not to use pedals. I love pedals, but I wanted them to really physically engage with the instrument, so I asked them to set their amps at a level where if they start to dig in and push it physically, then the amp would start to break up. I also asked Leo, who recorded us, to record at a level where if we play louder then it starts to saturate, so you get that kind of fiery feeling. We used a mix of Leo's mics and some of my old vintage mics to record too. For the mixing, I asked this guy who I think is just a real master, Tchad Blake, because I wanted the person who mixed it to be someone that was just very intuitive. I wanted them to just do what they do, rather than thinking about what's right or wrong, and I love the way that he mixes records. He's got so much personality and it’s almost like having another voice on the music.

You’re known for your ability to blur genres together. Where does that come from?

For me, making music is just making the music that you want to hear. I don't really think about genres. I grew up in a multi-cultural household; I had dad's English culture (he was very into classical music) and my mum was from India. When I was a teenager, we went to India and she introduced me to classical Indian music, but she was also really into jazz, so I was playing jazz even as a child. She very much encouraged me to actively listen to music and what was going on in the different instruments. 

I've also got nine brothers and sisters, and all of them were into quite niche music. I would go into different people's bedrooms to hear what they were listening to, and everyone was into something different – so being into lots of stuff is just the way my life's always been. I'm trying to do anything in particular, it’s just how I am.

Do you write with the drums first, or does the melody guide the composition?

Actually, this album was the first time it was different in that way. Normally, the drums are the last thing that I think of. There were certain tracks that came about with drums first though – one in particular, even though it didn’t make it onto the album. I was just playing the drums, came up with the rhythm and then I wrote to that, which I've never done before.

Do you find that it's a different experience doing it that way?

Yeah, I think so. Rhythmically I wanted this album to have intensity. Essentially, I guess the whole record is about survival. When you're in that mode, it's almost like not having a choice: you have to keep going. I also thought about my grandfather from India. He was a prisoner of war for three and a half years in Burma and Japan, and we have written accounts where he wrote all these letters to my uncle, my mum's brother, who was born in the UK. He wrote basically documenting his life from a child in India to being a prisoner of war, so I've read all these accounts. He was so gentle and compassionate, and was such a gentleman who held no resentment towards anyone. And I just kept on thinking if he can get through that, then I can get through whatever I'm going through. It was amazing that he survived, so I just thought of that as the inspiration.

Having that family inspiration must’ve added such a personal layer to the album…

I'm in quite a privileged position in my life – I think that's what I discovered when I was a teenager when my parents took me to India. There's this feeling there of everyone doing something to make the most of what they have and it made me appreciate what my family actually achieved. That really struck me when I was a teenager, that kind of mentality of just having to do the best with what you have. My mum always said that, too. She passed when I was eighteen, but she wrote me a letter a couple of weeks before she passed telling me to always aim high. She's said ‘if you want to do music, do it with your whole heart – even if it might not be easy sometimes’. I feel like she had that same mentality, because she said some people aren’t aware of what's possible. I still read that letter sometimes you know - it really boosts me. 

Has your approach to music-making changed significantly over the years? 

I would say my perspective on it has always kind of been consistent. I feel like now, I love playing music more than I ever have done in my life, and that surprises me because I've always loved it. It's amazing to me how my love of music still expands. I just feel so grateful to be playing music in that moment, and to be having this experience.

Do you see Finding Ways as the beginning of a new chapter?

Yeah, it feels that way. I'm excited to play the music live, and we're planning to record something new in November. I've written some new music, so that’s something to look forward to.

Is it different working in a solo context compared to working within your ensemble setups of the past?

In some ways it’s very different. I think it's easier for me to be freer on other people's music initially, because I'm only thinking about playing the drums. I'm still thinking compositionally, but when it's my own music I've got so many other things that I'm thinking about at the beginning. Also, I'm dealing with someone else's imagination with something that they’ve written, so that will inspire me in a different way. I love playing with other people, just because I love engaging with other human beings – it's like another type of conversation.

Finding Ways is available now on CD, Vinyl and Streaming & Download.